"Really? That would be perfect. Wouldn't it be fun, Seth? You could have
your friends over and we'd cook burgers and dogs."
"That'd be cool." He was already down to scraping his bowl and
calculating how to finesse seconds.
"Have to dig out the horseshoes," Cam decided. "Do we still have them,
Ethan?"
"Yeah, they're around."
"And music." Anna shifted just enough to rub her husband's knee. "The
three of you could play. You don't play together nearly often enough to
suit me. I'll have to make a list. You'll have to tell me who we should
invite--and the food. Food." She thought she feigned flustered
irritation very well as she pushed away from the porch rail. "How could
I have forgotten? I promised Grace to trade her my recipe for tortellini
for hers for fried chicken."
She dashed inside to retrieve the index card that she'd neatly written
the recipe on--something she'd never done before in her life--then
dashed back out again. All apologetic smiles.
"Ethan, would you run this over to her?"
He stared at the little white card. If he hadn't been sitting down, his
hands would have jumped into his pockets. "What?"
"I promised I'd get her this today and it completely slipped my mind.
I'd run it over myself, but I still have a report to finish. I'm just
dying to try out that fried chicken," she went on quickly, pushing the
recipe card into his hand, then all but dragging him to his feet.
"It's kind of late."
"Oh, it's not even nine o'clock." Don't give him time to think, she
warned herself. Don't give him a chance to pick out the flaws. She
pulled him into the house, used smiles and fluttering lashes to move him
along. "I really appreciate it. I'm so scatterbrained these days. I feel
like I'm chasing my own tail half the time. Tell her I'm sorry I didn't
get it to her sooner and to be sure to let me know how it turns out once
she tries it. Thanks so much, Ethan," she added, rising up to give him a
quick, affectionate peck on the cheek. "I love having brothers."
"Wella" He was baffled, closing in on miserable, but the way she said
that, the way she smiled when she did, left him helpless. "I'll be right
back."
I don't think so, Anna thought with a wisely controlled chuckle as she
cheerily waved him off. The second his truck was out of sight, she
dusted her palms together. Mission accomplished.
"Just what the hell was that?" Cam demanded, making her jolt with
surprise.
"I don't know what you mean." She would have sailed past him and into
the house, but he stepped out, blocked her path.
"Oh, yeah, you know what I mean." Intrigued, he angled his head. She was
trying to look innocent, he decided, but couldn't pull it off. Too much
pure glee in her eyes. "Exchanging recipes, Anna?"
"So what?" She lifted a shoulder. "I'm a very good cook."
"No argument there, but you're not the recipe-emergency type, and if
you'd been so hell-bent on giving one to Grace, you'd have picked up the
phone. Which is something you didn't give Ethan a chance to point out,