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Iowa. As he gazed at her, the word seemed to hang between them like a particularly alluring sex toy. She remembered the box of condoms she’d slipped back into the pharmacy to buy because she couldn’t figure out how to ask Mat if he had any. Another new experience.
“Oh, goody . . .” Lucy muttered. “I get to throw around a freakin’ Frisbee.”
“Take these.” Nealy shoved a bag of food at her.
“You are sooo rude.”
“I know. And I like it.”
Mat smiled, then banged his elbow into a cupboard as he retrieved some soft drinks from the refrigerator. The motor home was too small for him, but he didn’t complain about it. She suspected he was accustomed to things being too small for him.
She swallowed hard, quickly handed over Button, and forced her one-track mind away from sex to contemplate her food choices. Would everyone like turkey sandwiches? She’d made them with Swiss cheese, but Lucy’d probably rather have American. The tortellini salad might be too exotic, and the precut baby carrots too plain. The chocolate cupcakes with panda faces had looked cute in the store, but both Mat and Lucy had stared at them when she’d taken them out of the sack. At least Button should like her special surprises.
The irony of fretting over a simple meal like this in light of all the elaborate White House social functions she’d overseen didn’t escape her. But this was so much more personal.
“Where do you want everything?” Mat asked as they stepped out into the midday sunshine beating down on the small park.
She pointed out a picnic table set in some shade not far from the playground, then smiled to herself as she thought about putting out Dixie plates instead of Lady Bird Johnson’s wildflower china. Lucy gazed toward the far edge of the parking lot where three teenage boys were cutting back and forth on their skateboards.
“Go watch while I set out the food.”
“Why should I watch a bunch of losers like that?”
“Because, if you’re lucky, one of them will break his leg, and then you can laugh at him.”
Lucy smiled. “You’re such a loser, Nell.”
“I know.” Impulsively, Nealy reached out to hug her. Lucy’s entire body went rigid, and Nealy immediately backed away. Lucy rubbed her arm and wandered off, not moving toward the boys, but not exactly moving away from them, either.
Mat set the baby in the grass, then popped a root beer. “What were the two of you talking about this morning?”
She frowned as Button started to prowl, but she knew if she mentioned anything about dirt, bugs, or dogs he’d ignore her. “Mainly whether or not Lucy should get her navel pierced.”
“Over my dead body.”
He sounded very much like a father. She began putting out the food. “I told her I definitely thought she should.”
“Why’d you tell her that?”
“Because a navel’s better than a nose or eyebrow. Besides, anything I’m in favor of she’ll automatically reject. Then we discussed whether I should get my ears done.”
“Your ears are already done.” He touched the small hole in her left lobe, lingering longer than he had to.
She cleared her throat. “According to Lucy, one pierce doesn’t count, and I should get another one in each ear.”
“You’re going to start wearing two earrings in each ear?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
He got the strangest expression on his face. It almost seemed like relief. “Maybe you’re not such a blue blood after all.”
She put out the carrots, and he started to sit down on the bench, only to have Button pull herself back up on him. He glanced toward a sandbox sitting a few yards away. “Come on, Demon.”
“The sand box? No, Mat. She’s too young. She’ll eat it.”
“After a bite or two, she’ll stop.” He hoisted the baby in his arms, tossed her once into the air, and carried her toward the sandbox, where two little boys were already playing.
“She’ll get dirty,” Nealy called out. “And sunburned.”
