Page 29 of Sheltered By Love

The corner of his lip lifts. “Did she tell you that was our punishment? To sit in here and drink it until we stopped acting like—”

“Louts?” I offer.

He laughs and hearing it seems to impact my ability to breathe. “If we’d done something dumb, she made us dress in our Sunday best. Worked like a charm.”

At the image of four boisterous boys sitting around the table dressed in their finest, sipping tea it’s impossible not to see the humor in it.

Or perhaps it’s the irony I find amusing that I had three of them sitting around my table just minutes ago.

The moment is broken when his phone chimes from a hidden pocket in his military-style pants.

As I keep working, he reaches down, glances at it, and slides it back into his pocket again. “Garrett’s across the street. He just finished talking to your neighbor. He needs to talk to you again too.”

The second he finishes speaking I hear a knock and he looks at me expectantly.

Since he’s just going to be sitting here, I wash my hands. “I need to get these in the oven so I can take some to Mrs. Davis. Can you roll them?”

His expression stays stony, and I half expect him to shake his head, but he gets up and washes his hands.

I resist the urge to mention how nice it is when he’s pleasant and hurry to the front door.

I open it and smile as politely as I can manage when I see Garrett Reid standing in the weak sunlight, a half-smile half-squint as he examines me. “Sorry for the intrusion. I’m sure you’ve had it up to here with the Reid family by now.”

I open the door wider. “Some more than others,” I say.

He covers a chuckle and waits for me to close the door before speaking again. “You had a visit from Jax and Levi then?”

As we walk down the hall, I nod. “Under the guise of collecting for a charity. Yes, I think they managed to put up cameras at the back of the house.”

When he sees Zane finishing up with the cookies, his lips quirk. “Mind if I sit?”

It’s such a welcome change from dealing with Zane’s bluntness, I just about fall over myself trying to make him welcome.

When he’s settled, and I’ve poured him a cup of tea, he looks at me. “I’ve spoken to Nicki and got a list of names, and addresses. She said you deal directly with phone inquiries?”

“I don’t get a lot. But some people prefer to speak to me.”

Zane pipes up. “She had one just before you arrived. I’m going to set up a duplicate phone line so I can start listening in.”

Garrett nods and focuses on me again. “Do you keep a record of the people who call?”

“Only for work completed. I do get the occasional time waster. My customer list and details are upstairs in the office.”

Garrett’s brow crinkles. “Would you mind getting it for me? A copy is fine.”

I should have guessed he’d find a reason to talk to his brother without me around.

I check on Zane’s progress and am not surprised when I find his cookies are all perfectly uniform.

“Can you put them in the oven and set the timer for fifteen minutes, please? I’m sure you know how everything works,” I say.

Zane

I know he’s going to have plenty to say as I push the tray of cookies into the oven.

Levi would be rolling on the floor laughing by now. But there is nothing funny about how confusing this is starting to feel.

“How’s it going?”

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