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Man, he was getting soft for her. He had to be careful.

Hearing a guest room door open at the top of the stairs, he turned to see Lia and Mitch coming out of their room.

Finally.

He tapped his watch as they descended the stairs. “We’re late.”

His sister blushed, fastening several of the buttons on her emerald green blouse. “Sorry…we, uh, had a little trouble unpacking.”

Mitch rolled his eyes and Malcolm just shrugged with a satisfied Cheshire cat grin. Gross. He did not want to think about his sister and her husband’s intimate life.

“Okay, let’s go.” He opened the door and allowed them to step outside first. The forecasted rain had started, so they all ran toward the car and climbed in. “There’s an umbrella in the trunk,” he said.

“That’s helpful now,” Lia mumbled from the back seat.

Once again, Mitch was alone in the front. It wouldn’t surprise him if his sister gave him a chauffeur hat for Christmas. Lia was always this way, slightly cold and distant toward him. She obviously harbored a not-so-secret resentment toward him for the way their mother made her preference of children obvious, but that wasn’t Mitch’s fault. He couldn’t help it if he was the firstborn and had had ten years to bond with their mother before Lia came along.

He’d like to be closer to her, but she made it impossible. Whenever he called from overseas, she was always just rushing into court or headed to a consultation with a client or at the gym or yoga. Her lack of effort to make time for him hadn’t gone unnoticed, but he still kept trying whenever he could.

“So, Mitch…where are you headed next?” Malcolm asked.

“Cambodia again. We still have work to do over there.” He glanced at his brother-in-law through the rearview mirror. He’d only met him once before, at their wedding, and he wanted to like the man, but he gave off abetter than everyonevibe with his expensive clothing and jewelry, and his arrogance rubbed Mitch the wrong way. But he seemed to be making his sister happy again these days, so it wasn’t his place to judge the guy.

“Don’t you miss the money, though?” Malcolm said. “From your own practice?”

The guy was definitely money motivated. He was a very successful defense attorney in New York and his hourly rate wasn’t for the faint of heart. His parents owned a third-generation winery in Napa and their multimillion-dollar home was truly impressive. So Mitch could understand the question, but money had never been his motivation for getting into medicine. He’d wanted to help people like his father did. Not that he was always successful…

He shook his head. “Not really. This is more fulfilling, I guess.”

“Mitch is very altruistic,” Lia said.

He couldn’t tell if she meant it as a compliment or not.

“But you can do good and still make a good living. There’s no shame in that,” Malcolm said.

There wasn’t, and Mitch knew that as an attorney, Malcolm had helped defend a lot of innocent people in his career. “You’re right. I guess the other part of it is being antsy if I’m in one place for too long.”

“He has commitment issues,” Lia said in a loud whisper.

Okay, that one definitely wasn’t a compliment. “That’s not true.”

“When was your last relationship?”

He shrugged. He could tell her about Jessica, but that would probably only confirm her thoughts about it. He was really only there for a few weeks and he wasn’t sure what would happen after he left. He’d like to stay in touch, obviously, but he wouldn’t give Jessica any false notions about where the connection between them could lead. His immediate future didn’t include Blue Moon Bay…or a life partner.

“You can’t even commit to one place long enough, let alone one person,” Lia said. Then her expression softened slightly as though recognizing the edge in her tone. “And that’s okay. That’s just who you are.”

Why did it sound so bad when she said it like that? He loved his life. He was living a life of charity and commitment—albeit to a cause, not a person or place, but he felt fulfilled. Wasn’t that enough?

He pulled into the driveway of their family home, and Lia peered through the pouring rain, taking in the holiday decorations that were more than a little over the top. “She wasn’t kidding when she said she’d added a few new things this year, huh?”

Apparently not. There were even more inflatables and figurines on the lawn than when he was there a few days ago, and the Santa and eight reindeer on the roof was definitely a recent addition to the decor. “Wait until you see the inside,” he said.

“It couldn’t possibly be worse,” Malcolm said, looking at the house like it was the tackiest thing he’d ever seen. No doubt his Napa mansion was tastefully decorated by a hired interior designer.

“Just wait,” Mitch mumbled, cutting the engine. “Anyway, her last text said coffee and tea was poured, so…”

“We better get inside,” Lia said, sounding like she was about to walk the green mile.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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