Free Third Time's the Bride! by Merline Lovelace

to her veggie chip team for review and/or suggestions when Brian returned from church with a superenergized Tommy.
    Since Brian was heading into the office for his meeting with Travis and Joe, Dawn decided to drain some of Tommy’s excess energy with a bike ride along the shady, tree-lined trail that wound through the neighborhood. She borrowed Brian’s mountain bike and helmet while Tommy suited up in a helmet, and knee and elbow pads.
    “’Cause I tip over sometimes, even with these training wheels,” he explained with cheerful unconcern.
    He stayed upright, thank heavens, although he did cut several corners too short and dig a number of offtrack wheel ruts. By the time they’d made a full, five-mile circuit, Dawn’s thighs were protesting vigorously. So was her stomach.
    “I skipped breakfast,” she informed her charge. “Let’s grab an early lunch.”
    An enthusiastic Tommy agreed and introduced her to Paleo’s, his all-time favorite spot for Sunday brunch. The colorful Spanish eatery prided itself on its kid-friendly menu, which included an array of tapas designed to tempt even the fussiest young palates. For the adults, they offered a never-ending paella served in a round pan that had to measure at least three feet in diameter. Dawn settled for a smaller serving of paella while Tommy chowed down on a heaping plate of shrimp, beef, grilled asparagus and crunchy potato tapas.
    Back at the house they went over first-day-of-school preparations again. Tommy insisted on emptying his backpack and inventorying the contents for the fourth or fifth time. Once every vital necessity was safely restored, he transferred his uniform from the closet and attached its hanger on the back of his desk chair for quick access in the morning. Shoes, socks and underwear he aligned on the bench seat under his window with a precision that suggested he’d inherited his parents’ engineering genes.
    Then it was game time. Dawn and Tommy were in the final throes of a fierce round of Garden Warfare, with her superpower zinnias about to triumph over his zombies, when Brian arrived home. Supper was a spinach salad, sautéed zucchini, grilled chicken and an endless stream of chatter from Tommy about everything from the bushy-tailed squirrels they’d spotted during their bike ride to the new Pixar movie coming out next weekend that he absolutely had to see.
    After dinner Dawn pleaded an urgent need to soak her still-aching bike muscles. Although both father and son protested her early departure, she thought they should spend the last evening together before Tommy took that life-changing step into school full-time.
    * * *
    She was up early the next morning to share breakfast with them and send him Tommy on his grand adventure with a hug and a mushy kiss. Her farewell to Brian was more restrained.
    “You’d better get going,” she said with a flap of one hand. “I’ll clean up here.”
    Like Tommy, Brian was in uniform, except his was the charcoal-gray pinstripes, pale amber shirt and silk tie of a power broker. His short brown hair was slicked back and he’d tucked a folded newspaper under one arm.
    “I may be late,” he told her. “My schedule’s crammed today.”
    Including, she knew, his first interviews for a replacement nanny.
    “You sure you’re good with picking Tommy up from school?” he asked her.
    “Got it covered.”
    A quiet settled over the house once they left. Dawn filled the dishwasher and swiped the counters, but left the heavy stuff for the cleaning crew scheduled to show later that morning. Those simple tasks done, she wandered back to the gatehouse and tried to shrug off a suddenly deflated feeling.
    So what if Tommy had grabbed his backpack and barreled out the door without a backward glance? And why should the fact that Brian had assumed his Big Bad Businessman persona bother her?
    If she was home in Boston, she’d have suited up for work this morning, too. Her company adhered to a fairly laid-back dress