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What was this about? “Uh, yeah, she’s out in the living room with Dad and Gareth and Reagan.”
“Awesome. I’ll be back in a few minutes to help finish dinner, okay, Mom?”
“Sure, dear. But Iris and Tag already did the potatoes, Ally and I did the fruit salad, and the roast needs to cook for another half hour.”
But Shay was already gone in a haze of happy sauce. Margaret trailed after her. Tag looked at his brother-in-law standing off to one side and realized he looked rather pleased, as well. There seemed to be a dash of dazed in his expression, but Tag couldn’t blame him under the circumstances. His sister was definitely acting strangely.
Iris flashed him another “what the heck?” look and followed Shay and Margaret into the living room. Jonah stepped toward the coffee maker.
“Jonah, what happened to your wife?”
Lifting a shoulder, he answered with a simple “I’m not… I can’t…” Words tapering away, he stared off into space. Finally, he focused on Tag. “But I will say one thing to you.”
“Okay?” Tag prompted when Jonah didn’t continue.
“Ally.”
Tag waited, but Jonah just stared, his dark blue eyes filled with far more emotion than made Tag comfortable.
“Uh, what about Ally? Jonah, what is wrong with you? And Shay?”
“What I’m trying to say is…Ally happened.” Another goofy grin split his face. “I am so grateful. I can’t express how…fond I am of her. Tag, if you have half a brain in your head, you will never let that woman get away.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
TAG SPENT THE next few days preparing for the rally, going over details with Emily and Hannah, corresponding with Maura, brushing up on the influential people and donors who’d been invited, and getting a handle on pertinent issues that might concern voters. Hannah had written him a fantastic speech and insisted that he practice it in front of her and Emily. She kept texting him pointers and suggestions.
But through it all, Tag couldn’t stop thinking about Sunday’s dinner, and Shay in particular. Something had changed, something profound. And while he knew this notion should bring him joy, he couldn’t stop wondering about the cause.
Ally happened.
That’s what Jonah had said in the kitchen. Looking back, he saw that the seed was planted at that moment. He’d assumed Jonah was trying to change the subject, take the focus off whatever was going on with him and Shay. But another part of the conversation kept surfacing, bumping around in his thoughts. Because why would Jonah be grateful? He’d thought Jonah meant he was happy for Tag and that it had come out as grateful. But what if he’d meant it literally?
Then there were the looks, suspicious in retrospect, that had passed between Shay and Jonah, and Shay and Ally, and among his sisters and Ally the entire afternoon. At one point, he’d seen Shay and Ally whispering and laughing outside like old friends. An idea, a theory, had started as a niggle and grown steadily, cold and insistent, the way ice creeps over a lake at winter’s first hard freeze.
Thursday evening, he and Ally were eating sandwiches at Ally’s house, and he was filling her in on the details of the next day’s rally when her phone chimed on the table between them. Shay’s name popped up on the screen. Ally picked it up, read the message, grinned and then typed out a quick response.
Watching this unfold, Tag felt all the misgivings and cold dread of preceding days reach critical mass.
“You and Shay are texting now?”
“Um, yeah. We’ve been…talking.”
And that was the moment he knew. It felt as if he was standing on that frozen lake, knowing that if he delved into this subject he might fall through, yet he couldn’t stop himself. He had to risk it in order to save his sister.
Tone level, he asked, “Ally, do you know what’s going on with Shay?”
Just as he’d hoped, he could see the question caught her off guard. And for the first time, he found her enigmatic expression disturbing rather than alluring.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean she’s been acting like a different person. And I suspect you know why. Please, don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. She openly disapproved of you and then, seemingly out of nowhere, last Sunday you two are like BFFs. I let it go then because I was just happy that she was happy and relieved to see you two getting along. But then Iris mentioned that you had lunch together and now you’re texting. But neither of you has said a word about it to me. What is going on?”
