“I’ve been doing my civic duty, Paddy. And you?” She planned to dodge his real question until she was good and ready to answer it.

He sighed. “I’ve been out looking at trees and checking for fungus after a morning spent working with your sons, who are all pains in the butt.”

She laughed. “Come on in and have some tea with me. I know Natalie isn’t done with work for another hour, so that means you’re not off to see her just yet.”

“Not off to see her for a few hours more, if at all. We’re still working on trying to finish a song, but we needed a break before we got into a fight. But I always have time for tea.”

“Is that because I have pecan sandies?”

He grinned and walked her into the kitchen, his arm around her shoulder. “You wound me. So maybe to make it up to me, a cookie or three might help.”

“Lordy, you’re full of it. You get that from your father, by the way.” She pointed at the cookie jar and he headed over, jamming two in his mouth before putting a few more on a plate.

“I had lunch with Natalie today.”

There it was. Fear made his skin clammy. “Oh, God.”

“Why you looking nervous, boy?”

“You almost got into a brawl with Mary’s mom. I just worry about you sometimes.” The time Mary broke things off with Damien, and their mother went with him to Mary’s house and got into a confrontation with Mary’s mother was sort of legendary in his family. Mary’s mother was a hell of a lot like Sharon, so they were great friends now, but back then, well, Paddy was sorry he’d missed seeing that in person.

“That was a misunderstanding. She was protecting her child, and I was defending mine. However, I doubt I would be so close with Natalie’s parents. Sounds to me like they both need to be driven over with my truck a few times.”

“She told you?” That surprised him, though his mother could have worked for the military the way she could get secrets out of people.

The anger on his mom’s face softened. “A little bit. She’s so strong, but she’s hurt inside. She needs some mothering.”

He went to his mother and hugged her, bending to put his head on her shoulder. She rubbed circles on his back just like she’d done when he was a kid, and it worked just fine when he was an adult, too.

“Thank you.”

She kissed his cheek before he straightened and resumed being half a foot taller than she was.

“She’s a good girl. And she has a big heart. I was worried you’d end up with a moron with big boobs and a tiny brain.”

He winced. “Why? Why not big boobs and a big brain? I’m an overachiever.”

She used the hand towel to whack his behind. “You. Anyway, she’s going to help me on this project of mine. She has some excellent ideas. I invited her to Thanksgiving. She said you already had, so that’s good.”

“I just assumed she’d know she was invited. When I started talking about it like it was a done deal, she was all shocked. Tuesday is heading to San Diego. That’s where her sister lives with her family. Natalie usually spends the various holidays in Portland or Seattle with her group of friends from college, I guess. I claimed her this year, told her she’d be expected here at Christmas, too.” Though he did want to meet the rest of her 1022 group at some point since they were all so important to her.

* * *

SHE PICKED THE phone up, smiling at the tone. “Hey, Zo, what’s up? You callin’ from the road or are you back home?”

Zoe Marsden was one of Natalie’s favorite people, a close friend of many years. She and her partner, Jenny, another member of their 1022 group, lived in a great old house in West Seattle where Jenny taught school. Zoe’s job sometimes took her all over the world to study whales. She’d recently been in Norway.

“I’m home at last. I’ve missed you guys like crazy. You’re coming up for Thanksgiving? Jenny will make something vegetarian, but I’ll have turkey, I promise.”

Once back in college, Jenny made them all tofurky for Thanksgiving dinner. Natalie actually liked tofu, but she was of the opinion that it didn’t need to be shaped like pretend meat, especially when it didn’t actually taste good. Over the years, though, Jenny had remained a vegetarian and her cooking skills had improved, so turkey day with them usually meant something awesome not pressed into a loaf.

“I’m actually not this year. I’m...I’m going to my boyfriend’s house. Well, to his family’s house.”

“Boyfriend? Wow. When did this occur?”

Zoe made sure Jenny got on the other line to listen in as Natalie filled them in.

“So bring him on Friday. We’re having leftovers and watching movies as we always do. We want to meet him,” Jenny said.

That might actually be good. Natalie’s friends were people whose opinions she trusted. Paddy would no doubt charm them all, but she’d be able to see how he related with people outside his circle who weren’t fans or whatever.

“All right. I’ll ask him. They’re working on a new album right now, so I don’t know what his schedule is.”

“Even if he can’t, you can,” Zoe reminded her. “It’s been since the Fourth of July when we had my farewell dinner before I left on my trip.”

“Yes. I’ll definitely be there. I’ve missed you guys.”

“Yay! You have to look at lots of pictures and pretend to be fascinated with dorsal shape and marking.”