All a Man Is. Janice Kay Johnson

uneasily. “You know that. Having Alec right next to us is ideal.”

      He cleared his throat. “It’s a good neighborhood. Liana can walk to school. You can get almost anywhere in town on your bikes.”

      He’d actually considered a place outside of town so Matt wouldn’t be able to get anywhere on his own, but that had other drawbacks.

      “Can we see inside?” Julia asked, unhooking her seat belt.

      “Sure,” he said, sounding hearty and phony even to his own ears. They got out and approached the door on the side he’d decided would be theirs. He made a business of taking the key from his ring and giving it to Julia. “Uh...it’s pretty bare-bones still,” he warned.

      He was glad they hadn’t seen it before the work was done. He’d discovered that beneath the badly worn brown carpet were hardwood floors. Instead of replacing the carpet, he’d had the oak refinished to a glossy sheen. Bathrooms on both sides had new vinyl floors and shiny new fixtures. Julia knew he’d had the floors refinished, but not about the bathrooms, and he had no intention of telling her the duplex hadn’t come this way.

      The kitchens he hadn’t touched yet, on his side because he hadn’t been home enough to bother, and on Julia’s side because he figured she would have her own ideas about what she wanted to do.

      They moved over the threshold in a clump, even Matt sticking close to his mother. There was no entryway to speak of; the front door let straight into a cramped living room with white walls and a white-painted brick fireplace. The floors looked damn good, if he did say so, but Alec still winced at the comparison with the living room in the house Julia had just sold. It had had a bay window, glass-fronted built-ins, high ceilings and open, dark wood beams.

      “There are three bedrooms,” he said, “but only one bathroom.”

      “We’re going to have to schedule morning showers,” Julia said lightly.

      They all peered into the bedrooms, two of them the standard ten-foot-by-twelve-foot boxes with inadequate closets. The master bedroom was only slightly larger.

      He saw Julia breathe a sigh of relief when she saw the bathroom.

      “Brace yourself,” he said in a low voice just before they reached the kitchen with some extra floor space optimistically designated as dining area.

      Dark brown Formica countertops went with the ugly dark cabinets, which were scarred in places. The flooring was a dated orange-and-yellow vinyl that at least was in good shape.

      “You should have let me have this remodeled before you got here,” Alec said, feeling inadequate as he watched them inspect their new home.

      Despite her tiredness, Julia appeared undaunted now that she’d seen the worst. She smiled at him. “We’ll eat with you while the kitchen is torn apart.”

      “Mine’s no better,” he admitted, looking around. “I bought new appliances, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten.”

      “It’ll be fun,” she insisted.

      The kids stared in disbelief. Even Liana seemed shell-shocked. Matt had an expression Alec didn’t like. There was something a little smug about it, as if he’d hoped the new home sucked. Did he imagine his mother would turn tail and retreat to L.A.?

      “Who wants which bedroom?” she asked gaily, as if the two rooms weren’t virtually identical.

      “I call first choice!” Liana declared, racing back toward the bedrooms.

      “Like, who cares?” her brother said disagreeably, but he thundered after her anyway.

      “Hey.” Seeing Julia’s expression, Alec violated his own rules and wrapped his hands around her upper arms. “You okay?”

      Her laugh broke. “I’ll recover. The drive was horrible. The only time they quit squabbling was when Matt was sulking. Liana was almost as bad. She sobbed when we drove away from our house. She was sure she’d never see her friends again.”

      “She may not,” he said softly.

      Her face crumpled. “I know. Oh, God, Alec. Did we do the right thing?”

      He wanted to promise her they had, that Angel Butte was the idyllic town they’d hoped for, but he was beginning to wonder if there was any such thing. He’d grown up in Southern California, used to the tangle of overcrowded freeways and the yellow light of smoggy mornings. He wondered guiltily what her Minnesota hometown looked like.

      “I think so,” he said, unable to resist a gentle squeeze before he had to let her go. “It’s not like Liana knew her friends that long. Maybe moving so soon after the last time is hard on them, but I have to think doing it quickly is better than waiting.” He hesitated. “I’m sorry the house is so, uh, unprepossessing.”

      “What?” She lifted her face to his, surprise in those extraordinary eyes. “Don’t be silly. The duplex looks like it did in pictures, except better. You’ve had more work done than you admitted to, haven’t you?”

      He didn’t say anything. Normally careful to keep his distance, he hadn’t been this close to her since he’d held her after the funeral. Her skin, tanned to a pale gold, was as smooth as a child’s, her lashes surprisingly long without any help from mascara. Her upper lip had an unusually deep dip in it that made him think of the pretty mouths painted on dolls.

      If he bent his head just a little...

      Her eyes widened at whatever she saw on his face.

      Clenching his jaw, he released her.

      “What if I keep Matt tonight?” he asked. “I’ve got one of the bedrooms set up as a spare.”

      “Really? You’d do that? Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”

      “Yes, but I could drop him at the hotel on my way. We could all have breakfast at the Denny’s there.”

      “I would love that,” she admitted. “I’ve got to tell you, I’ve been having distinctly unmaternal thoughts about him.”

      Having regained his self-control after a brief but significant battle, Alec was able to laugh. “How shocking. And this was the first time?”

      She chuckled, a delicious ripple of sound. “Okay. You’re right. There have been a few previous moments I’d have put him up on Craigslist if I thought I’d get any offers.”

      “It’s a phase. He’ll get over it.” Alec hoped.

      Julia smiled. “They’re fighting again.”

      “Then let’s go separate them.”

      “Okay, but first—” She astonished him by stepping closer to kiss his cheek. She was blushing when she sank back to her heels, but her eyes held his. “Thank you. I can’t tell you what this means to me, so I won’t even try. But I want you to know—”

      He shook his head and took a chance, placing his finger over her lips, feeling them quiver. “No. I love those kids, too. If you’d taken them away, it would have destroyed me.”

      For a moment they only looked at each other, their defenses lower than usual. He hoped she couldn’t see the part he didn’t say: losing her would have destroyed him, too.

      Especially losing her.

      “How come you get the biggest room?” his nephew said, startling Alec, who hadn’t noticed the kids coming back into the kitchen.

      Alec leveled a stare at the kid. “Because she’s the adult and pays the bills.”

      Matt contented himself with rolling his eyes.

      “Uncle Alec suggested you spend the night with him,” Julia said, her tone neutral.

      The boy shrugged and ducked his head. “I guess that’s okay,” he mumbled.

      Not exactly enthusiastic,