Swan Point. Sherryl Woods

situation just right.”

      “Sure, I answered his questions. I taught him a couple of basic things, but that’s not the same as being a role model for an impressionable kid,” Gabe argued. “Heck, even some of the jerks my mom dated were nice to me when they thought they had something to gain from it. That doesn’t mean I should have aspired to be like a single one of them.”

      “Definitely not,” Mitch agreed readily. “But you learned from that, Gabe. You’ll try real hard to be a good influence on Tomas.”

      “Why do I have the feeling that you think the kid’s going to be as much of an influence on me as I am on him? Do you think I’ll stay on the straight and narrow because of him?”

      Mitch frowned at that. “To my way of thinking, you’ve never been that far off the straight and narrow in anyone’s mind but your own, but, yes, I think you’ll be good for each other. I think you need to start to see yourself as more than a rolling stone. You seem to have this crazy idea that you don’t deserve to find real happiness, the kind that can last.”

      Gabe couldn’t deny that Mitch had nailed it. He’d never seen himself as a good bet for happily-ever-after. The only examples he’d had—Mitch’s side of the family—had certainly never given him much reason to believe in himself.

      “And Adelia? How do you see her fitting in?” he asked his cousin.

      Mitch gave him a considering look before saying, “Any way you want her to, I imagine.”

      Unfortunately, the way Gabe envisioned her fitting into his life had a little too much to do with toppling into his bed than it did with the straight and narrow.