“Katie—”
“I’m not leaving.”
Everett looked surprised by her abrupt statement.
“I’m not leaving.” Katie whispered her mantra again, meeting Everett’s gaze. Several tears spilled down her cheeks, allowing her to see the tinge of awe that settled on her brother’s face.
The sound of Rill’s step on the back stairs and the door opening made them both start. When Rill walked into the kitchen a few seconds later, Katie’s tears were nowhere in evidence. She glanced over her shoulder and attempted a smile. He looked wonderful to her, despite his obvious bad mood. His shoulders appeared even broader than usual beneath a white T-shirt and dark blue, long-sleeved chambray shirt. He’d rolled back the sleeves. Katie’s eyes lingered on his strong forearms. His dark hair gleamed with moisture. His blue eyes ran over her from head to pink slippers, but his expression remained stony.
Katie’d sacrifice her life savings for a means to read Rill’s mind.
“It started raining, huh?” She stated the obvious in order to break the silence.
“Yeah, a bit,” Rill muttered as he reached for a coffee cup.
“It’s supposed to clear up later,” Everett said. “I heard it on the news on the drive here last night. We should do something fun.” Everett wasn’t cowed by Rill’s dark, burning glance. “It’s football weather, and it’s Saturday. Let’s find a game somewhere. Is there a college nearby?”
“Southern Illinois University, in Carbondale. You and Katie shouldn’t have too much of a problem getting tickets. The SIU Salukis aren’t exactly powerhouses,” Rill stated flatly.
“If you don’t want to go to a game, we’ll just watch one on the tube. UCLA is at USC today,” Everett persisted. All three of them had gone to UCLA for their undergraduate degrees. Eden had as well. Everett and Rill had been huge football fans, and the four of them—Everett, Katie, Rill and Eden—had been to a dozen or more games together, in addition to watching a countless number on television over the years. Eden was fairly shy, but she always was completely herself around the three of them.
Katie realized with a sinking feeling that Everett had forgotten a fourth person was missing when he suggested a repeat of the longs-tanding tradition of watching a football game together.
“You know where the TV is,” Rill said before he turned and walked out of the room. A second later, Katie heard his bedroom door shut.
“Smooth,” Katie said to her brother.
“It’s football,” Everett said defensively. “If football isn’t safe to mention, what is?”
“Anything associated with Eden is a land mine,” Katie said. She glanced toward the hallway, considering. Everett stood suddenly and clapped his hands.
“Come on. You go first in the shower and get dressed. We’ll go for a drive, check out the river and the fall foliage.”
With a sinking feeling, Katie realized her brother had known she was thinking about going back to Rill’s bedroom.
Great.
Now Everett felt like he had to try to save both of them.
The sun had come out at around noon. It shone brightly in Katie’s eyes, making her squint as she threw the football to Everett. They’d returned from their drive an hour ago. Katie had made a lunch of salad and grilled cheeses on the seven-grain bread Sherona made for the diner and also—she’d learned last evening—for the co-op. Now that Rill had told her he wasn’t sleeping with Sherona, Katie was starting to feel very warmly toward the woman.
She’d knocked on Rill’s closed door earlier, a
sking him if he wanted to join them for lunch, but he’d mumbled he wasn’t hungry. Katie had opened her mouth to protest, but then she’d heard the light, clicking sound of fingers on a keyboard.
Wow.
He might be isolating himself from Everett and her, but at least he was writing again. That was a good sign, wasn’t it?
She tried to convince herself it was, anyway.
“Go out long,” Everett yelled. Katie ran toward the creek in the backyard, waiting for Everett’s throw. Something distracted him, however, and he looked toward the side of the house. Rill was walking around the corner. He must have gone out on the porch, heard their voices and walked to the backyard. He’d removed his outer shirt. The white T-shirt skimmed his torso. His hands were tucked in the pockets of his jeans. He paused in the backyard. Katie felt his gaze on her like a palpable touch.
His head jerked back when the football struck his temple. “Everett,” Katie shouted in disbelief. She couldn’t believe he’d just beaned Rill that way. It must have hurt. Everett gave a sharp bark of laughter when he saw Rill’s rigid expression of disbelief.
“Sorry, mate. I didn’t realize you weren’t looking.”
Rill didn’t say anything, but something about his posture set an alarm bell to start ringing in Katie’s head. He picked up the ball, stood and stretched back in one fluid motion.