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“Okay.” He still opened his door and got out while Beth turned off the SUV and made sure she had everything she needed for the next few hours. Hand sanitizer, Chapstick, wallet, sunglasses, tissues. She carried everything in pocket sizes in her purse, because she liked using the smallest bag possible.
She got out too, pleased with TJ as he waited by the front tire. “Good boy,” she said, taking his hand with her good one. “Oh, wait. Will you help Mommy and lock the car?” She nudged her purse closer to him with her hip. “The keys are right in that front pocket, baby.”
TJ pulled them out and looked at the fob. “The one with the lock, right, Momma?”
“Yep. Just push it once.”
He did, and the SUV honked at them. “Ooh, that was loud,” he said, sticking the keys back in the pocket. He put his hand back in hers, and a rush of love filled Beth. She hoped he’d want to hold her hand while they crossed the parking lot for many years to come.
Kait, Hugh’s wife, stood from the bench where she’d been sitting with her four-year-old. Lucas got to his feet too, but she put her hand on his chest to keep him up on the sidewalk as Beth and TJ approached.
“Where’s Hugh?” Beth asked, leaning in and giving Kait a quick hug. “Look at Tawny.” She wanted to pick up the baby and breathe in the soft, powdery, pink smell of her. “She’s adorable. Where did you get that hat?”
The six-month-old wore a soft-looking hat that had the perfect shade of Winnie-the-Pooh yellow on the top, with a pale pink band. Tawny was still bald, and Beth didn’t mind that one bit. She loved stroking the baby’s petal-soft skin and holding her close to her heart.
“My mother sent it with us,” Kait said, smiling down at her daughter. “Hugh went to get ice cream bars.”
“I want an ice cream bar,” Lucas complained, and Kait gave him a sharp look.
“Daddy’s bringing you one.” She looked at TJ too and crouched down in front of him. “And one for you too, little man. Give me a hug.”
TJ grinned at his aunt Kait and threw himself into her arms. She giggled with him and listened with wide, interested eyes as he started telling her about the kittens under the woodpile, the dogs Kait knew all about, and then something about a horse named Thunder.
Kait said all the right things at all the right times, and Beth marveled at her. She’d taught preschool before marrying Hugh, though, so she did possess a special love for small children and the ability to relate to them.
“I heard your mommy is dating a man,” Kait said. “Do you know what that means?”
“No,” TJ said, looking up at Beth with wide eyes.
Kait tugged on his shirt, straightening it for him while she reached for Lucas to keep him close to her. There were quite a few people at the mall today, and she was especially concerned about her son wandering off. Lucas did tend to do that, and Beth wondered if that wandering gene came from her and Hugh.
“It means she’s going on dates with him,” Kait said. “And she likes him like I like Uncle Hugh. She might even kiss him, and he might be able to marry her and be her husband. Then he’ll live with you and your mom and be kind of like your dad.”
Way too much information, Beth thought, her heart pounding hard at the thought of all of that happening any time soon. All of it was happening soon, though. Absolutely all of it, and Trey would be in her farmhouse, “kind of” like TJ’s dad in less than two weeks.
She swallowed and looked around, needing an escape.
“Who will do that?” TJ said. “I have a friend who could do it.”
“Yeah?” Kait asked just as Beth spotted Sally coming toward them. “Who is it?”
“His name’s Trey,” TJ said. “He lives next door, and he lets me help him on the ranch. Thunder is his horse.”
Beth whipped her attention from her sister and her youngest child walking down the sidewalk back to her son. “You’ve been over working with Trey?”
TJ looked up at her with wide, baleful eyes. “He said I could.”
“ButIdidn’t say you could.” Beth’s blood started to boil.
“Yes, you did,” TJ said. “The other day when he brought me home. Then you gave me all those fruit rings and you and Trey sat at the table. When he left, he asked if it was okay if he let me work with him when I go to the ranch, and you said yes.”
Beth blinked at him. “What day was that?”
“I don’t know,” TJ said. “I had art at school, and then Trey let me feed the chickens and water the goats, and I led Thunder to his stall.”
Kait straightened, her eyes laughing. “Sounds like you said yes.”
“Art is on Wednesdays,” Beth said. “Trey did bring him home that evening and said he’d let him go around with him. I guess I don’t remember him asking if he could do it again.”
