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Tucker.
“So your brother is up?”
Teague nodded and moved aside so that she had room to navigate the stairs. “Yeah. Apparently he decided that I needed the company. I don’t know why.”
Sabrina looked at him questioningly. Was that a hint of sarcasm?
Teague shrugged. “I’ve got you guys for that.”
Sabrina didn’t have a response. She stepped onto the deck and was immediately besieged with hugs and kisses from her kids. When she finally managed to break free she spied Teague’s brother and his fiancée.
“Hello,” the woman said with a smile. “I think we met at Jack’s wedding?”
Sabrina nodded. The wedding had taken place weeks after Brent’s passing and a lot of it was a blur. But she remembered the pretty redhead. “We did. Abby right?”
The woman nodded. “Yes. I’m sure you already know this, but I’ve got to tell you…you’ve got great kids.”
Tucker Simon walked over to Sabrina and gave her a big hug. “Nice to see you again.”
Sabrina had met Tucker several times over the last few years. He’d been a good friend to Brent and they’d hung out whenever Tucker was up at the cottage. He was open, engaging, and funny as hell.
Pretty much the opposite of his dark and somewhat twisty twin.
“How long are you guys up?” Sabrina asked.
“We head back to New York day after tomorrow. My family has a big event planned for Independence Day and my brother Mitch will have my ass if I’m not there. But at least we have tonight.”
“Tonight?” Sabrina glanced over to her mother-in-law. Louise’s smile was way too satisfied and that was never a good thing.
Abby nodded excitedly. “There’s a big event on the water and the four of us are going.”
Right. The extravaganza the local hotel put on every year on the last day of June. Sabrina shook her head. “I don’t think I can swing that. Thank you for thinking of me but I just…I don’t…”
“And you can’t say no,” Abby continued.
Sabrina glanced at her mother-in-law again. Louise was humming a tune and trying to look innocent. With a shrug, she flipped the last burger.
“Don’t worry about the kids,” Louise said. “I’ve got that covered.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“You can’t argue with Louise,” Teague said, offering her a beer. Sabrina accepted it and took a good draw from the longneck. “I told her you wouldn’t want to go and she told me to mind my business.”
Sabrina gave a tight smile. She wasn’t sure what annoyed her more. The fact that her mother-in-law’s love of interfering seemed to have ramped up to the next level, or the fact that Teague automatically assumed she wouldn’t be up for a good time.
Or maybe it was because he’d be right.
She took another sip of beer, fingering her new bangs, watching Tucker nuzzle Abby in the corner as her kids giggled and pointed. Maybe it was time for her to let loose. Maybe it was time for her to have some fun.
“This isn’t a date,” she said before she could stop herself.
Jesus. What. The. Hell?
“Relax,” Teague replied, that crooked smile back in place. “That’s pretty much a given.”
Sabrina should not have been insulted by that comment. But she kinda sorta was.
But by ten o’clock that night Sabrina was asking herself why the hell she hadn’t stuck to her guns and just stayed home. They’d watched the water extravaganza. Observed one hundred and ten ways to jump ramps on water skis. They’d walked the boardwalk. They’d visited the antique car show in the park. They’d done all the things that couples do except Teague and Sabrina were no couple. In fact it was glaringly obvious Teague would have preferred to be with anyone else. He hardly looked at her and barely spoke, but then it must be hard to do considering his jaw was clenched so tight he’d have to use a knife to pry it open.
