Yours, Mine & Ours by Jennifer Greene Page A

water inside of three minutes, and had managed to throw dirt everywhere but in the wheelbarrow.
    The same sing-song refrain echoed from both yards, all variations of “Look at me, Dad!” or “Look at me, Mommy!”
    Her yard had a pitcher with ice cubes and lemonade and cups and napkins.
    He used a hose, both to get himself and Teddy clean enough to drink, and then to drink from.
    A good hour passed, maybe two. The sun poured down, a hot liquid light. The pond got dug. All itcost were four Band-Aids, heaps of sunscreen, two or three pulled muscles in Mike’s back, several buckets of sweat and a few torn clothes. The water garden was going to be darned nice when it was done, but Mike already knew it’d take eons more hours—after Teddy was in bed.
    He stood up, gauging how much more he could get done before lunch, when he suddenly heard…silence. He glanced up, and saw the two redheads standing at the border of their yard. The one in the tutu had her hands on her hips and was staring at him with both disgust and fascination. Molly’s mom looked as delectably dangerous as she had last night—only, last night she’d come undone in his arms. Today, she was wearing white shorts to garden, which he couldn’t believe. And the pretty little bed of day lilies she’d planted looked ready for a garden show.
    â€œWe like your water garden,” she called over.
    â€œYour mommy is never going to let you in the house,” Molly informed Mike, which seemed a fair indication he was wearing half the dirt in the yard.
    â€œMolly—” Amanda started to address her daughter, but suddenly the miniature redhead shrieked.
    â€œMommy! Teddy’s going pee pee outside! I can see it!”
    Aw, well. Teddy undoubtedly hadn’t wanted to waste time going all the way in the house to the bathroom when they were having so much fun. It likely never occurred to him that squirting on the back fencemight not be the best idea. Mike rubbed a hand over his face, trying to figure out what to say or do, accidentally got a piece of dirt in his eye.
    Then the barking started. Slugger had been outside with them, but pretty much he’d just been basking in the sunlight and snoozing—that was, until the Sissy Dog somehow escaped a tether on their back porch and came prancing over, a diamond-studded leash trailing behind her.
    Slugger could move fast. It just wasn’t usually his choice.
    The girls took off after “Darling.” Mike took off after Slugger. How her dog knew about dog doors, he had no idea, but the little squirt shot into his house, followed immediately by his lovesick hound. Molly tried to crawl through the dog door. Then Teddy showed up and the kids tangled in the doorway.
    Normally Mike would have let Amanda through before him, but just then he figured that chivalry was less important than preventing the dogs from having an inappropriate hookup. He might have wished he’d had a fresh shower. That his house looked a little less like a tornado site. That the path wasn’t littered with shoes and toys. Cat screeched from the top of the mantel at the hullabaloo.
    The kids were circling, calling for the dogs—at least, until her Molly got sidetracked by a toy. Naturally Teddy stopped to explain the toy to her, and thatleft only the two adults searching high and low for the dogs—who’d suddenly turned quiet.
    â€œNot a good sign,” Mike admitted to her.
    The canines weren’t in the laundry room—which had wash heaped to the ceiling. Clean wash, not dirty wash. All the same, Mike so far hadn’t thought of a reason why it had to be folded or put away when they could both just take stuff off the pile when they needed clean clothes. Amanda shot him a look.
    â€œWhat? What?”
    â€œSomeday your son’s going to get married. Which means you’ll have a daughter-in-law. And she’ll blame you if your son expects her to pick