* * *

SHE TURNED SO THAT they walked side by side, once again moving back down the trail toward the house. Again, after pushing him and then knowing exactly when to back off. Part of him was in awe of her ability while he still resented that she could be so goddamn sure of herself in the wake of all she’d experienced.

“There you are!” Paddy raised a hand to wave as Ezra and Tuesday came down from the fork in the trailhead that led down to the house.

“Was there doubt?” Ezra checked to be sure the bowls of water and food Loopy ran for were full and tried to get his shit together after that talk he’d just had on the trail.

“We woke up and you were quiet. We figured you were still in bed. Nat went up to see if you wanted coffee and that’s when she saw the note that you’d gone out on a hike.”

“We’ve been out since six this morning. Had breakfast and a snack. Gloried in nature.”

Paddy looked at Ezra and rolled his eyes. “Looked at Tuesday’s butt a lot.”

Tuesday raised a brow his way. “Of course he did. Do you think I wore these shorts by accident?” She turned to Ezra. “I’m going in search of coffee. Would you like some?”

Some of the tension left his spine. It was okay between them again.

“Yes, please.” And for good measure, he watched her ass as she went up the steps and into the house. Holy shit he was one lucky man.

Still grinning, he turned to Paddy. “Hey. Have you guys eaten yet?”

“I made us toast.”

“I’ll make waffles for some brunch since it’s our last full day up here. Come on.”

“Wait. Ez, things are really good between me and Natalie and I wanted to thank you. You said what I needed to hear even when it wasn’t easy. Even when I was a dick to you. You pushed me to make things right with her and I did. Thank you. Really.”

Ezra nodded. “Anytime. Don’t fuck it up. She loves you. She trusts you with her heart.”

“I know. Crazy as it is, she does. Makes me so lucky. So. I watched you two as you came around that bend up there and around. I’m not used to seeing you be that open with someone outside the family. This is more than just dating, huh? Makes sense I guess. You two have been dancing around each other since you first met last November.”

“September. I met her in September. I kissed her for the first time in December and I haven’t stopped thinking of her since. It’s nice. This is what grown-ups do.” They’d just shared some deep shit out there on the trail and over the course of this trip and he wasn’t ready to start examining it too closely on the front porch with his brother, who was love drunk anyway. “Now, let’s see if there’s a waffle iron here.”

Paddy put a hand on Ezra’s forearm as he passed. “You’ve listened to me moon around about a lot of stuff over the sum of our lives, Ez. You’ve given me great advice. You’ve pulled me out of a hundred binds. Hell, you’ve pulled us all out of hundreds of binds. You have three brothers who are ready and able to listen and help. I’m making the offer on behalf of all of us so you don’t even need to ask.”

Paddy had done a lot of growing up over the past nearly year he’d been with Natalie. Ezra patted his brother’s shoulder. “Thanks.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“TUESDAY, BABE, YOUR phone is ringing.” Paddy said this as he wandered past, dropping said phone in her lap.

She’d been so wrapped up in how Ezra’s forearms looked as he shuffled a deck of cards she hadn’t even heard her phone.

But this was a call she couldn’t get away with ignoring.

Tuesday slid her finger along the screen, answering. “Sorry about that! I wasn’t near my phone when it started ringing.”

Her mom wasn’t having any excuses. “I expected you to call this morning. We left a message last night.”

What could Tuesday say? I could have called you back but my boyfriend was probably fucking me from behind while he held my wrists and snarled at me about how gorgeous my ass was when you called the first time.

“I’m sorry.”

Her mother accepted the apology and once it had been offered genuinely, she moved on. “I’m calling to see what you want me to make for dinner next weekend.”

Oh crap. She’d totally forgotten about her birthday dinner at her parents. She was totally going to hell for that.

“How about butter chicken?” Time-consuming, Tuesday knew, but her mother considered every child’s birthday dinner to be worth a great deal of effort and planning. She was a scary machine sometimes.

Her father hooted in the background. “You owe me twenty bucks!”

“I do?” Tuesday asked. “Hang on a second,” she told her mother and then looked toward everyone else as she got up. “Excuse me.”

Tuesday headed to the kitchen. “I was in a room with several people. I needed to excuse myself.” Talking on the phone in the company of other people was one of Tuesday’s pet peeves. Which she got from her mother.

“You don’t owe me a twenty, sweetie pie. Your mother does. I told her you’d head straight to butter chicken. Your mom figured you’d ask for something easier to make and she’d have to talk you into butter chicken. My baby girl is herself again. She knows how to ask for what she wants. Isn’t that what I said, Di?”

“That’s exactly what he said. I said of all six of my children you were the one who always tried to put everyone else first. I already have an order in for the chicken. I’ve got potatoes and cauliflower for aloo gobi and I bought some mango chutney at the farmers’ market last weekend. Can you pick up naan on your way up?”