Page 33 of Fierce-Michael

“I can try,” he said. “Might be a small one because we know these games are rigged.”

“They are,” she said. “But it’s fun just trying more than anything.”

They finished the fries. She pulled a little bottle of hand sanitizer gel out of her purse and cleaned up the mess that the napkins didn’t take care of.

He put his hand out for some too. “I guess you could be in Mom mode at times.”

“I could,” she said. “I like kids. Just putting it out there for whenever the time might present itself.”

“Thanks for that,” he said.

“No pressure at all. I don’t think either of us needs or wants it. Just saying.”

“Got it,” he said.

They walked around for hours. Had more food, played games, watched a magic show, and pet a bunch of farm animals.

They had two steak sandwiches in their hands for dinner, with a caramel apple and deep-fried Oreos for dessert. They’d put away the churro and funnel earlier.

“I don’t even want to think of the amount of calories I consumed today.”

“We could work them off,” he said.

“In your home gym?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said. “We can go back to my place if you want to see it.”

It wasn’t what she was offering, but she wouldn’t say no. “I’d like to see your house.”

They got back to his SUV and pulled out. It was a little after five and they’d spent more time there than she’d thought they would but was thrilled the night didn’t seem to be ending any time soon.

It didn’t take long to get to his house. It was an older established neighborhood with some bigger houses. Not modern but not that old in her eyes either.

His house was a brick two-story colonial. He pulled into the driveway and then the garage and shut the door while they got out.

“It’s nothing fancy,” he said. “Just a lot of space but not a lot of decor other than toys.”

She smiled. “I wasn’t expecting it to look like it was staged for an HGTV reveal,” she said.

They walked into the mudroom and there were coat racks on the wall, a bench to sit on and take off shoes, and a chalkboard with some pictures on it that Ty must have drawn.

He caught her eyes there. “He went through a phase where he was writing on the walls. This was better and in a good spot out of the way.”

“Good idea,” she said. “Shoes on or off?”

“You can keep them on. I’m not fussy about those things.”

They moved down the hall into the kitchen. It was a lot of wood and shades of brown. The cabinets were a yellow maple color, the floors were dark wood throughout, the countertops were a cream color, and the walls were almost white, but had a hint of yellow to them.

“This suits you,” she said. “Are you a cook? It’s a big kitchen and pretty modern.”

“I’ve been here four years,” he said. “I haven’t done anything major. The kitchen was updated maybe ten years ago. I’m not sure I’d say it’s my style, but it’s not horrible enough that I’d pay someone to redo it.”

Which made sense. “Did you make any changes to the house?”

“Paint,” he said. “I didn’t paint in here, because I wasn’t sure what color I’d use anyway and that was good enough.”

There was a seating area by a window off the kitchen where she was assuming they took most of their meals and then she walked over off of that and saw a dining room that faced the front of the house.

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