Jane's Gift (Lone Pine Lake 1)

“It’s good to see you, too, Janey.” He smiled at her, a rare sight. “But I want to know why Mac’s friend is staring at you.”

She kept her gaze trained on Cam’s face, her voice light. “He’s not staring at me.”

“He so is,” Cam growled. “Do you need me to do anything? Tell him to lay off? Break his jaw with my fist?”

Jane laughed. “Stop it. You’re way too overprotective.”

“Break it up, you two,” Mac said from across the table. Chris sat at his left, directly across from Cameron. Looked a little overwhelmed by the bustling a

ctivity and nonstop chatter that came with a McKenzie Thanksgiving dinner. “What are you guys whispering about?”

“How great it was when I kicked your ass at football.” Cam’s smile was smug. “You’ve been trying to beat me for years, little brother, and you still can’t do it.”

“Just wait, old man,” Mac grumbled. “I’ll get you next year.” He jostled Chris in the ribs with his elbow. “I told you to watch out for the biting six-year-old.”

“How was I supposed to know he’d really bite me? I thought you were exaggerating.” Chris nodded at Jane. “You’re raising a wild man. That kid is crazy on the football field.”

“Are you talking about Logan?” He’d picked up a few habits from his cousins lately. Sounded like they were bad ones. “He bit you?”

“I put him up to it,” Cam muttered, earning a slap on the shoulder from Jane. “Mindy’s boys were trying to get him to do it, but the little weenie refused!” he said with a laugh. “I finally paid him a buck to bite his uncle Mac. Two bucks if he got anyone else. Kid earned five dollars for his efforts.”

“Don’t call my son a little weenie.” Jane slapped her brother again. “Cam, you can’t do that. He could really hurt someone.”

“Through their jeans? I doubt it. Gotta teach that kid to be a fighter. He needs a better male influence than that guy.” Cam jerked his thumb in Mac’s direction.

Her brothers loved to argue and she was always caught in the middle, considering she was literally in between them, birth order–wise. The constant insults and bashing felt familiar, comfortable. She liked it, despite Cameron teaching her son some horrible habits.

But Cam had a point; Logan did need a male role model, and he didn’t see his uncles enough to get the constant attention he needed. Her father worked as well. Logan was constantly surrounded by females.

Mac gave Cameron the finger, which Cam returned with gusto before he flicked his chin in Chris’s direction. “And this joker can’t be much better.”

Jane shook her head, shot a pleading look at Chris. God, her brother could be so rude.

“Stop being such an ass.” Mac nodded toward Cam. “Chris is a good guy. Better than you, that’s for sure.”

“Whatever.” Cam scowled. The air grew thick with tension and she wondered what Cam’s problem was. She knew he was intuitive down to a fault, but he couldn’t have figured out there was anything going on between her and Chris.

Could he?

“Break it up, all of you,” their mother said, her hands on her hips. She stood at the other end of the table, watching them. “Be nice to our guest, Cameron.”

“Yeah, be nice,” Mac mimicked, earning a death stare from his brother.

Jane wanted to die. Could her family be any more embarrassing? And why was Cam so wary of Chris?

After dinner, Chris cornered her in the garage as she was putting away leftovers in the second fridge and was just about to go back inside. “I think your brother hates me.”

Jane leaned against the refrigerator. “Cameron hates everyone when he first meets them. He takes some getting used to.” She waved a hand. “Don’t worry about him.”

“If you say so.” He ran a hand through his hair, blew out a harsh breath before he rested his hands on his hips. “I want to apologize for what happened earlier, when Mac interrupted us. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine. Really. No big deal.” She smiled, refusing to feel bad about anything today. “I hope you had fun.”

“I did. Your family is crazy. In a good way.” He smiled.

“Yes, they are. We are,” she corrected, though really, she hadn’t been crazy in a long while.

All of a sudden, she felt like she needed to break it up. Get a little crazy for once. Prove to Cam she could take care of herself. What’s the worst that could happen?