Yours, Mine & Ours

band in here,” she noted.

“I wouldn’t call it decorating.”

“I’m just saying-you went to a lot of trouble. And it shows. What a great room for a boy.”

Maybe so, but that wasn’t solving their dog-disappearance problem. Mike shut the bedroom door to close off another potential egress-or exit-depending on which the dogs tried for next. “There’s nothing upstairs but a big loft- it’s the playroom,” he told her, and then stopped talking, because he heard sounds. Odd sounds. Very odd, yowly, canine sounds.

“Stay here,” he told the kids, which had all the effect of a whisper on a flood. He took the steps two at a time, but the kids still beat him to the top.

Molly, who could outrun a quarterback, even in her tutu, let out a scream that could have shattered glass. “Mommy! Slugger’s hurting Darling! He’s being mean! Make him stop it!”

“He isn’t being mean,” Teddy told her, and tugged hard on Mike’s arm. “Dad, I don’t get it. What’s Slugger doing?”

The loft was divided into father and son spaces. On Mike’s side, there was a computer and desk, battered couch, pool table, wall-mounted TV. On Teddy’s side, there was a town of trucks, a train set, a washing-machine box with doors and windows cut out, shelves with games and books.

Slugger and Darling were pretty much on the line between spaces, getting it on with abandon. Well, maybe not abandon. Darling looked fairly bored. Slugger looked more animated than Mike had ever seen him.

Amanda looked at them-then him-with horror.

“You didn’t tell me she was in heat,” Mike said.

“I didn’t think she was. There was no sign. And I thought she was too young!”

“Um. It’d appear she’s definitely old enough.” Mike struggled to find a positive. “At least she wasn’t a thoroughbred.”

“That’s not the point! She was mixed to be mixed with her own kind! Because it’s such a good-”

“Mix. Yeah, I got it.” Mike scraped a hand through his hair. “Kids, go downstairs.”

“Mommy, make him stop jumping on Darling!”

“Can’t you do something?” Amanda demanded.

“At this point, they look pretty well…hooked up. I’m not sure how to de-hook them. If it’d hurt them.”

“I just can’t believe this,” Amanda said with despair.

“Neither can I.” Mike sighed. “I’m guessing this means that I won’t get that lasagna tonight, huh?”

Princess, Darling, Molly and Amanda were all crowded into the downstairs bathroom. Someone had originally painted the room green. As soon as Amanda could get the supplies purchased-there was so much to do in a new house-the girls had decided it was turning into their butterfly room. The grape-and-aqua butterfly wallpaper had already been decided on. But that subject had already been thoroughly discussed, and they were on to the next.

Dinner next door.

Because Molly no longer wanted to go, Amanda was determined to turn the occasion into a solid parenting lesson…but so far, that was challenging.

“I don’t see why we have to eat with them, Mom.”

Molly, in spite of her current scowl, looked downright adorable in her purple-and-white shorts set. Because she claimed she was way too old for a nap these days, she’d been coaxed into supervising a rest period for Darling and Princess. All three had conked out for a good hour’s snooze.

Amanda wrapped a purple scrunchie in Molly’s hair, making a tidy ponytail that matched her own. She was also wearing a purple-and-white shorts set. Personally, she was a little freaked to do the matching mom-daughter clothing thing, but Molly had claimed it was the “most important thing to her in the whole world.”

“We’re going over there for dinner,” Amanda explained, “because we want to show Mr. Mike and Teddy that we’re gracious.”

“What’s gracious?” Molly studied her mom as Amanda put on mascara.

“Being gracious means… Well, things weren’t going too well between us all this morning, right?”

“You’re not kidding. I couldn’t believe Teddy peed in the yard. I didn’t see his penis, but I still saw him peeing. And then his dog hurt our dog. And then they were so dirty.”

“Well, honey, Darling wasn’t really hurt by their Slugger. That was something else. But the point-about our going, about our being gracious-is that strong girls don’t run away where there’s a problem.”

“Why not?”

“Because the problem’s still waiting for you when you stop running. So it’s just a whole lot easier if you just deal with a problem right when it happens.”

“But I don’t have a problem. They have a problem. Can I put on that stuff on my eyes, like you?”

“Not mascara, lovebug. But we’ll do blush together.” Molly immediately lifted her face and closed her eyes, waiting for her mom to brush her cheeks. Immediately she peered at herself in the mirror.

“I look beautiful,” she said with awe.

“Yes, you do. You look beautiful, but even more important, you’re going to be gracious, and polite and on your best manners.”

“Why do I have to be on my best manners again?” Molly insisted.

“Because they’re neighbors. And we want them to be good neighbors. So we’re going to show them that we’re nice people. Everybody has problems come up, honey. Friends, neighbors, family. Disagreements don’t disappear if you ignore them.” She’d been an expert at doing just that, all her life, and particularly in her marriage. So for damn sure, Molly wasn’t going to make the same mistakes. “We’re going to be on our very, very, very best behavior, okay?”

“Got it. We’ll show ’em. I’m going to be so good you won’t believe it. I’m going to be so good you’ll probably want to get me an outfit for my American Girl doll. I’m going to be so good that you’ll let me stay u-”

“We’re both going to be on our best manners because it’s a good idea. But we’ll talk about that other stuff when we get home.” Amanda didn’t want to commit to bribery. Unless she had to. In the meantime, there was still a ton to get ready before heading next door. Darling had to be walked-on a leash. Princess expected a treat right before dinner. Amanda had to unearth the picnic basket, then start stacking the dinner-the hot plate of lasagna, silverware, napkins, a warm towel-wrapped loaf of Italian bread, a chilled bowl of fruits for salad. There was also carrot cake with a butterscotch sauce, but she couldn’t carry it all at once. Truthfully, she couldn’t carry what she had now.

“I’ll help, Mommy.” Using her most virtuous voice, Molly reached for the napkins.

“Thanks, honey.” Amanda tried to keep the irony from her tone, took a breath, and off they went.

“Good grief,” Mike said when he opened the back door. “Amanda, I figured you’d bring a pan, not a whole feast. You didn’t have to go to all this trouble-”

Oh, yeah, she did. Looking at that sweaty, oiled man all morning-shirtless, muscles gleaming, laughing with his son-well, the whole morning had put bad ideas in her mind, that was all. Unacceptable ideas. The trauma with the dogs was just a different layer of tension. She was living next door to this guy. She had to make it all more comfortable-a lot more comfortable-than she was feeling right now. And food seemed the best way to do it, because he was a guy.

Food always worked with guys.

“It was no trouble,” her daughter informed him, in her best grown-up voice.

Mike, to give him credit, didn’t laugh. “Well, we sure appreciate it,” Mike told Molly with due seriousness, and then herded them all onto the shady back deck.

Not that Amanda wanted to dwell on it, but Mike definitely cleaned up well. A white polo set off his ruddy skin; the denim shorts even had a belt.

His hand touched her lower back for only a second, yet it was enough to put a tick in her pulse.

Teddy had been spruced up, too, his unruly hair still damp and hard-combed. The dog was completely out of sight, although there was a hint of mournful baying coming from the second floor. The deck table had been cleaned off. The view overlooked their almost-finished water garden.

The kids sat across from each other, while Mike and Amanda unpacked the picnic basket. “That’s an amazing