"With Ethan and Grace." .
"No shit?"
"Mmm." The first bite made Phillip close his eyes in pleasure. He might
have preferred French cuisine served on fine china, but he could
appreciate a well-built sandwich balanced on a paper plate. "My
deathless observation skills have homed in on certain signs. He watches
her when she's not looking. She watches him when he's not looking. And I
got some interesting gossip from Marsha Tuttle. She works down at the
pub with Grace," he explained to Anna. "Shiney's adding a security
system and has a new policy that none of the waitresses are to close up
alone."
"Did something happen?" Anna asked.
"Yeah." He looked over to be certain Seth hadn't come back in. "A few
nights ago some bastard came in after closing. Grace was alone. He put
his hands on her and, according to Marsha, would have done more. But it
just so happened Ethan was outside. Interesting coincidence if you ask
me, when we're talking of our early-to-bed, early-to-rise brother.
Anyway, he put some dents in the guy." He took another healthy bite.
Cam thought of slender, fine-boned Grace. Thought of Anna. "I hope they
were nice deep dents."
"I think we can assume the guy didn't walk, off whistling. Of course, in
typical Ethan style, he doesn't mention it, so I have to hear it from
Marsha over the fresh produce at the market Friday night."
"Was Grace hurt?" Anna knew all too well what it was to be trapped, to
be helpless, to be faced with what a certain kind of man would do to a
woman. Or a child.
"No. Must have shaken her up, but she's like Ethan there. Never
mentioned it. But there were several long, silent looks between them
yesterday. And after Ethan ran her home, he came back sizzling."
Remembering, Phillip chuckled to himself. "Which for Ethan is saying
something. Got himself a couple of beers and went out in the sloop for
an hour."
"Grace and Ethan." Cam considered it. "They'd fit." He saw Seth come in
and decided to give the topic a rest. "Where is Ethan, anyway?"
"He went outside." With a grunt, Seth set the cooler down and nodded
toward the cargo doors. "He said he needed some air, and I guess he did.
He was standing there talking to himself." Thrilled with the bounty,
Seth dived into the hamper. "He was, like, carrying on a conversation
with someone who wasn't there. He looked weird."
The back of Cam's neck prickled. Still, he moved casually, dumping food
on a plate. "I could use some air myself. I'll just take him a
sandwich."
He saw Ethan standing out on the end of the pier, staring out at the
water. The shore of St. Chris with all its pretty houses and yards was
on either side, but Ethan looked straight out, over the light chop to
the horizon.
"Anna brought some food out."
Ethan folded up his thoughts and glanced down at the plate. "Nice of
her. You hit lucky with her, Cam."
"Don't I know it." What he was about to do made him a little nervous.