“It doesn’t have to be Piper, although she’s a nice girl. Settling down is a good thing.”
“And it comes with fringe benefits,” announced a throaty female voice behind them. Allie always enjoyed teasing him about marriage, probably because she’d met her own match in college. If Cal ever had daughters, he was sending them to an all-girls school. In the middle of nowhere. She and Dan had gotten married last year up in Napa. Cal didn’t know much about weddings, but the winery had been busting out all over in flowers and his sister had glowed. Plus, they’d thrown a reception in the wine cave, and while he was more of a beer guy, he’d discovered that the right Pinot Noir was a beautiful thing.
Allie patted the small bump in her middle. His sister hadn’t wasted any time in procreating. “I’m winning this race.”
“And I don’t recall entering.”
She shrugged. “You’ve never seen a race you didn’t want to win.”
True.
“She’s right.” His mother passed Allie the platter heaped with pancakes. It was possible the food outweighed her. It definitely outweighed the baby bean. “She’s going to give me my first grandchild. You need to catch up.”
“Nice try,” he said and picked up the plate of bacon. The plate was going right by his own place at the table.
“I do what I can.” His mother shrugged modestly. “But Allie’s still winning.”
Allie winked and headed for the dining room. “Which means you’re batting for the losing team,” she called over her shoulder.
“You give the rest of the family this much of a hard time?”
His mother’s grin said it all. He knew she loved him. Of course, she also wanted to love a few grandchildren, at least a half dozen, and he hoped to God that number covered the whole clan, because he didn’t see himself having six kids. He knew his limits. Plus, his baby momma would probably collapse from the shock of raising so many Brennans. She’d need to have nerves like Piper’s to take his family on.
“I’ve got high hopes for you,” she said, and he snorted.
“Hope all you want, but I’m not producing a ring. I’d need to be dating first.”
He didn’t know what this thing between him and Piper was but...it wasn’t dating.
His mother brushed past him as he held the door open with his shoulder. She paused and inhaled dramatically. “Apples. Very nice.”
Busted.
* * *
USUALLY, PIPER ENJOYED Saturday afternoons. She went for a swim. She cleaned the house and picked out recipes for all the meals she wouldn’t actually cook in the coming week. Today she was restless, though, so she extended her time in the water. Cal had gone off to his family brunch, and she’d hook up with him the day after tomorrow. For work, she reminded herself. They weren’t dating or hooking up in any kind of romantic fashion. Discovery Island was a small place in more ways than one. Once the gossip paired them together, things would get sticky. The FBI had nothing on her neighbors when it came to ferreting out information.
Discovery Island might be in the Pacific Ocean, but it was no Tahiti. The water never warmed up above sixty-eight degrees, and in another month, she’d be risking hypothermia if she so much as stuck a toe in without a wet suit on, but Piper had always loved swimming with the sea lions that gathered just off the island’s northern coast. There might also be a small chance of running into a shark hunting for dinner, but she’d take that. Endearingly awkward on dry land, the sea lions were all sleek power as they drilled through the water.
“Give me a heads-up if you spot a shark, okay?”
She’d already borrowed her quota of trouble for the day.
The sea lion next to her barked, and she decided to take the noise as an affirmative.
The sun was out, lighting up the water and the kelp forests beneath her. She turned back after a half mile, mentally waving goodbye to her sea lion pals. They’d head over to a patch of rocks another mile away and then pull themselves out to sun the afternoon away. Sea lions definitely had the right ideas.
She somersaulted lazily in the water, traveling underwater until her air ran out and she burst to the surface. Her pace wasn’t competitive, but it felt good. When she reached her beach and waded out, her muscles burned, tired in a good way.
Mission accomplished. She’d be able to button her jeans this week.
She padded back to the house, rinsing off her feet with the garden hose before going inside. Tracking sand everywhere when she was ten and didn’t have to clean it up herself was one thing. Now she was in charge of the Hoover, she was more careful.
Her place was warm and cozy in the early-afternoon sunlight. She could feel a book and a nap beckoning. And...she smelled bacon? She wouldn’t have overlooked bacon, and she knew to an item the sad state of her pantry.