“I bet. She’s not coming here, is she?”
“Not for the party. If Mitch reports back that I’ve fallen into the clutches of an evil, scheming temptress, she’ll be here. Otherwise, she doesn’t come home much.”
Emma knelt in front of the garden bed and went back to planting pink flowers. “You said she lives in New Mexico. What does she do?”
“She waits tables at a truck stop to support the deadbeat artist wanna-be who swept her off her feet and talked her into dropping out of college when she was nineteen.”
“Oh. I guess that’s not a happy story.”
“No. But she’s as stubborn as all four of us boys put together and I think she stays with him just so she won’t have to admit our old man was right.”
“Even though he passed away almost a decade ago? That’s…stubborn.”
“That’s Liz.” He scowled at the mulch she pushed in his direction. “We’ve all tried to talk some sense into her and we’ve had a few chats with him, too, but she won’t leave him.”
“Are they married?”
He snorted. “No. Asshole’s too much of a free spirit to embrace government regulation of their relationship.”
“One of those, huh?”
“Yeah. She’ll get tired of his shit eventually. I hope.”
“So none of you are married?”
“Nope. Liz has been wasting her time with her deadbeat for thirteen years. Ryan’s divorced. And Mitch, Josh and I are too hard to pin down.”
“You mean you haven’t found women willing to put up with
your
shit yet.”
He laughed. “Pretty much.”
Of course, he hadn’t been looking too hard, either. But he imagined when it was time to look—way down the road—he’d probably fall for somebody like Emma. She was smart and funny and loyal to her family. And, unlike a lot of women, she didn’t take any of his crap.
Sure, she had some annoying habits. Like those little moaning sounds she made in her sleep. And she could be a bit of a smart-ass. The cleaning thing, of course. She’d taken a toothbrush to his sneakers the other night and they weren’t even really broken in yet.
But, overall, if the urge to settle down ever struck him, he wouldn’t mind a woman like Emma.
“It’s all a sham?” Russell leaned against his counter, shaking his head. “The living together? The engagement? All a lie?”
“Yes.” Cat sighed. It was a little embarrassing to admit Emma would resort to such an elaborate scheme to protect her peace of mind. But she’d told him the whole thing anyway, including her conversation with Mary Kowalski, while he chuckled.
“She must really love you to go to all that trouble,” he said when she was through, and Cat smiled.
“I guess you’re right. She’s a good girl, even if she did think I’d fall for this.” But she hadn’t worked up her courage and come into town to talk about Emma. “You owe me a dance, Russell Walker.”
He gave her a sheepish smile. “I’m keeping my eye out for a nice place to take you. Heard there’s a chem-free graduation fundraiser dance Saturday after next at the high school for the older crowd. It won’t be fancy, but it’s close and for a good cause.”
“That might be nice.”
“So it’s a date, then?”
A date? What the heck was she doing dating at her age? “It’s a date.”
“Good. Are you and the kids doing anything for the Fourth?”
“We’re going to spend the day with the Kowalskis and then all go over and watch the fireworks go off over the big lake.”
He nodded. “Dani and Roger always do that, too.”
Cat picked up the bag of clearanced gardening tools she’d bought just to have an excuse to stop into the hardware store. “If you go with them, maybe I’ll see you there.”
“Maybe you will. Where are you off to now?”
“I’m driving down to Concord to meet Mary Kowalski for lunch.”
“Those poor kids don’t stand a chance, do they?”
She laughed. “Nope.”
Mary was already waiting at the fancy café they’d chosen because it was unlikely to attract any of the other family members and they could have a friendly lunch. Cat was older than her, of course, but not by much. She’d had Johnny young and Johnny and his wife had been young when they had Emma.
Mary had gotten them a pitcher of water, but they both asked for tea to go with the salads they reluctantly ordered. With all the barbequing going on, they had to be good when they had the chance. Cat still had guilt over the hash-and-cheese omelet and it had been almost a week.
They chatted about family and the weather until the salads arrived, and then Mary broached the subject of Sean and Emma. “How are things going between them?”
“I found out she sleeps on the couch in the bedroom. When I knocked on the door, I could hear her crossing the room to get into the bed before she called me to come in. And her phone, which she uses as an alarm clock, was plugged in next to the couch, too.”
“I’m surprised they’ve managed to resist each other this long.”
Cat nodded and drizzled a low-calorie dressing over her salad. “Me, too. I’m not sure why they’re trying so hard, actually. Did you tell anybody I’ve figured out their little scheme?”
“No. I can’t be sure none of them will tell Sean. Or that Lisa won’t tell Emma. I haven’t even told Leo, so it’s just between us.”
“It’s going to be fun watching my granddaughter pretend Mitch isn’t a total stranger to her.”
“Having him here this weekend will help push Sean over the edge.”
“You think so?”
Mary smiled. “Mitch is quite the ladies’ man. There’s also a betting pool they think I don’t know anything about and they don’t want Sean to win. Once Mitch starts flirting with Emma, we’ll find out in a hurry how Sean really feels about her.”
“I hope you’re right. They definitely need a nudge.”
“Trust me. I know my boys.”
Saturday rolled around and Emma knew she was in trouble when a slightly taller and older version of Sean spotted her across the Kowalskis’ big backyard.
He grinned and started toward her. “Emma!”
When he picked her up off her feet—which was no easy feat considering how tall she was—and spun her around, she clutched his shoulders. “Mitch…hi.”
Thank goodness only one of his brothers could come. Not only because there were fewer people to keep track of, but because there was a much better chance this actually
was
Mitch.
“Laying it on a little thick?” she heard Sean mutter.
“Can’t help it,” Mitch said, setting her back on her feet. “My future sister-in-law’s quite the looker, you lucky bastard.”
Sean made a snorting sound, but she couldn’t tell if it was directed at the fact he’d called her his future sister-in-law, that she was a looker, or that he was a lucky bastard, so she ignored him.
She’d noticed right off Mitch was a little taller and older than Sean, but his eyes were a little darker shade of blue and his hair was longer and scruffier. And he was leaner, too, though still pretty well built.
She jumped when Sean slid his arm around her waist and put his face close to hers. “Stop ogling my brother.”
“He’s taller than you.”
“Older, too.”
“Maybe, but what’s a few years?” When he made a growling sound, she laughed and elbowed him in the side. “You’re not jealous, are you?”
“Of Mitch? Please.”
“I could totally take you, little brother,” Mitch said. “Now, introduce me to your future grandmother-in-law so I can go back to my beer.”
Emma mingled and laughed and ate too much and laughed some more as the day went on. Everybody was relaxed and nobody seemed particularly interested in watching her and Sean—or in pushing his buttons with wedding talk—so she relaxed, too.
She was licking a Fudgsicle stick clean when her grandmother dragged a chair close to hers and sat down. “Hi, Gram. Having fun?”
“I’m having a blast. Sean has a very nice family. And they really like you.”
“I like them, too,” she said, and it wasn’t a lie. It was hard not to like them, even when they were giving her and Sean a hard time.
“I’ve been thinking about it and I’m going to give you the house as a wedding present.”
All the food and the cookies and the chips and the ice cream she’d eaten turned over in Emma’s stomach. “No, Gram.”
“Yes. It’s pretty clear you’ve made it your home and I want you to have it. Your grandfather wanted you to have it, too. We’d talked about it before he passed away.”
“I want it, too, Gram, but I want to
buy
it. It’s worth too much for you to just give it to me.”
Gram scoffed at her words. “That monster’s been paid off forever. There’s no sense in putting another mortgage on it now. I’ve got enough money to keep me happy and you’ve got a business to keep going.”
Emma struggled not to cry. She wanted the house. And she’d been willing to buy it under iffy circumstances. But she couldn’t let Gram give it to her as a wedding present when there wasn’t going to be a wedding.
She took a deep breath. “Gram, I—”
Bobby ran up on the deck and skidded to a stop in front of them. “It’s time for the Kowalski Fourth of July Football Game of Doom!”
Cat laughed and pushed herself out of her seat. “We’ll talk about this some other time, Emma. Go have fun.”
“I’m not sure I want to play football. Especially if there’s doom involved,” she said, but Bobby grabbed her hand and dragged her off the deck.
They were divvied up into teams roughly by size, each with an assortment of men, women and children. Emma was on Sean’s team, which was good. She’d just hide behind him because the only thing she knew about football was that it involved a lot of hitting.
It only took a few plays to see that the Kowalskis played by their own rules and the few they had were fluid. Mostly they served to ensure the smaller kids didn’t get plowed over, victims of the adults’ competitive streaks.
Five minutes into the game, Emma somehow ended up with the ball. She squealed and looked around for somebody—anybody—to hand it off to, but there was nobody. Well, there was Danny, but he was doubled over in laughter.
“Run, Emma,” Lisa yelled.
She ran in the direction her friend was frantically waving her hand, but she only went a few feet before two very strong arms wrapped around her waist and then she was falling. Luckily, she landed on a body instead of the ground.
“I love football,” Mitch said, grinning up at her.
Emma grimaced and managed to get one of her knees on solid ground so she could push herself to her feet. He was quicker and freed himself to stand and help her up.
“They should give you the ball more often,” he said, his blue eyes sparkling and the grin so like Sean’s—but not quite as naughty—in full force.
“Hands off my girl,” Sean told him, pulling on Emma’s elbow.
“You should do a better job of blocking for her.”
“Let’s go,” Brian shouted.
The very next play, Mitch intercepted Mike’s pass to Evan and turned to run toward the other end zone. He was halfway there when Sean took him down hard. They hit the ground with a bone-jarring thud that made Emma wince, and came up pushing and shoving.
When Sean drew back his arm to throw the first punch, Mary blew her whistle from the sidelines. “Boys! Enough!”
Instead of heading straight for the huddle, Sean walked to Emma and pulled her into his arms for a hard, almost punishing caveman kiss that made her skin sizzle and her knees go wobbly. Then he glared at his brother for a few long seconds and went back to his team, leaving Emma standing there breathless and discombobulated.
Lisa was staring at her. So were Terry and Beth and Keri. All with raised-eyebrow speculation that made her want to bolt for a hiding place. So what if Sean had gone all Neanderthal on her? It didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t like he’d staked a claim. It was probably just an instinctual reaction to his older brother flirting with the woman he’d brought to the party. That had to be it.
A few plays later, Emma ended up with the ball again. There seemed to be some kind of unspoken rule that everybody got a chance to make a play, even if they sucked. She was going to run, but then she saw Stephanie bearing down on her with that killer Kowalski spirit in her eyes and tossed the ball up in the air.
Mitch—who hadn’t touched her since his first misguided tackle—snatched it out of the air and ran it back for a touchdown, much to the vocal dismay of her teammates.
“You play football even worse than you drive,” Sean muttered.
“Clearly it’s my lack of—”
He yanked her back against his body and wrapped his arms around her so he could whisper in her ear. “Don’t you dare say it.”
She laughed and leaned back against his chest. “Don’t say what?”
“If you mention the magic penis in front of these guys, I’ll never hear the end of it. Never. Hell, fifty years from now when our dicks are shriveled up and useless, they’ll still be cracking magic penis jokes.”
“What’s it worth to you?”
He tightened his arms around her and nuzzled her hair. “What are you looking to get?”
She turned her head so her lips were almost touching his cheek and dropped her voice down into the sexy bedroom range. “I want…to drive home.”
He snorted. “Figures.”
“Just imagine Mike all old and decrepit and toothless and leaning on his walker cackling and shouting, ‘Hey, Sean, how’s the magic penis hanging?’”
“Okay, you win. You can drive.”
“You gonna play or what?” Leo shouted at them.
Sean let go of her and headed back toward the ball, but as Emma looked over at the sidelines and debated on making a break for it, she saw Mary watching her with what looked like a rather smug smile curving her lips.
Emma wasn’t sure exactly what that could mean, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know, either, so she forced herself to rejoin her team. They were in a huddle, discussing a play which thankfully didn’t seem to include her, but she listened anyway. And jumped when the huddle broke up and Sean slapped her on the ass.
His brother flirting with her had really brought out the touchy-feely in him, she mused as Terry ran past her with the ball.
“Emma, take her down,” Terry’s husband shouted, but it was too late. And she wasn’t stupid. Tackling Terry would hurt.
The score was either twenty-one to forty-two or tied at thirty-five, depending on who you asked, when Mary blew the whistle. “Time to clean up and get ready for the fireworks. Kids, make sure you go to the bathroom
before
we leave this year.”
Maybe it was only because Mitch was nearby and Mary had her eye on them, but Emma didn’t pull away when Sean took her hand in his for the walk into the house.
It was almost dusk before the horde of Kowalskis got themselves settled on a patchwork island of old quilts. Cat staked her claim on one corner by setting down her bag and the straw hat she’d worn earlier to keep the sun off her face. Then she wandered away to see who she could run into.
She stopped here and there, saying hello to a few friends, but when she saw Russell Walker sitting on one of the park benches, she was forced to admit to herself she’d been looking for him. He was alone, so she took a deep breath to steady her ridiculous school-girl nerves and walked over.
“Is this seat taken?”
His face brightened when he saw her and he patted the empty bench next to him. “I was sitting on a blanket with Dani and her husband, but I’m a little old for that.”
“Emma and I are with Sean’s family, but I thought I’d go for a walk and put off sitting on the ground for as long as possible.”
“Would they be upset at all if you stayed here with me?”
With the amount of people on the Kowalskis’ acre of blankets, they probably wouldn’t even notice she was gone. “Probably not.”
“Do you care if they are?”
She smiled and shook her head. “Not really, no.”
And speaking of Emma, there she came, obviously looking for her. She waved her hand to get her attention and didn’t miss the surprise that crossed Emma’s face.
“Hi, Mr. Walker. We were starting to think Gram got lost.”
“I think I’m going to watch the fireworks with Russell.”
“Oh.” Cat watched Emma try to wrap her mind around that. “Okay.”
“You look lovely tonight,” Russell said. “Clearly love agrees with you.”
Because she was looking for it, Cat saw the flash of guilt in Emma’s eyes before she smiled and couldn’t resist poking at her. “Russell tells me he hasn’t met Sean yet.”
“No. He…uh…Sean’s not much of a shopper. And he goes down to the stores in the city when he needs stuff so he can visit his aunt and uncle at the same time.”
At least the girl was consistent. Cat wondered if she’d made up cue cards. “You’ll have to bring him over after the fireworks.”
“Yeah. Maybe. So…have fun.”
She walked away, but Cat caught her looking back with a frown, as if trying to puzzle out why her Gram was choosing to watch the fireworks with the guy who owned the hardware store instead of her family.
Then they fired a test shot and Cat put Emma out of her mind as the burst lit up the darkening sky.
They oohed and aahed along with the rest of the crowd and, as the show built toward the grand finale, Russell’s hand bumped hers. It rested there for a moment and then he threaded his fingers through hers.
“Where’s Cat?”
Emma sighed and looked toward where she’d found Gram and Russell Walker, even though it was too dark to see them. “She ran into a friend. She’s sitting on the bench with him, over by the trees.”
“Him?”
“Yeah. Russell Walker, who owns the hardware store.”
Sean shrugged. “Probably beats sitting on the ground.”
With her grandmother watching the fireworks with Russell, Emma was free to put a little space between her and Sean on their part of an old gaily colored quilt. Not too much space, of course, because there were a lot of Kowalskis and they had to keep the kids spread farther apart than jabbing elbows could reach.
“Need a Valium?” Sean leaned over to ask in a low voice.
“No. Why?”
“You spin that engagement ring around on your finger when you’re stressed and, right now, it looks like you’re trying to generate electricity with it.”
Emma locked her fingers together and hooked her clasped hands over her drawn-up knees. Stressed? Why would she be stressed? Her body was still humming from that caveman kiss during the football game, her grandmother had ditched her for Mr. Walker from the hardware store, and she couldn’t make sense of either event.
It wasn’t for lack of trying. Her mind raced, trying to sort it all out, as colors burst above her in the dark sky. Maybe Sean was right and Gram had simply taken a seat on the bench next to Mr. Walker because she didn’t want to sit on the ground. And maybe Sean had only kissed her because he thought that’s what a man in love would do when his older brother was flirting with his fiancée. All very innocent.
But she’d been watching Sean pretend to be in love with her for two weeks and, while he didn’t do too badly, she didn’t think he had the acting chops to fake the primal, possessive gleam in his eye right before he’d claimed her mouth.
Sean scooted a little closer, probably so his mouth could be near her ear. The discretion, she appreciated. His warm breath against her skin, not so much. “You’re not even trying to enjoy this, are you?”
“I am, too.” She enjoyed the feel of his shoulder pressing against hers. And the way he smelled. And the way the fireworks kept lighting up his face.
He didn’t seem inclined to say any more, but he didn’t move away either, so they watched the fireworks and laughed at the kids, who were ooh-ing and aah-ing with exaggerated exuberance. They were all decked out with glowing neon bracelets and necklaces and they were as lively and vivid as a Vegas show.
After a while, Emma shifted her weight, trying to find a reasonably comfortable position on the hard ground. It wasn’t easy, until Sean pulled her close and she rested against his chest. It was very comfy…physically. Played hell on her senses, though, and she was surprised—and not in a good way—to find herself wishing Gram was with them on the blanket so Sean would have an excuse to wrap his arms around her and kiss the back of her neck.