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intoxicating.
    So why couldn’t he quite get Thea Wyndham out of his mind?
    “If you can control your hormones,” he told Gina, “tell me about your sale.”
    “Later. When the kids are in bed.” She gave him an arch look. “Then I’ve got a story for you that will make your interest rate soar.”
    “Sounds good.” Mitch felt her stiffen slightly and knew he had not quite mustered the enthusiasm she was looking for. “How late can you stay?”
    “I can stay all night.”
    “Gina.”
    “Yeah, I know. Not while the kids are with you. You know, you’re a pretty old-fashioned kind of guy.”
    “Their parents were married. I’m just not ready to try to explain a different kind of relationship to them.”
    She held up both hands. “All right. I can appreciate that. So, tell me about your meeting today. When is Thea taking the kids?”
    Mitch loosed himself from Gina’s arm and waved to the twins. They were sitting in separate seats on the bus, both of them with their faces pressed to the window, mouths open wide so they could make humid circles on the glass. They saw him almost simultaneously and jumped up as the bus squealed and groaned to a stop. The doors opened and there was a lot of scrambling for position in the aisle. The mothers congregating on the sidewalk stopped their conversations and prepared to pluck their chicks as they descended the steps.
    “She’s not,” Mitch told Gina. He didn’t look at her as he dropped the bomb. “She says she can’t.”
    “You’re not fu ...” She remembered herself at the same time one of the mothers turned to give her a sharp, disapproving stare. Smiling sweetly, Gina began again, this time in a much less vocal manner. “You’re not freakin’ serious.”
    Mitch rolled his eyes. “You don’t need the adjective.”
    “The fuck I don’t.” Making an abrupt about-face, Gina stalked off toward the house.
    “Hey, Uncle Mitch!”
    Case reached him first and Mitch immediately put him in a headlock and gave him a noogie. “Nice hair, Spike. Did Nonny let you gel it yourself?”
    “Yeah! Pap said I’m a lethal weapon. Double-O Jell-O.”
    “Cool.” Since the district only offered half-day kindergarten, the twins sometimes went to his mother’s house in the morning so Mitch could work undisturbed. She put them on the school bus at eleven-thirty. “Great secret identity.”
    Grinning, Case escaped the loose headlock and gave up his place for his brother. “Double-O Poop-O,” he said to Grant once Mitch had him securely under arm.
    “Hey! Not nice,” Mitch said. “I can’t keep him here forever.” He knuckled Grant’s head while the boy struggled to get free so he could pulverize his brother. “Easy, Sport. Case is sorry.” He gave Case a significant look which suggested he’d better get sorry fast.
    “I was only teasin’.” He broke into a high-pitched giggle as he danced around his twin and Mitch. “Poop-O knows that.”
    “Hmmm. Let’s see.” He let Grant go and Case immediately sprinted off, his brother hot on his trail. Their book bags bobbed against their shoulders until they both managed to wiggle out of them on the run. Mitch just shook his head, a glimmer of a smile on his lips, and followed at a slower pace.
    Susan Gerow and her daughter passed him as he was picking up the book bags. “They’ll be friends by the time they reach the door,” she assured him.
    “Yeah. That’s what I’m learning.”
    She gave him a thumbs-up.
    The boys were actually waiting for him at the stop sign on the next corner. It was a rule they weren’t allowed to cross without an adult yet, though their spin on it was that they were helping him get to the other side.
    Grant pointed up the street to where Gina was opening the door to her banana car. “Is Miss Sommers leaving?”
    Mitch felt a brief surge of wistfulness and pride each time the twins and Emilie addressed adults with polite formality. That was Kathy’s instruction and Mitch had discovered