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should know that, Aub.”
    “Sorry. But really. When did she?”
    “Over the summer. She’s done a lot of growing up.”
    “I’m dying,” Aubrey said, watching her niece wave to Mike,
who was coming out of his house.
    He was in gray athletic shorts and a white t-shirt. The shirt
showed off his tan and his muscles. Her heart kicked hard in her chest as she
remembered their very intimate moment a few hours earlier. A very intimate
moment he was utterly unaware of.
    “You’re dying? Imagine how her father’s going to feel when
he gets back to a tween with butterfly social skills.”
    Laura was waving them over. Mike was looking up and smiling.
Aubrey felt that smile in her stomach and unfortunately, inappropriately lower
too. “Come over,” Laura called. “I have a great idea.”
    “Uh-oh,” Aubrey and Bradlee said almost in unison.

Chapter Five
     
    It was sort of surreal at first. Like a comedy skit they all
knew, but hadn’t been given the script for.
    “Aubrey,” Mike nodded. When he smiled it crinkled the edges
of his eyes just a bit and she remembered, again, the feel of him gripping her
wrist. It must have shown on her face because Bradlee gave a strangled cry and
elbowed her.
    “Mike” Aubrey said. “This is Bradlee.”
    “We’ve met,” Bradlee said. She nodded politely. “Mike.”
    “Bradlee,” Mike said. He smiled again, seemingly amused.
    “And this is Joshua,” Laura said, flourishing like Vanna
White.
    What. The. Fuck?
    “Joshua,” Bradlee and Aubrey said in unison.
    He broke the weirdness by just saying, “Hi.”
    “I’m Chuck,” Chuck said, finally breaking the spell. He
stuck out his small hand and the two women shook.
    Something in Aubrey’s heart shivered at this kid. He was not
just adorable—he seemed to radiate his dad’s kindness and then some.
    “So about my idea,” Laura said.
    Aubrey swallowed a groan.
    “What’s that, munchkin?” Bradlee said. She said it casually,
but she also had fear in her eyes. Aubrey could see it and it nearly made her
laugh.
    “Mom,” Laura hissed. “You’re not supposed to call me that in
public.”
    Mike chuckled and Aubrey found it made her like him even
more.
    “Sorry,” Bradlee said. “What’s that, Laura?”
    “A cookout!”
    “I…um…” Aubrey stammered.
    Laura went on. “Mike has—”
    Bradlee cut Laura off. “Mr. Mike.”
    “Mr. Mike has a grill and as you can see, he’s cut his yard
recently.” Another flourish.
    “So?” Aubrey said.
    “So he has a grill and we have a ton of fruits and veggies.”
    Mike said, “I think I overheard Joshua confessing to having
a lot of burgers and hot dogs over here.”
    “And soda and beer,” Joshua cut in.
    Aubrey ran a hand through her hair. This was like an episode
of The Brady Bunch . All she needed was for one of the kids to say “Marcia,
Marcia, Marcia” and it would be a complete scenario.
    “And I say cookout!” Laura said.
    The boys nodded and Chuck broke in, with a bit of a gasp,
“We have cornholing.”
    Bradlee coughed. “You have what?”
    “Cornholing,” Mike said, managing to keep a straight face.
“That game where you toss the bean bags toward boards with holes in them and
depending where it lands you get points.”
    “Oh. Beanbag toss?” Bradlee said.
    “Cornholing,” Chuck corrected. “That’s what it’s called.”
    This time none of the adults managed to not laugh.
    Aubrey shrugged. What the hell. If you get off to mental
images of a man in the privacy of your own bedroom, the least you can do is get
suckered into a good old-fashioned official beginning of fall cookout with him
later, right?
    “Right,” she said aloud.
    * * * * *
    Things went as well as things like that go. It felt odd to
Aubrey to be standing in the yard next to her yard. The only thing she
associated with the Crandalls’ yard was Mr. Crandall standing out there in his
boxers watering his azaleas. Now it was neat and full of kids’ toys. Two bikes,
scooters, balls,