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“Mitch and I are cousins, but we weren’t that close growing up. I might as well tell you straight-out that I was the black sheep of the family and my mom was a pariah in the family and around town. You won’t hear a lot good said about either of us.”
Elliott frowned at that. “Black sheep?” he repeated, worry back in his expression.
“Reformed,” Gabe assured him. “I haven’t gotten into a brawl in years. Haven’t really needed to since my mom died and I stopped needing to stand up for her.”
Unhappy with himself for revealing far more about his past than he was in the habit of doing, he held Elliott’s gaze. “You’ve apologized. I’ve accepted. Anything else?”
Though Elliott looked faintly taken aback by his direct words, he didn’t look away. “Just one more thing,” he said. “I saw you at Rosalina’s the other night. I saw the way you were looking at Adelia. Saw it again earlier today, in fact.”
“Look, I don’t know what you think you saw—”
Elliott smiled. “I know what I saw,” he corrected. “I saw a man who’s hungry for a woman. It’s a look I recognize, so a word of warning. Don’t start something with my sister that you have no intention of finishing. She’s feeling overwhelmed and vulnerable these days. I don’t want her hurt again.”
“Not my intention, believe me,” Gabe said, respecting the directness, even if it made him uncomfortable to be having this conversation with a man he’d barely met. “I have plenty on my plate these days. I’m not looking for a fling and I’m certainly not in the market for anything more serious.”
“If that’s the case, then steer clear of Adelia,” Elliott said. “That’s the best way I know to avoid any misunderstandings.”
Even though it was advice he’d already been telling himself to heed, Gabe took exception to being warned off. “Look, I respect the fact that you’re only looking out for your sister, but she strikes me as a woman who’s smart enough to know her own mind. I doubt she’d appreciate you running interference for her.”
To his surprise, Elliott laughed at that. “No question about it,” he conceded. “She’d be furious, so maybe it would be best if we kept this conversation just between us.”
Gabe relaxed. Despite Elliott’s tendency to come on too strong, he had to respect his intentions. “I can do that. No reason at all for us to be crossing paths except casually. I can’t imagine the topic coming up.”
Elliott looked relieved. He hesitated, then said, “I missed dinner at home to come by here. Since you’ve obviously been working late, I’m guessing you haven’t eaten, either. Feel like grabbing a pizza at Rosalina’s?”
Since he’d been planning to head over there anyway, Gabe saw no reason to refuse the overture. He figured the cross-examination and warnings were out of the way. It might be nice to have some guy talk instead of eating all alone. Eating with Elliott would sure as heck keep his thoughts from straying to Adelia, and that had to be a good thing.
“Sure,” he said.
He finished locking up, then followed Elliott to the Italian restaurant. To ensure that the conversation stayed on less disquieting topics, he asked about Fit for Anything and Elliott’s role there.
“I’m just one of the partners,” Adelia’s brother explained, describing the agreement he’d made with several of the men in town to run the place in exchange for a share. “I’m a personal trainer there and at The Corner Spa, too.”
“Sounds like a demanding schedule,” Gabe said.
Elliott nodded. “You have no idea, especially with two stepchildren and a new baby at home. Fortunately, I’m blessed with an understanding wife who has her own career. Karen’s just been promoted to sous-chef at Sullivan’s. Between her cooking and my mother’s, believe me, I need to work out even harder than most of my clients do.”
Gabe laughed. “If I keep existing on pizza, I’ll need to add a few extra workouts into my routine, too. I tell myself I’d eat healthier if I were in my own place, but the Serenity Inn will have to do for now.”
“That’s where you’re living?” Elliott asked, sounding shocked.
“I know its reputation as a place the locals go for trysts,” Gabe said. He’d known all about that when he’d been a kid, thanks to his mom, who’d been a frequent visitor. “But it’s clean and not too expensive.”
“Are you planning to look for your own place?”
“Sooner or later,” Gabe hedged. It all depended on how long it took for him to get antsy. The instant he sensed he might be starting to put down roots, it would be time to go. That was the pattern he’d established in a half-dozen other towns across the state. His motives for coming back to Serenity might be different, but there was no reason for that particular pattern to change.
“Well, if you decide you want to look at some houses or apartments, I know a couple of good Realtors. Mary Vaughn Lewis or her daughter can probably hook you up.”
“Mary Vaughn’s still around?” Gabe asked, not sure why he was so surprised. She’d been just a little ahead of him in school. It had always seemed to him that she was ambitious enough to take off at the first opportunity. She’d had her own family demons to battle back then, though she’d handled them better than he had.
“Wait a second,” he said. “Did you say Lewis? As in Sonny Lewis, the mayor’s son? That’s who she married?”
Elliott nodded. “They divorced, but they’re back together now and have a new baby, a boy.”
Gabe shook his head. The longer he stuck around, it seemed the more surprises awaited him. It was a little worrisome that he found that intriguing.
Even though she desperately wanted a morning caffeine fix, Adelia found herself avoiding Sweet Things for the next few mornings, determined to steer clear of Gabe. Involving him in her drama with Selena was one thing. She’d had little choice about that. But the attraction that was starting to simmer, for her, anyway, was a little too disconcerting for a woman who’d declared herself to be single-mindedly independent for now. She wasn’t ready to cede that stance. She might never be.
Her determination lasted quite nicely through the weekend. After a busy Saturday at the boutique, she devoted herself to spending time with the children on Sunday, finally caving in to Tomas’s pleas to go to the usual family dinner at her mother’s.
Just as she’d anticipated, it was awkward and tense from the moment they arrived. Her sisters scowled at her and looked relieved when she finally abandoned the kitchen in favor of going outside to watch the kids. Her brothers-in-law regarded her as if she were deliberately trying to shake up their orderly worlds. Only the determined cheerfulness of her mother, Elliott and Karen made the afternoon tolerable. None of the others would have dared to voice their opinions aloud in front of her mother especially. The risk of alienating the family matriarch was too great.
The children, thankfully, were unaware of most of the undercurrents as they ran boisterously through the house and played in the yard with their cousins. Watching them, she was almost able to believe life would eventually return to normal, or whatever the new normal might be.
By three, though, Adelia had had more than enough. She excused herself to go home and work on the list of repairs needed at her new house. Surrounded by welcome silence, she’d made good progress on her list by the time Elliott and Karen dropped the children off on their way home.
“I’m sorry about today. It won’t always be like that,” her brother reassured her, regarding her with worry. “Everyone will eventually get past this.”
“And