Joe never slept well when Naomi stayed over at her Auntie Rachel's. He would have been embarrassed to admit it, but even though the girl was thirteen and quite able to enjoy time with her friend and her cool aunt without his hovering, he still thought of her as the shy tot clinging to his pant leg when he'd reunited with Rachel and Al a few years back, and his fierce protective instinct kicked in whenever he became aware she was not in her own room past her bedtime. 

Aside from the time he'd been laid up in hospital for a few nights after being beaten nearly to death over a year ago, he never spent a night away from his family, and until Naomi had gotten the enthusiasm for staying over Auntie Rachel's place, neither had his children, and her empty room was like a hole in his heart. He trusted Al and Rachel with his life, and he still credited Rachel with saving his life after that beating, and he knew they were good foster parents to Logan and Emma, but when it came to his own children, no one but their mom and dad would do, and if anything happened to either of them, he didn't know how he would go on.

He woke Sunday morning groggy and disoriented, and didn't feel the need to rise early, and when Lauren grumbled next to him that she needed five more minutes, he didn't try to rouse her and let himself stay in bed. Luckily, Tosh had acquired the enthusiasm for sleeping in on the weekend not too long ago, so he didn't bother them asking for breakfast.

When he finally felt ready to face the day, he checked his phone on the nightstand and saw a text from Joanie.

Tonight?

He sighed. He was feeling sandy-eyed and grouchy, and not in the mood for love even if his wife begged him for it. He'd been perfectly happy with what they'd done yesterday and didn't feel the need for more today. Joanie, to his dismay, wanted him all the time, a thrilling prospect when they'd first started seeing each other, but now he felt like he couldn't keep up. Worse, she was asking for more evenings with him since she'd gotten a promotion and had more Sunday nights free. 

He couldn't start cancelling more man-cave evenings with Johnny or he would start suspecting something was up and, honestly, he didn't have the energy for more encounters with her. He sometimes felt he was nothing more than her stress release for a week's worth of bullshit from her job and her mostly male coworkers, many of whom, she confessed, resented her position in the force and suggested quite openly that she'd slept her way there. It was why she wanted a relationship with someone who wasn't a police officer. Joe wasn't sure this was a relationship, though, and he felt like he was doing her a disservice by calling it one. To his surprise, she seemed perfectly happy keeping things as they were; she was rarely home, and she didn't have the emotional room for a full-time partner in life. She enjoyed the time she did have with him and never asked for more than he was willing to give or, rather, than Lauren was willing to let him give.

He knew he would have to tell Lauren about this text even if he didn't see Joanie tonight. Complete transparency was what was keeping their marriage going while remaining cracked open for Joanie. Lauren had her own affair with Rachel, and had offered this arrangement to allow them both to follow their bliss while remaining married to each other.

He was about to text Joanie that he would get back to her later when his phone started ringing. He was surprised to see that it was Rachel calling. Why was she calling him, and so early in the morning? Oh, shit, what if something had happened to Naomi?

He answered quickly. "Rachel? Everything okay?"

"Actually, no."

His heart seemed to stop in his chest, and he peeked down at Lauren, who was mercifully still asleep. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I don't suppose you might have heard from Logan?"

"Logan?" Now he was puzzled. "So, Naomi's okay?"

"Oh, yeah, she's fine. Emma's worried, though, and we are, too. Logan went out last night and hasn't come home. "

Fuck. This was what he had to look forward to when Naomi got older. "I haven't heard from him," he said. "I don't think he even has my number."

"Okay," she said, sighing. "That's kind of what I thought, but I had to check around before I contacted the authorities."

"Did you try looking for him?"

"Al did, late last night, but gave up after a couple of hours. Logan didn't tell us where he was going, and I'm worried something bad happened to him."

He thought furiously for a moment. "Why don't I call Tilly and see if the two of them might have exchanged numbers? They got chummy on Friday, so it's just possible the two of them hung out."

"That's a great idea, Joe. Thank you."

"I'll call back if I get any leads from Tilly."

"Thank you. In the meantime, we'll wait on tenterhooks."

He hung up and looked down at Lauren. He thought maybe it was time he woke her up. A boy was missing, and Rachel needed her friends to help.

"Babe?" he said, gently shaking her.

"Mmmm?"

"Babe, can you wake up?"

"Five more minutes," she slurred. "Need more sleep."

He shook her again. "Come on, babe, Rachel needs our help."

Her eyes snapped open. "What's wrong with Rachel?"

"Not her. Logan went out last night and didn't come home."

She blinked a few times as she tried to process that. "Fuck. What the hell?"

"I know. I'm going to call Tilly just in case the two might have called each other."

She smiled mischievously. "Waking him up early on a Sunday morning. That will make him happy."

"The boy needs to get ready for church anyway."

"Like he goes to church."

"I need to bring the kids to church, actually. Oh, that reminds me, Joanie wants to commit adultery with me this evening."

"I like how you did that, the irony in that sentence was delicious."

"I thought you'd like it."

"Do you actually confess to it when you do your confession thing?"

"I do, as a matter of fact."

"And the fact that you're a repeat customer, that doesn't diminish the sincerity of your contrition, or whatever?"

Joe shrugged. He didn't have a good answer for that.

"Didn't you just see her last Sunday?" Lauren asked. "Won't Johnny be suspicious?"

"That's kind of what I was thinking. And now this situation. It unsettles me, and I think I need to be here and not there today."

She smiled sleepily at him. "You mean you'd be willing to give up sex with your mistress to help your friends look for their foster kid?"

Joe shrugged. "He kind of grew on me on Friday. I don't want anything bad to happen to him. I want him to work on Monday."

She leaned in and kissed him. "This is why I love you and let you see her. Your priorities are in order. She'll just have to fuck herself, literally, tonight."

He burst out laughing. "She'll be disappointed."

"She'll get over it."

He texted back, Tonight I can't, so sorry. My bro will be suspicious if I cancel too many man-cave sessions in a row. Also, my friends' foster kid is missing, and I want to help look for him.

Next, he called Tilly. The phone went right to voice mail. The lazy bastard probably had his phone off while he slept.

"Tilly, it's your zio. Hey, by any chance did you and Logan swap digits? He didn't come home last night, and we're wondering if he might have called you, or hung out with you last night. Call me back when you get this message."

When he hung up, he saw Lauren getting dressed. "Should I pick up Naomi, then, and take Tosh, and then we can go to church?"

She was in her tank top and boxer shorts, which for some reason looked incredibly sexy on her, and he fought the stir in his own boxers. No time for that right now. She threw them off so casually, though, and her naked body was so beautiful, especially the tattoo of cherry blossoms on her back, that he lost the battle, and Lauren noticed immediately and smirked. "You know, I don't think you should be talking about church when you have morning wood."

That settled him in a hurry. "You're right."

She thought about it as she dressed simply in Lululemon pants and t-shirt. "I guess you could," she said, "but I feel like I should go too and offer some help."

"I can drop you off there and pick you up after."

She brightened at that. "Perfect! See, you have good ideas too."

Joe frowned. "I'm sorry, was that ever in question?"

She burst out laughing.  

He got dressed as she roused Tosh and got breakfast. Just as he was about to head downstairs, though, his phone buzzed with another text.

It was Joanie again.

So sorry to hear your friends' foster kid is missing. Want help finding him?

Thanks for reading this far! If you read the second novel in the series, you'll know Joanie's tenure as Joe's mistress only began near the end of the novel, and she hadn't interacted much with the LSDC besides the one time they were together on the side of the highway looking for Joe's phone, and a couple of phone conversations with Lauren. In this novel, Joanie's going to be a much bigger presence, with mixed results, as you'll see. If you liked what you just read, click "Vote" and leave a comment. Now let's return to when Joe first met Lauren by clicking "Continue reading."