He was probably right. And five months would give the kid a lot more pocket change than night shifts at a gas station. More options after they were on to the next job, too.

“I’ll take it,” Cody said quickly.

“Do you need to talk to your parents?” she asked.

He shook his head, but she didn’t miss the hardening in his eyes. “Nope.”

“Great. You’re hired,” she told him.

Dean punched his fist into the air. “Eighteenth time’s the charm!” he said, most likely referring to how many times he’d asked Maggie for help.

“Yeah, yeah, smart-ass. Give Dean here your lunch order for later. He’s buying for all of us today.”

“I won’t even make dry-heaving noises when you lick your fry sauce straight out of the container,” Dean promised Maggie. He danced over to her, grabbed her by the shoulders, and kissed her on the mouth.

“Get ahold of yourself, idiot.” Maggie laughed.

Even Cody cracked a smile.

Kevin bounded into the room, happy to find so many people in one place.

“Looks like I’m missing a party,” Silas drawled from the doorway. His T-shirt was damp. His hat was on backward, and he had little chips of paint clinging to the hair on his arms.

“Tour over already?” Maggie asked, extricating herself from Dean’s embrace.

“It doesn’t take long for family to recognize my genius. Unlike some others,” Silas said pointedly.

“Don’t worry, Sly Sy,” Dean assured him. “I’m not moving in on your girl. I’m just thinking about what I’m going to do with my free time.” With another whoop and an “Eh, what the hell?” he grabbed Sy by the neck of the damp T-shirt and laid a smacking kiss on him.

Maggie barely managed to smother her laugh when Dean released a dazed Silas.

“I get why she married you,” Silas mused, recovering from the kiss.

“Should I come back?” a tentative voice asked from the doorway. The stranger was dressed like he was heading to the office instead of a job site on a Saturday morning. His skin was dark, his hair cut in a precise fade. He pushed his glasses up his nose in what looked more like a nervous habit than a necessary adjustment.

“Maggie, Dean, this is my brother, Michael,” Silas said. “Mikey, this is Maggie Nichols and Dean Jensen from Building Dreams.”

“Wow. Hi. It’s great to meet you.” Michael’s head bobbed and then bobbed again. “I watch your show. A lot. Like every episode. You’re great.” He said it to Dean. Then blinked. “Uh, you both are great. And yeah. I’m gonna go now.”