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“What?”

“You and this guy you’ve been seeing for the last couple of months,” he paused, then added, “Or woman. I mean, it’s okay if it’s a woman you’re seeing.”

I rolled my lips in to keep myself from laughing. “It’s a guy,” I said. “His name is Martin.”

Luke nodded. It was the first time any of the boys had asked about my date nights, and frankly I was surprised it had taken so long.

“We haven’t been askin’ you anything about this guy,” Luke continued, as if he heard my thoughts. “We didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable or something by violating your privacy. You’re always tellin’ us that you’re entitled to privacy the same as us.”

Well, that was a surprise.

“But me and the boys were talkin’ and if y’all are getting serious, we’re gonna need to meet him. Make sure he’s good enough for our Mama.”

He looked so serious right now I couldn’t stand it. “Oh, I see.”

“You know I’m goin’ away to college in a few months, and it won’t be long before Linc and Logan are all grown up too.”

I resisted pointing out that at eighteen he wasn’t as grown up as he thought. Then again, Luke had always been mature for his age, wise beyond his years. He’d been the most hurt when his father left.

“I know you gave up a lot to take care of us, Mama,” Luke continued. “But we don’t want you to be alone forever. It’s not healthy for a woman to be alone.”

“It’s not healthy for anyone to be alone,” I corrected. “And I’m not alone, I’ve got you boys.”

Luke stood up, giving me what I’m sure he thought was a stern look. “We want to meet this guy. Soon.”

Martin

“I had an interesting conversation with Luke the other day.”

Our dinner party was a rousing success. My friends all loved Lillian and she seemed to like them too. She’d insisted on coming early to help set up, which earned her brownie points with Maria. The two of them had spent the rest of the night ganging up on me and laughing over every embarrassing story Maria could dredge up about me.

It made me happy that they got along so well.

Once everyone left, I’d grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses and dragged Lillian up to my room. The first time we made love it was fast and rough, but the second time was slow and sweet, much more relaxed than we’d ever been before. It helped that we weren’t on a time limit like we usually had when we were at the hotel.

There was something to be said about being able to take your time.

“What did you and Luke talk about?” I asked.

“The boys have decided that if I’m getting serious about a fella, they need to meet him to make sure he’s good enough for me.”

“That makes sense,” I said. “I’d feel the same way if my mama was dating some guy.”

“Maria told me that your boys have been asking about you going out too and whether you had a girlfriend, which made me think you’re right. It’s probably about time for us to meet each other’s kids.”

I was thrilled at this conversation. She didn’t realize it yet, but I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Lillian. But we couldn’t move in that direction until we started doing more than having quickies at the Hotel Six.

“What’s our plan of attack?” I asked. “Divide and conquer? Or bring them all together at once and let the chips fall where they may?”

“Well, that’s a good question. I’m kinda thinking we plan some kind of group activity where we can take the pressure off a bit.”

“Like paintball?”

“Oh God no, my boys will kill you dead if they got weapons in their hands. We all take our paintball very seriously.”

I could totally see that, just based on what I knew about Lillian. My woman was tough and super competitive.

“Oh I got it, what about if we have dinner at Dave and Buster’s in Houston? Once we get the awkward conversation out of the way, we can eat wings and burgers and then I can kick your ass at pinball.”