I was about to say something, but Brian spoke first.

“You don’t say who the kids see, Angie.”

She swung on him. “I do.”

“I get where you were,” Brian replied. “But you see where I am. Regardless, in all that, I’m always their dad and we make decisions together about our kids. Or I make decisions on my own when one of them isn’t in a good place and you aren’t seeing to her.”

“So you’re their dad now, hunh? You weren’t their dad when you walked out on us, leaving me on my own to raise two kids,” Angelica stated.

“I didn’t walk out, you kicked me out.”

“You gave me no choice.”

“And you weren’t raising them alone, Angelica.”

“Might as well have been.”

Brian flinched, even though, maybe sister prejudice, I thought that was way not fair.

He might have been drunk during some of it (okay, maybe a lot of it), but he was all over having them when it was his time to have them and he made certain Angelica was covered in a lot of ways, financially and with family to take her back.

He recovered and said carefully, “I wasn’t just talking about me. And we both know you weren’t raising them alone, Ang. Far from it.”

Now that was totally true.

Angelica, being Angelica, wasn’t about to cede the point.

So she didn’t.

She said, “Well, we wouldn’t have needed them if you hadn’t left us before you actually left us.”

“I hear that but let’s not revise history, okay?” Brian asked.

I worried that neither of them realized Jethro was right there.

Angelica proved she didn’t care as she launched right back in and tried another tack.

“You gave up the right to be their dad when you picked the bottle over your kids,” she declared.

“I’m not making that choice now.”

She hooted then asked, “So I’m supposed to believe you’re all better?”

“It doesn’t matter what you believe. What matters right now is where Portia is at,” Brian retorted.

“Maybe you guys can take this somewhere else and me and Boone can take the kids out for ice cream,” I suggested.

She swung back to me. “You aren’t taking my children anywhere.” Her eyes went beyond me, her face paled, and they came back to me, narrowed and vicious. “You fucking bitch.”

Boone got closer to me.

I turned to see what brought that on and saw Angelica’s mom, Brenda, bearing down on us.

“Jethro, baby, go in the house,” Brenda called.

“Yeah, Jethro, go in the house,” Angelica added.

“He’s not gonna go in the house ’cause Jethro doesn’t do anything Mom tells him to do ’cause Mom’s not our mom.”

All eyes went to the walkway, where Portia’s voice was coming from.

And I took a step back, or half of one, hitting Boone.

Oh my God.

Oh shit.

Oh God.

I started trembling, in summer, under the Denver sun.

Full-on shakes.

Boone’s arm wrapped around my chest from the back.

And that was a good call because someone was about to cut a bitch.

“Oh my God,” Brenda whispered.

“Portia, take your brother and go into the house,” Angelica demanded.

“No,” she replied. “Auntie Ryn is here, finally, and I’m going with Auntie Ryn.” She looked to me. “I’m gonna live with you. Me and Jethro are gonna live with you. If Dad can’t take us ’cause he’s tryin’ to get better, we should get to live with our real mom.”

Angelica’s body moved like she’d taken a blow.

I quickly recovered from what should not have been a surprise—just how much Portia had taken in with all this fucked-up mess—stepped away from Boone, but mostly Angelica, and put my arms out low and to the sides.

“Come here, honey, I’ve missed you. Come give your aunt a hug,” I urged.

“No,” she replied. “I’m gonna go pack.”

On that, her thinner-than-thin body turned, her not-as-healthy hair swinging out, and she’d started moving up the walk, when Angelica called out, “I’m your momma, baby girl.”

Portia whirled.

“Yeah?” she asked sarcastically. “You are? Really?”

“Yeah. Really,” Angelica said in small voice.

“You’re all mad at Dad ’cause he’s drinking. And you’re all mad at Auntie Ryn ’cause…” she shook her head, “I don’t know why. And you’re all mad at Nanna ’cause she won’t help out anymore. And you’re all mad at Gramme ’cause she’s all in your business. And you’re all mad at me ’cause I’m a bad kid. Only one I see in all that you aren’t mad at is you for bein’ a bad mommy.”

“You should mind better, Portia,” Angelica told her.

“You should be a better mom, Mom.” She looked past her mother to me. “Can I live with you?”

“No,” Brian said, moving to her. “But you can live with me.” He reached in, grabbed Jethro’s hand and finished, “Let’s go get you packed.”

“Brian, you are not taking my children,” Angelica warned.

He turned on her, and calmly stated, “I am, Ang. I’ll tell you straight up, I’m not at a place where that’s good right now, but you’re at a place where they’re better off with me. And that messes me up, my part in that, and that they got two parents who are so colossally screwed up. And it messes me up more, you don’t see your part in that. Where I’m also at is a place where I know my damage right now, so if I mess up again, I’ll call Mom,” he jerked his head, I looked that way, and saw I hadn’t noticed Mom had joined us, “or Ryn or Brenda. But, babe, until you get your shit together, the kids are with me.”

He barely finished that before Portia took his hand, tugged, and demanded, “Let’s go, Daddy.”

Brian gave Angelica a gutted look that had the effect of gutting me.

Then he let his daughter drag him up the walkway, Jethro trailing behind.

“You are not taking those kids from my house!” Angelica shrieked and made a move as if to follow them.

She got nowhere.

Brenda was in front of her.

“I swear by the great God Almighty, you stop that man, you’ll never see me again,” she threatened.

“Mom—” Angelica started on a whine.

“Shutyourmouth,” Brenda said so sharp and so fast, it was all one word. “Did you not notice the state of my granddaughter?”

“I’m going to help Brian,” Mom said softly, hustling up the walk.

Angelica did not answer her mother.

She turned to me before I could follow Mom, face twisted with rage.

It was so bad, Boone actually moved to get in front of me.

“This is all on you!” she screamed.

But Brenda turned her back around with a vicious wrench of her arm and pointed a finger in her face.

“It’s on you.” She dropped her hand. “By God, where did I go wrong with you?”

“I don’t know the big fucking deal,” Angelica snapped. “She’s just throwing a tantrum.”