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“Yeah, last Friday, and Brooklyn flew home right after the reception,” he answered, dropping down on the couch. “Any chance of holding him tonight?” He touched his nephew’s head, the light blond hair the softest thing he’d ever felt. Now he truly understood what people meant when they said baby soft.
Addie didn’t hesitate to pass the baby off to him and he cradled Kendrick in his arms as both his brother and sister-in-law had instructed the first time he held him. Since Kendrick’s birth, he’d held his nephew several times, but his tiny size still amazed him. Tonight, unlike the last time he’d visited, Kendrick was wide awake, his eyes, which were the same shade as Trent’s and his, gazing back up at him. “Every day he looks more like Trent,” he said, thinking back to Brooklyn’s question about whom the baby resembled more.
“I agree. Looks like there’ll be another Sherbrooke heartbreaker out there in sixteen years or so.”
“Sixteen years? Yeah, right. Try eleven or twelve. Trent asked out our neighbor’s daughter right after he turned twelve. Stacey was fourteen.”
“Really? What did she say?”
“Do you really need to ask?” He glanced away from his nephew. “She said yes. Dad caught them kissing in our tree house.”
Addie laughed. “Somehow it doesn’t surprise me. Actually, it wouldn’t shock me if all of you took girls into the tree house to make out.”
The memory of the times he and Jackie had snuck into the tree house as well as into the pool house surfaced and he cleared his throat. “As far as I know, Gray never did.”
His sister-in-law laughed again. “I guess that means you did. Who was
she? Another neighbor?”
“You know what, let’s talk about something else.”
“You’re no fun sometimes, but okay. Besides, there’s something I want to ask you.”
The last time a female relative made a similar statement, he’d ended up roped in to the foundation’s ridiculous auction. He hoped whatever Addie wanted to ask now didn’t lead to an equally unpleasant evening for him.
“Go for it. I’m listening.”
“Ever since I talked to Brooklyn, I’ve been trying to think of any friends I have who she might get along well with,” Addie began.
He couldn’t have been any more surprised by her choice of topics than if she’d said aliens lived downstairs.
“She seems so sweet. If Tom or Frank lived closer, I’d introduce her to them, but Frank’s in California and Tom’s headed to Texas next month.”
He’d never met either Frank or Tom, two more of Addie’s older brothers, but if they were anything like Rock, he couldn’t picture them with Brooklyn.
“I was thinking about my cousin Shane. He’s a year younger than you and lives in Cumberland. He really enjoys spending time outside. He goes rock climbing and hiking almost every weekend, even in the winter. And he got his certification to scuba dive either last summer or the one before. I wasn’t sure if she’d enjoy those types of activities.”
Addie’s choice of topics had him wishing he’d gone home straight from work after all, because the last thing he wanted was to help her play matchmaker. “She’s afraid of heights and dislikes open water. She has some thing about not being able to see what’s swimming around her. Never understood the big deal, but she insists.”
He didn’t make a habit of lying, but tonight he couldn’t stop himself. Both he and Brooklyn had learned to scuba dive together, and he’d once seen her scale up the wall at the rock climbing gym, so Shane sounded like someone she might enjoy spending time with.
“Then she’d never get along well with Shane. He hates being cooped up inside. What does she like doing?”
Derek considered all the time they’d spent together at the beach or out on the Affinity. Her love of the open water rivaled his own. “I don’t know. Stuff.” He shifted on the couch and hoped Addie moved the conversation on to something else.
“She’s one of your closest friends. How can you not know?” she asked, sounding annoyed.
He gave a halfhearted shrug. “She likes swimming as long as it’s in a pool. I think she was on the swim team in high school. And she enjoys reading. Seeing movies. She bakes a lot too.”
“That’s real helpful.” She rolled her eyes.
“Don’t stress about it. Brooklyn doesn’t need you to set her up. She goes out all the time.” So what if it was either with him or one of her other friends. “She actually had a date tonight.” He clenched his teeth as he said the words. He still couldn’t believe her damn father, using Brooklyn to arrange a relationship so he could grow his own company.
“Oh.” Addie’s single word hung in the air and she studied him.
He’d seen a similar look on his twin sister’s face. Addie was trying to dissect him by running through every word he’d said since he walked in and opened his mouth.
“Oh,” she said, the word again in a tone that suggested she’d reached some kind of conclusion.
