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Malachi appeared in the hall with the baby, saw Claire mauling me, and shook his head. “Ye scared her half t’ death, Grace.”
His Irish accent was more pronounced than I’d heard it in a long, long time.
“What’d I do?”
“She finds out your house was on fire and you didn’t call, you didn’t come to us?”
“Sorry. I—”
Claire’s gaze went to Ian and she smiled. “Dr. Walker, come in. Are these for me? Thank you.”
Suddenly all mayoral, she turned and headed for the kitchen. Now that she’d hugged me and made sure I was in one piece, she was going to make me pay. I suppose I deserved it.
I should have called. I’d have been pissed if the situation were reversed. I’d given her a seriously hard time for taking off to Atlanta and leaving me behind, even though the only way she could have gotten me out of Lake Bluff would have been to shanghai me.
We were best friends, and we were supposed to share everything, depend on each other. Just because she was married and I—
Well, I wasn’t. That didn’t mean I shouldn’t follow the best-friend rules. They were women law. Break them at your own risk.
I took Noah and offered him the new pacifier, which he promptly started drooling on as he laid his cheek against my chest.
Something bumped against my ankles, and I glanced down to see Oprah rubbing her head on me just like she used to. I went down on one knee and scratched behind her ears. She began to purr.
One of Noah’s wildly waving hands smacked Oprah’s tail. Before I could stop him, his fingers latched on and yanked. Instead of hissing, Oprah went still and let him tug. Definitely true love.
I pried Noah’s fingers loose. They came away covered in cat hairs, which I began to pick off one by one.
“Come along and have a drink on the deck.” Mal led the way through the kitchen.
Claire had opened the wine and put the flowers in water. She was messing with something on the stove that didn’t appear to need messing with, but what did I know about cooking?
“Need help?” I asked.
She snorted.
“Guess not.”
“Ah chroi,” Mal murmured, and her shoulders raised and lowered on a sigh.
“I actually could use a hand bringing the drinks out. Does anyone want anything other than wine?”
We declined, so she began to pull out wineglasses. I turned to hand Noah to Mal, but he’d already stepped outside.
“Here.” Ian held out his hands. I hesitated, and he tilted his head. “I’m a doctor, Grace. I’ve held quite a few babies. Haven’t dropped one yet.”
“Of course not.” I handed Noah over, and he curled up on Ian’s chest with as much trust as he’d cuddled against mine.
The men disappeared outside. Claire poured four glasses of wine, then handed me one and took a sip of her own.
“I screwed up,” I said.
“Big-time. Don’t let it happen again.”
“Yes, Madame Mayor.”
Her blue eyes narrowed. “I thought we were making up.”
“We are. But sometimes I just can’t shut my mouth.”
