Prior to going to prison, I'd lived in New York my whole life and never had an issue with the sounds of the city, including traffic; however, the cacophony of honking horns awakens me at far too early an hour. I glance at the alarm clock not surprised to see it's before dawn. I roll over, flinging an arm over Piper's naked torso, inching closer, and burying my face in the crook of her neck. A smile graces my lips at her familiar honeysuckle scent.

After a nightcap at the hotel bar, we made it to our room, quickly undressed and crashed before having sex—a rarity when we come to our trips to Manhattan. One thing we both appreciate about hotel sex is that we don't have to keep the volume down. Piper takes that to heart often making me chuckle in the throes of passion when she's excessively vocal. Out of respect for Ms. Mabel, we try to keep things tame at home. We've taken to boisterous Sunday morning sex while she's at church—the irony isn't lost on either of us.

I fall back asleep only to be woken two hours later to Piper fighting with the coffee maker.

"Do you think banging on it is going to help?"

"The pod is stuck." She tips the machine on its side and water comes spewing out. "Fuck!"

"Call room service." I bury my head in the pillow. "We deserve a proper cup of coffee."

"I hate Keurigs." She goes into the bathroom, returning with a hand towel to wipe up the mess. "I'm going to request a regular coffee maker next time we're here."

Piper knows no bounds when it comes to asking for what she wants and often getting it. It brings a lazy smile to my face.

She glances my way. "I drank too much last night."

I roll over, finding my eyeglasses on the nightstand. "If you ask me, you didn't drink enough."

She gives me a puzzled look.

"We normally have sex the first night we're here."

That response doesn't seem to stimulate her, so she returns her attention to the Keurig. "I was drunk and tired. Weren't you?"

"I'm never too tired for sex," I comment, though I've proven on more than one occasion that's not true.

She gives me a look that underscores that notion.

I pat the spot next to me. "Maybe we can make up for it now."

"Not until I have a cup of coffee." She inserts another pod into the top portion of the machine.

I extend my arm and pick up the phone, hitting 0 on the keypad. "Hi, we'd like a vanilla latte and a cappuccino with an extra shot of espresso."

"Anything else?"

An evil thought enters my mind. "Maybe some strawberries…and whipped cream."

"Have you ever done this?" Piper asked, looking down at me with a worried brow.

"Eaten a woman and a strawberry simultaneously?"

She nodded.

"No."

"What if it gets stuck?"

I positioned myself between her legs and held my hand out for the red berry. "It won't." I scooped a tablespoon of fresh whipped cream and plopped it just below her belly button, then situated the strawberry at her opening.

"I was on the verge of cumming a minute ago," she complains. "I don't know if I can…Ohmygod…"

I nibbled on her clit. "You don't know if you can what?"

She tossed her head back. "Nevermind."

What I said was true—I'd never eaten a strawberry and a woman at the same time, but if that night was any indication of how decadent it would be, it certainly wouldn't be my last attempt at a double dose of pleasure.

At first, she reluctantly humored me by allowing me to recreate that scene from more than 15 years ago, but once my mouth landed on her center, she vowed to never doubt my sexual exploits again. Piper gets out of bed and announces she's going to take a shower. We have a showing with our realtor in an hour and at the speed we're going, it's likely we're going to be a little late.

I lie on my back and scan my e-mail on my iPhone. "What the fuck is this?"

She looks up from digging in her suitcase.

"I got an e-mail from a bank in Bali." I skim the correspondence, then read, "Due to inactivity, we are prepared to close your account unless you make a deposit or withdrawal within the next 60 days."

She steps closer. "What account?"

"The offshore account I told you about." I glance her way. "The one you never believed existed."

"Does it?"

"Yeah," I chuckle. "I wouldn't have made something like that up."

"How much do you have in it?" Piper asks.

"I think about $30,000…maybe $40,000." I scratch my head. "It's been a long time."

Her eyebrows climb. "You have $30,000 stashed away in an illegal bank account?"

"The account is perfectly legal." I prop myself on one elbow. "It's just that the feds don't know it exists."

She bends a knee and props it on the mattress. "Would it cause suspicion if you withdrew the money now?"

"I don't see why it would." I attempt to login to the account, but I don't remember the password. "I'm not under house arrest or probation and no one is monitoring my bank accounts that I'm aware of."

"I guess you're right."

I grin. "Want to make a trip to where it all began?"

She crawls more fully onto the bed. "Without being an accomplice to a drug cartel?"

I place a hand on her hip and lean in for a kiss. "Yeah."

"Bali, here we come."

Scratch that—we will be extremely late for our appointment with the realtor.

We all but run up the steps of the Subway stop as I glance at my watch to see we're 15 minutes behind schedule. I blame Piper—she's the one who straddled my face in bed. What was I supposed to do—make her go away? Never.

"Hi, Pam. Sorry we're late," I say as we approach the brownstone. "We had an unavoidable delay this morning."

"It's fine, but I only have 20 minutes to show you this place." We take the stairs to the second floor. "This is a 1,600 square foot, two bedroom, 1.5 bath apartment that underwent a year-long floor to ceiling renovation down to the studs. I understand two offers have already been drawn up."

We enter the remodeled apartment, and I know Piper's going to fall in love with the heart of pine floors and the high ceilings with triple crown molding.

"Wow," she mutters. "Look at this ladder."

There's a white painted ladder on a railing that would be useful to reach stuff in the tall cabinets.

"The couple put in these built-in cabinets with the ladder for extra storage," the realtor says.

"I'm not wild about the open concept plan." The living room and kitchen are indistinguishable. "You can basically flip an egg while sitting at the table."

"It is kind of small," Piper replies. "And I'm not a fan of the gold accents."

"Here's your half-bath on the left." Pam walks down the narrow hallway. "The master bedroom is quite spacious. It also has a big window that opens to get that cross breeze."

"No air conditioner?" I ask.

"I'm afraid not," she responds. "But you could always buy one of those portable window units."

We look around the space for another few minutes before Pam announces she has to meet another client downtown.

"If you want to draw something up, we should talk later this evening."

"Can we still see the unit in Turtle Bay tomorrow morning?"

"Oh, that's right." Pam steps out of the elevator. "Yes, let's look at that one—I think we said 9:30 tomorrow. We can talk about both units then."

I wave. "Sounds good, thanks."

She disappears down the sidewalk.

"What did you think?"

Piper takes my hand. "I loved the updated appliances, the crown molding and the floors, but what was with all that gold?"

"The master bath was garish," I comment. "Who renovates a bathroom to make it look like it's straight out of a mafia movie?"

She turns the corner. "It's out of our price range anyway."

"With two pending offers, it's probably going to go for over asking." I stop in front of a café. "Interested in an early lunch?"

"Sure." She walks into the restaurant. "Table for two, please."

"Right this way." The hostess seats us at a table near the window.

"I texted Cal to see if he'd be up for a visit this afternoon."

Piper has seen her brother and his family three times over the last year while we've been in New York. I've yet to meet him in person for no other reason than having other plans or needing to work from the hotel room. From what Piper has shared, Cal and Neri have no problem with our relationship, so it's probably high time I meet them.

"Did he text you back?"

She scrolls through her messages. "Looks like they're free as of four o'clock. Want to meet my brother today?"

"Yeah, I guess." I raise my shoulders. "But I'm not great with kids."

"Goodall is four-years-old now," Piper mentions. "She's much easier and more fun to be around than when she was a fussy baby. You should've seen me when I had to take care of her."

I smile. "That bad, huh?"

We discuss Goodall and Piper's brother and sister-in-law over ham and cheese crepes, then return to our conversation about real estate.

"I've been thinking." I take the last bite. "What if we listed our place on VRBO or Airbnb?"

"You mean when we're not staying in it?"

I nod. "That could give us some extra income, maybe even increasing our budget a little."

"You're right." She takes a sip of water. "I'll do some digging to see how the whole vacation rental thing works."

"Perfect."

We walk around the City hand-in-hand and take in the sights around us. I've always been drawn to the hustle and bustle of Manhattan and its stunning architecture and endless variety of dining options. However, Columbus has grown on me in ways I never imagined. I couldn't live without a break from suburbia, but I've come to appreciate the Midwestern vibe. Coming to New York once a month has been the perfect solution to breaking up the monotony.

Instead of meeting Cal at his house, we opt for meeting in a park close to their house. It's a little chilly today, but the sun is shining brightly. As long as Goodall is bundled up, she'll be fine.

"Cal, Neri, hi!" I stick up my hand, then crouch down. "Hi, Goodall!"

"Aunt Piper!" She runs over to me, holding out some sort of green thing. "We're making flower necklaces."

"It's beautiful. Can I help make one?"

She nods vigorously. "Uh huh!"

I stand fully, then gesture to my wife. "This is Alex."

"Whoa." Cal gulps and drags his eyes up and down her body. "I've seen pictures, but…"

Neri gives him a look. "But what?"

He high fives me. "You fucking scored, Pipes."

I glance at Alex who appears to be trying to hide a smirk. I eventually got used to people gawking at her when we traveled together, but it's been a while since I've seen someone react like this to how beautiful she is. Well, my mom mentioned Alex's beauty last night, but that wasn't in her presence.

"It's nice to meet you both." She waves. "I've heard nothing but good things."

"I wish I could say the same, but you know…" Neri stretches out her hand, shaking Alex's. "Not that I'll ever will judge you. You served time, started your own business and have never stopped loving my sister-in-law. That's a win in my book."

"Thank you." Alex turns to my brother. "I heard about your little 'snow day' adventure when Piper was on parole."

He cracks open a La Croix and hands it to her. "She told you about that?"

"Yeah." She grins. "Not the best idea, but I understand the need for a break from the hamster wheel, you know?"

"Exactly." He taps his can against hers.

For the next 30 minutes, I play with Goodall while Alex chats with Cal and Neri. I look over at them several times, and they seem to be getting along well. There are a few moments of laughter and a couple times when Alex seems to be paying close attention to something Neri is saying.

It's not that I doubted how Alex would fit in with my brother and his family, but she's never expressed any interest in meeting them. Or has the issue this whole time been that I never invited her? Now that we've gotten that part out of the way, I wonder if she'll be open to spending more time with them when we're in New York.

I glance up at the skyscrapers lining Bryant Park and the blue sky above them, thinking about how much I miss this place. Columbus has been a wonderful city to come into my own, to go to law school, and to begin my career, but I'm not sure if I want to stay there forever. Maybe moving back to the City sooner rather than later would be good for us, especially seeing as how Alex has now met all of my family members except Danny. I'd love to be a bigger part of Goodall's life, especially as she gets older and knows how to reason. I wouldn't mind babysitting occasionally to give Cal and Neri a break I know they need.

Then I think of my partnership with Jabari and the inroads we're making with prison reform. But do I have to be in Columbus five days a week to continue that work? The lease on our office space is up in a year; maybe we could discuss what it would look like to operate remotely. With his extended paternity leave a few months ago, Jabari has already proven he can work remotely. Perhaps I can, too.

There's no getting around considering Ms. Mabel and what she would do without our support. If it weren't for Alex convincing her to get a walker, she might have broken a hip by now. Her friend, Bernice, has glaucoma and can't drive anymore, so she relies on us to take her almost everywhere.

My niece disturbs my musings. "Will you push me really high on the swing?"

"Yeah." I dust off my butt. "Aunt Alex and I have to go soon though."

She runs to the swing set. "Where are you going?"

"Back to our hotel so we can clean up before dinner."

Goodall hops onto the swing. "My mommy makes me wash my hands before we eat."

"That's great personal hygiene." I give her a small push.

"What's hygiene?"

"It's when we wash our hands and generally stay clean so we don't get sick."

"Higher!" she giggles.

I give her another shove as I watch my wife throw her head back with laughter, thrilled but not surprised she's hit it off with Cal and Neri.

Author's Note: I realize this was a short chapter—sorry about that. Looks like two more chapters after this one to wrap it up. I'm glad many of you are still enjoying this universe. I'm working on another story now that might be the angstiest piece I've ever written. If it doesn't fall into that category, it's definitely the angstiest story I've written in at least three years. Thanks for the reviews!