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Nothing right now, she thought, but no doubt she planned something.
When she heard a car coming, she told Yoda to sit. “No running toward the truck. I think Mookie’s back. Sit, sit, sit,” she insisted, as when they both spotted Trey’s truck, Yoda popped up. “You just wait, just wait, and go!”
While the dogs greeted each other, the Gold Room window slammed three times. Nothing flew out, but Sonya kept an eye on it.
“You just missed your mother.”
“Passed her on her way down. So, she’s in.”
“She is.” He had a look in his eyes, she realized, and a hard set to his jaw. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Just work. Can’t actually talk about it.”
But clearly it troubled him, she thought. That something in his eyes, something caught between mad and sad.
“If you want to put this off—”
“No. No, I could use the break.” He chin-nodded toward the window. “Has she been acting up?”
“Just now. Nothing much.”
Turning their backs on the window, they walked around the side of the house and toward the mudroom.
“Your mother gave me some really solid input.”
“Yeah, about that, the baseball thing. I was thinking you might want to use a kid.”
She offered him a guileless smile. “Are you worried you can’t catch a line drive?”
“I can catch a damn line drive. I played second right through Little League and into high school.”
“Second.” Holding on to guileless, she opened the mudroom door. “I would have thought first given those long arms and legs.”
“Manny played first, Owen played short. But—”
“Oh, so it was Poole to Doyle to…”
“Garcia. We made our share of double plays. But a kid—”
“I want to use kids for basketball, and your mom suggested using another, with Mom or Dad holding on to the back of a bike. Just lost the training wheels sort of thing. Speaking of Owen, is he coming today?”
“He should be here pretty soon.”
“Let’s make a deal.” She finished wiping paws, then cupped Trey’s face. “If, after your mother takes the shots, you honestly don’t like yours, I’ll think of something else.”
“I strongly dislike that’s fair.”
“Good. Now, where would you like to start?”
“Why don’t we head up, work our way down?”
She hung the vest and scarf on the mudroom hooks.
“We should wait for Owen…” Both dogs barked and took off toward the front of the house. “And I think the wait’s over.”
The minute she opened the door, Jones strutted in. He accepted the greetings, sniffed at Sonya’s shoes, and appeared to approve.
“Thanks for doing this, Owen.”
