Conner took his lunch tote into the house, but momentarily he was back, striding toward Dylan. Dylan just couldn’t help it, he grinned stupidly.

“You look in the mirror, idiot?” Conner asked.

“So,” he said, ignoring the taunt. “I’ve been told to work this out with you, so let’s work this out. I learned about one hour ago why you lost your temper.”

“Because you weren’t here!” Conner returned rather loudly.

Dylan came off the truck and stood straight, meeting him eye to eye. “You want the women involved in this conversation?” he asked. “Because at the first sign of trouble, they’re right in the middle of it, I guarantee it. I wasn’t here because I had to go to work. I told Katie from the day I met her, I was going to have to go to work, but because she’s Katie, I put it off as long as I could.”

“And you abandoned her,” Conner ground out between clenched teeth. “Left her pregnant and alone!”

“I didn’t realize what was going on and I apologized. Listen, it doesn’t really matter to me if you understand or sympathize or hate my guts, but I told her the truth, that I was not in the market for a girlfriend or steady relationship, that I was temporary here at best, and whether she believed me or not, she accepted that. At least when she had the chance to tell me to just hit the road then, she didn’t. I don’t know you, don’t know anything about you, but you’re at least my age and just barely hooked up with this woman,” he said, lifting the chin toward the house. That’s when he noticed Katie and Leslie sitting on the porch, watching them. He cleared his throat. “I’m guessing you had one or two situations like that in your time.”

“That doesn’t matter,” he said. “This is my sister.”

“Noted,” Dylan said. “And now that I know the situation, I’ll take care of it. And you better back off or you’re going to screw it up for all of us.”

“How do you plan to take care of it?” he demanded.

“That’s going to be between me and Katie. We’ll work it out.”

“Don’t you even think about making her do anything she doesn’t want to do!”

Dylan couldn’t help it, a huff of laughter escaped. In his mind he saw her struggling with the lug nuts, standing up to an angry bear, telling him, Don’t even go there—it is what it is. “Are we talking about the same woman?”

“She was hurt,” he said. “No matter what you said, the way you just dumped her, hurt her. Don’t you do anything to her that makes her cry again. Do you get me?”

“I’m going to do the best I can” was all he promised.

“Your best better be some improvement.”

Dylan was quiet for a long moment. He gathered himself internally. “I know you love her,” he said with as much understanding as he could muster, “but you can’t fix this for her. She has to deal with me because we made this situation together, Katie and I. If you don’t back off, if we don’t make our peace for her sake, it’s going to get more complicated than it needs to be.”

Conner was stubbornly silent, frowning.

At long last Dylan said, “So. How about those Red Sox?”

About an hour after Dylan and Conner shook hands and Dylan walked away down the street, Katie picked him up at Jack’s. When he was sitting beside her in the car she said, “You couldn’t sit on the porch with my brother and have a beer? A friendly conversation?”

“Not today, Katie,” he said. “Soon,” he added.

He wasn’t real happy with the idea that Conner punched him before talking to him. Before they made their peace, Dylan had many things to come to terms with. That was only one of them.

When they were back at the cabin, he made his special pizzas, which were basically a simple bread dough covered with tomato sauce, lots of cheese, some pepperoni and on one, some mushrooms and black olives. He asked the boys to help cover them with stuff. The pizzas couldn’t lose because the boys were involved.

After dinner, he took the boys outside and kicked the soccer ball around with them, though he was wearing boots to their tennis shoes. Then he sat on the porch and watched as they climbed all over the jungle gym. When Katie came outside and sat in the chair next to his he said, “I’m wearing them down for you.” And he smiled.

“What are your plans, Dylan?”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like your couch for a while. I need some time to figure out how to handle our…situation. I want to do the right thing. For many reasons.”

“You do understand that it’s not entirely up to you, right? I have no husband and three children to think about so whatever you come up with, I’ll definitely listen. But you’re not going to decide our lives for us.”

“Can I have the couch?” he asked. “Or not?”

“You can have the couch and the kitchen. You’re a good cook, as it turns out.”

Right now Dylan didn’t want to be distracted—he wanted to figure out how he felt and what he should ultimately do with his life. The day after his forced handshake with Conner, he drove down the mountain and checked in with Lang. All was status quo in Payne, Lang assured him. So he texted his grandmother, the agent working on his movie contract, Jay Romney, Lang, Sue Ann and Stu—I’m staying in the mountains for a few days and cell reception isn’t great. I’ll check in when I can, but might be out of touch. No problems, just out of touch. I’ll be in touch when I’m back in service. Thanks.

And then he turned off the phone.

Over the next several days Dylan hung pretty tight to Katie and the boys, stayed close to the cabin except for errands. When he wanted to go off on his own he made Katie promise not to have a standoff with any wildlife, especially the bear. He went to the larger towns for groceries, more than happy to be responsible for dinner.

The one thing that kept him on the couch and from sneaking into Katie’s room at night or from begging her to make love while the boys were at school was the fact that he felt he had their entire lives to figure out before he could think about things like that. He also thought there was a good possibility she might clobber him.

But Dylan had plenty of confidence in other things—like his ability to think rationally about business. He knew he was levelheaded and fair. And while he might have siblings who were ass**les and idiots, he was a nice person and good with people. He played to his strengths.

On a night he’d taken Katie and the boys to McDonald’s and afterward to a park to further wear them out, he thought he had it together. As they were pulling through Virgin River on the way to the cabin he asked, “After the boys have gone to bed, can we talk about things?”

“Well, butter my butt and call me biscuit! Only six short nights on my couch and you’re ready to talk about our situation?”

And he laughed.

“I’m not sure I can stay up until after they’re asleep. But I’ll make a compromise—I’ll meet you on the porch after they’re bathed and rooted in front of a movie in the loft. Will that do it for you?”

“That will do it.”

It was hard to stay on track with Miss Funny Bones teasing him, but he was determined. He had come up with what he thought was a fantastic idea. He was sure she’d be relieved.

She brought a couple of steaming cups of tea to the front porch and he noticed, not for the first time, she seemed to be looking better. He was only too aware of her brief fits of nausea, when a smell or something else would trigger a wave of it, but she no longer looked like she’d been ill or starving. It made him feel a rush of pride because although he’d never tell her, that had been his goal—to cook her at least one hearty meal a day and hopefully put back those pounds he’d robbed from her.

He took the cup she offered. He’d never been a tea drinker but this stuff Katie made didn’t gag him. In fact this was one of the ways he always knew Sue Ann was pregnant again—she’d offer them tea. He and Lang would make gagging sounds and go get a beer or a Crown Royal on ice.

Behind them in the house, he could hear the TV in the loft. He obediently sipped his tea. “Are they almost ready to go to bed?” he asked.

“Almost.”

“Katie,” he said. And then he just looked at her. There were times he’d catch a glance and think he’d never seen such a pretty girl in his life. It made him frown slightly as he wondered if she was really that beautiful or just to him. After all, he thought Sue Ann was pretty but Lang was completely hypnotized by her. Well, as it should be. But Dylan had never been in that place before.

“After six nights on my couch, cat’s got your tongue?”

And that mouth—she was relentless. Why did he love that so much?

“I’ve got a few ideas,” he said.

“Well, let’s have it. I can’t wait.”

“Let’s start with that movie I’m supposed to make,” he said. “That could come in handy under the circumstances.”

“Oh?” she asked. “You said the whole idea was to get your charter business and airport on its feet.”

“That was the whole idea, but now there seems to be more on the table. I could use a portion of that movie money for the baby.”

It was as if she came to attention. Her neck straightened a bit, her eyes brightened. “Oh?”

“How about a trust for the…ah…baby. For his education. That sort of thing.”

And as he watched, it seemed she showed first shock and then disappointment. The dusky night was darkening and he wondered if he hadn’t seen quite right. Shouldn’t she be thrilled?

“A trust?” she asked.

“Something put aside to be sure he’s always taken care of, in case something should happen to either of us. You know.”

“Wow.”

He waited for some huge, grateful reaction, but it didn’t come. After a few moments, he said, “It seemed like an even more important reason to make that movie than the company. I thought it would make you happy.”

“That’s really thoughtful.”

“So…why do I get the impression you aren’t too happy?”

“Oh, sorry. Thank you, that’s so generous.”

“Katie!”

“What?”

“What about this idea doesn’t make you happy?”

Her eyelids fluttered closed as she looked down. She put her cup of tea on the porch and reached for his hand. “Let me ask you something, Dylan. Growing up, did you have a lot of half brothers and sisters?”

“You know I did. I told you all that…”

“Was there ever jealousy? Resentment? That kind of thing?”

“All the time.”

“Was it ever directed at you? I mean, you were a child star. Did any of your siblings resent that they were not the stars?”

He took a moment to answer, but not because the answer wasn’t on his lips. Where was this coming from? “Yes.”

“And so how do you think Andy and Mitch will feel about their younger brother or sister and the big trust to ensure his or her future?”

He was momentarily struck silent. Then in an effort to recover he said, “I could do it for all of them.”

She shook her head. “I think you’re under the impression that I’m poor. Oh, I’m sure I’m not rich by your standards, but Conner and I were left a very successful store. It was destroyed by fire but there was insurance money, the sale of commercial land and both of our houses, more than enough to resettle and rebuild. There’s some security there, though of course I’ll work. Between Conner and I, we’ll make sure the kids get everything they’re entitled to—all of them, not just one of them. And I get it, that one is your one. I get that. But really, you don’t want to do things to make him different. To make him, or her, enviable in his or her own family. In families everyone takes care of each other as much as possible.”