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It was the second time he’d seen his sister since the weekend he’d watched Cameron. He wanted to ask her about the separation, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it without revealing that it was Cameron who’d told him and he didn’t want to risk breaking his nephew’s confidence.
Zeke slapped him on the back. “How does it feel to be Whispering Bay’s most sought out bachelor?”
“You mean Whispering Bay’s only bachelor?”
“Not true, my man. Rusty is still single,” Zeke said referring to his middle-aged deputy. “Although he’s dating my receptionist so I guess technically he’s not available.”
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sp; “Plus, there are several of the Gray Flamingos who are either divorced or widowed,” Mimi added, her blue eyes shiny with laughter. “But none of them were gullible enough to be talked into the auction.”
“Good thing you’re a girl and pregnant,” Luke warned.
“Sorry, big brother but I haven’t had this much fun since the time you got poison ivy on your butt after mooning my friends through my bedroom window at my ninth grade slumber party.”
“Stop teasing your brother,” Mom said. “No one is interested in bidding on some old—” she turned to stare at him, “that’s how you got the poison ivy?”
“Oops,” Mimi said.
“Sorry.” Zeke took his wife by the hand. “She can’t seem to control herself. It’s the pregnancy hormones.” The two of them took off toward the food tables.
Luckily for Luke, his dad came by at just that moment to share in some of the heat.
“Alex, did you know how Luke got his poison ivy when he was a junior in high school?” Mom demanded.
Dad shot him a conspiratorial look. “Uh, I believe he was helping your father cut down some brush around the beach house. Isn’t that right, son?”
“It’s no use, Pop. That story won’t fly anymore. Thanks to your big-mouth daughter, Mom knows the truth.”
Dad stuffed a shrimp in his mouth then mumbled something about checking the status of one his bids before deserting him.
“Coward,” Luke muttered.
Mom sighed. “Am I always the last to know everything about my own son?”
Leave it to Mom to remind him that he’d botched up the Victoria announcement. He leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. “How’s the bidding going?”
Mom perked up. “You’re up to nine hundred dollars.”
“Nine hundred—who in their right mind would pay nine hundred bucks to go out on a date with anyone?”
Stacey and some of the other women he recognized from the Mom’s Day Out group surrounded him. “Oh, that was fifteen minutes ago, Ann. Luke is up to twelve hundred now,” Stacey said.
“See? I told you you’d practically get us the playground equipment all on your own,” said Jody.
Brad Connors came up to hand his wife a plate of food and the women all took off for the auction tables, leaving the two men alone. He and Luke shook hands. “Powers. Long time no see.”
“I hear you’re the guy we used to be afraid of back in high school,” Luke joked.
“Yep. Principal of Academics and ass-kicking,” Brad said.
They laughed, then Brad sobered, taking a few seconds to check out Luke’s tux. “Sorry about the suit. Stacey called your mom last night and thought it would be a good idea. And it looks like she was right. Did you know that you’re up to thirteen hundred bucks now? We should have brought you in when we were raising money for the gym roof.”
Luke was about to correct him and tell him it was twelve hundred, not thirteen, but at this point the whole thing was so ridiculous it didn’t matter. “Does the gym really need a new roof?” he asked, ready to pull out his checkbook. What was the point of having money if you couldn’t put it to good use?
“Booster donations took care of that. Don’t you remember? You donated a pretty penny yourself.” At the look on Luke’s face, Brad smiled grimly. “Do we have your secretary or some administrative assistant to thank for that?”
“My assistant, Lori.”
