Mad About You

again." She felt herself begin to choke up, but she fought it and held on. "But I know you'd rather be with your father, and because I want you to be happy, I've decided that you should move to Shenoway and live with Bailey."
    For a few seconds he said nothing. Then he asked, "Tomorrow?"
    Her heart sank lower. She was hoping to have a few more days with him. "If that's what you want," she said softly. "You can call your dad later and the two of you can decide on a day."
    "Are you coming too?" he asked, his dark brow furrowed.
    "No."
    "But Bailey wants you to live with us, doesn't he?"
    She shook her head and chose her words carefully. "Grownups are funny. I think Bailey talked about us all living together because he thought it was the only way he could be with you. Does that make sense?"
    He shrugged. "I guess." After a few seconds he began to squirm in his seat. "Can I take this to my room?"
    "It's heavy, I'll help you."
    Together they carried it to his bedroom and set in on a shelf. "It looks nice," he said. "My mom—I mean Lois—would really like it."
    Virginia smiled. "I'm glad." She squeezed his shoulder, then glanced at her watch. "Are you going to call Bailey?"
    Chad frowned slightly. "I'll call him later. Can I go to the park and skateboard—by myself?"
    She started to shake her head no, then remembered her promise to stop being so overprotective. "I think that'll be okay if you promise to be careful."
    He nodded. "I promise."
    She ruffled his hair. "Okay, but be home before dinner."
    She walked downstairs, then heard him gallop down several minutes later. "Bye," she yelled from the kitchen, but she was drowned out by the slam of the front door. Five minutes later the phone rang. Bailey again. Sighing, Virginia picked it up. "Hello?"
    "Hi, Ginny, it's Bailey."
    "Chad just left to go to the park."
    "That's okay, because I called to talk to you."
    "Bailey," she said calmly, "I've been doing a lot of thinking, and you were right—you and Chad were both right—he belongs with you. I've decided to let him come live with you at Shenoway."
    After a few seconds of silence he asked, "Why don't I have a good feeling about this?"
    "Relax," she said quickly, "I've already told him and he's very excited."
    "Ginny—"
    "If he's agreeable, I'd like to see him at least a couple of times a week, but we can work out the details later."
    "Ginny, we need to talk about us."
    She couldn't think of a statement that wasn't provocative, so she simply said, "Okay."
    "I get the distinct feeling that you didn't believe me when I said I wanted all of us to live together in the house. I asked Chad not to tell you because I wanted to ask you in private."
    "Look, Bailey," she said carefully, "you don't have to take the package deal. I appreciate you being nice to me—"
    "Being nice to you?"
    "—but I'm not putting conditions on Chad living with you."
    "You think I made love to you so you'd let Chad move in with me?"
    "I wouldn't have used those exact words," she said.
    "I'm coming over right now," he growled.
    Frowning at the dial tone, she replaced the handset and took a deep breath. A confrontation was inevitable, but she'd be calm and collected. Once Bailey had custody of Chad, he'd eventually feel free to drop the boyfriend act, then perhaps they could be friends. Until then, she'd be as cordial as possible, for Chad's sake.
    A few minutes later, Virginia heard the sound of Bailey's car door slamming. He rang the doorbell twice, then started knocking before she could walk the length of the hall. When she opened the door, she swallowed her surprise at his work clothes—a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a loosened silk tie. His face was anger-flushed as he stepped into the entryway.
    She closed the door and turned to face him, carefully keeping her face impassive. For several seconds they simply looked at each other, Bailey's breathing becoming more and more erratic. He put his hands on his hips and glared at her.
    "I assume you have something to say," she prompted softly.
    "I'm so angry right now," he seethed, "I don't trust myself to talk."
    "Angry at me?" she asked calmly.
    "Angry at you, angry at myself," he said, raising his hands. She could see his big fingers were trembling.
    "Do you want to sit down?"
    "No!" he barked. "I don't want to sit down. I want you to tell me you don't love me, dammit!"
    She blinked. "Excuse me?"
    "If you expect me to walk out this door and never come back, you have to tell me you don't