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Our sister appeared like a vision. I rushed forward, picked her up, and spun her around.
She squealed and beat on my shoulder. “Put me down, you big oaf.”
“Good to see you too, little sister.” I grinned and pulled her in for a hug. A bite of pain rushed up my middle.
“Then why did you wince?” A worried expression clouded her pretty features.
“It’s nothing.”
“Is it too much to ask for a hug for your older brother?”
Beau flew from my arms over to Lincoln. She attacked him with the same ferocity she had me. Slowly, he wrapped her in a hug and held her tight.
My brother was mostly stoic on the exterior. I supposed he had to be to handle our father. But there was never any doubt how he felt about Beau and me.
They broke apart, and with them standing side by side, it was easy to see how similar they were despite their five-year age difference. Beau wore a royal blue dress and heels. She certainly didn’t appear to have just stepped off a flight from London. And if Lincoln hadn’t been playing basketball, he’d have on a suit.
Me?
I preferred jeans and a Henley.
“Where’s your stuff?” I asked. “Am I going to need a U-Haul to get it to my place?”
She lifted her chin. “I only brought two bags. And I’m staying here. At least for the first part of my visit. I need my own bathroom.”
“I got a new place,” I said, grinning.
“Two bedrooms? Baths?”
I scratched the side of my neck. “Umm . . . not exactly.”
She narrowed her gaze.
“It’s a loft. You’ll love it,” Lincoln said.
I blinked at him in surprise. My brother was more of a Fifth Avenue penthouse kind of guy. My place would fit in his basketball court. But there was genuine appreciation on his face and he hadn’t even seen it all cleaned up. He’d gone with me to take a look when I’d found it and helped me move, along with some of the guys from the station, but he’d been called away on some emergency our father had concocted.
“It’s fine if you choose him over me,” I said petulantly, though I didn’t mean a word of it. “But at least come with me to the hospital to see an injured fireman. It would make his day.”
Chapter Eleven
Pepper
“Sadie!”
It was supper time. I was two minutes late. And that girl was barking her head off.
“You know she likes it when you reprimand her,” Miss Adeline said matter-of-factly.
It was true. Completely and totally true.
The closer I got to her kennel, the faster she stomped her feet.
“All right, you,” I grumbled, though I didn’t mind at all.
I scooped dog food into her bowl, and she danced in anticipation of me setting it down.
“I invited Mr. October over again for dinner.”
