“Aunt Gwen!”
And her nephews’ voices, yelling her name in unison. She sighed, dropping her head as Case laughed and took a step back. This family was going to be the death of her.
“Gram is going to start the grill, so she wants me and Eli to help you clean up,” her nephew said, before turning to Case. “She said it’s out of propane, though, and wants to know if you have a spare tank instead of Lane going to have it filled.”
“I have one,” Case said, and Eli took off to let Ellen know, while Jack very carefully started pouring the leftover paint from Gwen’s tray back into the open gallon can. Then Case winked at Gwen and left her to finish the job at hand.
“You’re the messiest painter, Auntie,” Jack said, scowling as he picked up the roller handle with two fingers.
She laughed and bent to take it from him. “You’re right about that. But let’s get it cleaned up so we can have burgers.”
“You look happy,” Molly said as she sat on the gazebo bench next to Case.
He nodded. “We got a lot done today and now I have a cheeseburger. Life is good.”
“Bacon cheeseburgers, even.”
“It was until I gave Boomer my bacon. He’s got a sad face that’s hard to resist.”
“I’d offer to share the bacon from mine with you, but I have no problem resisting your sad face.” She smiled when he tried it. And failed, even though he batted his eyelashes a couple of times. “I don’t think you could do a true sad face right now, anyway. You’re definitely happy. Not just a cheeseburger happy, but a really loving-your-life-right-now kind of happy.”
“Like I said, life is good,” he said, taking a bite of his bacon-less burger.
“How much of that is because of Gwen?” she asked, and he almost choked.
Thankfully, he didn’t actually inhale the bite, and chewing and swallowing it gave him time to think about the conversational curveball Molly had just thrown at him. It was a ball he wouldn’t be able to field no matter how long he chewed, though, because he didn’t know how to answer it. “It’s nice to have all the Sutton sisters home.”
When she laughed, he knew she wasn’t buying what he was trying to sell her. “Nice try, Case. But this is me you’re talking to. I know what’s going on.”
“Then you know more than I do,” he muttered. Sometimes he barely got to see Gwen, and when he did, she was so distant he assumed the night she’d spent in his bed had been a onetime thing, after all. But then she’d go and look at him the way she had in the taproom a little while ago and he was all tied up in knots again.
“I like you two together,” she said. “I mean, I haven’t really gotten toseeyou together, but I’ve known you both my entire life and I think it’s great.”
“You do, huh?” He wasn’t sure what Molly was basing that on, exactly, but it was nice to have somebody cheering for them to be a couple. It would be better if it was Gwen, but he’d take what encouragement he could get.
Looking across the yard, he watched Gwen talking with her nephews. They were showing her the derby cars they were making for a pinewood derby at day camp—something they worked on all summer when it was raining or the heat index was too high to run around outside—and her face was animated as she examined them.
“Oh, there’s Mal. I need to ask her about something. I’ll be back.”
He smiled as Molly went off to talk to Mallory because he wasn’t even sure if she needed to ask her about anything at all. Molly never sat still for very long. And she probably got the itch to move faster when she was sitting next to somebody who was ignoring her in favor of pining for a woman who kept stealing glances back at him.
Maybe Gwen was pining for him, too.
He watched her until Gwen glanced his way again, and he grinned and nodded his head slightly toward the empty seat next to him. She smiled back and then said something to the boys before heading his way.
When she sat down on the bench, it was close enough so their arms brushed and her leg rested against his. “Did you see the cars the boys are making?”
He nodded. “They’re doing a good job. Lane and I usually try to be there for derby day, since we’re a sponsor—the center buys the car kits so the parents don’t have to—and it’s always a fun day.”
“When do they do that?”
“Usually late August, when they’re wrapping up camp because school will be starting soon.” When she only nodded, he realized she’d thought about going to watch and now they were both very aware she probably wouldn’t be around for the derby day if she had her way.
“They send me pictures,” she said quietly. “But that’s the first time I’ve ever had them show me the cars.”
“They’re not really supposed to bring them home because then they forget to bring them back,” he said. “I heard Jack say he was going to ask if he could break the rules just this once, though, because he wanted you to see them.”
She chuckled. “I don’t want them to get disqualified.”
