“Are there any more of those cookies, Carrie?” Davey asked. “I’d like a couple for the road. We need to get home for dinner.”
She gave him a stern look. “Which is exactly why I’m not giving you more cookies. I don’t want your mom or dad over here yelling at me about spoiling your appetites.”
Just then her phone rang and she spotted Shanna’s name on the caller ID. “Speak of the devil.”
“Is that Mom?” Davey asked.
Carrie nodded.
“Then we’d better move,” Henry said, leaning down to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Bye, Carrie. See you.”
“See you,” Davey said, bounding out the door ahead of his big brother.
Carrie sighed and answered the phone. “Your boys are heading home right now.”
“Good to know,” Shanna said. “But that’s not why I called.”
“Oh? What’s up?”
“Are you free for dinner next Wednesday or Thursday?”
“Sure, either one,” Carrie said without bothering to check her calendar. “It’s not as if I have a lot of commitments these days. Anything special going on?”
“Not really. We just haven’t seen enough of you lately,” Shanna said.
The comment was so completely untrue it was laughable. “I saw you this morning,” Carrie reminded her. “And Henry and Davey just left my house. I see all of you at Sunday dinner at Grandpa Mick’s. What’s this really about? And don’t fib. You’re no good at it.”
“I invited Sam Winslow and his nephew for dinner,” Shanna admitted.
“Oh, boy,” Carrie whispered. “If you’re trying to do some matchmaking, quit it. Sam and I have some issues.”
“Not that I could see at lunch today,” Shanna argued. “It was quite the little family scene in Sally’s.”
“You saw us?”
“Of course I did. If it was supposed to be a secret rendezvous, it might have been better to have it someplace more secluded and minus the kids.”
“You are so far off base,” Carrie told her. “There is nothing at all between Sam and me. There’s not likely to be, either. I’m not crazy about some of the decisions he’s been making about Bobby and he doesn’t seem all that crazy about me, period. Let this go, Shanna. I’m glad you invited him over. Earlier today I was thinking he and Kevin might have a lot in common, given how abruptly they both became single dads. Trust me, though. You’ll have a much better time without me there.”
“I already told him I was inviting you.”
That gave Carrie pause. “And he didn’t immediately come up with an excuse to avoid the whole thing?”
“Nope. He looked more like a man who was happy someone was stepping in to push the two of you together again.”
“I seriously doubt that.”
Shanna was surprisingly silent for about a minute. “You know, I take it back,” she said.
Carrie was startled by the sudden turnaround. She didn’t like the disappointment that immediately spread over her. “You’re withdrawing the invitation? You’re canceling dinner?”
“Nope,” Shanna said decisively. “I’m moving it up. It’s tomorrow night. I don’t want you to have a whole week to talk yourself out of coming. Sam, either. Seven o’clock. I’ll call him right now to confirm.”
“But I never said yes.”
“Oh, you’ll be here,” Shanna said confidently. “Don’t you have enough issues with the family without adding coward to the list?”
“That’s not fair,” Carrie grumbled, knowing Shanna had set a very neat trap for her.
“Life is rarely fair,” Shanna said brightly. “But O’Briens always cope. See you tomorrow, sweetie.”
She hung up before Carrie could form another protest or think of a single way to wiggle out of the commitment. Maybe, if she were very, very lucky, Sam would do the wiggling. Sadly, with the way her luck was running lately, it wouldn’t happen that way.
And somewhere, deep down inside, a traitorous spark of anticipation was doing a little jig about that.
6
Sam had been surprised to hear from Shanna so quickly about dinner. In fact, she’d caught him so completely off guard, he hadn’t been able to come up with a single excuse to refuse, even though he wasn’t crazy about her obvious attempt to throw him together with Carrie. He told himself he’d accepted for Bobby’s sake. That was the only thing that gave him any comfort as he approached Shanna and Kevin’s house on a quiet side street not far from downtown.
Though the house appeared small from the street, he discovered on entering that appearances had been deceiving. There had been additions onto the back, including a big sunroom where a baby in pink was bouncing in a child seat, a toddler was climbing all over a teenager as the boy tried to play a video game and yet another boy was laughing hysterically.
“Way to go,” the laughing youngster told the toddler.
“Get him off of me,” the older boy pleaded, still trying to concentrate.
“No way!” the other boy declared. “He’s my secret weapon.”
“I thought Carrie was your secret weapon. You loved it when she busted my chops yesterday.”
Shanna stood in the doorway, shaking her head. “Welcome to my world,” she told Sam. She raised her voice. “Boys! We have company.”
“Henry, Davey and Johnny,” she said as she pointed to each of them. “The baby’s Kelly. Everyone, this is Sam. He’s working with Mack at the paper. And this is his nephew, Bobby.”
Bobby hung back shyly, but surprisingly it was the teenager who came over and held out a hand. “Hey, Bobby, do you like video games?”
Bobby nodded.
“Then you can be on my side. Davey’s enlisted the little monkey over there to try to distract me when it’s my turn. You can do the same when it’s Davey’s turn.”
“You want me to climb on him?” Bobby asked skeptically.
Henry laughed. “Whatever works,” he said. “You’ll think of something.”
Bobby looked hesitantly up at Sam. “Is it okay?”
Before Sam could answer, Shanna stepped in. “Do whatever you need to do,” she told Bobby. “Just no hitting or biting. Those are the house rules.”
She turned to Sam. “We probably don’t want to watch this. Come with me and I’ll get you a glass of wine. Kevin should be here soon and Carrie’s on her way. She’s stopping to pick up dessert. Nell baked today. Honestly, I don’t know how Nell does it. Once a week there’s Kevin’s favorite apple pie, a coconut cake for Connor and his family, chocolate cake for Abby and Trace, scones for anybody who wants them. She must have been a baker in her previous life. She’d do all the pastry for the inn, if Jess would let her. Now that she’s in her eighties, we all think she should slow down, but she’s having none of it. Have you met her yet?”
Sam shook his head. “But I have had a few of her chocolate-chip cookies,” Sam said. “Carrie gave me some when I stopped by O’Briens the other night.”
Shanna’s eyes lit up. “Did you try the stew? That’s Nell’s recipe, too. In fact, most of the food in the pub is based on traditional recipes she learned when she stayed with her grandparents in Ireland years ago.”
“So Luke inherited her skill in the kitchen?”
Shanna laughed. “Absolutely not. She despaired of teaching him a thing. He brought in a chef and Nell trained him. She still looks over his shoulder regularly to be sure he’s not messing up. Nothing goes on the menu unless it has her stamp of approval. For a guy who learned to cook in a New York deli, he’s adapted quite well to Nell’s Irish favorites. Every now and then he sneaks a Reuben or a pastrami sandwich onto the menu as a special, and Nell pretends not to notice.”
Just then Carrie’s voice carried down the hallway to the big open kitchen. Sam felt an immediate and troubling spark of anticipation. Apparently he could tell himself a thousand times that getting involved with her was a bad idea, but his testosterone wasn’t convinced.
“Anybody here?” she called out.<
br />
“In the kitchen,” Shanna replied as she poured two glasses of wine. She handed one to Sam, then held out the other to Carrie as she set the pie on the counter.
“Gram says to heat this up before you serve it,” Carrie instructed Shanna.
“As if she hasn’t told me that every single week since the day I married Kevin,” Shanna said.
Carrie laughed. “She doesn’t like to leave anything to chance and I’m pretty sure she’s convinced that not a one of us inherited a single bit of her culinary skill.”
“Not true,” Shanna said. “Kevin’s actually quite adept in the kitchen. He’s just never home to cook.”
He walked in just in time to overhear the comment. “I’m here now,” he said, giving her a thorough kiss. “And I always take care of the important things, right? Like this?”
Laughing, Shanna shoved him away when he clearly would have stolen another kiss. “Company, Kevin.”
“It’s just Carrie,” he said.
“And Sam Winslow,” Shanna said, giving him a gentle elbow in the ribs. “Sam, my husband, Kevin O’Brien.”
Sam grinned at Kevin’s suddenly chagrined expression. “I didn’t realize we had company company,” he apologized. “I thought it was just Carrie.”
“Thanks,” Carrie grumbled, feigning an insulted look. “Always a pleasure to see you, too.” She glanced at Sam. “A minute ago I would have told you Kevin was my favorite uncle, but now he’s on probation. I’m thinking Uncle Connor has the edge.”
The teasing interaction was a revelation to Sam, whose own family life, if it could even be called that, had always been filled with tension and long, awkward silences.
There was a sudden whoop of glee from the sunroom.
“Video game?” Kevin asked.
“Always,” Shanna said with a sigh. “Sounds as if maybe Davey actually won this one.”
Kevin glanced toward Sam. “You any good at those games?”
“I’ve played some,” Sam said, though from what he’d observed tonight, he wasn’t nearly as competitive as the males in this family.
“Want to go out there and take them on?” Kevin asked.
“Sure,” Sam said at once, eager to get away from the kitchen and the unwanted attraction that seemed to be simmering between him and Carrie.
“Twenty minutes,” Shanna reminded them sternly. “Once I get dinner on the table, I’m not calling you all twice. And make sure all the boys wash their hands. And don’t forget the baby, the way you did last night.”
Sam bit back a smile as he followed Kevin to the sunroom. “You forgot the baby?”
“Hey, she’d fallen asleep,” Kevin explained in his own defense. “Since she’s almost never quiet for more than a heartbeat, I think I should be forgiven for not realizing she was there.”
“You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that,” Sam told him.
Kevin regarded him with a puzzled look. “Why’s that?”
“Because I’ve only had responsibility for my nephew for a couple of weeks and I’ve spent most of that time terrified I was going to do something totally stupid. And as if I didn’t have enough doubts myself, Carrie has caught me twice doing things she apparently considered unforgivable.”
“What things?” Kevin asked.
“I left Bobby sleeping in the car while I ran into O’Briens to pick up takeout. Even though I kept my eye on him the whole time, that wasn’t good enough for her. And the next day she thought I wasn’t watching closely enough while he was climbing on the jungle gym at the playground.”
“When it comes to kids, Carrie’s a natural-born worrier,” Kevin consoled him. “Just like her mom. And just like Abby, Carrie will be a great mom someday. We all trust her to keep an eye on our kids, but we also know she’s overprotective. She’ll get over it once she sees that not even she can be everywhere at once. Kids are adventurous. They do crazy things and sometimes they’re too fast for us to catch ’em before they fall. All we can do is be alert and minimize the risks, then be ready to patch up any bumps and bruises, dry any tears.”
“Voice of experience?” Sam asked.
“As a dad and as a former paramedic,” Kevin confirmed. “There’s a big difference between letting kids be kids and allowing them to take the occasional risk, and being a negligent parent. You’ll figure it out, too.”
Sam was doubtful. “I hope so. By the way, Bobby was asking if there’s T-ball in town.”
“Sure. Show up at the high school field on Saturday. We’ll get him on a team.”
In the sunroom, Kevin muscled Henry away from the controls for the video game, took the other remote from Davey and handed it to Sam. “Let us show you how it’s done, boys.”
“Oh, please,” Henry taunted. “I’ve been beating you since I was a kid.”
“Me, too,” Davey gloated. “Dad, you’re really bad.”
Sam laughed. “Then maybe I have half a chance.”
“Loser takes on Carrie,” Henry said, his expression innocent. “You’ll need a confidence boost.”
Something told Sam he’d better win against Kevin. The last thing he wanted was to be humiliated for his ineptitude yet again by Carrie Winters.
* * *
“Are you convinced now?” Carrie asked Shanna as Kevin and Sam left the kitchen. “He barely even looked at me.”
Shanna waved off the comment. “That meant nothing. If anything, it was more telling than it would have been if he’d fawned all over you.”
“Seriously?” Carrie said, trying to follow her logic.
“Sure. Men act all indifferent when they’re feeling exactly the opposite and don’t want to give anything away.”
“It was just plain awkward,” Carrie corrected. “I should probably go so you all can have a pleasant evening.”
“And let him think he chased you off?” Shanna asked. “I thought you were tougher than that.”
“You’re thinking of my twin. It’s Cait who’s tough. I’m all sweet and sensitive.”
Shanna guffawed at that. “Since when? You didn’t survive in the shark tank of fashion by being anybody’s pushover.”
“You’re wrong,” Carrie said, instantly somber. “I was Marc’s pushover.”
“Whole different story, sweetie,” Shanna said. “It’s time you put that behind you. Let Sam be your rebound guy. Practice being a whole new you on him.”
“Now there’s a charming approach,” Carrie said. “I’m sure it’ll make him feel all warm and fuzzy about being chosen to play such an important role in my life.”
“You never know. He might like the idea of being a knight in shining armor for a little while.”
Carrie gave her an impatient look. “Haven’t you been married long enough to stop being such a romantic?”
“I hope I will always be a romantic,” Shanna protested. “It’s a good way to be. Look at your grandmother. Do you think she and Mick got back together without both of them being romantics at heart?”
“I certainly see the sparks,” Carrie admitted, “but I try not to think about exactly how they got back together or what they do behind closed doors. In fact, I’d be content to go to my grave without having that particular image engraved on my brain.”
“They’re great examples,” Shanna countered. “So are Nell and Dillon. Our family is crawling with wonderful role models who exemplify the importance of romance. Your mom and Trace are no slouches.”
“Another image I prefer not to dwell on,” Carrie said. “Though they are awfully cute together. And, just to be clear, I’m not denying the importance of romance. I’m just saying I’ve never encountered it, not in the way you’re describing.”
“And yet you tell us all the time that what you want most in life is to be a wife and mom. I’m telling you that requires romance and sappy, messy feelings and risks.”
Carrie sighed. “I know you’re right. But Sam? I think that’s a lost cause. He can’t possibly have time for anything these days beyond discove
ring if he has what it takes to be a dad.”
“He could probably use somebody to encourage him and show him the way,” Shanna suggested. “Somebody who’s a natural with kids.”
“You’re suggesting I coach him?”
“Something like that.”
“He hasn’t taken kindly to most of the advice I’ve offered so far,” Carrie told her.
“Advice?” Shanna repeated, her brow lifted. “Or criticism?”
A guilty flush crept up Carrie’s neck. “Criticism,” she acknowledged. “Okay, I see your point—about that, anyway. As for Sam and me as a couple, I think you’re way off base about that.”
Shanna merely gave her a knowing smile. “I guess we’ll see.”
* * *
Despite the difference in their ages, Bobby seemed to flourish under all the attention of the older boys. He even held his own when it came to teasing them. Sam watched the interaction with amazement, then uttered a sigh of relief. Kevin apparently overheard him, because he gave him a puzzled look.
“What was that sigh about?” he asked Sam.
“I’m sure you’ve heard the story of how Bobby came to be my responsibility barely three weeks ago,” Sam said, smiling when a belly laugh erupted from Bobby as Davey pinned him down and tickled him to get even for something.
Kevin glanced over. “Hey, watch it! Remember he’s younger than you.”
“He has it coming,” Davey retorted. “He was supposed to be on my side for this game and he helped Henry just then.”
“I didn’t mean to,” Bobby said, giggling and scrambling away. “Honest. I forgot. I was on his side before.”
“Yeah, sure,” Davey said, then tickled him some more.
Kevin turned to Sam. “You okay? Davey’s just teasing, but if you think it’s too much roughhousing, I can call a halt to it.”
“Absolutely not,” Sam said. “It’s wonderful. This is the first time I’ve heard a real laugh from Bobby since, well, since he lost his mom and dad. I was afraid there’d been too many changes for him to handle. I was thinking about talking to Will, after Carrie mentioned he’s a shrink. I thought he could help me figure out what to do to make this transition easier on him.” He gestured toward the pile of laughing boys, which now included Henry and even the toddler. “Look at them.”
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