“Thank you.”
Thomas looked rather tired. “How was your evening?” Perhaps that might explain it.
“Late night, but a good one. I won at poker, fifty bucks,” he said rather proudly. “I don’t think I’ve won that big since 1998.”
Mack froze with a fork of food halfway to her mouth. “You serious?”
“Sure am. I think Lucas here is my good luck charm.”
“My granny and gramps play strip poker. Is that what you played?”
Dean couldn’t help himself and roared with laughter, which in turn had everyone else laughing, except for Lucas.
“What’s so funny?” Lucas asked, baffled. He looked at the adults as though they’d lost their minds.
“Your granny and gramps playing strip poker, and no, that wasn’t what I played,” Thomas managed to reply.
“But why is that funny? Granny says—”
“Lucas, that’s enough. Your breakfast will be going cold.” Heaven knew what Lucas was about to say. Mack wasn’t waiting to find out.
Lucas, not wanting to be hushed, carried on, “Auntie Mack, I was only going to say that Granny said she wasn’t embarrassed about her body or her droopy boobs at her age. She also said that if Mommy didn’t stop having her boobs made bigger, they’d pop, and then Daddy wouldn’t have anything to hold onto.” He paused to catch his breath. “What does that mean, Auntie Mack?”
Both Dean and Thomas made a quick exit outside. She could hear Dean laughing on the other side of the kitchen door.
She giggled herself and told Lucas to ask his father.
God, she really
needed to have a word with her mother, who was the most flamboyant person she had ever known. Her mother still lived in the sixties and wasn’t bothered who knew it; she got more outrageous as she grew older. Sometimes she forgot whom she was talking to as Lucas just proved. No matter how much like their mother Melinda was, she would’ve hit the roof if she’d heard that comment.
She could remember growing up with Melinda, how proper behavior was expected when they were in school. Their mother used to threaten to wash their mouths out with soap and water if they said anything untoward. Perhaps she needed to try that same tact with their mother now. Give her a taste of her own medicine.
With breakfast now finished, she stood and walked to the backdoor to find Thomas and Dean sitting on the steps. “Thanks for your help, guys.”
Dean grinned. “Is it safe?”
“It is and, for abandoning me, you get to wash the dishes!”
He stood and kissed her, then walked back inside to finish his breakfast along with Thomas.
“Lucas, what would you say if we go fishing this morning and read some comics this afternoon?”
“Sounds cool.”
Thomas was holding Lucas’s hand as they walked to his cottage to get the rods from the front porch where he’d left them before going for breakfast.
He chuckled to himself about Dean and Mack. He’d noticed them both glancing at each other all through breakfast. Things looked to be heating up there. They’d only met yesterday, but they seemed so in tune with each other. Sometimes a man and woman could spend a lifetime together and never be truly ‘together’. His mother and father came to mind. He really hoped everything worked out for Mack and Dean. They made such a promising couple.
“Thomas, do you know how to make a cake?”
Lucas broke his train of thought and he looked down to see him waiting for a response. “Who do you want to make a cake for?”
“Auntie Mack.”
Thomas raised his eyebrows. “Why? Is it her birthday?” She hadn’t mentioned anything.
“No, but she always makes them for me so I thought I could make her one this time.” He looked so hopeful as he added, “With your help.”