Chapter 13

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1991

“Jake, time to get up.”

“Wha?”

“Time to get up,” Dad gently shook my shoulder.

Mercifully, he’d left the light on in the family room instead of turning my bedroom light on. The soft light wasn’t as disorienting. I sat up to glare at him for a moment, then groggily nodded and dropped my head back down on the pillow.

“I need you to haul beans again.”

“Kay,” I muttered.

Dad chuckled one more time, but seemed to be satisfied that I would actually get up. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and stretched sore muscles. Sure, I’d only played half the game, but things still hurt. For example, a couple laces of the football were imprinted into the tender flesh of my forearm. A red welt surrounded it, about the size of a baseball. That moment of glory had cost me a bit.

I sat up slowly and swung my feet to the floor, rubbing the back of my sore neck. Then a crooked grin crept up my face as thoughts of being with Jen the night before entered my mind. But now, it was time to get up.

Much like football, farming also had a game plan. The soybeans were nearly all harvested, but were a bit wet from mid-week rain. Dad wanted to get the last 40 acres into the drying bin and move what we could to the co-op. Then Dad could work on the combine Sunday to get it ready to start on corn Monday. Some minor changes had to be made inside the massive machine, and of course, a different header would be attached to the front.

The first pink rays of sunlight were spilling over the eastern horizon as Grandpa and I each took a tractor to town with a preloaded wagon. I got the heater running and found my favorite rock station on the radio to pass the time on the slow drive to town. When we got there, we dutifully lined up each tractor behind several other farmers and Grandpa beckoned me into the gas station for a pop and a breakfast sandwich.

“Another win last night, I hear,” Grandpa asked with a grin.

“Yeah, Riverton’s not very good,” I shrugged. “I did block a punt and we scored on that.”

Grandpa’s eyes widened. “Didn’t you block a field goal last week?”

“Yep,” I nodded.

I grabbed two sausage, egg and biscuit sandwiches and a Mountain Dew. Grandpa grabbed a sandwich, one of those hash brown cakes and then filled his Thermos with hot coffee.

“Pop to start your day?” Grandpa teased me. “You should try the coffee. It’ll put hair on your chest.”

I grinned at his light-hearted teasing while he paid for our breakfast.

It would be 20 minutes before the elevator would open up to accept grain, so we stood at the front of the gas station in the relative warmth to enjoy our breakfast.

Mom had lunch ready for me on one of my return trips to the field. Dad even took a break, stepping down the combine ladder to join us. He was on his last acre or so, and that always put him in a pretty good mood. Josh had already eaten, but he was tearing around in the dirt in front of us with his own toy tractor.

“We should go out for steaks tonight,” Dad suggested.

“I like that idea,” Mom enthused.

“I uh, I have plans already,” I shrugged.

“More steak for me,” Dad teased.

“Hot date?” Mom asked.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “No, there’s a, uh, get-together at Lea Rens’ place.”

“So Jen will be there?” Mom asked.

“Yeah,” I shrugged.

“So then, hot date,” she laughed.

“It’s not a date, it’s ... Never mind,” I rolled my eyes again.

“Anyway,” Dad broke in. “You don’t have to go out with us. You can go have fun with your friends.”

Mom nodded in agreement. “But be good.”

“I don’t know any other way,” I shrugged innocently.

Both Mom and Dad burst into peals of laughter.

“Just stay out of trouble,” Dad shook his head with a gleam in his eye.

A quick call to Beast’s place Saturday afternoon came with bad news. He would be busy late. The Robinsons were already into corn, and Beast would be helping out into the night.

I wondered if Tree had the same fate.

“Is Trent there?”

“Yes, just a minute,” his Mom answered.

“Hello?”

“Not out in the field today?” I asked.

“Jake?”

“Yeah, we just got done with beans and we cleared out the dryer bin for corn.”

“Oh, Dad’s waiting on a combine part, but we’re going to finish up what we can tomorrow.”

“You doing anything tonight?”

“No,” he lamented. “Beast’s into corn and they’ll be going all night if they can.”

“Well, I’m free and there’s a little get-together at Lea’s tonight.”

“Yeah?” Tree seemed to mull it over with optimism. “That sounds alright.”

“I’ll pick you up at 7:30.”

With Mom and Dad off to the steakhouse with Josh, I was left to fend for myself. Shuffling through the fridge, I found some lunch meats and prepackaged sliced American cheese. I slathered butter onto uncooperative white bread, being careful not to tear the tender slices up as I tried to spread the hard butter on it. I stacked up the meaty grilled cheese sandwiches in a hot pan and fussed over it with a spatula, looking for just the right level of golden brown. A careful flip of both sandwiches averted disaster, and I turned the stovetop off and proudly plated my work.

A handful of chips filled the plate and I quickly polished off the tasty sandwiches. Smartly, I had waited to get dressed until after I cooked and ate, just in case.

I fussed around in the bathroom with my hair, then found my favorite jeans and a long-sleeved Cubs T-shirt.

It was out of my way, but it was early and it made sense. I stopped for gas in town before heading back out of town to pick up Trent. It was simply a five-mile detour, but it made sense to me.

I was standing behind the Mustang, topping it off, when a silver car pulled up just inches from my legs. I didn’t recognize who it was.

“Hey sexy!” I heard from the open driver’s side window.

It all came to me. New Beamer. Dangerous cheerleader driving it.

“Hey,” I answered weakly, squeezing the gas pump handle to get the last few ounces up the car’s fuel coupler.

Lexie was not alone. DeeDee sat in the passenger seat, seemingly mortified at her best friend’s antics.

“Coming to Lea’s?” Lexie leaned out the window a little.

“Yeah, I still gotta go pick someone up.”

“Oooooh, going to get Jen?” she cooed.

“Uh, no, she’s coming on her own,” I said absently, hanging up the fuel hose. “Well, we’ll see you there,” Lexie purred, then backed up and left the lot. I assumed she needed gas as well, but it was suddenly clear she just stopped after seeing me.

I shook my head and went inside to pay for the fuel.

“How am I going to fit in this thing?” Trent complained, looking dubiously through the passenger window.

“The seat moves back,” I shrugged.

He opened the door and awkwardly stuffed his 6’3 frame into the passenger seat, his knees nearly hitting the glove box. I laughed as he reached under the vinyl seat and shoved it back a couple of precious inches.

He looked at me with a chuckle and we headed for town.

We arrived at Lea’s a little early, and there were already several recognizable cars parked in the street, including a big, black Bronco.

Tree extracted himself from the confines of the small sports car and gave me another laugh. It was clear that I was never going to be able to drive all the boys around at once in my car.

We walked to the door and he nearly rang the doorbell before I grabbed his wrist and shook my head.

“Just go in,” I said.

He gave me an odd look, then shrugged as I opened the door and led him downstairs.

“Jake!” I heard from my gorgeous girlfriend. I wasn’t quite prepared for what I saw heading toward the foot of the stairs.

Jen had really done herself up. She’d put a little bit of curl into her long blonde hair, had applied a bit of makeup and was wearing a long, gray button-up sweater over a white T-shirt and tight, faded jeans. The sweater made her look a bit taller, and even gave her chest a little help.

Jen wrapped me up in a tight hug before I noticed Lea. The similarly tall blonde had also put a little curl into her hair, with her bangs teased up and more makeup than usual. She wore a tight T-shirt over similarly tight jeans.

These two looked like they were up to something.

Lea welcomed us, with her attention clearly focused on him. Jen gave me a conspiratorial grin and pulled me aside.

“You look amazing,” I said under my breath. “Why are you so dressed up?” I felt a little underdressed in my Cubs shirt.

“Oh, I just wanted to make sure I was the hottest girl here,” she grinned.

“You always are,” I said defensively.

“Oh, I know you know that,” she said with surprising confidence. “I’m here to make sure Lexie knows that.”

My eyes widened in surprise at Jen’s newfound boldness. This was going to be an interesting night.

Lexie, I could see, was already there. She and DeeDee had taken up one of the bigger stuffed chairs that matched the couches. Mitch and Mandy were pressed together at one side of a couch, while Woody and Allison were attached at the hip on the other side. Corey and Wyatt were hard at it on the Nintendo controllers in front of the TV. Shelby and Chris were standing behind them watching, and oddly enough, Autumn and Kim seemed to be deep in conversation on the other side of the room. Morgan was conspicuously absent, but I didn’t mind a bit.

Lea had seemingly forgotten Jen and me entirely, her full attention on Tree. Jen grinned and grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the open couch.

Everyone, save Corey and Wyatt, greeted us as we plopped down on the couch. It was then that Lexie pounced. In darker jeans that better matched her tan complexion and molded to her curves perfectly, she got up and parked herself on the edge of the coffee table directly in front of us. DeeDee’s eyes widened.

“Jennifer, I just don’t feel like I’ve gotten to know you well enough,” Lexie said in a sugary tone.

I froze in terror, wondering what exactly Lexie was up to. Autumn and Kim’s quiet conversation ended as the two watched what was going on with interest.

“We do have one class together,” Jen calmly reminded her, sitting up to her full height. “And you and DeeDee just started coming to our lunch table last week.”

I watched the exchange like a spectator at a tennis match, my head moving back and forth between the girls. It looked like Jen had struck a small blow with the lunch table comment, reminding everyone of the ugly breakups two weeks earlier.

“So true,” Lexie countered. “And I should have been more welcoming to you. Should have shown you around more. I moved here in fifth grade, and I know how hard it can be.”

“Nearly everyone has been great,” Jen said sweetly. “It hasn’t been hard moving here at all.”

It wasn’t a sharp return volley, by any means, but Jen still had the upper hand in the exchange.

“Well, you certainly had the boys fighting over you from the start,” Lexie chuckled.

Suddenly everything that had transpired up to getting together with Jen was fresh in my mind. Events had happened in this very room that nearly kept us apart entirely. It was the first time I’d been back since that night.

“Oh, I don’t think they ever actually fought, but we know who would have won either way,” Jen grinned, nudging me and taking my hand into hers.

“Yes, Jake certainly was the winner here,” Lexie purred.

“Oh, I won too,” Jen nodded, then leaned in and surprised me with a soft smooch on the lips.

My eyes widened again as Jen gave me a warm look.

“Yes, you two are the ‘it’ couple now,” Lexie nodded. “Both good looking athletes. You’ll have babies that compete in the Olympics.”

It was fortunate that I wasn’t sipping a drink at that moment, because the ‘babies’ comment would have ended with someone getting a sugary shower.

Jen was much more calm. “Babies?” she chuckled. “We’re not anywhere near baby talk yet.”

I was relieved at Jen’s response, but it suddenly felt like she’d stepped into Lexie’s trap.

“Not so serious just yet?” Lexie tisked. “You two certainly look like you’ve done the deed already.”

That put Jen on the defensive, and I felt her tense up next to me, then she seemed to relax.

“We’ve only been together a couple of weeks, Lexie,” Jen calmly returned the volley with a fierce backhand. “I trust him so far, but I have to make sure he’s not the kind of boy who would bang me and then try to swap me out for someone else when he’s done with me.”

There were sharp intakes of breath around the room. DeeDee briskly got up from her chair and headed for the bathroom. If my eyes could get any wider, they suddenly were, staring at my girlfriend as she smiled innocently directly back into Lexie’s intimidating green eyes.

I’d never seen Lexie more off-guard, but to her credit, she kept her composure.

“Oh, Jen, that was just the boys having some fun. They weren’t serious about that,” she lied.

No one believed a word of that, but it gave her a moment to figure out her next move.

“The relationship had run its course,” she shrugged. “I, well, both DeeDee and I, felt it was time to date boys closer to our age again.”

“Well, there are plenty of single guys around here, Lexie,” Jen put a little extra emphasis on ‘single.’ “I’m sure plenty of them would go out with you.”

“I’m sure they would,” Lexie nodded, her eyes drifting toward me.

“Who needs a drink?” Lea stepped in suddenly, her eyes nearly as wide as mine. “I’ll get some snacks too.”

There were quiet nods around the room, and Lea tilted her head at both Jen and me to come follow her upstairs.

Both of us got up but Lexie didn’t move a muscle from her perch on the edge of the coffee table in front of us.

“I should go find DeeDee,” she said absently, but waited for Jen and me to clear out before she moved.

Lea led us both upstairs before whirling back around on us in the kitchen.

“What the fuck?” she hissed quietly, looking at both of us accusingly. I’d rarely, if ever, heard Lea swear.

“What?” Jen shrugged innocently. “We were just talking.”

“I only caught the part where you brought up what happened with Mark and Troy. Why would you do that?”

“Because she deserved it,” Jen said in a low, cold voice. “She was trying to make me uncomfortable.”

“That’s what she does,” Lea said in quiet exasperation.

“She’s up to something,” I said finally, my voice cracking a little since I hadn’t said a word since we sat down.

“She’s always up to something,” Lea said quietly. “But we have to keep the peace.”

“She’s targeting my boyfriend and I’m not going to stand for it,” Jen said firmly and a little too loudly. “That bitch had it coming.”

I noticed she was shaking a little, and I wrapped her up in a hug. She melted into me and I could tell she was a little emotional. Lexie could get under the skin of even the most hardened teenager. Jen had held up admirably, but the suddenly stoney exterior was crumbling.

“I’d never leave you for her,” Looked into her eyes and told her sincerely.

Jen wiped away a single tear. “I know that,” she nodded. “She needs to know that.”

“I’ll tell her that,” I said confidently.

“Not here. Not tonight,” Lea stepped in with a low voice. “Keep the peace!”

“Everything OK?” Autumn asked in a quiet voice. She had crept upstairs to see what was going on.

“It’s fine,” Lea reasoned.

“Should we move things out to the fire pit?” Autumn asked.

“Oh, good idea!” Lea enthused.

“Jake, grab a box of firewood from the garage. There’s some newspaper and matches in there.”

I could tell Jen wasn’t entirely pleased with Lea, so she followed me out to the garage. We found the firewood and took it out to the pit. Jen scooted some chairs around the circle and I set to work building the fire. It was a bit cooler since the sun had gone down, but it had been an unseasonably warm day and there was no wind.

I built a little teepee out of the medium-sized logs the fire started with the newspaper and some small twigs before the whole thing started to catch. Lea was shoo-ing her guests outside for the fire.

Jen had already marked her territory, sitting in one reclining chair with her arm on its twin, saving it for me. Deedee and Lexie, thankfully, took up chairs on the other side of the fire. Once it was certain the fire wasn’t going to die out, I snuggled up with Jen in the loungers.

It was quiet at first, the only sound the snap and sizzle of the growing fire, but conversations started gaining traction. Mandy and Mitch were near us, and we started talking. Even Corey and Wyatt had shut down the Nintendo to watch the fire, gaze at the stars and chat.

Soon there was a buzz of chatter and quiet laughter. I looked at my girlfriend, watching her smile and chat easily with Mandy and wondered if I could be happier. Across the fire, Lexie was talking to Kim, but DeeDee had her hands hidden in her sweatshirt sleeves and hunkered into her lawn chair silently. She looked miserable.

Lea and Autumn exited the house with supplies for S’mores, including some long metal forks I’d never seen before. Lea said they worked great for hot dogs, but I covered my groin and waved her away to peals of laughter.

There were plenty of marshmallows and graham crackers, but only a few forks to go around. I was tasked with making one for Jen, but she kept a critical eye on my technique.

“Brown, not black. Don’t get it in the fire,” she insisted.

“Like this?”

“No, darker. Just not burned.”

The marshmallow had shrank and darkened considerably, and I felt like it wasn’t going to get much darker without charring.

‘Wooof!’

“Not burned!” Jen laughed, grabbing my arm and flicking the long fork around.

“I’ll have this one. I don’t care,” I laughed along with her, waving the flames off the charred marshmallow.

“Here,” she beckoned, handing me a pair of crackers with a square of chocolate already on board. I let her pull the fork through the charred S’more as I squeezed down on the crackers, watching the fork slide out cleanly.

I munched on the hot treat without complaint.

“See, it’s fine.”

Jen groaned and indignantly heated a fresh marshmallow over the flames to much laughter.

“You two are like an old married couple,” Mandy teased.

Jen and I just grinned at each other, then I led a chorus of fresh laughter and teasing as her briefly unattended marshmallow burst into flames.

‘Wooof!’

“Ah shit!” she screeched.

Trent ended up in a chair next to Mitch and they were deep in conversation about sports. Lea sat in a chair next to Trent, trying to inject herself into the conversation as often as possible. Poor Tree was just clueless and Lea was getting exasperated. Autumn caught my eye witnessing the same scene and we shared a smirk.

It was just after 10 when Jen started yawning as we cuddled together.

“Long day?”

“Yeah, I got through over a hundred T-shirts today.”

“Big order?”

“Yeah, it’s for a Girl Scout troop.”

“Still want help tomorrow?”

“If you can get away.”

“My Sundays are my own.”

“Then I want you there,” she said quietly, her eyebrows tilting up.

“Then I will be,” I responded, giving her a smooch on the cheek.

“Way too cute over there,” Mandy teased, but she was just as cuddly with Mitch.

“I gotta get going,” Jen complained.

“No! It’s only ten after ten,” Lea complained.

I was a little bummed out as Jen got up and gave me an odd look.

“Aren’t you going to walk me out?” she asked quietly.

“Oh, yeah!” I sprang up from my lounger.

We said goodbye to everyone, but we didn’t bother going back into the house. We just crunched through the fallen leaves of the side yard, hand-in-hand. Jen led me straight to her Bronco and unlocked the driver’s side door. She folded the seat forward and climbed right into the back seat.

“Come on,” she beckoned, sliding over for me.

I didn’t need to be told twice, but I did look both ways before climbing in and shutting the door.

“Right here? Mmmmmph?” I asked before her mouth closed hungrily over mine.

Her hands were all over me instantly, pulling me into her. Recovering from my surprise, I settled into the kiss, letting her tongue part my lips and duel with my own. Her eyes were shut tight as she moaned into the kiss, then came up for air.

“Wow...” I said softly, catching my breath.

“I wanted to do that all night,” she practically panted. “Especially right in front of Lexie.”

“Well, what was stopping you?” I grinned.

“I dunno,” she tilted her head to the side and grinned. “I should have.”

The side windows and back window of the Bronco had enough tinting to make us feel relatively safe parked in the public street, but anyone directly in front of the truck could have gotten a good look into the back with the aid of some extra light.

“I don’t see why not,” I shrugged as she mashed her mouth into mine again, kissing me passionately.

Remembering what I was supposed to be doing, I made use of my hands and slid them up her tummy to her chest, carefully covering her heaving breasts in my palms.

She sucked in her breath and slowed the flurry of kisses, as the pressure of my hands seemed to relax her. She surprised me by running her hand down my chest, over my abs, then over the front of my jeans.

I could feel her press her hand into a quickly developing erection, then she kissed me more sharply again. I wasn’t entirely sure if I was supposed to follow suit, but I gave her chest a more assertive squeeze. Her nipples were hardening through the material of her bra and T-shirt and into my palms as our tongues played and her exploration of my crotch became more pointed.

She broke the kiss again, looking me in the eyes with a fierce passion. Then I noticed she was sort of tracing around the bulge in my favorite jeans.

Aggressive one again, she leaned into me and put her lips against my earlobe, nibbling the end of it lightly. Then she whispered something I’ll never forget.

“I want you so much,” she husked.

It was like a switch went off in my head. I wasn’t thinking about being slow, or careful, or cautious anymore and I think that’s precisely what she wanted.

“You have me,” I said sincerely to her. “I’m yours.”

“I know,” she said softly. “But I WANT you.”

And with that, the kissing resumed. I let my hands slip off her breasts to a momentary moan of disappointment. I parted her long sweater to the side and gripped the bottom of her T-shirt, pulling it hastily out of the top of her jeans. Our tongues dueled again as I pushed both hands inside of her shirt, the warm skin of her taut tummy heating my palms as I slid them up her shirt and over her lacey bra.

She snapped out of her spell and groped my hardon through the front of my jeans again, grinding her palm against it.

I had an even better feel for those hard nipples through her bra, about the size of gumdrops and I couldn’t wait to get my mouth on them. I wondered if we could get that far here.

On the offensive again, Jen threw a thigh over mind and straddled me, kissing me fiercely again. I was pinned down and at her mercy, and she seemed to like that.

She broke off the kiss, grinning at me like she’d just won some sort of game. Then she grabbed my wrists. For a moment I felt disappointed that she’d take my hands away, and she did. Only to guide my hands up inside her bra for the first skin-to-skin contact I ever had with them.

They felt wonderful, fleshy handfuls of wonder, with pebbly, gumdrop sized nipples that were achingly hard for me. She exhaled softly as I gave them a circular massage and gently trapped each nipple between my fingers.

I forgot completely that she’d stopped rubbing and playing with my cock until she suddenly discovered how nice it felt to press her sex into mine.

“Mmmm,” she groaned in wonder. “That feels so good.”

I wasn’t entirely certain if she meant my attention to her breasts, or the unexpected pleasure of being groin-to-groin. To be certain, I slid my knees forward and leaned back, granting her better access to straddle me properly. She pressed her boobs into my hands and sucked in her breath as she slid her hips forward, aligning herself better into my throbbing crotch.

Her kisses elevated to something even more fervent. Jen put her hands on my shoulders and squeezed her chest between us, trapping my hands against her warm flesh. Her tongue became more insistent as I felt her start to actually dry hump me, finding a slow little rhythm.

As much as I was loving this, I started to panic. This was feeling REALLY good, and I hadn’t had sex with anyone in more than a month. I worried that I could probably blow a messy load into my pants if this kept up.

I had to do something, anything, to call a timeout here. Jen continued her slow, languid rocking on my lap.

“Jen,” I panted, breaking the kiss.

“Wha?” she opened her eyes, almost surprised at my question.

“Can I see them?”

She tilted her head for a moment, staring at me with those blue-green eyes. Mercifully, the teasing of her hot sex against mine ceased.

“Can I see them?” I asked again, indicating her tits.

“Uh, sure,” she said, panting lightly. She leaned back a bit and helpfully reached down to pull her T-shirt up for me. I did the rest, pulling her bra up to reveal a nearly perfect pair of B-cups. What little light was available showed paradise. They were not the mound-shaped boobs I had been used to with some of the chestier girls. These had a little more bell shape to them, capped with small areola surrounding those gumdrop nipples.

I was just about to pop one into my mouth when she abruptly dropped her shirt and giggled.

“Show’s over!”

Her giggling lightened the mood, but we kissed fiercely again anyway. Jen came up for air once again, both of us panting.

“I can’t believe I did that here,” she said, surprised with herself as she pulled her bra back over her chest through her T-shirt.

“You um, you don’t have to feel like you have to do things because of Lexie,” I said with some concern.

“Pffft,” she made a rude noise. “I had already forgotten about her. I just wanted you.”

Jen kissed me again, briefly teasing my lips with her tongue before ending the kiss again.

“She doesn’t intimidate me,” Jen said more assuredly. “I wanted to make out with you. It feels good.”

“Yeah, I know,” I nodded. “But you don’t have to move up your timeline or anything, just because she tries to pressure you.”

“I’m not doing anything I don’t wanna do, Jake,” she grinned. “I wanna do more things. Just not tonight.”

Quite the lascivious grin appeared over her face and her eyes promised much more than just my hands over her bare boobs and a quick peek.

“Well, uh, when?” I asked with my mouth hanging open.

“You’re cute,” she added, lifting my chin to shut my mouth. “Soon.”

With that, she giggled again and climbed off my lap.

“I better get going, it’s almost a quarter to.”

I sighed and she made a game of trying to physically shove me out of the truck. I played along, resisting to a point before we were both giggling and huffing with exertion. When I finally got out of the truck, both DeeDee and Lexie were standing on the sidewalk across the street gawking at the scene.

Realizing what it looked like, I laughed even harder and Jen joined in when she saw the looks on their faces. I’m sure we both looked freshly fucked, and being out of breath wasn’t helping matters.

Jen laughed her way into the driver’s seat and fired up the Bronco as I closed the door for her. She rolled the window down and beckoned me to her for one final kiss. I leaned in through the window and she made it count, planting a doozy of a kiss on my lips. She broke away and gave me a mischievous grin.

“Bye Lexie!” Jen called out. “Bye DeeDee!”

The girls on the sidewalk turned abruptly and headed for the silver Beamer. I chuckled and watched the black Bronco leave the street, then headed back to the house to retrieve Trent.

I crunched back through the leaves next to the house, just getting into the backyard when I caught the silhouette of two tall people kissing in front of the fire. I froze in place, stunned at the scene.

Tree had heard my footsteps and broke off the kiss with Lea.

“Oh, hey,” he said bashfully.

“I can come back?” I said quickly, hooking a thumb over my shoulder.

“It’s okay,” Lea rushed, acting like she’d just been caught red-handed.

“No, really, I can wait,” I said with a grin.

“Yeah, we better get going,” Tree said briskly.

“Um, thanks for coming!” Lea said a little too excitedly.

I jingled my keys in my hand and chuckled at Tree as he strode toward me, not making eye contact.