Page 98 of Quinton's Quest

“Papa?”

“Yes, Melodie?”

“You need to get dressed, too. Unless you’re wearing pajamas when we go out.” She giggled.

I smiled. “Okay, that’s a good point. I’ll give Lucky some water, we’ll all get dressed, and then I’ll make pancakes.” If we didn’t have the dog, I would’ve suggested we go to Fifties. Ah well, my pancakes were almost as good as the diner’s.

Almost.

Half an hour later, we sat at the kitchen table. Completely sated. “I thought we could go to the dog run at Centennial Park. Do you think Lucky would like that?”

“Oh yes.” Melodie grinned. “Lucky loves other dogs. But Daddy doesn’t let us go in because the other dogs might knock us over.”

Shit. That hadn’t occurred to me. “So you wait outside? By yourselves?”

She rolled her eyes. “No. Duh. Archer stays with us. We get to sayhito the calmer dogs when they come out. I love that part. Well, and watching Lucky run.”

“I can’t be in with Lucky and out with you. I’ll have to think of something else.” I scrambled. “What about a walk in Heritage Park?”

“What about Quin—” She scrunched her nose. “Quinnie? Your friend.”

“Quinton?”

“Yeah. I like him. His mom makes good cookies.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “He might be busy.”

She pointed to my phone.

I eyed Trevor.

He grinned as well. “Yummy cookies.”

So I shot off a text requesting his presence—minus the cookies.

I got an enthusiastic flurry of emojis back with ahell yes!

My heart lifted. “Okay, everyone has to brush their teeth.”

“And clean the dishes?” Melodie eyed the mess.

“Ah, yes. Maybe you can read a book while—”

“We help.” Trevor scooted off his chair and made a grab for his plate.

Plastic, of course, because accidents happened.

One didn’t, though, and he carried it to the dishwasher.

“Okay, we can do this together. But you’re still brushing your teeth.”

Melodie laughed. “We won’t forget.”

Thirty minutes later, with the kids secure in their car seats, and Lucky in his crate in my hatch, we headed down the mountain.

Quinton stood in the parking lot with two travel mugs in his hand.

After I released the kids from their seats, they scrambled down and headed toward myfriend. I secured Lucky’s leash and let him down as well. I locked the SUV and headed toward the assembled group.