Harbour Lights

Apparently, though, she was more than capable of multitasking, because she turned her attention right back to him.

“I met Shanna today,” she said, all innocence. “She said you’d been looking for me.”

“I was.”

“Any particular reason?”

“I mentioned I might go into town and Gram immediately claimed she wanted a few flowers to fill in an arrangement.” Gram’s request had been a blatant lie, and they’d both known it.

“But you never picked up any flowers,” Bree said, looking confused.

“Because her garden’s in full bloom,” he said. “I know a manipulation when it slaps me in the face. She just wanted to be sure I kept my word and got out of the house. It’s her latest mission in life.”

Bree grinned. “She’s not half as sneaky as she likes to think she is.”

“Never was,” he said, waiting for another shoe to drop.

“I hear you hung out for a while at the bookstore,” she finally said, her tone oh-so-casual.

He shrugged. “I was waiting for you. Shanna was having trouble with her cappuccino machine, so I offered to set it up for her. It was like the one I used to have at home. No big deal, certainly nothing to bring you running over here with all these questions.”

Her brow lifted. “She didn’t mention that you’d helped her out.”

“Like I said, it wasn’t a big deal. Is there some point you’re trying to get to?”

“Not really,” she said, sitting back in companionable silence just long enough to lull him into a false sense of complacency before asking, “What did you think of her?”

“Who? Shanna?”

She rolled her eyes. “Isn’t that who we’ve been talking about?”

He regarded her evenly. “A second ago we were talking about Gram.”

“Oh, please. I know what you think about our grandmother. Yes, Shanna, dolt. She’s attractive.”

“I didn’t notice.” It was a lie. He’d noticed that her cheeks flushed easily, that her hair had a tendency to curl haphazardly, that she barely came up to his chin. But he’d also seen something else: trouble. She was vulnerable and needy, and not because she couldn’t get her cappuccino machine working, either. It was something else, something he’d read in the depths of her eyes. He couldn’t cope with needy. He could barely cope with his own life these days.

“Well, she is attractive,” Bree said. “Single, too. At least she wasn’t wearing any kind of a ring, and she never mentioned anything about a husband.”

“Do most people you know spill their entire life story the second you meet them?”

“Of course not. I’m just passing along what I observed.”

Kevin scowled at his sister. “I hope you’re not planning to indulge in some unsolicited matchmaking,” he said in a tone he hoped would quell any ideas she had along that line.

“No one in this family approves of meddling,” she said piously.

“That doesn’t seem to stop ‘em from engaging in it,” he retorted sourly. “Before you go getting any ideas, keep in mind that I’m so far from wanting a woman in my life, I might as well be living in a monastery.”

“Which is a waste, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask, did I?”

“Come on, Kevin,” she coaxed. “Live a little. You don’t have to marry the woman. You don’t even have to date her. Just have coffee with her, help her out getting the store organized, something that will bring a little human contact back into your life.”

“With you, Jess, Abby, Gram and Dad on my case, I have about as much human contact these days as I can handle,” he grumbled.

“We don’t count. You need to interact with the outside world.”

“Leave it alone, Bree. Leave me alone.”

He stood up, then reached down to scoop Davy off his feet. “Bath time, kiddo.”

“No! More flies,” Davy protested, clinging tightly to his jar with both hands.

“Two’s enough,” Kevin told him. “That’s quite a catch. Thank your Aunt Bree and tell her good night.”

Davy dutifully smiled at his aunt. “Bye, Bwee.”

“Good night, lovebug.” She grinned at Kevin. “Night, pain.”

He laughed. “Ditto.”

She fell into step beside him as he crossed the lawn. “Shanna says her shelves are being delivered first thing in the morning,” she said casually.

“So?”

She stood tall and gave him a peck on his cheek. “Just thought you might want to know.”

He let that pass. And tomorrow, if he had a grain of sense in his head, he’d find some excuse to be anywhere other than Main Street. Not only did he not want to get sucked into Shanna’s life, but he also didn’t want to give his sister even an iota of encouragement for this undisguised matchmaking scheme of hers.

Mick was sick of seeing his son hanging around the house. For months now he’d cut Kevin some slack. He’d figured it took time to recover from losing his wife. Maybe just as much to recover from being in a war zone, despite Kevin’s claim that he’d put all that behind him when he’d been discharged. Kevin had had enough nightmares under this very roof to make a liar out of himself, though Mick was sure Kevin thought no one knew about those.

Mick had listened to everyone else’s opinion that Kevin needed time, but to his way of thinking, time was up. A thirty-year-old man needed a focus in his life, a reason to get up in the morning, something beyond a demanding two-year-old. Mick intended to see that Kevin got busy finding that new direction for himself.

He found Kevin on the beach, staring out to sea while Davy built a lopsided sand castle beside him. The structure of it offended Mick’s architectural eye, but he shook off the desire to sit down and teach his grandson how to build something that would withstand the first lap of a wave. This walk down to the beach wasn’t about giving his grandson an engineering lesson he wasn’t ready for.

“Grampa,” Davy said, looking up at him with glee. “Play with me, okay?”

“Maybe later, sport,” Mick told him. He turned to Kevin. “You have plans for the day?”

Kevin shook his head.

“Good. Then you can come with me.”

“Where?” Kevin asked suspiciously.

“I’m managing one of the Habitat for Humanity sites. I could use some help.”