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really, really wanted
to do things with him, but I loved him too much to kill him.
 I have barely slept in three days, Jack yawned.  And it s not even noon yet. What do you
say we get
some sleep?
 Sounds good, I smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
He pulled off his tee shirt and shorts, opting to sleep in his boxers, which was fine by me.
Few people
in the world looked as amazing in just their underwear as Jack did. I crawled into bed, and he
climbed into
after me. He lay on his back so I could curl up in his arms, resting my head on his chest,
which was just the
way I liked it.
 I missed you so much, he said, running his fingers through my hair.
 Me too. I squeezed him tightly, then thought of something.  Where did you sleep for the
past three
days?
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 Hotel, Jack chuckled a little.  I just got a room at the Millennium Hotel downtown, and I
didn t
leave until like an hour ago. I couldn t take being away from you anymore, so I came home.
 You should ve came home the first day, I snuggled up closer to him.
 I know, but I had some thinking to do, Jack sighed.  And it worked out okay. I mean, I m
here with
you now, aren t I?
 That you are. I kissed his chest, then lay my head back down.
Jack must not have been kidding about not getting any sleep, because within seconds, he was
sound
asleep. I stayed awake longer than him, thinking about all the things he said, and trying to
come up with a
solution. I had just promised him that I would never hurt him again, but living with Peter
might be too great a
temptation for me. I couldn t explain the temptation, but that made it all the more
dangerous. If Jack thought
it was best to leave, it might actually be. And even if it wasn t, it was what he wanted, and
after everything I ve
put him through, didn t I owe him that much?
For some reason, when we got up, nobody seemed that surprised to see Jack. Unlike me,
they had all
known he was coming back. Jane greeted Jack with a surprising amount of indifference, but
that was much
the same way he talked to Mae. She tried to rush over to him to apologize, and he did all but
push her back.
Her face crumbled afterwards, but I couldn t really encourage him to forgive. I knew he
would; he just had to
do it in his own time.
Peter, thankfully, had stepped out for the evening, but nobody really knew where. I suspect
that he
had known Jack was around and decided to disappear before things got ugly. Jack almost
immediately took
Ezra back to the den so they could  discuss things in a very mysterious fashion. It was
probably just business
talk and things about moving out, but apparently, Jack didn t want everybody else to know
of his intentions
just yet.
Mae quickly got over being snubbed by Jack because she had Jane to distract her. In the
dining room,
she had thrown down a giant towel on the floor and set up some kind of impromptu hair
salon. She was the
one who cut everyone s hair generally, but when she does Jack s hair, he had just sat on the
toilet in the
bathroom and she trimmed it up. His hair grows so fast, he needs it trimmed about every
other week.
In the kitchen salon, Jane sat in a chair while foil and dye setting in her hair, and she
languidly flipped
204
through an issue of Cosmo. Mae must ve hit the store today and picked up some supplies for
her. While
waiting on her, Mae was busy cutting Milo s hair. Jane talked amicably with Mae, and for the
first time in
weeks, Mae seemed to brighten up. Somehow, a discussion about lip-gloss had done what
the rest of us
couldn t.
 Would you like a haircut too, love? Mae smiled up at me over the top of Milo s head. Her
own hair
was clean and pulled back neatly. Jane made some comment about shoes, and Mae laughed,
her eyes
sparkling.  What do you say, Alice?
 Um& no, I m good, I said.
 Girls shoes are so much better than boys shoes, Milo lamented. He lifted his head to steal
a glance
at Jane s magazine, but Mae gently pushed his head back down so she could trim his hair.
 At least you don t have to wear heals, Jane scoffed.  I mean, they may look fantastic, but
they kill
to walk in. They re like little feet torture chambers. Mae laughed again, the second time in
like two minutes.
Taking in the scene in front of me, it finally occurred to me what was happening. Mae did
love taking
care of people more than anything else, but she had a daughter, and a granddaughter, and a
sick greatgranddaughter,
but all she ever took care of were boys. Peter and Ezra needed nothing from her at all, and
Jack wasn t exactly a tough guy or a man s man, but he was still a boy. When I came around,
she had been so
thrilled because she thought she d finally have a girl to pal around, but I spent most days
lounging around in
jeans. Jack was back, so I was trying to look extra pretty today, and I had still gone for jeans
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