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  Jess turned to Laurie, her eyes wide with innocence. “Did I mention Kevin?”

  “I never heard his name,” Laurie confirmed.

  “He’s obviously on her mind,” Jess said, then added thoughtfully, “You know her best, Laurie. What do you suppose that means?”

  “I’m guessing she’s a little sensitive on the subject because she’s interested in him but doesn’t want us to know it.”

  Shanna scowled at them. “I hope you two are enjoying yourselves.”

  “Immensely,” Jess said.

  “Haven’t had more fun in ages,” Laurie chimed in, though her expression sobered quickly. “Seriously, Shanna, do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

  “Absolutely,” she said at once. “Nothing. I am doing absolutely nothing. This thing about Kevin and me is all in your heads.”

  “You seem to be forgetting I saw you together earlier today,” Laurie said. “There were unmistakable sparks.”

  “I saw them, too,” Jess added. “Even Abby commented on it.”

  “I barely met her,” Shanna protested. “And she has never seen your brother and me together.”

  “He was there. That was enough for her.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake, you’re all making way too much of this. Kevin has baggage. I have baggage. It’s not a good mix.”

  “In any relationship these days, both people have their share of baggage,” Laurie said. “Amazingly, it doesn’t always scare either of them off, even when it should.”

  “Then I’m an exception,” Shanna said. “So is Kevin. Now stop this before you spoil our dinner, or mine, anyway.”

  “I just have one more thing to say, sweetie, and then I’ll drop it for tonight,” Laurie said. “Despite my teasing, Kevin is all wrong for you. He’s a nice guy, and all those sparks are lovely, but the two of you would be a disaster. Surely you can see that.”

  Jess regarded her with indignation. “Hey, that’s my brother you’re talking about.”

  “It’s not personal. I like him. I really do. I’m just saying he and Shanna are a bad fit. If you knew her history, you’d agree.”

  “So tell me,” Jess said, leaning forward with obvious fascination.

  Shanna glared at Laurie. “Not if you expect to have a place to stay tonight.”

  That only stirred Jess’s curiosity. “Why? What are you hiding?” She turned to Laurie. “Do I need to warn my brother off?”

  Laurie shook her head. “It’s complicated, though.”

  “Complications aren’t always a bad thing,” Jess said thoughtfully. “Tell me and I can decide for myself.”

  Shanna gave her a pleading look. “I swear I will tell you anything you want to know, just not tonight. Dwelling in the past will ruin the evening, at least for me.”

  Jess nodded slowly. “Fair enough. This is your night to celebrate,” she said, then added, “But I will be on your doorstep one of these mornings with questions.”

  Shanna sighed. Of course she would. She was as protective of Kevin as Laurie was of her.

  “I’ll have the coffee ready,” she said, resigned to the inevitable.

  Both of her companions dutifully changed the subject as their meals arrived. Jess and Laurie dug in happily, chatting about inconsequential topics now, but Shanna couldn’t eat a bite of her food. Just thinking about her unfortunate and short-lived marriage had ruined her appetite and her mood. Talking about it, whether tonight or any other time, could fill her with despair.

  7

  On Sunday, Kevin walked into the dining room as Gram was setting the table and noted more place settings than usual. Even if Bree, Jake, Abby, Trace and the girls were joining them, the extra leaf in the table seemed excessive. Still, it wasn’t all that rare for someone in the family to invite a few more people to the family’s traditional Sunday gatherings.

  “You need help?” he asked his grandmother.

  “If you could finish setting the table, I’d appreciate it. I need to check my pot roast.”

  “Exactly how many people will be here today?” he asked, picking up where she’d left off and arranging another place setting.

  “You and Davy, all three of your sisters, Trace and Jake, Abby’s girls, of course, your father and me. Jess has invited a couple of friends, too.” She ticked the numbers off on her fingers. “That’s thirteen of us, plus your mother, assuming she and Mick are around. They have a habit of not filling me in on their plans.”

  Kevin frowned at the prospect of dealing with his mother again, even though they’d had something of a breakthrough on her last visit. “Wouldn’t she have flown in on Friday if she were coming?”

  “More than likely, but her days off can change, so she sometimes turns up on Sunday. Since I haven’t seen your father this morning, something tells me he’s run off to the airport to get her.”

  “And you’re okay with them not giving you any notice?” Kevin asked, annoyed on her behalf.

  She shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind a little consideration, but when did I ever require any of you to give me more than a few minutes’ notice before inviting a friend to a meal? There’s always enough food for a few extra people.”

  “I suppose,” Kevin said, but it still struck him as yet another example of his mother’s thoughtlessness. Or maybe the fault was Mick’s, he conceded, deciding to cut his mother some slack for once. After all, it was his father who was bringing home the parental version of a playmate.

  The possibility that Megan was going to be around for a few days soured his mood, but it was too late now for him to come up with an excuse to take off. Besides, he’d resolved to stop running from things—people, issues, whatever.

  A few minutes later he had a hard time remembering that resolution when he walked outside and spotted Jess crossing the yard with Shanna and her friend Laurie in tow.

  Why the devil hadn’t he considered for even a second that his sister might be inviting these particular friends? It was just like Jess to try to stir the pot. What he didn’t understand entirely was why Shanna had gone along with it, especially with her overly inquisitive friend still on the scene.

  Shanna glanced his way, caught his eye and silently mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

  Kevin grinned, despite his initial exasperated reaction. Apparently she was not much happier about this than he was, though it begged the question of how she’d let it happen. Then he caught Jess’s cat-swallowed-the-canary look of triumph and knew she’d deliberately masterminded this meeting. As he knew all too well, she wasn’t the kind to take no for an answer.

  “Kevin, be a sweetheart, and take Shanna inside for something to drink,” Jess called out to him.

  So, he thought, she’d set the game into motion. Unless he or Shanna did something to prevent it, they’d be thrown together from here on out as frequently as his sisters could manage it.

  He caught a quick frown on Laurie’s face, but then Jess was linking arms with her and walking briskly toward the beach, either to show her the view or simply as a blatant attempt at distraction, so he’d have no choice but to deal with Shanna.

  He turned to Shanna, whose cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. “I warned you about getting caught in the O’Brien web,” he told her.

  “What you didn’t warn me about was how sneaky and persuasive your sister can be,” she said. “I said no to coming today. I said it at least a half-dozen times. Even Laurie protested, and she’s a lot tougher than I am.”

  “And, yet, here you are,” he said. “Maybe I can get Davy to teach you how to say no and mean it. It’s currently one of his favorite words.”

  Her eyes lighting up at the mention of his son’s name, she immediately looked around. “Where is he?”

  “In the kitchen with Gram and his cousins, last time I checked. They love hanging out there with her because she lets them sneak cookies, even though she knows perfectly well that’s not allowed before a meal. When we were kids, she stuck very firmly to that rule. With Davy, Caitlyn and Carrie,
the rules have flown out the window. Whenever I’ve dared to mention that, though, she says a great-grandmother has a right to spoil anyone she wants to. I haven’t come up with an argument that’ll work when she pulls rank.”

  Shanna chuckled. “What do you suppose the odds are of us sneaking a cookie if we join them? I’m starved. I slept late and skipped breakfast. Laurie, Jess and I had kind of a late night.”

  Kevin regarded her with dismay. “You were out partying with my sister? Are you nuts?”

  “Apparently so, since that’s when she talked me into coming here today. And we weren’t partying, exactly. We just had dinner after the store closed, then sat around talking for a while afterward. Dillon Brady and his wife joined us.”

  “Really? Then it must have been a late night. Dillon’s rarely out of the kitchen before eleven.”

  She nodded. “Which meant it was after midnight by the time we got home. We were having so much fun, I didn’t even notice the time until I crawled into bed.”

  “Then you’re making friends,” he said, oddly miffed by that. It was ridiculous, since he didn’t especially want to get any more involved with her himself. Of course she should have friends here. And it wasn’t as if she’d been out with, say, Will and Mack. This was his sister, Dillon Brady and his wife. It couldn’t have been more innocent. There was absolutely no reason for this strange little twinge of annoyance or jealousy or whatever it was.

  She was studying him curiously. “Does that bother you for some reason?”

  “No,” he lied. “Why would it?”

  “I’m not sure, but there was something in your tone of voice.”

  “You’re imagining things. I’m sure now that you have the store, you’ll be making a ton of new friends.”

  “I hope so,” she said at once.

  “Speaking of the store, aren’t you planning to be open on Sundays? That’s a big day for tourists around here.”

  “I will be, starting next week,” she told him. “I knew yesterday was going to be really demanding, so I planned it that I don’t officially start my regular hours until Tuesday of this week. Thank heavens I did that, because in my wildest dreams I never imagined an opening like yesterday.”

  “I’m pretty sure everyone in town stopped in,” he said.

  “It certainly felt like that. Anyway, from now on I’ll be open six days a week, taking Monday off. That’ll give me a chance to get some new stock on the shelves after the weekend, place orders and so on.”

  “Six days? Won’t that wear you out, especially if you’re using Monday as a catch-up day for paperwork and that sort of thing?”

  “Probably,” she admitted with an air of resignation, “but at first there won’t be any money in the budget for even part-time help. Hopefully I’ll be able to hire one or two teenagers part-time over the holidays and then full-time help by next summer. Everyone I spoke to told me it was the only way I’d be able to take a salary myself and pay the overhead. Small businesses in a town this size take a while to get established and on an even keel financially. I’m prepared for having virtually no life of my own for the time being.”

  Kevin wasn’t sure whether to be relieved by that or disappointed. He was saved from too much introspection by Caitlyn, Carrie and Davy exiting the house at full throttle. Davy couldn’t keep up with his older cousins. The farther they got away from him, the stormier his expression, until he recognized Shanna. He immediately detoured in their direction.

  “Book?” he asked her hopefully, holding out his arms to be picked up.

  Instead, Shanna hunkered down to be on his level. “I didn’t bring any books with me, but if you have one you’d like me to read to you, I would love to do that.”

  Davy looked up at Kevin. “Book, Daddy?”

  Kevin glanced at Shanna. “You sure about this? He’s relentless once you give in.”

  “It’s fine,” she assured him.

  With Davy clinging to her hand, they went inside and upstairs to Davy’s room. He led her to his bright blue bookshelf and grabbed the firefly book, then another one about trucks. He was reaching for a third, when Kevin stopped him.

  “That’s enough, pal. You can’t take up all of Shanna’s time. She’s here to see the grown-ups.”

  “I don’t mind, really,” she insisted, picking up the book Davy had been reaching for. “Can we read outside? Do you have a favorite place?”

  Again, Davy held out his arms to be picked up. “I show,” he said.

  Before Kevin could protest, Shanna scooped Davy up as if he weighed next to nothing. “Tell me where,” she instructed.

  Then, walking away as if she’d forgotten Kevin’s existence, she took off with his son. Davy was babbling a mile a minute in her ear. Kevin could hear her laughter drifting back up the steps. The sound sent another one of those unexpected little zings of jealousy straight through him.

  “Ridiculous,” he muttered to himself. First he was jealous of his sister, Dillon and Kate. Now he was envious of his two-year-old. Clearly he needed to get his own life, and he needed to do it in a big, fat hurry.

  After dinner, Shanna was sitting in the shade, her back resting against an old oak tree, Davy asleep in her lap, when Laurie found her. Her friend’s arrival shattered the few minutes of complete tranquillity and contentment she’d been feeling.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Laurie demanded, taking in the scene at a glance.

  “Hush! You’re going to wake him up.”

  “Don’t you see how wrong this is?” Laurie asked, her tone lower, but no less urgent. “You can’t substitute one child for another, or one father for another, for that matter.”

  Shanna sucked in a horrified gasp. “That is not what I’m doing.”

  “Aren’t you?” Laurie asked, her gaze unrelenting. “Oh, sweetie, I know how much you must miss Henry. I know how devastating it was when you had to walk away and leave him with Greg, but you had no claim to custody. He’d only been your stepson for a few months when you divorced Greg.”

  “And a part of my life for a lot longer than that,” Shanna retorted heatedly. She and Greg had dated for nearly a year before marrying, and she’d fallen in love with his son the instant she’d met him. Henry had been so desperate for a mom, he’d taken instantly to Shanna, as well, pleading to call her Mommy almost from the beginning.

  “My point is that you’re repeating the same pattern that wound up breaking your heart,” Laurie said.

  “Not now!” Shanna ordered angrily. “And certainly not here.”

  She was not going to discuss her ex-husband or his son where anyone might overhear. She could barely utter Henry’s name without wanting to cry. Walking away and leaving him in that toxic environment might have been her only legal option, but that hadn’t made it easy. She’d regretted it every day since, although she knew she’d done everything in her power to protect him.

  Even now, over a year later, she made regular calls to Henry, convinced she’d be able to tell if he was okay by the way the seven-year-old sounded on the phone. At least Greg hadn’t denied her those calls, though he had fought her request for visitation. She’d vowed that if she ever once heard anything that suggested Henry was anything other than happy and well-adjusted, she wouldn’t hesitate to stir up a ruckus that would set the staid and powerful Hamilton family on its collective derriere.

  Now, Laurie gave her an apologetic look and lowered herself to the ground next to Shanna. “I’m sorry, but I had to say something.”

  “Look, I understand why you’re concerned. I really do. I’m not blind to the similarities in the situations. But there are significant differences, too. Still, I swear to you that I’m not going to let myself get too involved. I’m not interested in getting my heart broken again, either, you know.”

  “You’re saying all the right words, Shanna,” Laurie said, sounding resigned. She gestured toward Davy. “Your actions, though, they’re shouting something else entirely. You’re already in over your head. You’ve spent m
ost of the day out here with Davy.”

  “I’m not in over my head,” she said firmly. “And you’re not taking into account Kevin. He’s no more interested in getting involved than I am. He can barely be around me without getting skittish.”

  “Hasn’t it occurred to you that neither of you would be skittish if there was no attraction?” Laurie suggested. “Acquaintances, even friends, don’t get skittish around each other. It’s only men and women who are fighting or denying all those rampaging hormones.”

  “Have you considered writing an advice column, instead of recipes?” Shanna inquired testily. “Even though you edit cookbooks, you seem to think you have all the answers when it comes to relationships.”

  “No,” Laurie said. “But maybe what I should be doing is telling fortunes, because I can see disaster written all over this.”

  Shanna could hardly pretend that she hadn’t seen the same signs and portents, but wasn’t that enough to keep her from doing something stupid? She’d fallen for Greg because she’d missed all of the most ominous signs.

  “My eyes are wide open,” she assured Laurie. “I promise.”

  Her friend apparently heard the finality in her voice, because she sighed even more deeply. “You know I’m only a phone call away if that ever changes.”

  “I know,” Shanna said. “And you’ll never know just how much I appreciate that. I couldn’t have gotten through the past couple of years without you.”

  And she hoped with everything in her that she’d never need to lean on Laurie in that way again.

  Kevin went down to Harbor Lights Marina first thing on Monday morning to buy a fishing boat. It was an impulse, but it was also a necessity.

  After spotting the warm and inviting picture Shanna made with Davy sound asleep in her lap after Sunday’s midday dinner, half of his resolutions about her had flown right out the window. In that instant he’d seen how much Davy needed a mother, someone warm and gentle to hold and comfort him. Gram and his sisters were excellent substitutes, but it wasn’t the same.