Page 69 of The Science of Attraction

When he pulled away, Zach nodded sombrely to our father. “Hey, Dad.”

“Zach,” Paddy grunted, seemingly unable to move past single noun responses.

But Zach took it with grace and then stunned me by offering his hand. I stared, not daring to believe what I was seeing and simultaneously understanding the huge implication of whatever my father would choose to do next. But he accepted it with a wary look and an acceptable shake of his good hand.

I almost fucking cried.

But when Zach moved on to Marty, the old shepherd turned away like he hadn’t seen the offered hand.

“Aw, come on, Marty,” Zach teased with a decided edge to his tone. “It’s not catching.”

Holy shit.I had to admire my brother. He’d come a long way. Marty’s gaze narrowed and I sucked in a breath, ready to jump to Zach’s defence.

My mother beat me to it. “Marty.” A single word spoken in a tone that raised the old man’s eyebrows.

His gaze shot to Paddy whose focus remained on his wife. No help there, sunshine. Left hanging, Marty’s face lit up red and he reluctantly extended his hand. “Zach.”

Zach stared at Marty for a moment like he was reconsidering the offer, then clasped Marty’s hand. He held on a little longer than was strictly polite and eyeballed Marty. “You were one of my heroes when I was growing up. Not sure how I got it so wrong.”

There was another sharp look to my father, and although he grimaced, Paddy said nothing, which seemed to surprise Marty. “Times change,” was all he said, his gaze sliding from Zach to Luke and immediately souring.

“They sure do,” Zach agreed, stepping away.

It was all I could do not to laugh. “Hey, Luke.” I tried to defuse the growing tension by shaking Luke’s hand before he attempted to offer it to Marty and we risked losing the ground we’d made. By the time I turned back, Marty had scarpered through the mudroom door before he was forced to shake yet another gay man’s hand.

“Em asked me to bring you some of those tomato seeds she harvested last year. Said you wanted to try them.”

My mother clapped her hands. “I sure do, thank you.”

Zach handed her an envelope and turned to me. “And I’ve got the deets on a possible new pup for you.”

“What... pup?” Paddy’s gaze shifted between us.

“I’m looking at getting a heading dog to partner with Hopper. Same line as Chip, as it happens.”

Paddy’s good hand unconsciously fell to his side where Chip waited, as always. “Good... dogs.”

“They are,” Zach agreed, his expression softening. “Chip was one of the best I’ve trained.”

A smile tugged at our father’s lips. “Good qu-quaaality.”

Zach nodded and turned back to me with a wicked gleam in his eye that set my belly rolling. “And I have an invite foryou. Well, for youandLiam, if he’s interested?” His gaze flicked to Liam and my eyebrows ratcheted up.

What the hell was he up to?

“Me?” Liam obviously thought the same.

“Sure,” Zach insisted. “Luke and I are throwing a bit of a dinner party at the cottage with Holden and Gil next Friday. I already checked with Ten, and he’s happy to hold the fort.”

I blinked. “You asked Ten?”

He shrugged. “Of course. I wasn’t about to give you any reason to squirm out of it.” He patted my chest. “And then Gil had the idea of asking Liam as well, since our intrepid occupational therapist hasn’t seen Miller Station yet, and he has to be sick of you lot by now.”

Holy shit. The interfering fucker.

Liam’s gaze shot to mine, clearly unsure about how to respond. But since my father was watching with an eagle eye, all I did was shrug. “It’s up to you.”

Liam thought about it for a few seconds, his gaze tracking uncertainly between Zach and Luke and me before he eventually replied, “Sure. Sounds great.”

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