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“Gwen, stop fidgeting.” Reena watched her sister’s fingers drum against the windowsill before she turned her attention back to the road. “Seriously, it’s just a barbecue, no big deal.”

“No big deal? Reena, these are Kevin’s friends we’re going to meet.” Her fingers tapped faster. “It’s not ‘no big deal,’ it’s a freaking huge deal!”

Reena stifled a smile at her sister’s nerves. She couldn’t help it; she hadn’t seen Gwen so caught up in a man in…ever. True, there had been Paul, but that had been years ago. Even then, Gwen had always been calm and collected, never nervous and anxious as she was now.

“You really like Kevin, huh?”

Gwen turned to look at her sister. “I know, it sounds crazy, doesn’t it? I mean, I met the guy forty-eight hours ago, and I feel like I’ve known him my entire life. We just…clicked.”

“I’m glad, Gwendolyn. You need someone like that in your life. It’s about time you found him.”

Gwen bit her lip and stared at the rows of houses they were passing. “It’s not like we’re getting married, Reena. I mean, he’s still stuck on his wife. He’s still in love with her, even though he’s convincing himself that he’s moving on. I just don’t want to get my heart set on anyone. Not now.”

“Is it that he really is still in love with his dead wife, or would you rather he was still fixated on her so you won’t have to admit that you might, just might, be able to see something big happening with him?” Reena wondered aloud.

When Gwen’s fingers stopped their drumming, Reena glanced over at her older sister again. There was a frown on her face as she stared at something in the distance. Reena wondered what Gwen was thinking.

“You’re going to miss the turn,” Gwen said quietly, and Reena’s attention snapped back to driving as she made the left turn onto a street full of large homes.

“Whoa,” Reena murmured. “I didn’t know journalism, radio, and coaching brought in this kind of money.” How loaded was Brian, and how had he gotten it all?

Gwen watched her sister now. “Reena? Where did you go this morning at five?”

“Huh?”

“This morning, I heard you leave before sunrise. Where did you go?” Gwen asked again.

“Oh.” The tiniest of blushes crept up on Reena’s cheeks. “I, uh, I went to the Falls.”

“Why?”

“I had a dream about the Seven Falls legend, and I wanted answers,” Reena explained. “Oh, look! This is the house, 2237 Robin Egg Lane!”

She hoped their arrival would help her evade the rest of her sister’s questions. She didn’t really want to think about what it was she and Brian were doing. He was still dating the local physician, but he’d kissed Reena enough that they both knew that there was something special between the two of them. Something neither of them could resist—no matter how wrong it was.

Reena parked at the curb and noted the row of other cars that was clustered around Brian’s driveway before her attention was drawn to the house. She climbed out of the car and stared up at the three story, brick and stone mansion. She wondered how it was that he could happily live in it alone, but the place looked lived-in and loved from the whimsical wind chimes fluttering in the breeze to the colorful flower beds to the cheerful sounds she could hear coming from the back. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was get back in the car and drive away.

Gwen watched the flicker of anxiety on her sister’s face. “Reena? Brian was at the Falls this morning, wasn’t he?” When her sister nodded, her gaze still stuck on the house, Gwen sighed. “Reena, what’s going on with the two of you? I thought he was dating Dr. Stevens?”

Reena tore her gaze away from the house that seemed to symbolize Brian to look at Gwen. “He is. But we…Gwen, we hit it off really well, and I don’t really know what either of us really wants.”

Gwen patted her shoulder. “Well, then, I guess we’re both taking things as they come, huh?”

“Yeah.” Reena sighed before squaring her shoulders. “Let’s go in, Gwen. We’re already a little late.”

***

Brian was trying desperately to avoid her. He’d been a jerk this morning, and he knew it. He’d hung up on her after she’d spilled her heart at his feet, and, from the look on her face every time he caught her watching him, he was sure that she hated him for breaking her heart. It made him wince to know that’s what he’d done though he’d never wanted to break anyone’s heart. It had just happened.

“The best intentions,” he muttered to himself as he slid marinated steaks onto the grill.

“Talking to yourself again?” Alex slung an arm around his shoulder and grinned. “I’m glad you did this, Bri. We haven’t just hung out in a while like this, with everyone.”

Brian studied the scene in his backyard and smiled. Kirby and Astra were in the pool, Howie, Kevin, and Nick were playing a half-hearted game of poker as they sipped from the giant margarita glasses Brian had found in Brazil, and Dana, Christine, and Juliet were lounging on the lawn chairs, talking.

“It is good, isn’t it?” he agreed.

His gaze was drawn to the gate into the backyard, and he watched Gwen enter the yard and look around at those gathered. He had a moment to be relieved that Reena hadn’t come, since it would be really awkward with both Reena and Juliet in the same place, before Reena followed her sister in. Though his stomach dropped to his feet, his heart did a somersault when he saw her. He wondered what either of those feelings meant.

“Hey, are those the Phillips sisters?” Alex wondered, already moving away to meet them. “Hello, ladies! I’m Alex, you must be Gwen and Reena.”

Kevin had already caught Gwen’s hand in his own and brushed a kiss over her lips, one that had every adult raising their brows. “You came.”

She blushed furiously. “Of course, I did. And it’s nice to meet you, Alex. I’m Gwen.”

“Wow, Kevy-Kev. Talk about moving fast,” Alex teased him. “You’re going at lightning speed, aren’t you?”

Kevin shrugged. “I like her,” he said simply, before he tugged Gwen over to where he’d been sitting and introduced her to their friends.

Reena watched as her sister was spoke to the group settled in chairs around the patio. Gwen, the one always worried about making a good impression on people, was charming the socks off of everyone already. Of course, it wasn’t new news as that’s how it always went. Gwen was the charmer, and Reena was the one who went her own way—a way most people usually were cautious about.

“Hi! I’m Juliet.” A hand was stuck into Reena’s line of sight, and she looked up into somber gray eyes. Juliet. So this was the woman whose love she was stealing away, Reena realized. She couldn’t help but feel awful about herself as she saw the lines of strain in the other woman’s face, despite the cheerful smile she wore.

Would you be so happy to meet me if you knew what it was I’m doing to you? Reena thought, and felt ashamed. She caught Brian watching them, a worried look on his face and knew that he was genuinely sorry that they were hurting Juliet by carrying on the way they had been.

She pasted a smile on her face. “It’s nice to meet you, Juliet. I’m Reena.” She shook Juliet’s hand and allowed herself to be led over to the circle of chairs where everyone sat.

“Reena, right?” A petite woman with deep blonde curls smiled at her. “I’m Christine—Alex’s wife.” She jerked her thumb in the direction of her husband who had settled down to ask Gwen everything about herself. “If he comes over to ask you your life story, ignore him.”

“Once a reporter, always a reporter,” another woman, this one a brunette with amber eyes, added. “I’m Dana, by the way. Alex’s younger sister. It’s nice to meet you. I was the one who decided we needed a new photographer for the school portraits.”

“Oh. Well, then, I should thank you for my success so far in Seven Falls.” Reena smiled. “It’s great to meet all of you, and congratulations, Christine, on the baby.”

Green eyes lit up. “It was such a surprise, to be perfectly honest. We weren’t exactly planning it, what with me on the other side of the world nine months of the year. But, it’s exactly right.”

“It’s perfect!” Alex called over to his wife, grinning when she shot him a look full of amused exasperation.

“Did I mention the man has ears like you wouldn’t believe? It’s the reporter thing again,” Christine jokingly apologized.

“Did you ladies want a drink?” Nick wandered over, a smile full of boyish enthusiasm plastered across his face. Reena had a moment to think that the law should control that smile before he’d turned it on her. “So you’re Reena, huh? Brian mentioned you to me, yesterday. It’s great to meet you!”

Everyone but Brian missed the look Juliet shot Reena at the mention of Brian.

“Nick, babe. You didn’t tell her your name,” Dana pointed out.

Nick grinned again. “Sorry. Nick Carter, Dana’s husband.”

“Oh.” Reena nodded. “Well, then, I’m glad to meet you, too. Gosh, I feel like I’ve said that a thousand times since moving to town.”

Nick shrugged. “Don’t you love moving and getting to meet a thousand new people?” His smile flashed again. “I moved here two years ago, and I hated that phrase with a passion.”

“Until he met me, of course,” Dana reminded him, poking his side.

“Well, yeah.” His arm went around her as he sat next to her. “Then I loved that sentence because it was true. We met when she brought her cat in to be put down, and I held her hand while she cried. Six months later, we were married and settled in together.”

“That’s great!” Reena smiled.

“So, drinks, anyone?” Nick asked again.

Dana patted his cheek. “I’ve got you so well-trained, don’t I?”

“Honey,” Christine turned to them. “If he was any more trained, I’d put his veterinary ass up for those dog shows instead of the dogs he doctors.”

“So, you’re a vet?” Reena asked him.

He nodded. “Yep. I’d always loved animals, but my mother wanted me to be a doctor. We hit a compromise, and here I am.”

“Which is good,” Howie spoke up. “Because I’m not sure what we’d do without a vet in our little corner of the world.”

Reena looked around at the group that was gathered and grinned. “So I take it you’ve all been friends for a good, long time, huh? I mean, besides Nick, here.”

Kevin nodded. “Yeah. Brian’s my cousin, so it’s obvious I’ve known him my entire life. He grew up next door to Alex, and they were best friends. Both of them are four years younger than me, though, but I got to know Alex through Bri. Howie was my next door neighbor, so we were always doing things together, even though I’m two years older. Callie, Howie’s wife, is my, uh, wife’s younger sister. I married Mia when we were twenty and we had our daughter a year later. Howie and Callie got married when Callie graduated high school, and then they had Astra a couple years later.”

“Can I cut in?” Alex wondered. “I think I’m gonna tell my life story.”

“Sure.” Kevin shrugged, grinning.

Alex rubbed his hands together. “Let’s see, we finished Kevin and Howie’s life stories, so it’s my turn!” Christine rolled her eyes. “Christine and I dated all through high school, and then, when I finished up at Northwestern, I asked her to marry me even though she was only halfway done at Brown’s med school. Brian and I went to Northwestern together, and, when we both came back with journalism degrees, the newspaper here was looking for help, so we got the jobs.”

“Then, Nick came here a couple years ago, and he married Dana,” Howie finished. “And that’s our happy, little group story.”

“Wow.” Gwen smiled. “You must have such stories to tell about growing up together, huh?”

Dana rolled her eyes. “They did some pretty stupid things, but, yeah, there are some stories that will always be classics. Like the first time Alex got a tattoo, and Kevin found out he was getting it. Oh man, Kevin tore into that tattoo parlor like a crazy man and freaked out the artist so bad that he put some lines in Alex’s skin that weren’t supposed to be there.”

“Yeah.” Alex mock glared at Kevin. “Good thing the guy was creative and could fix it.”

“That and the fact that it’s on your back where I don’t have to see it all that often,” Christine reminded him. “It’s actually rather ugly,” she admitted to Reena and Gwen.

“Hey!”


***

“So, Reena.” Alex slid an arm around Christine’s waist and settled back in his chair. “We know Howie brought Gwen here for work, so what brings you to our fair town?”

Everyone was sitting in a large circle on Brian’s porch as the sun began to set. For the past hour, they’d talked, eaten, laughed, and joked, and the five men had even proven their musical talents by singing together. Though they’d never get a recording contract, mostly because they’d never wanted to, their impromptu performance had been special. Both Reena and Gwen were beginning to feel like part of the group. Of course, it wasn’t hard to feel that way, since each one of the friends was welcoming and easy to be around.

Reena was especially thankful because they’d all accepted Gwen and Kevin’s budding relationship happily and joked that it was about time Kevin dated again. They’d all been worried he was turning into a hermit—never leaving the house, painting all the time, and so on. As for herself and Brian…Well, Brian hadn’t been subtle at all about avoiding her. True, no one else had noticed that he’d stayed far away from her and Juliet and had avoided talking to both of them, but Reena knew what was what. Part of her agreed, but another part of her wanted him to hold her hand the way Kevin was holding Gwen’s. Even now, he was sitting far enough away from her that they could avoid eye contact entirely.

Shoving those thoughts aside, she remembered Alex’s question. “Why did I come to Seven Falls? Well, I guess you could say it’s work-related. I used to have a photo studio in Boston, but my partner and I stopped agreeing on things, so I left. I’m much happier here, though. Especially with all the interest in my work.” She beamed at Howie, who smiled back.

“Plus, she’s giving Kirby dark room lessons,” Kevin added.

Reena shrugged. “It’s not a problem. I like Kirby, and I couldn’t be happier to teach what I love.”

“So what kinds of things did you stop agreeing on with that ex-partner of yours?” Alex wondered. When Gwen made a small sound of surprise, he frowned. “Was it that bad?”

“No.” She’d figured the truth would come out sooner or later, so she figured, why not sooner? “Actually, we disagreed on the fact that, despite our engagement, he didn’t believe in the no cheating rule. I, of course, didn’t know about his view on it until I walked into the dark room one day and found him with my former best friend. Let’s just say they weren’t developing photos.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Reena saw Brian nearly drop the glass he held and wondered what he was thinking. Everyone else was absolutely silent, and she found the looks they were giving her were sympathetic.

“Wow,” Juliet finally spoke. “I’m sorry, Reena. It’s always tough when the person you love turns out to be completely different from what you thought.”

Though she felt shame flood her again, she shrugged. “It was six months ago, and I’m over it. I’ve moved on, and, last I heard, they got married. End of story.”

Gwen shot her a reassuring smile, but, before anyone else could speak up, the gate burst open again, and Callie rushed in.

“I’m so sorry I missed everything!” she exclaimed. “I got busy with the diaries and lost track of time. I’d meant to be here an hour ago, but…”

“Callie.” Brian stood and gave her his chair. “It’s okay. Sit. I’ll get you a plate.”

Callie plopped down and smiled absently at Gwen and Reena. “Hello. You must be the Phillips. Howie’s been telling me about the two of you…”

Brian escaped into the house. He needed something to do, anything that would keep his mind off of Reena’s revelations. She’d been engaged? She had been in love with a guy enough that she’d decided to marry him? He yanked open the oven where he’d stowed the leftovers. When the door clanged open, he frowned.

“There’s no point in being angry, Littrell,” he told himself. “This is what you get for cheating on Juliet and getting involved with a woman you’ve known for two days.” Not that it made him feel any better to know that Juliet had quietly stabbed at him with her comment. Of course, she didn’t know who Reena was to Brian, but if she had…

“Best not to think about that one, either,” he pointed out.

“Brian?”

He turned slowly until he was facing Reena. “Hi.”

She smiled slightly. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“Can you blame me?”

She shook her head, sending her colorful earrings spinning. “No.” She paused. “Juliet’s very sweet.”

“Yes, she is.”

Reena squeezed her eyes shut. “Brian, I like her. I really do.” Her eyes opened again. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to leave her for me.”

“Wait. What?”

“She’s hurting, Brian, and I feel awful knowing I’m a part of the reason why she’s got a breaking heart. If you care about her at all, you should stay with her.”

He took a step towards Reena, partly because he couldn’t stop himself and partly because he wanted to shake her for making him feel even worse than he’d already been feeling. “And what about us? What about the way you feel? The way I feel?”

She’d been wrong when she’d thought it would be easy to nip this illicit relationship in the bud. Brian was making it difficult. “You care about Juliet, Brian. You’ve got a history with her, and I’m just a…a…fling. Just something that you need to get out of your system. Now that we’ve had a few kisses, I think we should stop. It was fun for two days, but it can’t last.”

He did shake her now, forcing her to look at him. “How can you say that? We-we’ve got a connection, we clicked, I’m too attracted to you to just stop. How the hell can you just brush it off like it’s nothing?”

She would not cry. She would not cry. The mantra echoed in her head as her gaze locked with furious blue eyes. “Because it’s nothing. It doesn’t mean anything to me, Brian. I’m attracted to lots of men, I’ve even kissed some of them. None of them ever meant anything to me. That’s why I can brush this off, too.”

“Did you brush off that fiancé of yours the same way, Reena?”

His grip on her arms was viselike, and she could see the hurt behind the fury in his eyes. “It doesn’t matter.”

“No?” How could it not? he wondered. Was she that cold-hearted that she could walk away from a man she’d wanted to spend her life with without a care in the world? Perhaps he’d been wrong about her. After all, she was right—they’d only known each other a few days.

Reena shook her head and drew out of his hold. “I’m sorry, Brian, but I can’t stand by and watch someone in pain because of me.” She glanced around the roomy kitchen with its top-of-the-line appliances and cozy décor. “I should get going. I just stopped in to say thank you for inviting me, and that we should stop whatever it is we were starting.” She smiled a little. “You’re a great guy, Brian. Make Juliet happy.”

And she was gone, leaving Brian to stand in his kitchen and wonder what the hell had just happened.