chance because she left first."
"I still miss her."
"I know you do. She was the glue that kept us all together. But she did
a good job of it, Ethan. You're still stuck."
"I guess I'd have died without her, without you. Without them."
"No." Ray laid a hand on Ethan's shoulder, shook his head. "You were
always strong, heart and mind. You came out the other side of hell as
much because of what's inside you as what we did. You should remember
that more often. Just look at Seth. He handles things differently than
you did, but he's got a lot of the same qualities inside him. He cares,
deeper than he wants to. He thinks deeper than he lets on. And his wants
go deeper than he'll admit even to himself."
"I see you in him." It was the first time Ethan had allowed himself to
say it, even to himself. "I don't know how to feel about it."
"Funny, I see each one of you in him. The eye of the beholder, Ethan."
Then he gave Ethan a quick slap on the back. "That's a damn fine boat
coming along there. Your mother would have gotten a kick out of this."
"Quinns build to last," Ethan murmured.
"Who're you talking to?" Seth demanded.
Ethan blinked, felt his head go light, filled with thoughts thin as
strands of cotton. "What?" He pushed a hand up his forehead, into his
hair, knocking his cap back. "What?"
"Man, you look weird." Seth cocked his head, fascinated. "How come
you're standing here talking to yourself?"
"I wasa" Asleep on my feet? he wondered. "Thinking," he said. "Just
thinking out loud." Suddenly the noise and smells seemed to roar into
his dizzy brain. "I need some air," he muttered and hurried out through
the cargo doors.
"Weird," Seth said again. He started to say something to Phillip, then
was distracted as Anna came through the front door carrying an enormous
hamper.
"Anybody interested in lunch?"
"Yeah!" Always interested, Seth made a beeline. "Did you bring the
chicken?"
"What's left of it," she told him. "And ham sandwiches thick as bricks.
There's a cooler of iced tea in the car. Why don't you go haul it in?"
"My hero," Phillip said, wiping his hands on his jeans before relieving
her of the hamper. "Hey, Cam! There's a gorgeous woman out here with
food."
The hammering stopped instantly. Seconds later, Cam's head popped up
through the cabin roof. "My woman. I get first dibs on the food."
"There's plenty to go around. Grace isn't the only one who can put meals
together for a bunch of hungry men. Though her fried chicken's a gift
from the gods."
"She's got a way with it." Phillip agreed. He set the hamper down on a
makeshift table fashioned of a sheet of plywood laid over two sawhorses.
"She cooked for Ethan regularly when you two were away." He dug out a
ham sandwich. "I get the feeling something's happening there."
"Happening where?" Cam wanted to know as he jumped down to explore the
hamper.