“Welcome to the rest of our lives,” he said when the kiss ended.

She pushed away from him far enough so that she could look him up and down several times. “I think this life is going to suit us just fine.”

“Yes, it is, so let’s go get it started.” He took her hand in his and grabbed the handle of the suitcase.

The elevator doors opened the instant he pushed the button. Once inside, he took her in his arms again and strung kisses from her neck to her eyelids. She pressed her whole body against his and wished that neither of them was wearing clothes. Finally, his lips settled on her mouth, and the kisses didn’t stop until the doors opened again. He got a grip on the suitcase handle again and led her to the room.

When the door opened, she gasped, “Oh. My!”

A bouquet of red roses sat arranged on the coffee table beside a matching ice bucket made of the same sparking crystal as the flower vase. From the sweat on the outside, she could tell that a bottle of champagne had already chilled.

She bent to smell the roses. “Brett, you shouldn’t have.”

“Yes, darlin’, I should have,” he whispered as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. “We’ve got a lot to celebrate.”

“Yes, we do.” All the anxiety fled. Brett was home for good, and she had him all to herself for two whole days.

The sun was shining brightly when Luke maneuvered the motor home into the RV park slot they’d reserved. Carmen noticed that dark clouds were rolling in from the southwest. She hoped that didn’t mean storms or, even worse, snow or rain on the girls’ graduation exercises.

Luke got everything hooked up and then got his and Diana’s suitcases from off one of the bunk beds. “We’ll see y’all at the graduation.”

“How are we getting there?” Carmen asked.

“Uber,” Tootsie told her. “The same way these two are going to the hotel across town, right?”

“You got it.” Luke grinned. “If you need anything, just call me. Our car is already here.”

“I might need to talk at midnight,” Carmen teased.

“Taxis run twenty-four, seven.” Diana gave her a brief hug and whispered, “I’m just about as nervous as Joanie.”

“You’ll be fine,” Carmen said, hoping she was right. With bright sunshine on one side of them and black clouds on the other, she hoped that it wasn’t an omen that Diana would have a dark moment while she was at the hotel with Luke. Their relationship was fragile right now.

When they were gone, Tootsie looked around the motor home and sighed. “It’s kind of like an empty nest right now, isn’t it?”

“That’s one way of looking at it, but a brighter one is that we’ve got Dolly, three kittens, and each other,” Carmen answered. “I noticed that this park has a lovely little pond. Let’s put on our jackets and take a walk around it before those clouds bring down either rain or snow on us.”

Tootsie headed toward her room. “Just let me get my coat. And, honey, those are storm clouds. Snow clouds look altogether different. Besides, it’s forty degrees out there.”

Carmen changed into a sweatshirt and her new coat and the scarf and gloves she’d picked up at the mall the day before. At first she felt guilty about spending the money, but she had a job when she got home. That meant she didn’t have to squeeze her pennies until Lincoln squealed. She smiled at the memory of hearing Smokey say that so often.

She’d just sat down to wait on Tootsie when her phone rang. Expecting it to be Diana, she answered it without even looking at the caller ID. “Hello, are you in the hotel?”

“What are you talking about?” Eli’s mother’s high, squeaky voice was as cold as it had ever been.

“I’m sorry, Barbara, I thought you were someone else.” Carmen made herself a vow that she’d never answer the phone again without checking caller ID.

“Evidently,” Barbara said. “So are you making money by going to the hotel with men since my son divorced you?”

“No, I’m not. Why are you calling?” Carmen asked through clenched teeth.

“My granddaughter graduates on Saturday. I’ve sent a card to her father to give or send to her when she has an address. I want her to know that. Since Eli won’t be there to tell her, I want you to do so,” Barbara said. “I never particularly did like you, but I like this new woman even less. She’s mean to me.”

“Oh?” Carmen asked. “So you’ve met Kate?”

“Yes, and that unruly son of hers, too. My son is brilliant until it comes to his choice of women,” Barbara snapped.

“And she’s mean to you how?” Carmen pushed on even though she didn’t really care how the new daughter-in-law treated her own ex-mother-in-law.

“She took my precious Eli off to another state. At least when he was married to you, he was within a day’s drive. And when I told them they weren’t sharing a bed in my house until they were married, she laughed at me and said they’d just go to a hotel then. They did just that and left that brat of hers here with me,” she said. “They thought I should get to know my new grandson. He’s no kin of mine, and I don’t care if Eli adopts him or not, I’m not ever going to claim him.”

Tootsie came in from her bedroom and asked, “Everything all right?”

“Eli’s mother,” she mouthed.

“Tell her to go to hell,” Tootsie said.

“Who’s that talking? Are you at the hotel? Is that the man who’s going to pay for your favors?”

“I’ll tell Natalie that her father needs her new address. Goodbye, Barbara, and good luck with Kate. Maybe he’ll let you pick out his third wife and you’ll like her.”

“You’ve never been mean before. Why now?” Barbara snapped.

“Guess your son divorcing me for another woman and sleeping with me when she was already pregnant brought out my bad side. Have a great day.” Carmen ended the call and put her phone on the table. “I don’t want to talk to her if she calls back, so if my phone rings in the next few days, please don’t answer it for me. I really need that walk right now. I don’t suppose there’s any wood to split around here, is there?”

Tootsie chuckled. “Not that I know of. Let’s go. We’ll just have to walk off the anger.”