We had fallen into this pattern over the summer. After I’d inherited the house, Seth and I moved our few belongings from the ancient Victorian shared by my aunt and parents to this much smaller home. It worked out in everyone’s best interests. I needed my own place and the dogs were only welcome by my mom as temporary visitors, not permanent residents. Seth came with the deal—the dogs insisted. Early August had been filled with relaxation and recovery from the events of July and by the time we were all back on our feet, Diana had recruited us to help with the festival. I suppose it wasn’t that surprising that Seth had shown up just in time to attend the last day of the festival—he’d been part of the planning from the beginning. I latched on to that thought as the reason for his sudden arrival. The other possibilities were less pleasant.
I worried about Seth ever since he admitted to having some sort of burgeoning pet psychic talent earlier in the summer. I never managed to get him to talk about it after he confided in me, and that concerned me. Having that sort of a secret could wear on a kid. I knew, having been that kid myself. He was a gentle person who seemed more interested in time alone with animals than with teens his own age. I wondered how much he had shared with his parents. My sister, incapable of seeing anything awry in her life, clung to the fantasy that leaving Crystal Haven would solve all of her problems and she had never backed away from that stance.
I sighed without realizing it and three sets of eyes turned to me.
“Want some?” Seth pushed the bag of chips in my direction, and continued to devour his triple-decker sandwich. I would have thought that he had been starved on his cross-country trip but he ate like that all the time. By the time he left at the end of August he had reached his life goal of surpassing me in height. I was sure I’d be craning my neck soon to look him in the eye.
After everyone was done with his snack, I told Seth to dump his things in his old room. He and the dogs padded up the stairs and returned a few minutes later, wanting to go for a walk. We clipped their leashes on and headed out the front door.
Tuffy and Baxter were delighted to be back together again. Tuffy ran next to Baxter to match his gait, his short legs blurring with the speed. Baxter slowed his pace for Tuffy, something he never did for me.
“The last day of the festival is tomorrow, so you didn’t miss it all.”
Seth looked surprised and said, “Right, the festival. Cool.” My shoulders slumped. He hadn’t come for the festival.
“You can go with me to Diana’s booth after you check in with your mom tomorrow.”
“’Kay.”
Seth kept up a running monologue about a new electropop fusion band inspired by video game theme songs. Ever since he had discovered my stash of boy band CDs in a box during the move, he had been on a mission to improve my taste in music. I had no idea what he was talking about and suspected this was his attempt to control the conversation.
When we returned to the house, Seth’s heavy tread on the front steps conveyed his fatigue from the day of travel. We unlocked the door and released the dogs from their leashes.
“I think I better go to bed,” he said.
Tuffy was at his side in an instant. Baxter threw an apologetic glance in my direction and slumped off after his friends.
I sat on the couch alone, wondering what to do with a runaway nephew.
6
A few minutes later, Mac’s signature knock sounded on the door. “Great, now he’s here,” I muttered to myself. I had hoped for a romantic evening at home before I acquired a teenager. Mac and I hadn’t had much time together since we decided to try again with our relationship. Our plan for secrecy made it all the more difficult. Seth was the only person who knew we were dating—he’d seen Mac giving me a good-bye kiss one evening and straight-out asked me about him. Then in the fall, Mac got involved in a murder case in Grand Rapids. An extended stay in Saginaw followed while he wrapped up old business before resigning from that force for good and joining the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department full-time. We’d been on a couple of dates in the past few weeks before the festival duties had sucked me back in. We were elevating the “taking it slow” idea to a whole new level.
Mac didn’t wait to be invited in but drew me into a long kiss on the front porch. My knees started to feel like liquid as he steered me inside toward the staircase.
“Oh man, this again?” Seth said from the landing.
Mac jerked away from me and I almost fell backward onto the bottom step.
“Seth?” Mac peered up the stairs.
“Hey.” Seth raised one hand and let it drop. It had taken a long time for Seth to not snap to attention in Mac’s presence. A few moments like this one had led him to believe Mac was just a guy after all and not someone to be feared.
Mac looked at me.
I shrugged. “Surprise?”
“I didn’t know you were expecting Seth,” Mac said, a formal note creeping in.
“It was a last-minute thing—”
“I wanted to surprise—”
Seth and I began at the same time. I held my hand up like a traffic cop.
“Seth wanted to come to the last day of the festival. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision.” I looked at Seth as I said this so he would know it was my rapidly cobbled cover story. As usual Seth caught on right away.
“Huh. Well, it’s good to see you again, Seth. Is that Tuffy up there with you?”
“Yeah, he’s here.” Seth gestured behind him where the dog was cowering.
“He did okay on the plane? I thought he freaked out when you flew home with him in August.”