Page 46 of 15 Summers Later

He frowned, looking in the direction Ava had fled. “I’m not exactly sure. She suddenly turned a little green and excused herself.”

“Do you think something is wrong with her?”

“I’m a veterinarian, remember? Most of my patients have a few more legs and a lot more fur.”

She made a face at him, barely refraining from sticking out her tongue.

He pulled a long, foil-wrapped packet off the grill with long metal tongs and set it on a serving platter, then repeated the process with a second packet. “The salmon is ready. Want to take it over to the table? Owen can carry the chicken over in a minute.”

“Or you can,” his younger brother said, lifting his beer laconically.

“Or I can,” Luke agreed.

She took the platter, grateful as always that Luke never hesitated to ask her to do things. He didn’t seem to care that she sometimes struggled with balance issues because of her leg or that her hand didn’t work as well as she would like.

He simply assumed she could handle any task he set before her, whether that was crossing the patio with a platter of salmon or handling a reluctant puppy on its way for shots.

There in his mother’s backyard, she suddenly realized his unswerving faith in her was one of the single most important things in her life.

As she carried the platter to the serving table, she remembered the day before, when he had looked at her with that expression that made her toes tingle.

She hadn’t stopped thinking about that expression, trying to analyze it from every possible angle.

Ultimately, Madi had decided sometime in the wee hours of the night that she must have imagined the whole thing. Luke didn’t think about her in that way. To him, she was no different from Nicole. He considered her a younger sister he could tease and provoke.

As she was arranging the platter with a few of the other items, Ava came out of the house, wiping at her mouth with a paper towel and sipping from the water bottle she had brought along.

Her sister did look pale. At least Madi thought so. But what did she know? Prior to her sister’s return to Emerald Creek a few days ago, Madi hadn’t seen her in person for about a year.

What if she had some incurable disease and didn’t want to share her diagnosis with Madi because of the discord between them?

She was angry with her sister, but she didn’t want something to happen to her. If she lost Ava, she and Leona wouldn’t have much family left.

Leona had one remaining son, who had never married and lived in California. Her father had two brothers in Massachusetts, scions of a highbrow Bostonian family, but Clint hadn’t had a relationship with them since he defied his family’s wishes and enlisted in the Marines.

Madi didn’t really know what had caused a rift between him and his family. Maybe his outspokenness and strong opinions, his independence and individualism philosophies.

What wouldtheybe thinking about Ava’s book? She couldn’t imagine Clint Howell came out looking very good in the book. How could he, when he had been the one to drag them into the whole mess in the first place?

What did the Bostonian Howells think about their family name being thrown out to the world for public scorn?

Her sister moved to a bench seat in the shade, near the pond, where she chatted with one of Luke’s aunts.

Tilly made a sound to draw everyone’s attention.

“The boys are almost done grilling. The salmon and chicken are ready and I understand the burgers are almost there.” She looked at the table, bulging with dishes. “It looks like we have all of the side dishes out. Boyd, will you say grace? And then you can all help yourselves.”

As she listened with half an ear to the blessing over the food, she peeked out from under her lids to see Ava with her eyes closed and her mouth moving silently.

What did her sister pray for?

Probably more book sales.

Madi frowned darkly, her anger resurfacing. She knew it wasn’t fair, especially during a contemplative moment, but she couldn’t seem to help her feelings.

Despite her overwhelming awareness of her sister’s presence, a Sunday gathering at the Gentry-Walker home was always fun.

She sat at one of the tables set up under the covered porch and chatted with Nicole and also Boyd’s youngest son and daughter-in-law, Brent and Samantha Walker, who lived on a ranch across the valley.

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