"Mama, look! Goose likes Maverick's ball too!" Jilly hollered from the fence-line of Amanda's backyard, holding Maverick's favorite blue ball high above her head as the two dogs sat in front of her, noses high, tails flopping excitedly back and forth.

River smiled as Jilly threw the ball and let out a high pitched giggle as the took off after it, and Jilly after them, red superhero cape she'd insisted on wearing trailing behind her majestically. Jilly picked up the ball again and threw it, except this time Maverick intercepted and knocked the ball straight into the yard behind the chainlink fence.

"Oh man!" Jilly cried out and immediately started climbing. If the child could learn to fly she would. No fear.

"Jillian Marie, don't you dare climb into someone else's yard," River warned, rising from her seat.

The screen door slid open. "Oh, it's okay. Jackson won't mind." Amanda walked out, holding a pitcher of lemonade and three cups stacked together.

River whirled, surprised. "Jackson? As in...?"

Amanda nodded. "Thee very one." She set the glasses down and started filling them, then glanced up at her. "Why?"

She blinked. "You didn't tell me you lived so close to him that's all." She looked at the tall green house, looming, three stories high, atop the incline in the long yard. "You don't think he would mind having her go into his yard?"

"No, why would he? I'm surprised the kids aren't outside playing actually." She poured another glass and set it down on the glass tabletop.

Of course. Kids. He had mentioned he had a daughter. Her eyes went to the bicycles parked next to the deck, and the swing that hung from the huge cottonwood, a bright yellow scarf tied halfway up the rope. She wondered if it had been tied there before or after it was hung. It all seemed oddly domestic; a scene that she never thought she'd associate with someone who had been so full of unkindness. The backdoor opened and two boys with light blonde hair piled out, the smaller one whooping as he jumped off the top step of the deck into the yard. They were followed quickly by a little girl in a sundress, long creamy blonde curls bouncing wildly as she ran to catch up with the other two.

"Hi, Ms. Wixon!" the little girl waved as she ran up to the fence. Still perched at the top, Jilly looked back at River, reluctant hope hanging on her face as she waited for the word.

"Hi, Stella!" Amanda called back.

"Okay, go ahead," River said to Jilly, who beamed and climbed the rest of the way over. She watched as Stella and Jilly exchanged greetings and then Stella took hold of Jilly's hand and led her into the yard. River's heart warmed at the sweet, friendly gesture. She wondered where Stella had learned such gentle kindness. Jilly looked back at River and smiled widely.

"Aww, see aren't they cute?" Amanda sighed and plopped down into a chair, taking a sip from her glass.

River sat down as well. Cute indeed. There was no doubting who the boys's father was with that hair. Jackson had that same shock of white-blonde hair when he was young. It had warmed with age. Apparently he had too?

"Still trying to work it out?" Amanda asked, corner of her mouth quirked up, amused.

River rubbed her arm, and picked up her glass. "Work what out?" she asked innocently, taking a long sip of the cool drink.

"How the biggest asshole in Kansas ended up with a yard full of kids." Amanda smiled and propped her legs up on another chair, crossing them at the ankles. "A lot has changed since you left, Riv. Jackson's turned into quite a catch." She winked.

She shot Amanda a look and rolled her eyes. Then she realized, "Quite a catch, does that mean he's not married?"

"Oh he was. He married Naomi," she said, lifting her brows pointedly.

River let out a snort. "Now there's a match made in heaven. So where is she?"

"She's gone. She's been gone since Stella was a baby. Jackson's mom moved in not long after and helps out." Amanda drew her legs back and sat up, leaning forward against the table. "After Naomi had their oldest, JJ, he's eleven, Jackson really turned it around. Got a couple of jobs, bought that place... aside from random fights down at The Angel, he's managed to keep his nose clean. And even those are few and far between anymore."

"Huh." River sat back in her seat, watching the kids romp around together in the yard. "I can't imagine Jackson and Naomi changing their ways."

"Jackson did. Not Naomi," Amanda clarified, shaking her head.

"Is that why she's gone?"

"She tried, I guess, if you don't count the half dozen times she'd disappear without a word for a couple weeks at a time. But even when she wasn't using you could always tell she was unhappy. We'd hear her yell. Nothing Jackson ever did was good enough."

"We?" River asked inquisitively.

Amanda bowed her head and wiped at the wet ring her glass had left on the table. "I was married. For about two years." She dried her hand on her shorts and looked back up, forcing a smile. "It didn't work out."

Noting this might not be the time to touch on that subject, River logged it into her growing list of things to discuss with her best friend.

Jaw set, Amanda looked across the yard. "I remember not long after Rich and I bought this place, she had been off on one of her benders. Jamie was just a baby, so that would have made JJ around three. Anyway, we were sitting right here after dinner one night when this beat up piece of shit car pulled into the driveway and she climbed out, laughing like a lunatic, barely any clothes on. Jackson opened the back door. She looked straight at him, marched around to the driver's side of the car, leaned in and stuck her tongue down the guy's throat." Something lit deep down in her eyes but faded quickly and she let out a laugh. "I swear I was just waiting for Jackson to jump off that deck and rip the guy's head off. But he didn't. He just stood there with his arms crossed, watching. She stood back up and smiled, but then when she realized he wasn't gonna do anything, she went nuts. Ran up on the deck and screamed at him. Punched him square in the jaw. He didn't move a muscle. She ended up hysterical, fell into his arms and he ushered her inside like a wounded animal. Made me sick." Her face twisted at the memory and she leaned back. "Anyway, he's held it together for those kids. I had Jamie in my class last year. They're a pretty special bunch."

The boys were kicking a big ball back and forth while Stella pushed Jilly on the treeswing, little-girl giggles floating across the air. Movement on the deck caught her eye. Jackson was leaning on the rail watching the kids play, white t-shirt setting off tanned arms. Smoke billowed from a grill on the deck behind him and the scent of charcoal filled the air. As if he felt her watching, he looked up and caught her gaze. Raising a hand, he smiled at her warmly. Inanely, she raised her hand back then lowered it slowly into her lap.

Catching Amanda's pointed grin out of the corner of her eye, she popped a daisy off it's stem from the pot on the table and tossed it at her playfully.

"So," Amanda started, plucking the daisy off her shirt and sitting it down in front of her. "Jackson's gone nice guy, I was married... your turn." Her face turned somber. "Where were you all those years River?"