Mind Games

“I think that does the job, right there.”

“I’d offer to make dinner, but that feels more like punishment than reward. How about I take everybody out to dinner?”

“Oh, I appreciate that, Tyler.” Behind Thea’s back, Lucy took Rem’s hand and squeezed. “But Rem and I, we’ve got a little business to work on over dinner tonight.”

“Yeah, right. But I’m in for a serious rain check on that.”

“Come on, drive your grammie home. We’ve got animals to feed. And you?” She crouched, crooked a finger at Bray. “You come see me again real soon.”

“Bring my trucks.”

Ty watched his son throw his arms around Lucy’s neck.

She hugged him back, then rose to kiss Ty’s cheek. “You’ve got a bright little jewel there, Tyler.”

“I know. I— He’s careful who he hugs like that.”

She just smiled. “Grammies are easy to hug. Take me home, Rem.”

When they walked around to Rem’s truck, Ty turned to Thea. “Are you up for dinner?”

“I did hear something about pizza before.” She nodded at Bray, currently heading up to slide yet again. “But you might have a hard time breaking him away from his new boy palace.”

“Pizza would do it.”

“Then give me about thirty minutes to feed Bunk and the chickens, clean up a bit. I’m in for pizza. Come on, Bunk.”

The pizza bribe worked well enough, with the added incentive of a promised nighttime swing, for Ty to cart Bray into the shower with him for a quick cleanup.

When he drove up to Thea’s, she came straight out. She’d changed into long pants and a shirt and looked as fresh as if she’d spent the whole day sitting in the shade reading a novel and sipping her amazing lemonade.

As she slid into the passenger seat, she filled the car with the scent of female. Subtle and intriguing.

And made him wonder when he’d last driven anywhere with a woman who wasn’t related to him.

She shifted to look at Bray in his car seat.

“What kind of pizza do you like?”

“I like pizza.”

“Me, too.”

“I like pepperoni.”

“Me, too! This bodes very well.”

“Sometimes Daddy gets vegbles on it.” He made an ick face.

“You know, Grammie does that sometimes, too. I just don’t understand it. What’s better than pepperoni pizza?”

“That’s not helping.”

She shrugged at Ty. “True facts matter. Did you have a good time at Grammie’s?”

“I petted the cows and the goat. Doggies chased sticks. She had trucks! We played trucks.”

“Rem’s trucks. I see you have a truck with you.”