Page 70 of Mended Hearts

Poking his belly, I grinned. “Not sneaky enough, Bucko!”

“You win, you win, you win,” he whined, still squirming.

I hugged him tight as we made our way to the parking lot. “You have fun?”

“So much! Dat one red kid, he was suuuper funny and had awesome Spiderman sooz. An’ he like to play hide and seek. But he’s not as good as you or Mattie.”

“No?”

“No. But maybe jus’ cause he’s red.”

I laughed, ruffling his hair. “You mean his hoodie was red?”

“Yeah.”

“Not the best color to disappear in.”

“No. He needs cammo.”

“Cammo, huh?”

“Yeah. Makes us extra sneaky.”

“Excellent, excellent. What’d you guys play after hide and seek?”

“Mmmm, tag. But he didn’t like the funny guy.”

“Funny guy?” I asked, quirking a brow as I unlocked my Jeep and plopped him into his seat.

“Yeah. Real funny. His face was all fuzzy.”

A chill ghosted down my spine. Straightening, I scanned the parking lot. Empty. Still. Too quiet.

“Like… bearded? Like Uncle Maverick?”

“Fuzzier,” he said matter-of-factly, still totally oblivious to the way my stomach just bottomed out.

What grown-ass man had been talking to Beau?

And how the hell hadn’t I seen him? I hadn’t taken my eyes off him for more than thirty seconds at a time.

Keeping my tone even, I asked, “What didn’t the red kid like about him?”

“He jus’ kept talkin’ to us.”

“Talking to you?”

“Yeah.”

“What about?” I asked, tightening his seatbelt.

“Askin’ about my sister. Then he said somethin’ about crazy uncles, and I tol’ him my Unca Grey is a hero. He had lots of questions ’bout that. Red kid got bored, I think.”

“What kind of questions, sweet potato?” I asked as I climbed into the driver’s seat, quickly locking the doors.

“I dunno.”

“What was he wearing?”

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