Amy spoke. “So you’ve been working with Mina for a while now, Chet?”
“Months.”
At the grill, Ewan glanced at Amy over his shoulder, then went back to the meat, taking it off and transferring it to a plate. “How’s our superstar doing for you?”
Superstar. It sounded as if they held Mina on a pedestal, but she’d told Chet about how she’d always strived to be her best for them. Maybe that was what her family expected of her, too.
Chet smiled. “I couldn’t ask for a better coworker. I’m lucky she was assigned to me.”
“Damn lucky,” Katie said as she traced the rim of her martini glass.
When she jerked in her seat, Chet wondered if it was because Amy had kicked her older sister under the table.
Katie sent a sweet grin to him, then said, “We’re just huge Mina fans.”
“That’s right,” Amy said. “And she’s the same with us. We’re all close. Just like this.” She wound her forefinger and middle finger together.
A tweak of longing got to Chet. His family—back when he’d thought it was his family—had been knit looser than the Fergusons, like a sweater that you could still wear, even though it’d started falling apart.
Katie chimed in again. “You’d mentioned something about your ‘other’ family, Chet? The ones that live near Duarte Hill?”
He should’ve just shut his big mouth earlier. They’d probably heard about the scandal and were starting to dig for more information, looking out for their sister.
“Extended family,” he said vaguely.
Ewan broke in at that point, bringing the meat to the table and covering it with some tinfoil. “Next I’ll hear you asking him how much he makes per year and what color toothpaste he likes to use.”
“Dad…” both girls said.
He turned to Chet. “I could use some help plating the side dishes and bringing them out.”
Thank goodness. “Consider me employed.”
Chet nodded to Katie and Amy, then followed Ewan into the house.
Mina watched as Chet went inside with her dad, leaving Katie and Amy to chat in low tones with each other.
“They grilled him,” she said in a near whisper to her mom as Lizzie performed her open house dance for them about ten feet away. “I knew I shouldn’t have left him alone.”
“He’s a big boy, Mina.”
“Why’d you have to invite them over?”
“They heard you were coming and there was no stopping them. You know your sisters.”
“Yes—they’re married. And once a woman gets married, she starts to wage a campaign for everyone else to get hitched, too.”
She sounded testy. Maybe all her frustration with Chet was coming out now.
Lizzie paused in her dancing, and Mina and her mom clapped, encouraging the little girl to continue.
A second later, Mom said, “Sweetheart, you wouldn’t have brought him home if there wasn’t a reason.”
Mina wanted to tell all, but then again, she didn’t. Telling would put all her hopes and dreams for Chet out there in the open. It would expose a truth that she hadn’t even addressed with Chet yet.
Worse yet, she was concerned about what her mom—her family—might think about her being with this scandal-ridden man.
She decided to meet her mom halfway.
“Okay, maybe he’s a little more than a boss to me.”
“And…?” her mom goaded.
That was enough information for now. “Mom, I don’t know where this is going to lead.”
She didn’t add that this wasn’t exactly the truth. It would lead to a baby soon enough.
Lizzie spotted a squirrel down the lawn and ditched the dancing to get nearer to it.
“Lizzie,” Grandma said, “don’t get too close.”
The girl came to a skidding halt but still watched the squirrel with fascination.
Then Mina’s mom smoothly transitioned back to the former conversation. “The course of true love never did run smooth, Mina.”
“Tell me about it. It’s just that Chet has got a…complicated life. More than most.”
“I’m aware of the Barron scandal. And I’m sure Amy and Katie were back there trying to get to the bottom of it.”
All right. This talk wasn’t going so badly. If her family had heard about the scandal and they hadn’t given him the third degree before even letting him in the house, that was a positive sign.
Her mom saw how she was watching her sisters again. “Your dad was there, too, and he clearly took Chet out of the line of fire.”
“You mean the lion’s den.”
Her mom put an arm around her. “They mean well.”