Author's note: I'm very sorry it has taken me so long to post this chapter. Several personal issues prevented me from writing this past week but they are now largely under control. This chapter was not beta read so I alone am responsible for any mistakes it may contain.

Amanda was hurriedly setting her own dinner table less then six hours after she and Dotty had reached an understanding of sorts in the community center kitchen. Lee had smoothly excused himself so that the two ladies could talk privately; to Amanda's surprise the conversation had helped them to mend fences. They realized that while they had both acted out of a mother's instinct to protect her child they had actually done more harm than good.

She had put out four place settings as she always did, but this evening the fourth diner at the table would be Joe not Dotty. I must have been crazy to invite Joe to dinner so soon after last night's fiasco. Can a brief private conversation with him really help put us on track to successfully resolving all the issues we didn't deal with when we got divorced? As Amanda leaned into the refrigerator to gather the ingredients for salad, she was startled by Joe's voice coming from behind her.

"Hello, Amanda, thanks for giving our family dinner a second chance."

"How did you get in here," demanded Amanda as she struggled not to drop the head of lettuce that she'd been reaching for. She took a deep breath and then turned to face Joe. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude but no one else is home so how did you get into the house?"

"I used my key; you did invite me to join you all for dinner. Why are you the only one home…this is supposed to be a do-over of last night's New Year's celebration?"

"No, Joe, this is not a do-over. What happened last night should never have happened, I made a huge mistake, we're here to talk now so that it doesn't happen again." Amanda put the salad ingredients on the counter and gestured for Joe to sit down at the table. They sat opposite each other and Amanda chewed her lower lip as she looked at Joe.

"Amanda, I tried to warn you about him… you don't have to tell me the details…I'm just sorry he hurt you."

"Lee didn't hurt me. We had a wonderful late supper and breakfast this morning was even better." Off the shocked expression on Joe's face Amanda continued, "I told you when you first came back that I'd moved on with my life and I don't want to go back. I thought that we should move forward with our separate lives and leave the past in the past; I was wrong."

"You've always confused me," Joe groused, while rubbing the bare spot on his left hand where he'd worn his wedding band for months after their divorce was finalized. "First you rebuff my attempt at reconciliation, and then you spend all your spare time with the boys and me as though we're a family again-"

"I can explain-"

"You can try to explain when I'm finished. You led me to believe that you were considering giving us another chance, then you threw your affair with Stetson in my face and now you invited me to a 'family dinner'. What am I supposed to think," Joe challenged hotly.

"I'm sorry, you're right, I have been sending out a lot of mixed signals. I didn't intend to hurt you or Lee but that's exactly what I did," Amanda confessed with her head hung.

"You'll have to pardon me if I don't feel any sympathy for the man who stole my wife." Joe pushed away from the table and began to stand up.

"Sit back down; it's my turn now." Amanda squared her shoulders and looked at him with a deceptively calm expression on her face. "Lee didn't steal your wife; I met him after our divorce. You lost your claim on me when you walked out on me and our sons…my feelings and more importantly their needs have never been your priority…your professional ambitions have always come first. I doubt that you'd be here now if your dream job hadn't turned into a nightmare."

"You aren't being fair…I've made some mistakes but I've always done what I thought was best for everyone concerned…that's a huge responsibility," he defended smugly.

"Who asked you to take on that responsibility alone? A marriage is supposed to be a partnership; a husband and wife should make decisions together. A good marriage involves compromises and a willingness to consider the other partner's feelings. We agreed that we wanted children before we got married; I wouldn't have married you if I'd known that you were capable of walking away from our family. Now that Phillip and Jamie are older they need a man in their lives even more then they did when they were little."

"Do you think that your new lover is going to want to have anything to do with the boys? He doesn't come across as the white picket fence type." Joe's observations about Lee were interrupted by the boys barreling through the backdoor.

"Hi, Mom, the movie ran late," Phillip called as he closed the door loudly. "Did we get back in time to see Lee?"

Joe jumped from his chair and hissed at Amanda, "You introduced my sons to your…boyfriend."

"Why shouldn't she," Jamie asked innocently, as he poked his head out from behind his brother.