Page 169 of Hidden Nature

“Right in the Mom ballpark,” Sloan agreed.

“Sometime, when I don’t have piles of paperwork, I’m going to cook something spectacular on that amazing and intimidating stove.”

“Anytime,” Nash invited. “It’s a bonus to have somebody in the family who can cook.”

“Sloan can cook. When she wants to.” Drea’s engagement ring sparkled as she sipped her wine and smiled. “You should talk her into making her Kickasserole.”

At Nash’s questioning look, Sloan spread her hands. “Lesser beings call it lasagna.”

“The kitchen’s open for Kickasserole whenever you are.”

“This is like a double date.”

Theo’s cheerful statement had Sloan reaching for her own wine.

“We’ve been to a few parties and had dinner with some of Drea’s friends. Good times.”

“Your friends, too,” Drea told him.

“Yeah, mine, too, now. But this is nice, the four of us, at home and all. We should do it again when we finish the dining room table.”

Sloan grabbed the lifeline. “You’re building one?”

“Restoring,” Nash told her. “It’s something a client had. He was going to put it on Etsy or eBay. I saved him the trouble.”

“Needs some love,” Theo put in. “It’ll look great in here when it’s fixed up. Just old-timey enough. We’ll have to start hunting up things like that.” He reached over for Drea’s hand. “Once we find a house.”

“You’re looking for a house?” Sloan couldn’t say why that jolted, but it did.

“Starting to.” Drea sent Theo a look as dazzling as her ring. “Something we can fix up and make our own. After all, between the Fix-It Brothers and All the Rest, why not?”

“Or we could build one from the ground up if we can find the right property. Lots of options, but either way it’s great knowing we’ll be close to family, to work. Whatever we find, we’re not thinking about it as a starter.”

“A forever,” Drea finished.

Looking at them, Sloan felt her heart going warm. “You’ll know it when you see it.”

Like you knew each other.

While the brothers dealt with the dishes, Drea announced she and Sloan would walk the dog. And ignoring Theo’s claim he could go out on his own, she got their coats.

Five steps from the house, with Tic barking and racing, Drea said: “So?”

“So what?”

“You and Nash is so what! How long has this been going on?”

“A few weeks, I guess. Do you have a problem with it?”

“No!” She gave Sloan a sisterly shove. “But you don’t even give me a hint? The first time you were with somebody you told me.”

Sloan felt a wave of sweet nostalgia. “Mark Bowser. Homecoming, senior year, in the back seat of his secondhand Dodge Shadow.”

She ticked a glance toward Drea. “I was seventeen.”

“What difference does that make? I’m still your sister.”

“You’re still my sister.” Sloan gave her a quick one-armed squeeze. “It just happened. And maybe I’m still processing the fact I’m sleeping with the brother of the man my sister’s engaged to.”

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