Page 67 of Treat

He grunted in agreement and cut into his steak. “He said we should bring Tilly.”

“Really?” Brynn leaned back to look at the dog hunkered down between their stools, hoping for falling food.

“He says Kara okayed it.”

“Do we believe him?”

Jude shrugged, chewing steak. “It could go either way. We’ll walk her first. She’s good with people.”

“It’s on you and Tommy if it goes south,” she warned him.

“It’s on Tommy,” he corrected.

Resigned, Brynn refocused on her food. “We should stop on the way and pick up a baby gift. It feels rude to show up empty-handed, especially if we’re bringing a smelly hound dog with us.”

“I already got them something off their registry, but sure. And she doesn’t smell that bad.”

Tilly chose that moment to fart. “You were saying?”

Jude aimed a disappointed look at the hopeful dog. “Work with me here, kid.”

She laughed. “I’m buying a Tiger’s onesie,” she said just to see him roll his eyes.

He didn’t disappoint, and she laughed again, delighted and terrified because she was right back up at the top of the roller coaster again.

She wondered what would happen when she fell.

11

Tommy opened the door to the house on Edison Street wearing striped pajama pants, a white t-shirt, and a broad grin. “Hey Bess, Brynn. You had sex, didn’t you?”

Brynn, who had one hand on Tilly’s leash and held the little pink and white gift bag they’d picked up at Meijer in the other, tried not to blush. If the heat on her face was any indication, she failed spectacularly.

“Dammit, Jakes,” Jude groused and reached out to smack the side of his friend’s head. “Those are inside thoughts.”

Completely unfazed, Tommy just aimed his wide, wide grin at Brynn. “So? How was he?”

What the hell, Brynn thought. If you can’t beat ‘em… “He’s good. I came screaming twice. Though he doesn’t quite have the hang of the mustache yet.”

Tommy laughed so hard he bent double, and Jude turned his disgruntled expression on Brynn. “Really?”

“You kind of seemed to forget you had it,” she explained, keeping her expression guileless.

“So tell me, not him. You have any idea the shit I’m going to take over this?”

She would’ve felt bad, but the amusement in his eyes made it clear he wasn’t upset. “Sorry.”

“Oh, don’t be,” Tommy said, still laughing.

Jude just sighed. “Can we come in, or are you just going to stand there braying like a jackass all night?”

“Come on in. Hey, Tilly,” he crooned, reaching down to give her a scrubbing pat as she waddled past. “Kara’s in the living room with Izzy. Right through there.”

They walked through a glass-paned door on the other side of the tiled entry and into a spacious living room. Hardwood floors the color of dark honey gleamed, and a cozy seating area held a long green sofa flanked by deep armchairs in butterscotch leather. Curled up in a corner of the sofa with her feet propped up on a footstool shaped like a pig, Kara held a small pink and white bundle in her arms.

She beamed a smile at them. “You made it.”

Jude bent to kiss her cheek. “Hey, mama.”

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