Page 98 of Lost and Found

“Er, um, Matt, let’s go this way,” Grace said, voice high-pitched.

Wes released Bailey like they’d been caught with their hands in the cookie drawer. He had to force his eyes open because he didn’t want to see Bailey freaking out like he was. One hundred percent freaking out. How the hell hadn’t they heard Matt coming?

An apology hung on the tip of his tongue, but when Wes focused on her, she wasn’t cringing or upset. She was clearly in mom-mode.

“It’s okay. No big deal.” Bailey sidestepped around him as if he hadn’t just had his tongue in her mouth.

Wes wasn’t ready to face Matt and Grace. He stared at the water fountain between the restrooms for a beat longer before turning around. Grace was trying not to laugh and stared at the ceiling.

“Hey, Matty. We’re ready to get lunch.” Bailey nonchalantly turned to Grace. “Would you and Alicia like to join us?”

“No,” Grace quipped. “But I can swing by your house this afternoon and hang out with Matt in case you two need to work. We can hang out at home or go swimming over at Decker’s place.”

“It’s one street over from Magnolia,” Wes said, surprised by the steadiness of his voice.

“What were you and Wes doing?” Matt said, totally uninterested in anything Bailey and Grace had suggested.

“Kissing,” Bailey said as if her son had asked the color of the sky and she’d said blue.

“Why?”

“Because we like each other a lot.”

Bailey was entirely too calm about this. Wes could feel his cheeks burning.

Matt’s face scrunched. “I don’t kiss my friends.”

“When you get older, you might want to.”

He considered that and shrugged. “Maybe. Can we have ice cream?”

“We were just talking about ice cream.”

Wes shot a prayer to anyone who was listening that they’d survived that incident without scarring the kid for the rest of his life. Bailey and Grace exchanged humorous grins.

They said goodbye to Grace and Alicia and headed out of the library.

Wes held open the red door. “Sorry about that.”

Bailey shrugged, amused. “There are worse things for a kid to walk in on. But I explained. He asked a question, and we survived.”

“Nothing rattles you.” He was in awe of her. He had been for weeks, but this kicked his admiration level to epic proportions.

She laced her fingers with his. “I could say the same about you.”

Matt walked alongside Bailey, not noticing, or maybe not caring, that Wes was holding her hand.

“All right, boys. Where should we go for lunch?”

“Can we have ice cream first?”

“Nope.”

“How do burgers sound instead?” Wes offered.

Bailey rested her temple against his arm. “Like the perfect thing to have before ice cream.”

After lunch and a cookies-and-cream ice cream cone, Bailey needed coffee. All those carbs, combined with the sun shining through the bedroom-office window, made her groggy. She stretched and checked the time.