Page 69 of First Love

“Am I gonna get it?” she asked.

He chuckled. “You are bad.”

“Only with you.”

“It better be only with me.” His eyes sizzled electric blue just as the sound of shouts and bicycle tires crushing gravel reached her ears.

“See,” she taunted.

Hershel gave an expectant bark and streaked down the lane toward the coming noises. With a sigh, she touched a finger to his lips. “I don’t think we’re alone anymore.”

His mouth curved sardonically. “I’m a patient man, Nadine. I’ll wait.”

John’s old bike rounded the corner, and Bobby’s smaller two-wheeler was right behind him. Before the bike had stopped, John had leapt off his seat, letting the bicycle fall into the yard.

“What’s for dinner?” John demanded as Hershel jumped and barked.

“A surprise.”

“Uh-oh.” John pulled a face, and Bobby, leaning his bike against the garage, wrinkled his nose.

“Let’s go to McDonald’s,” Bobby suggested.

Nadine shook her head. “No way. I’m not driving back to Coleville tonight. Besides, you like pasta salad—”

“Yuk!” John said. “I hate salad.”

“This is different. It has chicken and cheese and—”

“And it’s still salad,” John said.

“We can have Kentucky Fried Chicken,” Bobby, ever the fast-food junkie, suggested.

Nadine was starting to fume. “I said we’re not going to—”

“I’ll take you out.”

Nadine turned on Hayden, as if she’d heard him wrong. “But the boys have homework and—”

“You need a night off. Besides, I’ve bummed more than my share of meals around here.”

“Come on, Mom!” Bobby cried.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Nadine glared at Hayden. “Why do I have the feeling that I’ve been conned?” she asked, glancing back to the boys. “I wasn’t kidding about the homework.”

“We’ll do it. Okay? When we get back!” John said.

“Before the TV goes on.”

John rolled his eyes before racing after Bobby into the house.

“Lighten up about the homework,” Hayden suggested.

“So now you’re telling me how to be a parent?” she asked, though she wasn’t angry. “What makes you such an expert?”

“I was a kid. A kid who was expected to get straight A’s, a kid who was supposed to be the best football player, baseball player, chess player and leader of the debate team. My folks wanted—no, make that expected—me to be the smartest kid in my class.”