Page 39 of Beckon

“Sorry, Constance. I meant no disrespect.” Chandler recovered but stayed where he was for another breath or two. He usually greeted her mother with a kiss to the cheek, and well, it would be awkward if he did that after what his lips had done to her.

Constance was the first to recover. She swept past Tami, coming up next to Chandler. “I know exactly what youmeant.” Her mother’s voice was all teasing and not scolding. “And since you’re so intent onstarting something, why not make it the grill?” She patted him on the shoulder as she swept past them like she hadn’t almost witnessed something no mother should see.

“Harold, come. Let’s take Chester out back to play, and keep an eye on these two.”

They filed out of the slider. “I’m sorry, angel. But only for getting caught. Not for anything else, just so we’re clear.” Chandler gave her a quick kiss. Wholly unlike the previous one. “Here, Bandit.” He placed a bottle in her hand. “I’ll go distract Chester so you can start the mission.”

Chandler gave her a wink and disappeared through the slider, closing only the screen. She could hear their laughter through the house, and she smiled. She hummed theMission Impossiblemusic to herself as she made her way to the bathroom. After retrieving the jacket, she tucked it under her shirt. Peeking around every corner before entering the area, she hummed louder and louder.

When she passed the screen, she spied Chandler at the grill, watching the rest of the family. They sat in the yard while Chester played. Everyone was far enough away that only Chandler could hear her.

Pulling the jacket from under her shirt, she backed against the adjoining wall and slid closer to the screen. She hummed even louder, and added a “Dun, dun, dun, dun, dunalla.” Chandler turned her way, and she waved the jacket at him, before tucking it back under her shirt. She started whistling and walking away likenothing to see here.

Chandler’s deep, rich laughter followed her all the way to the laundry room. She tossed the jacket into the washer, but not before bringing it to her nose. It still smelled faintly of Chandler, mixed with the scent that was all little boy. Her little boy… and her mom’s weeks-old red sauce.

Once the washer was started, she spritzed a spot of Chandler’s cologne on a scent-free dryer sheet to give it time to weaken before tossing it in the dryer. She couldn’t stop herself from smelling that too. It was just so masculine and all Chandler.

Before heading outside, she snuck to her room and spritzed her pillow with it too. It felt a little silly, like a schoolgirl infatuation but she didn’t care. Tami had always marched to the beat of her own drummer, why would she join the crowd now?

When she slipped out of the slider screen, she caught Chandler unaware. He’d put the meat on the grill, but his focus was on Chester climbing into his fort before leaping down. No doubt on repeat. When she wound her arms around his back, she felt him sag into her embrace. “There you are, Bandit. I thought you took your superspy skills on the road.”

With her cheek pressed into his back, she felt the rumble of his voice vibrating through her body. Chandler’s arms wrapped around hers, securing her to him and they stayed like that for a while. Suspended in time.

It felt natural, intimate. With a heavy sigh, she untangled herself. “I’ll grab the sides; it looks like the meat’s done.”

She made her way to the counter where her mother had them ready to go. Tami’s mom appeared behind her in the kitchen. She wrapped her arms around Tami before kissing the side of her head. “My heart is just so full.” She beamed while grabbing some bowls and walking back out. Tami watched her mother setting the outside table and turning back inside for a second trip.

Tami knew exactly what she meant. Hers was too. It almost seemed too easy, too perfect. Harold, Chandler, just everything. In Tami’s experience, things were only this good for a fleeting moment. Something would eventually come along and bring it all crashing down.

She must’ve spoken the latter aloud like she tended to do, because her mother’s hand landed on her shoulder. “Honey, don’t pay interest in worry by borrowing trouble. Things are as they should be and if they last, they last, and if they don’t, well, at least you got to have it for a little while. Don’t ruin the time you do have it.” She followed her mother’s gaze to the grill where Chandler was removing their dinner to a platter. “By obsessing over a time, you might not have it. Enjoy it, no matter how long it lasts.”

It was that type of advice from her mother that helped pull her up from the lowest of the lows before. She had learned to look back with happiness instead of regret. Now she had to do the same looking forward.

“Let’s eat.” Her voice rose above the laughter of her son, and he jumped from the bottom of the slide and barreled toward the table.

About halfway through their meal, Tami excused herself to get another drink. She darted to the laundry room. After getting the jacket and dryer sheet into the dryer, she refilled her glass with tea and returned. The only person who even really noticed how long it took her to get a refill was Chandler. He gave her knee a little squeeze under the table.

The meal continued on with Chester chattering away between bites. Once the food was all done and the conversation lagged, Tami’s mom cleared the dishes. Tami meant to help but Harold jumped up instead.

Chester announced he was going in to get Grandma and Gumpy to give him the stuff for s’mores, just as she’d known he would.

“Ew, gross.”

Tami met her son at the screen at his pronouncement, expecting a centipede or dead spider. Instead, she saw what her son declared gross. It was her mom and Harold, almost mimicking her and Chandler’s position earlier.

Tami stepped just inside the screen. “Ahem. I don’t think that is what the kitchen is for, you two. At least not now. I’m in charge of s’mores, so take that elsewhere.”

Her mother laughed when Tami threw her words back at her. “Come on, Chester, let’s get the sweet stuff while Grandma and Gumpy grab the skewers for the marshmallows.”

They returned back outside and started skewering their marshmallows. Chester announcing, “I like mine burned.”

“Hey, Smoky. Can you help your buddy here burn a marshmallow, I need to excuse myself for a few minutes?”

“Sure.” He dropped a quick kiss on her lips before turning to Chester. “I’m a master at s’mores. The s’mores master if you will. Some might even call me the smaster.” Tami listened to her son’s laughter.

“No one calls you that,” Chester protested. “But why did Mom call you Smoky? Is that your nickname? Why?”

When her son started rapidly firing questions at Chandler, she knew she’d have no trouble getting the jacket back to the bathroom where she’d bid him to leave it.

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