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Shannon jerks a thumb toward the kids. “Evan. Maddie. They’ve been threatening mutiny if I didn’t let them meet Locke.”

“Mom,” Maddie says.

Locke stands. “Hello.”

Whatever either teenager had prepared to say disappears. Evan manages, “Hi,” and Maddie follows a second later. Then Locke asks what’s in the bag Evan is carrying, which gets everyone moving again.

Shannon gives Tom a look that doesn’t trouble him in the slightest, then heads along the side of the cottage toward the kitchen door with the groceries. Evan and Maddie help carry everything in while Shannon gives me the latest condensed version of what Hollis Springs is saying about Locke. The best thing about their visit is that it isn’t an emergency meeting. Within ten minutes, Evan is explaining school to Locke while Maddie asks about the bear, and neither of them is treating him like an event.

A few minutes later, I carry my iced tea to the front screen door and find Locke and Tom crouched over the loose floorboard with a drill between them.

Shannon comes up behind me. “You’re doing the thing.”

“What thing?”

“The thing where you pretend you’re interested in home repair.”

“I am interested in home repair.”

She follows my line of sight toward Locke crouched beside Tom. “You’re interested in something.”

I nearly inhale iced tea. “I am not checking out his ass.”

Shannon stops moving, and I realize my mistake before her expression changes. I have handed her exactly the sentence she wanted.

There’s no recovering from it.

“I didn’t say you were.” Her mock innocence is Oscar-worthy.

“I know.”

“You brought up his ass all by yourself.”

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

I turn back toward the porch before she can make this worse.

Tom has finished with the loose board and is dusting his hands on his jeans while Locke tests the repair one last time. There’s an ease between them now that wasn’t there when they first met. Tom doesn’t hover, and Locke doesn’t look to him for approval. They worked on something together and finished it.

Shannon steps past me and goes out onto the porch. “Are either of you planning to come inside and eat the food I brought?”

Tom starts to answer, but Shannon stops in front of him and raises her eyebrows. He catches her around the waist and kisses her.

It isn’t a dramatic kiss. That may be what makes me watch. Shannon melts into it, and when Tom lets her go and she turns toward the house, he gives her a quick pat on the butt.

“Behave,” she tells him over her shoulder.

Tom doesn’t look particularly chastened. “You liked it.”

Shannon says, “That is entirely beside the point,” as she comes through the front door.

I look past her at Locke.

He watches them with the focused concentration he gives anything he’s trying to understand. He doesn’t look shocked, only curious. For a moment, his gaze stays on Shannon before moving to Tom.

Tom catches him. “What?”