This time Heather didn’t even try to hide her laughter. “You are so cute. Please say I can tell Connor about this.”
“Not if you value your life,” Connie said direly. “If Thomas wants his nephew to be privy to our private life, he’ll have to tell him himself.”
“Not fair,” Heather protested, then added in a noble tone, “Besides, I shouldn’t keep secrets from my husband. It’s very hard on a marriage.”
“You were happy enough to keep a few when you didn’t want him to know you were living in Chesapeake Shores,” Connie reminded her.
“We weren’t married then. Now we have this total honesty pact.”
Connie sighed. She understood what Heather was saying. She really did. “Am I going to regret calling you?” she asked plaintively.
Heather hesitated for just a fraction of a second, then said, “No, absolutely not. There are a very few occasions when being a friend trumps everything else. This is one of them.”
“Thank you.”
“You do remember that Connor already knows about this whole thing between you and Thomas, right? He picked up on it ages ago.”
“And then blabbed to Jess and who knows who else,” Connie said. “I don’t trust him to keep anything to himself anymore, so the less he knows, the better. At some point he might feel he’s duty-bound to spill the beans to my brother. I do not want Jake jumping all over me about this.”
“You might have a point about that,” Heather agreed. “O’Briens do love trumping each other with the latest family gossip. Are you sure Jess is an exception to that? She’s joining us tonight, right?”
“You see, the thing about Jess is that I know a few of her secrets, too,” Connie explained. “We sort of neutralize each other. She’ll keep mine or I’ll spread hers far and wide.”
Heather laughed. “Is it any wonder I love this town and this family? See you tonight. Seven-thirty okay? I’ll come as soon as I put little Mick down for the night. Connor can take over then. I’d let him do the whole bath and bedtime thing, but I’d come home to a bathroom that looks as if a pipe has burst.”
“Seven-thirty’s great, thanks. If you own any makeup, you might want to bring it along. I haven’t used anything more than lipstick in so long, I’ve forgotten how to put it on. I flatly refuse to go out and spend a fortune on new stuff till I know whether I can put it on without looking like a clown.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t bother at all,” Heather said. “You have that lovely, wholesome look that is obviously very attractive to a man who loves the outdoors as much as Thomas does. He seems awfully taken with the way you look now.”
Connie was startled by the observation, but then a smile curved her lips. “He is, isn’t he? I’ll be darned.”
She wondered how many more surprises were in store while she figured out this whole dating thing.
Will hadn’t gone to a fall festival in years. He wasn’t especially fond of the crowds or the junk food or the country music that seemed to be a staple of these events. He was, however, way too fond of Jess, and rumor had it that she was going this year. Connor asked if he wanted to tag along.
“Heather’s going to have a booth and I’ve been drafted to help her sell quilts, and she’s been drafted to help Connie at the foundation booth. The way I hear it, Jess is going along as moral support for Connie.” He shook his head. “It all sounds ridiculously complicated, if you ask me, but I’m a mere man.”
Will regarded him blankly. “Why does Connie need moral support?”
Connor’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Haven’t you heard that she and my uncle have a thing going?”
“Connie and Thomas?” Will stared at him, flabbergasted. “Since when? Does Jake know?”
“I sure as heck haven’t told him,” Connor said. “And I doubt that Connie has. The jury’s out on how Jake will react. You know how protective he’s been of his big sister ever since she and Sam split up.” He grinned. “So, you interested in coming along tomorrow?”
“Count me in,” Will said.
Connor gave him what passed for an innocent look from a man who didn’t have an innocent bone in his body. “So, how are things between you and my sister these days?”
“Awkward,” Will said. “I thought maybe we were making a little progress last Sunday, but then I said the wrong thing, she tensed up, and we were right back where we started.”
Connor looked puzzled. “You weren’t at dinner last Sunday.”
“No, I wasn’t,” Will agreed, amused as he watched Connor trying mentally to fit the pieces together.
“Then when did you see her?” Connor asked eventually.
“She called and asked me to rescue her from Moonlight Cove,” Will admitted, knowing he was opening a can of worms.
Connor instantly looked incensed. “Who was she with this time? What is wrong with her? Hasn’t she learned anything after all the times either Kevin or I had to go save her before she did something idiotic?”
“She wasn’t there with a man,” Will said, not surprised that Connor had leaped to that conclusion. “She’d kayaked over there, and then her kayak drifted off while she was taking a nap or something.”
Connor’s annoyance faded for barely an instant, before he got worked up all over again. “I’m not sure that isn’t just as bad. What if she’d been stuck there all night? What if she hadn’t had her cell phone? I swear, when I see her—”
“When you see her, you’re going to keep your opinions to yourself,” Will said flatly. “Those opinions are precisely why she called me, rather than you or Kevin. If she’d wanted to hear from you, in fact, she could have hiked through
