Someone was already moving around the kitchen by the time Haley got there, which surprised her. As she stepped onto the polished wood of the floor, she prayed that it was not Nathan's father. She knew she wouldn't be able to deal with him peaceably until she'd at least had a cup of coffee.

The smiling face that met her made her so relieved that for a moment she thought she would collapse. "Good morning, Haley."

"Deb, what are you doing up so early? This is your vacation," Haley pointed out, smiling back and going around the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. "Can't you sleep?"

The blonde woman made a face and said softly, almost teasingly, "Don't worry about the room, Haley. It's lovely and I was fine all night but now Dan's snoring and it was like having a lawnmower in bed with me."

Haley chuckled, envisioning Dan Scott laying on his back, mouth hanging open, expelling horrible noises that resembled something like that of a foghorn. It was a good thing that was one of the many traits Nathan hadn't inherited from his father, or else he'd be spending a lot of time sleeping on the couch.

Well, when she was around to be offended by the racket, anyway. "If it would help, we could put you in the other guestroom," Haley offered, stifling what she thought could be mean-spirited laughter.

"Don't joke. I might take you up on that," Deb laughed, taking a seat at one of the stools by the counter.

"It wouldn't bother me, but you have to be the one to explain the change," Haley replied easily. "I can't see myself walking up to Dan and saying that we separated you two on account of his unmanageable noise-making."

"I don't know about that. You seem to handle Dan pretty well on your own."

Haley shrugged her shoulders. It was true that she'd gotten better in her time with Nathan at controlling her anger and putting Dan in his place, but she never looked forward to their verbal sparring. "Sometimes Nathan stands up for himself—for us—and sometimes I can tell he wants to but he's just too tired of fighting. I know it may come off as rude and I'm sorry for that but when Nate won't, I say what's needed."

"I don't think it's rude at all." She did stand up for Nathan in front of Dan, Deb knew that firsthand. When she did it, she was protective and obviously very much in love. Deb studied Haley's face carefully and decided to ask about something that she'd been wondering about since she arrived. "You're really good for him, you know, Haley. You give him strength when his dad gets on his case too much. I wish I could stop Dan from going to far but… you know how he is."

"You're his wife, Deb, not his keeper. You can't blame yourself for what he does."

"I know. I just want you to know I appreciate what you do for Nate and that I think you're wonderful for each other." She bit her lip before slipping in, "How are you two doing? It seemed last night that maybe things were a little… tense."

Haley paused, turning at the counter so Deb wouldn't be able to see her face. So Deb realized that something was wrong… Haley had almost known she would. Nathan underestimated how intuitive and attentive his mom was. It must have been a guy thing. "We're fine. I guess just a little on edge. Both of us have been working a lot lately," Haley lied carefully, hating it every moment. She liked Deb. She didn't want to lie to her.

She also didn't have a choice.

Deb was looking at Haley curiously, but she stayed quiet and instead nodded understandingly. Something was wrong, and for some reason Haley didn't want to tell her what it was. Well, that was her right. Eventually things would become clear. They always did.

Haley started breakfast, chatting idly with Deb about nothing important—nothing that would make either of them uncomfortable. When it was almost time to eat, Haley pounded on her bedroom door to wake up Nathan, knowing that his morning routine took a while to complete, and Deb went to see if she could rouse Dan from his dreamland.

When the women returned, they decided that it would be fun to go shopping for the day and just take it easy because Dan and Deb were still a little tired from the trip. After the food had been placed on plates to serve, Haley told Deb she had to check on Nathan and excused herself from the room. The lies she'd told grated on her nerves and she needed a few minutes to herself to think.

"Nate, I think we have a prob—jeez, do you suddenly have an aversion to wearing clothes?" She lowered her eyes to the floor, concentrating on the clean, wet feet rather than the naked chest and barely covered waist. It was weird, to feel awkward seeing her husband in a towel when she'd seen him in less innumerable times before, but she felt uneasy all the same. They were separated. She wasn't supposed to want to see him nude. Right? Right.

But still, she couldn't help but sneak another peek at the tanned, smooth skin glistening from his shower. Yeah, now she remembered why she had always been spellbound by the man.

Her eyes were on him just long enough to catch the amused twinkle in his eyes as he raked one of their large white towels over his head. "You never complained before."

Haley cocked her head to the side as she looked at him, pushing aside the weirdness she'd initially felt. His bareness didn't seem to bother him in the slightest, whereas if that were her, she would've already screamed and hightailed it back to the bathroom. But, she reasoned silently to herself, he'd always been infinitely more comfortable with his body than she'd been with hers. "You really are something else, you know that?"

"Don't tell me what. I think you'd break my heart."

She had to stop herself from cringing. She had hoped to break his heart once—hoped that by moving out, she would knock some sense into him. It didn't seem to have done her any good. "Give me a break. Nothing breaks your heart unless you let it, and you're not the kind of guy to let anything do that," she commented. She turned and headed for the door with a backward glance over her shoulder, calling, "Get some clothes on. Breakfast's ready and then we're going shopping."

He groaned at the prospect of spending a day following his mother and wife around while they oohed and ahhed at various things they wanted to admire but not buy. "Do we have to?"

"Yes."

"But—"

"No arguing. Just put your cute little butt in some pants and get into the dining room. I'm not entertaining your parents alone again. If you're not out in five minutes, I'll toss up my hands and run out of the house screaming."

She walked out of the room, leaving him with that pleasant image in his head.