He had barely had time to blinkbefore James had hit the ground as a naked Black woman. He might haveeven thought she looked attractive, if he wasn't t...o freaked out to thinkabout it.He should have felt lucky that he had been able to run from that alleyway. He should have felt lucky that he'd gotten away. But hedidn't...somehow, he had the feeling that he hadn't gotten away, that hewas still going to be punished. Ahead, he saw the sun rising, reflectingoff the buildings. He barely noticed as the. Uh, idiot.”“Yes. And there is very little any of us can do about that at this point. For now, just see Emmy at school and hope that Lenny relaxes a bit about it.”“You know there isn’t much chance of that,” I said.“His wife might be able to get him to calm down a bit,” Mom said. “Just give it a bit of time.”“For Liz’s sake, I hope so,” I said.“Did you hear from April again?” Mom asked.“No. I don’t expect to. Unless she shows up at Holy Transfiguration asking to be chrismated, I don’t think it’s. It had been only two hours since he'd left the bedroom but he still acted like he hadn't seen her in a week. Regan felt a surge of affection push down her disappointment until it disappeared and only the affection remained. She cuddled up closer to him with her head on his shoulder.Almost immediately, a piece of cantaloupe appeared at her lips that Andy had brought to her mouth."Kiss first," she said, tilting her head backward to give him access. He complied instantly."Gross," Joy said, adding. I raised her chin with two fingers so that I could look her in the eyes."Are you alright, Ellie," I asked."I'm sorry," she mumbled almost teary eyed, "I'm scared. It hurt so much when me an' Jolene did it with the cucumber."I embraced her and caressed her back for a minute or two while she sniffled against my shoulder.Then I leaned back and said softly, "Ellie, I meant it when I told you that you don't have to do anything unless you want to. We can just snuggle together and sleep if that's all.