several exuberant knocks on the front door. Seconds later, Henry-looking beleaguered-piled in along with Tommy, Maguire’s ex-sister-in-law, Shannon, and Tommy’s dog. The dog was named Woofer, a disreputable cross between a St. Bernard and a Newfoundland-which meant that it stood table high, shed hair in buckets every hour, produced ropes of drool, and weighed in somewhere around two hundred pounds.
Tommy and Woofer both galloped straight for Carolina. “Miss Cee! It’s
“I can see that! I’m so excited to see you again!” As if she was used to horse-size dogs, she gave Woofer a kiss and Tommy a monster-size hug. The dog aimed promptly for the brownie mix, which Carolina swooped out of reach just in time. The pan went in the oven, and Carolina settled on the floor with Tommy, the dog, and quickly abandoned jacket and gloves and shoes. “I think you’ve grown a foot since last summer.”
“I did! Everybody says. Miss Cee. Do you remember saving my life?”
“I remember being in that big noisy ambulance with you.”
“I remember that, too!”
“I remember your telling me that you didn’t like doctors. Or shots. And I don’t either. So it’s a good thing we could do that together, huh?”
“Yeah. I remember that whole day.”
“Me, too.”
Henry gave a shudder as he passed the dog, honed in on the coffeemaker, filled a mug and retreated to the library, as far away from dog hair and confusion as he could get.
Maguire’s ex-sister-in-law beelined straight for him. “I’m glad you could spare the time,” Shannon said.
Since Shannon only called him about problems with Tommy-and she knew he’d move heaven and earth for his brother-she had no reason to be surprised. He didn’t like interrupting his plans with Carolina, but there was no answer he could have given except “of course.”
Shannon was one of the few things his older brother had done right-and divorcing Jay was one of the things Shannon had done right as well. She looked like an expensive socialite, from the crown of her red head to her designer socks-but she had heart. Staying with Jay any longer could well have killed it. And although she liked living high-which caretaking Tommy enabled her to do-she’d loved the boy from the start and vice versa. “He really wanted to see her,” Shannon said, referring to Carolina. “But I sure didn’t expect this.”
Neither did Maguire. Tommy hung back from people outside his household. Especially in the last few years he’d become aware that he didn’t talk “right,” so in public he tended to keep silent, not wanting others to realize he was different.
With Carolina, he turned into a babbling brook. When he was excited, his speech became more incoherent, but Carolina just slowed the pace of her own conversation, and seemed to understand his excited gibberish just fine.
Tommy had grown ten inches since the summer before, was taller than Carolina now, looked like a normal all- American kid of twelve. His blond hair was styled with cowlicks. He was all arms and legs, with huge blue eyes and a smile that’d win over anyone, anything, any time.
Maguire had known for a long time that he could kill anyone who hurt his vulnerable brother, but he’d never met anyone who related to him as naturally as Carolina.
Shannon said, “I can’t believe it. She’s just great with him.”
In spite of the chilly, rainy afternoon, Tommy wanted to run around outside-with Carolina and Woofer. Maguire thought the idea was insane, but he had business issues to discuss with Shannon, the more private the better.
They both stood at the window, watching Carolina and Tommy in the yard.
“Wow,” Shannon murmured again. “You know what? From what I’d heard about her, she’s exactly what I expected.”
“And what did you expect?”
“A sweetie. A do-gooder teacher. Someone softer than a pansy, real good with kids, nothing cynical or jaded about her.” Shannon pivoted on a high-heeled boot. “Which makes her the last woman in the universe I expected you to fall for.”
“That’s a pretty amazing conclusion to reach, considering you just met her two seconds ago.”
Shannon smelled the brownies, marched over to give them a peek, then reached for a hot pad and pulled the pan out to the stovetop. “There’s nothing wrong with falling, Maguire. It happens to the best of us. I guess I just expected you to fall for…I don’t know…a grad from a fancy East Coast school, maybe a pissy lawyer in stilettos, the kind of woman who’d been breaking glass ceilings from the get-go.”
He didn’t answer. As fond as he was of Shannon-and he was-he didn’t talk about his personal life, with her or anyone else. If and when he got around to marrying, he might have envisioned someone like she’d described. But that was a totally different issue than…falling.
“I’m not sure I really see a need for marriage.”
“You never saw a need for people putting themselves in a trap where they’re likely to strangle each other and cause lasting scars,” Shannon retorted.
“Yeah. Isn’t that what I just said?” Truthfully, he’d always wanted kids. He just never bought into the fairy tale. If children came into the picture, he expected to marry, expected to be a damn good partner, faithful, supportive, that whole experience. He just never wanted to put love in that frame. He’d grown up seeing exactly what “love” could do, how twisted a relationship could become because of money. It never even entered his mind as an option.
“Maguire.” Shannon stood inches from the brownies as if they’d cool faster if she hovered that close. “It’s in your face. The way you look at her. I’ve never seen you before-”
He cut her off. “We really don’t have time for chitchat. Carolina and Tommy’ll be back any minute. When you called, you said there was a financial crisis.”
She looked away. “I’m afraid you’ll yell at me.”
“Have I ever yelled at you? Even once?”
“No, but…”
“Just get it said. We’ll deal with it.” Maguire suspected he didn’t really need to hear the story. The refrain was always the same.
When their father died, Jay had gotten primary custody of Tommy for two reasons-one was that he was the eldest son, and second, because he’d asked his father for it. Jay had wanted the living allowance set up for Tommy in his own pocket… but Jay had never really wanted to give his brother time or attention.
Shannon was no relationship to any of them, but she’d loved Tommy from the day he was born, and Tommy revered her. So she’d taken on the maternal role, by her choice-by everyone’s choice. Maguire had guaranteed a generous allowance to maintain his brother’s housing and welfare in every way, knowing that Jay would run through Tommy’s money faster than a forest fire.
And that was exactly the problem. Jay was forever overspending his trust, and every time, he’d hit up Shannon. He always had the ace card, because he’d threaten to withdraw Tommy from her care if she didn’t fork over the money.
It was the same story this time. The whole thing made Maguire tired. Yeah, of course he immediately stepped in to solve the problem, but the situation underlined why he needed to stop thinking about Carolina in a personal way. Money didn’t change anything that mattered. Life was ugly-at least his life was. Money invariably provoked selfishness and greed-and gave power to those who shouldn’t have it. It wasn’t a life he’d want for Carolina.
It was a life he’d be embarrassed to share, particularly with someone as good as she was.
“Well,” Shannon suddenly murmured. “Will you look at what the cat dragged in.”
He’d already turned his head at the sounds of commotion in the doorway. Carolina, Tommy, and the dog poured through the door, laughing, spraying water like puppies, everybody muddy. “We had a tiny fall,” Carolina called out.
“Yeah. We slid down this long hill!” Tommy said exuberantly.
“Only there was this puddle-”
“Except the puddle turned out big as a lake!”
Carolina held up her hands. “Nobody worry! We’ll fix this! We’re headed straight for showers. Um, Maguire, where’s the washing machine?”
“For you or the dog?”
