Mind Games

He watched her as he stood on his back porch with a sleeping boy over his shoulder.

* * *

“What kind of a kiss?” Maddy demanded answers as she watched Thea try out different moves for a fight scene. “I mean, was it a good-night-neighbor sort of peck, or an mmm-mmm-baby kiss?”

“Between.” Thea swung into a back kick. “Leaning toward good-night-neighbor.” She fell back, blocked an imaginary blow, and tried a straight jab. “That’s not working.”

She paused, hands on hips of workout shorts, closed her eyes. “Roundhouse, better.”

“Are you going to follow up?”

“With a jump kick, I think.”

“The kiss, girl.”

“He’s got a kid to think of, Maddy, a boy who lost his mother. And I don’t know if she and Ty were together when she died like that, or how long ago it happened. His life after Code Red’s not just a closed book, it’s padlocked.”

“Not to you.” Maddy waved a hand in the air. “I know, I know. Your willpower defeats me. Tell me this. Do you want to follow up?”

Giving up on the choreography, Thea sat on the porch steps with Maddy. “I’m saying this not as the teenager with a crush, but as me right now. Oh yeah, I do. I really like who he is. Kind, caring, funny, private. I like the way he puts Bray first, and not like it’s duty. Because it’s love. But.”

Shaking her head, she laughed. “Singing with him like that. The saturated romance of that song, sunset, all of it. Well, she’s still in there, that girl, and she was starstruck.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I don’t know that there is anything wrong with it. It just is.”

Reaching over, Maddy gave Thea’s braid a tug. “Have you been sleeping okay?”

“Yes, don’t worry about that, Dr. McKinnon. I’m pretty sure I scared the bastard off.”

“Pretty brilliant, using a game. Mind game—get it?”

“Ha. It was a stupid risk, but I was so pissed. And it worked, so I’ll say worth it. I’ve got to work out this fight. It’s key.”

“I’ll let you get back to your brutality. I just came by because I’d dropped off Lucas and Rolan to play with Braydon.”

“You what?”

“Will’s boy Lucas is just five, Gracie’s Rolan’ll be five in a couple months. Bray needs some pals.”

“You just dumped them down there?”

“What do you take me for?”

“Madrigal McKinnon, steamroller.”

Lips pursed, Maddy nodded. “I’m not ashamed of that title. But I asked first.”

Thea shoulder-bumped her. “And who says no to you?”

“Hardly anybody. And the hardly doesn’t last long. Now we’ll see how he handles three preschoolers for a couple hours. Marta’s picking them up later. I can’t believe she and Will are having another. Anyway, I took an hour off to perform my good deed, and I have to get back.”

She rose, stretched. “And Sunday, just FYI, I’m moving in with Arlo.”

“What?” Thea jumped up. “You didn’t lead with that? You’re really doing it. You said maybe in the fall.”

“So I upped the schedule. I had to cave sometime. That man is quietly relentless.”