that he didn’t stay long, wanting to get home to her.
They exchanged a look, and he knew what she was thinking without her even saying anything, whether it was her lifted brows or just the slight tilt of her head toward the shed.
“Hey, Mom. We had a great time.” Houston said from behind them as the kitchen door closed. He continued without giving her a chance to answer. “Dallas and I were gonna go out to the shed for a minute or two.” He opened his mouth say more, but Emerson started speaking before Houston could.
“You know, I was thinking that was a great idea. I haven’t been out in the shed since I’ve come back. And I’ve been very curious as to how exactly it’s changed in the years I’ve been gone.”
Okay. If Reid were being honest, he was very tempted to snort at this point.
She was not being subtle at all.
The boys were not fooled, although they looked confused, since both of their mouths were hanging open, and their eyes were hanging on their mom like she’d grown a second head. But they didn’t look upset or panicked at Emerson going out. If they were doing something wrong, Reid would have expected some protests, at least.
“Okay,” Dallas said, almost skipping to the table with the empty potato salad bowl. “Let’s go now before it gets any later.”
Odd.
Reid met Emerson’s eyes across the kitchen. He’d expected protests, not this eager excitement.
Since it was already dark, Reid wasn’t sure what the rush was, but since he and Emerson had wanted to see it anyway, they didn’t see any point in waiting.
“Dad?” Houston said, kind of timidly, which was unusual, and Reid looked at him.
“Yes, son?”
“Can I see your phone for a minute? Mine had a new update last night, and it’s not the same as Dallas’s. I wanted to know if you had it on your phone.”
“What is it? I can check,” Reid said, reaching into his pocket for his phone, even though he was thinking it was an odd time for Houston to be worried about his phone.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to compare, because Dallas didn’t notice it at first, and mine doesn’t always show it.” Houston stood, kind of biting his lip and flipping his phone over and over in his hand. Normally he was quiet but not anxious.
Glad for his policy of never having anything on his phone that his children couldn’t see, Reid figured this was probably a good time for him to let the kids see that he wasn’t afraid to let them see his phone at any point and didn’t have to race to delete anything before he could hand it over.
Emerson got hers out of her purse. “I can check mine. Maybe I have the update, although I don’t recall having to update it last night.”
“Sometimes they do them at different times, I think,” Houston said, eyeing Reid’s phone before sliding his eyes to Dallas, and again that twins’ speak, that Reid hadn’t even known was a thing, seemed to pass between them.
But he and Emerson could do the same thing, so his gaze locked on Emerson’s, and he nodded his head, hoping that she got what he was saying—that the boys might not go out to the shed with them if they gave them their phones to look at the updates.
Emerson seemed understand, because she gave a slight nod of her head, then handed her phone to Dallas while Reid handed his to Houston.
“Your mother and I are gonna go out and check out the shed, since she seems to be so eager to see it, even though I don’t think it’s really changed in the years that she’s been gone, while you guys check out the new updates on the phones.”
“Really?” Dallas said with a bit of incredulousness, and he seemed to snatch Emerson’s phone out of her hand.
A stern look from Houston had Dallas rocking back on his heels and seeming to try to get himself to be still.
With a last raised brow and squinted eye, Reid turned and put his hand on the doorknob. “Are you ready?”
Emerson gave the boys a very similar look—they didn’t seem to be paying attention—and then pursed her lips, nodding. “I am.”
If she thought it odd, as he did, that neither of the boys seemed concerned they were going out to the shed, she didn’t say anything.
He opened the door for her, and she walked out with him following her.
He didn’t say