“What secret?”
“Aunt Jilly is expecting. All the women knew, but the men were in the dark.”
“I knew,” Jamie said.
“Yeah, well, you don’t count.”
“Todd said you two had a secret between you, but you wouldn’t tell him what it was.”
“You know Todd. If he’d known, he would have gone to Aunt Jilly and asked her if she was taking her prenatal vitamins. Jilly wanted to tell Ken first. Anyway, did you meet Hallie’s cousin?”
“She brought him over. Seems like an okay guy, and he’s making Hallie happy, so that’s good.”
“But what about the other one? The childhood sweetheart?”
Jamie turned a face of fury to his cousin. “He’s not that! He’s just…”
“Just what?” Raine asked. “That ring Hallie has on looks pretty real to me. Did you know she and this guy were so serious?”
“No!” Jamie said so loudly that several people turned to look at him in concern. “I have to get out of here before everyone starts whispering in fear of upsetting the damaged soldier.” He stood up with his crutches.
“I’ll drive you,” Raine said.
“I can drive! I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
“You’re not getting behind a wheel when you’re as angry as you are.” When Jamie looked like he was going to balk, Raine said, “I’d hate to have to knock you out and carry you over my shoulder.”
“Try it.” Jamie spoke with such challenge that Raine laughed.
Three kids ran past them, one of them nearly knocking Jamie’s crutches out from under him. Raine grabbed a bag from one of them, who kept on running.
“Have some candy,” Raine said and held out the bag. “Maybe it’ll sweeten your temper.”
Jamie knew when he was being ridiculous. He reached into the bag, withdrew a handful of lavender M&Ms with tiny pictures of the bride and groom on them, and popped them into his mouth. “Okay, you drive.”
“Good choice,” Raine said and minutes later they were at Hallie’s house.
The quiet was wonderful to Jamie and he sat down at the kitchen table, while Raine rummaged in the fridge for sandwich makings. Raine put jars and bags on the table and got Jamie a knife and some plates so he could sit and make the sandwiches.
“Maybe I’ve been around Aunt Cale too much, but this thing with Hallie is a bit of a mystery,” Raine said. “What made her go from liking me one day to refusing to look at me the next?”
“I don’t know. I leave solving mysteries to Mom and Todd,” Jamie said.
“By the way, where is your brother?”
“He was called back to work to handle one of his cases. He flew out early this morning.”
Raine dished coleslaw onto plates. “So I’m on my own in trying to figure this out. Maybe Hallie’s had enough of our family and wants to get away from them. Remember Adam’s last girlfriend? She said being around our family was like living in the middle of a sports team. She wanted nothing to do with us. Maybe Hallie’s starting the breakaway with me.”
Jamie put pickles on top of slices of turkey. “Todd thinks Hallie likes our family more than she does me. He thinks Hallie is so desperate to have a family that she’ll take any of us so she can have all of us.”
“What else does Todd think?” Raine asked, an eyebrow raised.
“He worries that I like her but that she doesn’t like me—except as her patient.”
“I think your brother is full of crap,” Raine said as he sliced a tomato. “When Todd said all of this about Hallie, did he say anything about me?”
“Yeah. He said you two were flirting so hard during Graydon’s wedding that he wanted to throw a bucket of water on you, and also that you two had some secret. I guess that was about Aunt Jilly.”