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“They’re all men?”
“Well, no. Sometimes they’re women, but the word has stuck from when it was all men.”
Tyler thought about that for a minute, something she’d learned a long time ago to respect. She had no idea where her son’s patience to stop and consider things came from, but she’d rather that than her impetuous, rush-into-stupidity gene she’d worked hard to squash for over a decade.
“That’s stupid,” was what he finally came up with.
“That’s my boy.” She gave him a wide grin. “So, the summon?”
“Yeah, town council meeting tonight to discuss the sleigh fiasco.”
“Great, just what we need. All the chefs and their understudies in the kitchen.”
“I think they also want to do some Captain Jack shaming.”
“You mean Ms. Angie shaming.”
“You know, if it were possible to shame that woman, I’d be all for it.” Cam flashed her a grin. “But I’m pretty sure nothing short of walking naked through the parade would do it.”
“Mom, you should bring a sign.”
She glanced at Tyler. “Why’s that, hon?”
“Because they do that on the internet. Dog shaming. Like they take a picture of him looking sad that saysI ate Mom’s favorite shoes. And then he won’t do it anymore.”
The adults shared a glance, both wondering if there was any reason to discuss the whole dogs-can’t-read thing right now. Vivian shook her head with a laugh and figured, what the heck?
“A dog drove a sleigh today, so why not?”
Sign shaming it was.
“Sure.” Cam flashed Tyler a grin. “You got a sign on you, buddy?”
Tyler’s eyes narrowed and Vivian saw one of the few things that reminded her of Ty’s dad. He used to get that very determined look before a game back in high school.
“I could make one.”
“Okay, why don’t you go grab your sign-making stuff.”
She watched as Tyler rushed out of the room on his mission, pretty sure that wasn’t just a casual move on Cam’s part.
“So…” She walked her plate to the sink. “How much time do I have?” she asked before Cam could get sidetracked like he had this morning with his weird deals and surprise I love yous.
Cam glanced at his watch andshegot distracted by his forearms. The man had lean, strong arms. The kind that weren’t obvious, but stretched out with such grace when he was working with the machines in his studio that any woman would stop to drool—er, stare at.
He was, to her way of thinking, built just right.
Which was one more reason she tried to stay away from him as much as possible. She wasn’t looking for a man, no matter how he was put together.
“Just enough time for you to get everything you need, for someone to make a sign, and for me to pop some popcorn.”
“Do you really think that’s the best idea?”
“I’ve had better for sure. But I’ve absolutely also had worse. And honestly, these meetings are better than going over to the drive-in. You hustle up and get your stuff together. I’ll take care of the snacks.”
“Yeah, the snacks in my cupboard.” She didn’t fight too hard since there was no way Tyler would make it through the meeting without a complaint or two of being starved to death. She left it at that and went to change into more appropriate leave-the-house clothing.
She also needed to make sure they were on the same pageat leastin a professional capacity. No need to walk into the lion’s den unprepared, she thought as she changed.
