" Yes?" Suspicion."You're looking for a place to live." Yes. You know that." Ann, why not move back here? It's where the children are. It's been your ...home for so long. It can be again."Her look told me I'd said the right thing. She looked shocked, then there was a half smile."I'll move out, of course," I added. "I have my flat in Stretford still. It's quite big enough for me, and it's big enough for the children to stay weekends, as long as they don't all come at once."Her expression changed;. Shit. What happened?“You okay?” he asks. The concern in his voice is genuine.“Yeah. I’m fine.”“You sure? You went somewhere in your head there.”“Yeah.”“What were you thinking about?”He takes his weight off his knees and slides off my lap. He slips off the couch and sits in front of me, but he’s so tall we’re still eye to eye.“I don’t know. My mind kind of blanked.”“Oh,” he says. We both know this means we’re done. It’ll be a cold night for both of us.“Why are you covering your nipples?” A smile. I followed them into the living room as they chatted abouthow cute I was and I was directed to go make drinks and bring them to theliving room. I decided on making whiskey sours for the women and pouredmyself one in the sippy cup I knew Kathy would want me to use. I broughtthe drinks out on a little tray and gave them to the girls and was toldto have a seat at their feet in front of the couch and enjoy mine whilethey chatted.I sat there cross legged on the carpet in front of these two. Not sure I can haul you that far—not with that big, meaty behind of yours weighing things down.’ ‘Bastard!’ Kate yelled, giggling. ‘And to think, you were actually in danger of getting some!’ She took off, sprinting back up the trail, calling to me with a sing-song-chant. ‘You ca-ant catch me. You ca-ant catch me.’ I took off after her, and found catching up to be a less than trivial task. Kate had been on the track-and-field team her freshman year, and had been competitive in the pole vault.