“Travis said to be here at five. If I had known you needed help, I would have come earlier.”
Matt slowly shifted his gaze to Travis. He really hated his friend sometimes.
“How’s Tina doing?” Travis said, changing the subject. “Is Megan getting any sleep?”
Megan was chatting with Allison at the table on the far end of the deck, and Joe glanced briefly in her direction. “Some. Tina’s cough is gone and she’s been able to sleep through the night again, but sometimes I just think that Megan isn’t wired to sleep. At least, not since she became a mom. She gets up even if Tina hasn’t made a peep. It’s like the quiet wakes her up.”
“She’s a good mom,” Travis said. “She always has been.”
Joe turned to Matt. “Where’s Liz?” he asked.
“She should be here any minute,” Matt answered, his voice floating up as if from the dead. “She spent the day with her parents.”
“Lovely,” Joe commented.
“Be nice. They’re good people.”
“I seem to recall you saying that if you had to sit through one more of your father-in-law’s stories about his prostate cancer or listen to your mother-in-law fret about Henry getting fired again – even though it wasn’t his fault – you were going to stick your head in the oven.”
Matt struggled to sit up. “I never said that!”
“Yes, you did.” Joe winked as Matt’s wife, Liz, rounded the corner of the house with Ben toddling just in front of her. “But don’t worry. I won’t say a word.”
Matt’s eyes darted nervously from Liz to Joe and back again, checking to see if she’d heard.
“Hey, y’all!” Liz called out with a friendly wave, leading little Ben by the hand. She made a beeline for Megan and Allison. Ben broke away and toddled toward the other kids in the yard.
Joe saw Matt sigh in relief. He grinned and lowered his voice. “So… Matt’s in-laws. Is that how you conned him into coming here?”
“I might have mentioned it,” Travis smirked.
Joe laughed.
“What are you guys saying?” Matt called out suspiciously.
“Nothing,” they said in unison.
Later, with the sun down and the food eaten, Moby curled up at Travis’s feet. As he listened to the sound of the kids splashing away in the spa, Travis felt a wave of satisfaction wash over him. This was his favorite kind of evening, whiled away to the sound of shared laughter and familiar banter. One minute Allison was talking to Joe; the next minute she was chatting with Liz and then Laird or Matt; and so on for everyone seated around the outdoor table. No pretenses, no attempts to impress, no one trying to show anyone up. His life, he sometimes thought, resembled a beer commercial, and for the most part, he was content simply to ride the current of good feeling.