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But twenty minutes later, when she pageant-walked into the reserved dining room for the prewedding brunch as though everything in her life was as grand as could be, she realized she had seriously underestimated her friends’ skills of observation.
* * *
After Drew had gone through the buffet line, loading his plate with a custom-made omelet, sausage links and four buttermilk pancakes, he’d tried to sit next to Kylie. He didn’t want to seem as if he was avoiding her and, truthfully, he liked being near her. But his best friend and the groom, Matt Cooper, had steered him toward the opposite end of the table.
“You must’ve gotten lost last night,” Cooper said right before digging into his own breakfast. “Nobody could find you after we left the cocktail lounge.”
“Hmm,” Drew replied noncommittally as he forked piping-hot eggs into his mouth. He wasn’t going to lie to anyone—especially not to Cooper, who was a former military police sergeant and had just been appointed as the chief of police for the town of Sugar Falls. His friend was too canny for that. And, judging from the smug grin across the guy’s face, he was also too excited at the prospect of exploiting Drew’s possible fall from grace.
“And it looks as though the airlines must have lost your luggage, because you’re wearing the exact same clothes you had on when we saw you last.”
Yep, the cop definitely knew something had happened. But as much as Drew wanted to confide in his friend, he’d promised Kylie that they wouldn’t tell anybody yet. Instead, he shoved a bite of a syrup-drenched pancake into his mouth, trying to avoid answering any more questions.
Drew stole a look down the long table to see how his wife was faring.
Wife.
That sounded weird. Not horrible and scary, he thought. Just weird.
She was seated next to the bride and their friend Mia, the other maid of honor. But unlike Drew, Kylie merely pushed the food back and forth on her plate while her friends talked incessantly around her. She was several feet away from him, but he could’ve sworn he heard her asking the waitress if the soft-serve ice cream machine was working this early in the day.
“So are you excited about the wedding?” Drew asked Cooper, trying to change the subject. But his buddy wasn’t having it.
“Kylie’s being rather quiet this morning,” Cooper said. “That’s kind of unusual for her.”
“I wouldn’t know. I don’t know your friends very well.”
“Really? Because you two were thick as thieves last night. I got the feeling you and Kylie were getting to know each other really well.”
Drew gave Cooper his listening expression but still didn’t respond. He found it was the best way to get information out of people. Unfortunately, Cooper was making the same face.
“Here’s the deal,” Drew finally relented. “I don’t remember much about last night, and I wasn’t really myself. So let’s just drop it, okay?”
His friend let out a guffaw before patting him on the back. “Don’t worry, Saint Drew. Your secret’s safe with me. Besides, you could’ve done a lot worse than Kylie.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that whatever is between you and my soon-to-be wife’s best friend is just that—between you two. But I’m still gonna give you a hard time whenever I can.”
“Yeah, you’re an emotional vault, so I know I can count on you for discretion. You don’t talk to anyone about anything.” Sadly, Drew was serious, but he knew that since Cooper had met Maxine, his former-loner friend was starting to open up more. “But what do you mean that I could do worse than Kylie? Like I said, I really don’t know anything about her.”
“Kylie’s a good person.” Coming from Coop, who was suspicious of everyone, that was quite a compliment. “She’s smart as hell and she speaks her mind. Very loyal and protective when it comes to the people she loves. So she dresses a little over-the-top and likes to go out with a new guy every week, but Maxine says she just does that because she was the only girl growing up in a male-dominated household and likes to flaunt her femininity. She’s a real spitfire, but she has a heart of gold.”
Drew chugged his orange juice, trying not to look at Kylie again. Cooper’s assessment pretty much aligned with his own first impression of the woman. At least, what he could remember about it.
“And from the way she’s sitting down there all prim and proper, trying not to stare at you just as hard as you’re trying not to stare at her, I’d say something good definitely happened between you two.”
“And I’d say don’t make any risky bets before you leave the casino today. Gambling on the odds isn’t in your best interests.”
Cooper laughed again, this time drawing the looks of the other twenty or so people crowded around the table.
Drew turned the unwanted attention to his advantage and suddenly announced to the group, “I hate to eat and run, but I’m supposed to be in Boise later today to pick up my nephews. I’ll see all of you in Sugar Falls in a few days for the big weekend.”
He then excused himself and made his way down the table, saying his goodbyes and shaking hands before he got to the person he wanted to talk to the most.
“Ladies,” Drew started, acknowledging both her and her friends, yet Kylie wouldn’t look at him or meet his gaze. She kept shoveling ice cream into her mouth so quickly she would no doubt give herself brain freeze. He wanted to get her phone number or figure out a way for them to contact each other since they still had a lot to talk about.
“Drew,” Maxine Walker said, looking between him and her redheaded friend. “We’ll have to get together as soon as you arrive in Sugar Falls. Cooper tells me you’re bringing your nephews with you and staying at the cabin for the summer.”
“What?” Kylie’s spoon clattered to the floor. “You’re moving to Sugar Falls?”
The suspicion in her eyes made him think she was seriously opposed to the news.
“That’s the plan.” One he didn’t intend to change just because he’d stepped out of character one night and had too much to drink.
“Drew’s from Boise originally,” Maxine explained, probably trying to diffuse her friend’s growing tension. “He just transferred assignments and is going to be the psychologist in charge of the new PTSD unit at Shadowview Military Hospital.”
“But Shadowview is closer to Boise than to Sugar Falls.” What was Kylie getting at? That she would rather him live an hour away so she wouldn’t have to be reminded of him or what they’d done?
“Seriously, Kylie,” their friend Mia spoke up, a quiet and calm voice of reason. “The hospital is only thirty minutes from the cabin.”
“What cabin?” Kylie asked.
“You know, the one off Sweetwater Bend? Where Cooper lived when he first moved to town?” Drew just stood there awkwardly, letting Cooper’s fiancée explain everything he should have told Kylie last night. “It belongs to Drew’s family. He’s going to be living there with his nephews and taking care of them while his brother is on deployment.”
“I had absolutely no idea.” Kylie wouldn’t make eye contact with him, and he decided to get this conversation under control before the woman he’d spent the night with made it obvious to everyone at the table that there was a reason she was acting so uncomfortable around him.
“Kylie, I wanted to talk to you about the wedding rehearsal before I left. Ladies, would you excuse us for just a moment?” He pulled her chair back before she could decline, leaving her no polite choice but to walk away from the table with him.
He hated to coerce her verbally, especially when she’d thrown herself on that little gossip grenade in front of Cessy Walker and Freckles. The only person who had ever covered for him in a potentially disastrous situation like that was his brother, Luke. But he couldn’t just sit back and let her martyr herself—or her reputation—without providing his input.
She was just as haughty in her strapless floral-printed sundress as she’d been in her bedsheet this morning. But this time, when she turned to stand toe-to-toe with him, she was almost at eye level. He glanced down at her four-inch wedge-heeled sandals and decided that as regally annoyed as she looked right this second, he liked her similar height to his. As well as her long, toned legs, which made him think thoughts he had no business thinking.
“You never said anything about moving to Sugar Falls,” she said accusingly, the sound of slot machines ringing in the background.
“I didn’t realize I needed your permission to do so.” He tried to keep his voice calm and steady. They were far away from the prying eyes and ears of their acquaintances back at the table, and nobody would be the wiser if they made a scene in the middle of the buffet area. But he knew that if he kept his cool, she would be forced to, as well.
“Of course you don’t need my permission. But can’t you realize how much more awkward this situation is going to be if we have to live in the same town?”
“Not if we don’t let things get awkward.”
“Maybe you have ice running through your veins, but I can’t run around pretending this—” she held up her ring finger between the two of them “—didn’t happen.” She must not have been able to get her band off, but she’d camouflaged it by wearing a large ruby-studded one stacked on top. He’d used so much soap in the shower, he’d almost dropped his own down the drain. He reached into his left pocket, just as he’d done several times throughout the meal, making sure it was safely tucked away.
Looking at her bare shoulders and feeling the warm metal circle under his fingers, he knew he had anything but ice coursing through him right that second. In fact, he was almost as heated as he’d been earlier this morning when she stood in front of him in the same stance, all fired up and practically heaving out of her provocative lace bra.
“I think I’m not saying this right.” He slowed down his words, hoping this would slow his pulse rate, as well. “We have no idea what we’re going to have to deal with in the future, and it would probably help if we could keep things friendly.”
“Why are you always so rational?” She sounded as if she was accusing him of something again. Was she seriously expecting an answer? She let out a pent-up breath and then asked a more logical question. “So you’re going to be living at that cabin with a couple of kids?”
“Yes.”
“But it’s only for the summer?”
“Correct. That should give us enough time to know what we’re going to do about...uh...everything,” he said as he looked pointedly at her midsection. “In the meantime, I wanted to get your number so I could—”
She interrupted him. “Why don’t you give me yours instead? I never give my personal number out to strangers. Besides, I’ll let you know if there’s any news.”
Wow. Talk about putting him in his place. Plus she apparently deemed him one who shouldn’t get a say in what happened from here on out. He didn’t like not being the one in control. Of course, it wasn’t as though he couldn’t find her if he wanted to. They had the same friends—one of them being the chief of police, who could locate anyone—and Sugar Falls was a small town.
“Okay, let me grab a piece of paper to write it down for you.”
“I don’t need it. I’ve got a head for numbers.”
He rattled it off, and she repeated it back to him from memory. Impressive.
Now, if only her clever mind could tell him what they’d done last night...
* * *
Drew hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Kylie the entire flight from Reno to Boise. He had taken a cab from the airport to his parents’ house, planning to spend a night or two with his folks so the kids could get reacquainted with him before they left for their summer excursion.
He and Luke had been extraordinarily close growing up and had even joined the navy together when they’d turned eighteen. But their careers had taken opposite paths, and due to the transient nature of their assignments, they rarely saw each other. Which meant Drew saw his nephews even less.
Normally his mom and dad—or even their younger sister—would take the eight-year-old twins whenever Luke was sent overseas for an indefinite length of time. But Hannah was participating in a Teachers Without Borders program this summer, and his parents were getting a little too advanced in years to handle the high-energy boys. Besides, it was time Drew stepped in for some family bonding, especially when he finally had a duty station that wasn’t in a war zone.
But after twenty minutes in the house with the wild and rambunctious kids, he wondered if he was equipped to handle so much rowdiness all by himself.
“Uncle Drew,” Aiden called out as he stood on the armrest of the sofa. “You look just like Dad, but with hair.”
“You look just like Caden, but with mustard on your face,” Drew responded. “And get down from there.”
“I’m Caden,” Aiden tried to insist. But Drew was an identical twin himself and knew the old trick.
“Does the switcheroo work on your dad?” Drew doubted it did, and it was best that the boys learn right away that he was going to be just as effective at parenting as his brother. Of course, judging by the complete lack of discipline he’d witnessed so far, he didn’t think the boys had been exposed to any effective parenting, no matter how much Luke adored his children.
“Not when he’s here. But when we Skype him, we can usually fool him good. And we fool Grammie all the time.”
“Well, Grammie should know better. After all, nobody’s better at the twin switch than me and your old man.”
At that moment, Caden ran by, shoving a brownie into his mouth as Drew’s mom chased him, a rubber spatula in her hand. “Aiden Andrew Gregson, you bring that brownie back right this minute.”
“Grammie, that’s Caden. I’m Aiden.” The boy who’d been talking to Drew giggled, still balancing on the furniture like a tightrope walker. “See? She mixes us up all the time.”
“Well, it doesn’t help that your names are almost identical, too. It can be confusing for anyone.” Drew lifted Aiden up before planting the boy’s sturdy legs on the floor. What had their parents been thinking, naming them so similarly?
But he didn’t ask this out loud because he wasn’t sure how the kids were reacting to their father’s recent deployment. Their mother had passed away when the boys were three, and Luke had raised them mostly on his own when he wasn’t playing Captain Save-the-World. Yet the past couple of years, they had bounced around so much to accommodate their dad’s dangerous and unpredictable job in special ops, they hadn’t had much consistency.
“Aiden, give me back that spatula,” Drew’s mom yelled, as she chased Caden and his chocolate-covered face back through the living room. She’d now lost her spatula and all control.
“Grammie can never catch us. We’re way too fast for her,” Aiden boasted.
“Caden,” he called out, and the running boy suddenly halted. Drew wasn’t a voice raiser and wasn’t about to start now. Why yell when you could rationally explain your position? Of course, he doubted that his normal communication tools would be as effective with these two.
Plus, he was still somewhat of a novelty, so the boys were sizing him up. He motioned both of the children over to him and knelt down so he didn’t tower over them. His brother had the same build, so he knew they wouldn’t be intimidated by his size. But he wanted to be on eye level with them so they would be forced to look at him to hear what he had to say.
“You two are going to go wash up and get your pajamas on.”
“We don’t want to take no baths,” Caden whined as Aiden dropped to the floor in a dramatic heap.
“Your dad and I didn’t like taking baths when we were your age, either. But we weren’t allowed to have brownies or play Robot Blasters unless we were clean.”
“What are Robot Blasters?” Aiden hopped up to attention, his despair quickly turning to eagerness.
“It’s a special game only for twins. Your dad and I made it up a long time ago, and it’s very secret and unique. I can’t tell you about it until you can show that you’re able to follow rules and directions.”
“I call front bath.” Caden ran off to be first in the bathroom, Aiden hurrying to catch up.
“I hate getting stuck in the stern,” his brother complained, but he followed anyway.
Drew’s mom collapsed on the sofa, clearly winded after her brownie-turned-spatula chase. “I can’t keep up with them like I used to.”
“Where’s Dad?” Drew asked.
“He’s at the health club, doing his water therapy. He’s been staying away more this visit. Says his sciatica has been acting up. But I think he’s just suffering from a case of naughty twinitis.”
His folks had been great parents, involved in everything from the Little League to the Cub Scouts. Marty Gregson had been a youth pastor when he’d met his wife, Donna, a schoolteacher. They’d both had a natural love for children, which Drew’s sister had inherited. But they were at the start of their golden years. And plainly, his unruly nephews were more than their retired lives could handle.
“I swear I love those boys to death, and so does your father. But I can’t tell you how grateful we are that you’re pulling a shift this summer. In fact, Dad didn’t want me to tell you this, but we’ve already got the RV loaded up, and the minute you drive off with the kids, we’re leaving for our grand tour. I thought it only fair to warn you that by the time you make it to the cabin, there won’t be the opportunity for any take-backs.” She must have seen his horrified expression. “I’m kidding, of course. We’ll be a phone call away if you need anything. You guys will be fine.”
Drew plopped down beside her, not sure if he was ready for the biggest responsibility he’d yet to face. He really needed her to tell him there would be light at the end of this tunnel. “It’s only three months, right?”
“I know you can do it, honey. Sure, they’re a handful, but you’re a trained psychologist. You’re used to dealing with behavior outside the norm, right?”
“Mom, I work with soldiers, not children.”
“Drew, it’s about time you settled down. You have a wonderful opportunity to spend time with your nephews and give this whole domesticity thing a try. It’s time to stop analyzing everything from behind all those textbooks of yours and start actually living life. Of course, it’d probably be easier if you were married and had an extra set of hands to help you, but your brother does this on his own all the time.”
Drew thought about Kylie and how, if they were married in the true sense of the word, she’d be helping him. Man, she might be helping him anyway if it turned out that she was pregnant. He didn’t even know if the woman liked kids. Or wanted them.
He was pretty sure he did, but then he looked toward the open bathroom door and saw the soaking wet hallway carpet. Before he could ask his mom about a flooding problem or a possible burst pipe, Donna Gregson shot off the sofa, her bare feet squishing with each running step on the flooded rug.
“Boys, I told you no more playing battleship or hurricane watch in the bathtub.”
A child’s squeal was followed by the crashing sound of water.
“That’s it. I’m going to bed.” His mom retreated, completely drenched from what Drew assumed was a water attack. “You’re on duty for now, Lieutenant Commander. Your father should be home in an hour if you need reinforcements.” She sloshed her way down to the end of the hall, and he heard the lock on the master bedroom door click into place.
After the morning he’d had, he’d promised himself he’d never drink again. But being confronted with two unmanageable nephews—and who knew what other problems awaiting him with Kylie in Sugar Falls—it took several minutes of mindful meditation and an unearthly amount of willpower to head to the linen closet for a stack of towels instead of running directly to his parents’ liquor cabinet.
Chapter Three
Kylie hadn’t called him once since they’d seen each other in Reno. And this past week, Drew had been so deep in the exploits of a couple of eight-year-olds, he didn’t know when he’d find a chance to seek her out now that he was officially in Sugar Falls.
Caden and Aiden had helped to take his mind off the situation, but only because they kept up a steady pace of disobedience and messes, leaving no downtime between their wrestling matches, arguments, food fights and predilections to log onto his laptop to access online video games rated for mature users.
The increasing need to keep them under constant supervision took every ounce of mental energy Drew possessed. At this rate, he didn’t know how he’d make it through this weekend, let alone this summer. He enrolled the boys in a local day-camp program starting on Monday, but he feared he’d barely get to the base hospital to report for duty before getting a call advising him that the twins were being kicked out.
He peered at his reflection in the small mirror in the cabin’s single bathroom. The man staring back at him looked as though he’d been on a battlefield. And after his last few deployments, he knew he wasn’t exaggerating. There was a reason he specialized in PTSD and not in child psychology.
He heard the boys getting restless in the living room and, if he wanted them to not look like complete ruffians before they got to the wedding rehearsal, he needed to get out there quickly while their clothes were still somewhat dirt-and chocolate-free.
According to his mother—who hesitated to disclose her and his dad’s travel itinerary for fear Drew would give up too quickly and load up the boys to track them down in their motor home—his nephews had been kicked out of several after-school clubs, piano classes and swim lessons and two city libraries. Their school had threatened expulsion last year, but Luke had stepped in and sweet-talked the single schoolteacher into giving them another chance.
Drew wondered if his brother had ever considered sending the eight-year-olds away to military school. Or to one of those scared-straight prison programs. As it was, the only time Drew was able to let down his guard was when they were both wearing their life vests and bike helmets. At the same time.
Thank goodness he’d finally get to see Kylie tonight. He was anxious to know how she was dealing with everything and if she’d made any decisions. He was also desperate for a little adult company and for the boys to meet some other children their own age.
Maxine’s eleven-year-old son, Hunter, would be there, and hopefully, the older boy could take Caden and Aiden under his wing. Or at least peer-pressure them into acting like semicivilized human beings.
Drew wrestled the kids into their seat belts and drove toward Snow Creek Lodge, where the wedding would be held tomorrow. The nonstop talking from the backseat didn’t keep him from thinking of what he’d say to Kylie when he saw her. Or how she’d look.
The minute they arrived and he put his borrowed car in Park, the two chatterboxes bolted out of the backseat and ran straight for the ski lift—which, during the summer, was used to haul mountain cyclists and their bikes up to the top of the peak.
“Boys,” he said when he finally caught up to them and forcibly steered them away from the moving benches. “Remember, no candy bars later if you act up while we’re here.” Drew hated using sweets as a bribe, but tonight was important, and he couldn’t have them misbehaving.
The boys, going on their third day with no sugar since they’d yet to behave well enough to earn the coveted prize, finally fell into step—one on each side of him. The trio walked into the oversize log structure and, before he could blink, the twins took off toward a small group of boys huddled around their handheld electronic devices.
Aiden and Caden could sniff out video-game systems within a ten-mile radius. They were like arcade bloodhounds. Originally, Drew had planned to introduce them to everyone, but why ruin a good thing? They should be safe enough over there with their attention focused for a solid thirty minutes at least. And it might keep them out of trouble.