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“I hope so valley” She dipped the oatmeal pan in the rinse water and passed it to Sally to dry “That old longhorn-cross brindle coays hangs out there, usually with two or three others”
Sally stared at her as if she had taken leave of her senses “What does that have to do with chicken salad?”
“Chicken salad?” Noas Jessy’s turn to stare in bewilderment
“Yes I just asked what you thought about having chicken salad for lunch today”
“You did?” Jessy said in surprise “I’uess I was miles away”
“That’s obvious” A suppressed smile of amusement carved dimples in Sally’s plump cheeks
Trey chose thather doll The theft evoked the expected response, as Laura screary, “No!”
With the devil glea in his dark eyes, Trey taunted his sister with the doll When Laura clarinning from ear to ear Laura turned to Jessy for help
“Mama, Mama, dolly, dolly,” she wailed, her hand outstretched toward her brother, fingers clutching and unclutching in that faesture of a child
“Trey, you give that back to your sister,” Jessy ordered
With a gleeful giggle, he clutched it tighter and tore out of the kitchen as fast as he could “Trey Calder, you co in the sink water, hastily dried her hands on a towel, and ran after the fleeing toddler, leaving Sally to co roo a beeline for the den “Trey Calder,” she called one last warning
He threw a look behind him and barreled into Chase, as on his way out of the den The collision with Chase’s legs knocked Trey to the floor Seconds after he landed, he broke loose with an ear-splitting shriek
When Chase crouched down to see how badly the boy was hurt, Trey took one look at him and screan that his pride was hurt a lot worse than he was, a fact she confirmed when she arrived
“He caret
“I know” Satisfied that Trey had suffered nothing worse than a bruise or two, Jessy picked hi to do with her, his whole body stiffening in resistance while he twisted toward the den, screa for his daddy “Daddy isn’t here, Trey,” Jessy told hie-old response of all mothers, Jessy bounced hilance at Chase “The poor guy hasn’t seen Ty in a week They are always asleep by the time he comes home”