Happy Mother's Day!

‘Siena Capuletti,’ she said, saving James the trouble. ‘Driver of the big green monster wrapped around James’s tree, at your service.’

She held out a hand and Matt gave it a hearty shake.

‘Siena used to live in this house when she was younger,’ James added, finding his voice again.

‘Well, I am sure pleased to meet you, Siena. Any relation to Rick Capuletti? The mechanic in town?’

‘He’s my brother,’ she admitted.

‘Right on! Tell him O’Connor said hi.’

‘Shall do,’ Siena promised, though she had a feeling that Rick wouldn’t hear much through the steam pouring from his ears.

She was saved from further scrutiny by the longed-for arrival of the tow-truck.

‘Hey, this is Rick’s car,’ the large hairy driver shouted as he slid from his high ca

b, paunch first.

‘Rick’s sister,’ Siena said with a sigh, pointing to her chest.

‘Oh, right. The deserter,’ the tow-truck driver said.

Yep. That sounded like Rick—able to grate on her nerves even through a third party.

She should have known she couldn’t slip away quietly in the twilight after all this. Even though Cairns was practically a city hub now compared with when she had left, everyone still knew everyone. Everyone would know she was in town, everyone would know she had crashed her brother’s car, and now everyone would know that she had spent part of her day with James Dillon—widower.

‘The car’s unlocked, so how about we get her all hooked up and outta here before word gets back to my two hundred pound brother with a temper to match?’ she said, using her polite but insistent sky girl voice.

She clicked her fingers and the driver remembered who he was—a guy who got paid by the number of jobs he delivered in a day. That put a spring in his step as he hotfooted back to the winch.

She turned to Matt and James, who were watching the interplay, and she felt she owed it to them to tell them who the Capulettis were. ‘I grew up here,’ she explained. ‘I moved away several years ago and this is my first time back and my big brother is a pain in the butt who should mind his own business.’

It was such an impressive introduction she felt she ought to curtsy at the end.

‘Families, eh?’ Matt said. ‘You can’t live with ‘em.’

Siena grinned. ‘That’s the bumper sticker of my life.’

‘So you don’t live around here any more?’ James asked, honing in on the essentials.

‘No,’ she said, shaking her head and concentrating on the rose rather than on the setback in James’s eyes. ‘Melbourne. Mainly.’

‘Melbourne,’ Matt repeated, his face screwing up as if he had sucked on a lemon. ‘Why would anyone move to cold rainy Melbourne after knowing about this slice of heaven?’

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ she shot back. ‘Maybe the world class sport, fantastic restaurants, out of this world shopping, the art and culture and actual seasons might be considered a drawcard to some.’

‘Shopping?’ Matt repeated. ‘Well, now I’m convinced.’

James made a sound that sounded a heck of a lot like a snort of laughter. Her gaze skittered to his, to find his eyes sparkling.

The sparkle hinted at the warmth she had felt in his fingers when he had gripped her arm earlier. The warmth reminded her of what the guy looked like when he smiled. The memory of that smile made Siena feel as if she was once again enclosed in this single dad’s unwitting gravitational pull. And that reminded her why she wanted to leave his presence as soon as was humanly possible.

She dragged her eyes away from his, gave a brief goodbye glance at the old house, a demon she had quite proudly slaughtered that day for sure, then with a quick wave goodbye jogged over to the truck, and asked to bum a ride with the driver.

‘I can watch Kane if you need James to give you a lift somewhere,’ Matt called out, giving James a bump with his shoulder at the same time.

‘No, thanks,’ she said, giving them both a big wave as she leapt into the cab and mentally hurried the tow-truck driver, who was taking way too much time winching the green monster on to his truck. Funny, but she instinctively knew it would be easier to suffer Rick’s temper than share a confined space with James Dillon.