“I need to talk to you,” she announced without preamble.
Lazarus slipped around him to lick Reenie’s fingers. “You couldn’t have called?”
She didn’t flinch at his sarcasm; Reenie didn’t flinch easily. “Are you kidding? With what I have to say, you’d only hang up on me.”
“Oh, boy. Now I know I really have something to look forward to.”
“Nothing more than the hard truth.”
She patted Lazarus, then brushed past him the second he gave her enough room and, not for the first time, Gabe decided that his sister reminded him of a Chihuahua. Only five foot two and maybe one hundred pounds, she was petite and attractive and younger than him by nearly a decade. But nothing intimidated her. Occasionally, he grudgingly admitted that she had a generous heart and enough drive to accomplish almost anything; more often he complained of her bossy nature and sharp tongue. She was determined to carry the world on her shoulders—and God help anyone who stood in her way.
Which was where Gabe came in. Besides Keith, her husband, he was one of the few people in her life who still offered her some resistance. He supposed it was because he was just as hardheaded as she was. Whatever the reason, he felt it was his duty to keep the force of his sister’s personality from leveling everything and everyone in its path.
“Is there anything I can do to avoid this little confrontation?” he asked. He had too much on his mind right now, didn’t want to argue with his little sister.
She arched her dark eyebrows, and he looked into blue eyes that were almost a mirror image of his own. “No, but I’m willing to start with the positive.”
“Which is…”
“I’m glad to hear you’re finally coming to your senses.”
This certainly wasn’t what Gabe had expected to hear. “About—”
“Letting go of the past and embracing the future.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Hannah Price, of course. I think it’s wonderful that you’re seeing her.”
He thought of Hannah’s reluctance to draw public attention. “I’m not sure I’d call it that,” he said.
“You’d better be calling it that,” she snapped indignantly. “You slept with her yesterday, didn’t you?”
Gabe sat up taller. “Whoa, wait a second. Where are you getting your information?”
“It’s all over town. When Shirley Erman rang me up at the Gas-N-Go this morning, she told me Deborah Wheeler told her that Hannah was half-naked in your yard yesterday afternoon.”
Gabe’s muscles bunched as anger flooded through him. “How would Deborah Wheeler know that?”
Lazarus was wagging his tail and watching her expectantly, hoping for another crumb of attention. “I called her to ask the same thing,” she said, absently petting him again.
“And she said…”
“She just happened to be in the area.”
He grimaced. “God, she’s even worse than I thought.”
“She’s not the only one who’s spreading rumors. Marge over at Finley’s said you bought champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries and flowers. She added, with a wink, that you also bought condoms and told her you were planning to use the whole box this weekend. With all of that, did you think you were keeping your relationship with Hannah a secret?”
He hadn’t been planning to sleep with Hannah when he’d bought the damn condoms! But now he could see that his subconscious had been working against him all along. “Shit,” he said, shoving a hand through his hair.
“So, do you think this thing between you and Hannah might be serious?” Reenie asked.
Serious? Gabe had no clue. His attraction to Kenny’s mother had taken him by surprise, and now she was running scared, and having the whole town talking about them wasn’t going to help. Surely word would get back to her boys, which he knew she didn’t want…. “If this is the positive side to your visit, what’s the negative?” he asked to avoid his sister’s question.
“I want to talk about Dad.”
“Not now,” Gabe said.
“Gabe, this thing between the two of you has gone on long enough.”
“It’s none of your business, Reenie.”
“It is my business. He’s my father. You’re my brother. I love you both, and I’m tired of having this division in the family.”
“Maybe Dad should’ve thought about how it might divide the family before—”
“He had the affair twenty-four years ago, Gabe. That’s a long time. Can’t you cut him a little slack?”
“Cut him some slack? We have a half sister because of him!”
“And she’s a wonderful person. I like her. I think you would, too, if only you’d give her a chance.”
He didn’t know what to say. He wanted to let go of the past. But whenever he pictured his father with Lucky’s mother, that terrible sense of betrayal welled up inside him and nearly choked him.
“Maybe there are things you’re not taking into consideration, Gabe,” she said when he didn’t reply.
“Like what?”
“Like the fact that marriage isn’t always easy, even when both parties are basically good people.”
Something about the tone of her voice told Gabe she was talking about more than their parents. “What do you mean?”
She knelt in front of Lazarus and scratched him as if she really didn’t want to look Gabe in the eye. “Exactly what I said.”
“No, there’s more. You’re not having trouble with Keith, are you?”
“Of course not,” she said, but she spoke too quickly to convince him.
“Something’s going on. I know you too well to buy into that stiff-upper-lip thing, Reenie.”
“It’s nothing,” she said, straightening. “Keith’s a good father.”
“And he’s a good husband, right?”
“I love him. I love him more than anything in the world.”
“But…”
She stared down at the keys she held in one hand. “He’s changing.”
Her expression grew so troubled Gabe couldn’t feel any animosity toward her at all. Despite the discord that had existed between them for the past couple of years, she was still his little sister and he’d do anything to protect her. “How?”
“He’s…preoccupied or…or something.”