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Lyra tugged a tearful Sophia forward. “Go on. Apologize to Miss Claire.”
“I’m sorry,” Sophia sobbed. “I let the dogs in.”
Aww, poor girl.I could tell she felt terrible, but it wasn’t her fault. If I’d followed through on the canine obedience classes I kept meaning to do, maybe my dog wouldn’t act like a fool. But hey, at least I’d gotten him neutered. I wasn’t a total deadbeat dog dad.
Claire kneeled next to my niece. “It’s okay. It’s nobody’s fault. Just bad timing. And I wasn’t hurt. Look.”
She offered my niece a big smile, and the cold I’d felt toward her thawed just a little. I almost wished she’d been a jerk to Sophia about it. Then it would be easier to hate her. The problem was that despite the fact that she was across enemy lines, I still liked her. Everything would be so much simpler if I could write her off as a corporate puppet, but she was anything but that.
Nodding, Sophia sniffed, and Lyra took her hand and led her back to the house. “Come on, everyone!” she called over her shoulder. “The show’s over.”
My brothers and sisters trudged back inside, and my mom took a bottle of wine from Stephanie. “Welcome to my home. I’d like to say it isn’t usually so crazy around here, but I’d be lying.”
“Claire mentioned you had nine kids living here at one point,” Stephanie said. “That sounds rather complicated.”
My mom chuckled, but I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation because the front door closed, leaving Claire and me alone in the front yard.Wait… did Lyra do that on purpose?All the women in my life were conspiring against me. Except Isabelle—she got a pass since she was away at school. But that was only a technicality. If my youngest sister was home, she’d be in the trenches with the rest of them.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked, my hands still safely in my pockets.
She exhaled. “I’m fine. Just need to catch my breath. Though I’m wondering if it’s a sign from the universe that I shouldn’t have come for dinner.”
I frowned. “Yeah, what are you doing here?” In all the commotion, I hadn’t stopped to wonder that, but now I needed to know.
Claire’s brow furrowed. “I was invited and then guilt-tripped into coming when I tried to decline not once but twice.”
I tried to figure out which female in my family had pulled that move and come up blank, because any of them were capable of it, even Sophia. The Ramsey-Croft women learned young.
“You should have tried harder,” I said. When she shot me a sharp look, I tilted my head back and sighed. “Sorry, I’m not trying to be an asshole.”
“It just comes naturally?” she asked dryly.
“Well, yeah. But what I meant was that Ramsey-Croft women are difficult to refuse.” I’d spent a lifetime trying and failing.
She cocked her head. “Then why didn’t you just say that?”
I shoved my hands deeper in my pockets. “I’m a boy, and boys do stupid things?”
“Huh?” She looked utterly perplexed.
Welcome to the club.Every time I was around this woman, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to argue with her or kiss her.Just to get even with Larry. Can’t let my dog one-up me.
“Never mind.” I gestured to the door. “Well, come on in, I guess.”
“Thanks for that welcoming invitation,” she said wryly.
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered.
No one had told me that Claire and her sister had been invited to this shindig, probably because they knew I’d object.Fat lot of good that would do, anyway.Now that my dog had knocked the poor woman on her ass, I felt like I’d lost the right to be angry about her being at our house.
The happiness that spread through my chest as I escorted her inside was merely relief that Larry hadn’t done any permanent damage.
Once inside, I offered to take Claire’s coat and grimaced as I noticed the paw prints all over the front.She didn’t appear to notice, and I didn’t point it out to her lest it embarrass her further. But I would have to address it with her eventually so I could at least pay to have it dry-cleaned.Larry, you moron.
Claire handed her coat over with a sigh. “It seems like I can’t escape looking like an idiot in front of your family. First last night, and now this.”
“Neither was your fault.” I paused. “Actually, last night was totally your fault. Everyone knows better than to ride on Abernathy’s boat.”
“How would I know that?”
