“Mines!” Patsy shouts, pointing at Tim. He goes to her, rumples her scanty hair.“See, hot Alice? Even the very young feel the pull of my magnetism. It’s like an irresistible urge, a force like gravity, or—”“Poop!”

“You could have mentioned that this kid never sleeps,” Tim calls from the living room. We go in to find him slumped in the easy chair next to the pulled-out sofa bed. Andy’s sprawled out on the bed, long tan legs in a V, George gathered in her arms. Duff, still in his clothes, lies across the bottom, Harry curled in a ball on the pillow under Andy’s outstretched leg. Safety, as much as could be found, must have lain in numbers.Patsy’s fingering Tim’s nose and pulling on his bottom lip, her eyes wide-blue open.“Sorry, man,” Jase says. “She’s usually good to go at bedtime.”“Do you have any idea how many times I’ve read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie to this kid? That is one fucked-up story. How is that a book for babies?”Jase laughs. “I thought it was about babysitting.”“Hell no, it’s addiction. That friggin’ mouse is never satisfied. You give him one thing, he wants something else, and then he asks for more and on and on and on. Fucked up. Patsy liked it, though. Fifty thousand times.” Tim yawns, and Patsy snuggles more comfortably onto his chest, grabbing a handful of shirt. “So what’s doin’?”We tell him what we know—nothing—then put the baby in her crib. She glowers, angry and bewildered for a moment, then grabs her five pacifiers, closes her eyes with a look of fierce concentration, and falls very deeply asleep.”

“But Ma, I have the power to save her!"-TIM”

“Your ma's dating?" Tim looks shocked. "I thought she pretty much confined herself to a vibrator and the shower nozzle since your dad screwed her over.”

“I never felt with her the way I feel whenever I even catch sight of you.”

“Shhhh." He pulls on my lower lip gently with his teeth, then fits his mouth to mine. First so careful, and then so deep and deliberate, that I can't think of anything at all but his smooth back under my hands.”

“There’s an opening at Mom’s campaign,” I say. “She needs all the help she can getnow that she’s totally distracted by Clay Tucker.”“Who the hell’s Clay Tucker?”“The…” Nan lowers her voice, even though all she says is: “…younger manSamantha’s mother’s dating.”“Your ma’s dating?” Tim looks shocked. “I thought she pretty much confined herselfto a vibrator and the shower nozzle since your dad screwed her over.”