The sharp ache took him by surprise. He and Molly sure weren't a family, so it wasn't as if he'd been cut out of anything. He was just having a leftover reflex from his childhood, when he'd dreamed about being part of a big, messy crowd like this one.

"Omigosh!" Molly squealed. "You're the Smiths!"

The kids squealed back and pointed their fingers at her. Gotcha, Aunt M!

Kevin remembered Molly's earlier comment that a family named Smith was checking in today. Meet the Smiths. His sense of dread grew.

Molly gazed at her sister, who was holding Roo the Fierce. "Did Amy know who you really were when she took the reservation?"

Tess giggled. At least he figured it was Tess, because she wore a soccer jersey while her look-alike scampered around in a sundress. "Mom didn't tell her. We wanted to surprise you!"

"We get to stay all week!" Andrew exclaimed. "And I want to sleep with you!"

Way to go, Andy boy. You just tossed good ol' Uncle Kevin right out on his ass.

Molly rumpled his hair and didn't reply. At the same time she reached for the quietest Calebow.

Hannah had been standing a little off to the side, as she usually did, but her eyes sparkled with excitement. "I thought up a whole new Daphne adventure," she whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear. "I wrote it down in my spiral notebook."

"I can't wait to read it."

"Can we see the beach, Aunt Molly?"

As Dan took the keys from Phoebe, he turned toward Kevin. "Maybe you could show me the cottage so I can start unloading."

"Sure." Just what he didn't want to do. Dan was on a mission to assess how much damage Kevin had done to his precious Molly. But when it came to damage, Kevin felt as if he were the one who'd suffered a head wound.

Molly pointed toward the cottage on the other side of the Common. "You're staying in Gabriel's Trumpet. The door's unlocked."

Kevin walked across the grass while Dan drove around. They did a catch-up on the team as they unloaded, but he knew Dan fairly well, and it didn't take the Stars' president long to say what was on his mind.

"So what's going on here?" Dan slammed the tailgate on the Suburban harder than he needed to.

Kevin could be as in-your-face as Dan, but he decided it was smarter using Molly's "dumb" ploy. "The truth is, I've been having a bitch of a time." He picked up a laundry basket filled with beach toys. "I didn't think it was going to be so hard to get someone to run this place."

"Dad!" Julie and Tess came running up, followed by Andrew. "We need our suits so we can go swimming before the tea party this afternoon."

"Except Aunt Molly says I get to drink lemonade," Andrew declared," 'cause I don't like tea!"

"Look at our cottage! It's so cute!" Julie raced to the door as Molly and Phoebe approached with Hannah.

Molly looked tense, and Phoebe regarded Kevin with eyes as chilly as a Lions uniform in the middle of a losing Detroit November.

"The lake's freezing, girls," Molly called out to the twins on the porch, trying to act as though everything were normal. "It's not like the pool at home."

"Are there water snakes?"

The question had come from Hannah, who looked worried. Something about her had always gotten to Kevin. "No snakes, kiddo. Do you want me to go in with you?"

Her smile flashed a thousand watts of gratitude. "Would you?"

"Sure. Get your suit on, and I'll meet you there." He didn't want to leave Molly alone with the enemy, so he said, "Your aunt'll come along. She loves swimming in that old lake, don't you, Molly?"

Molly looked relieved. "Sure. We can all go swimming together."

And wasn't this going to be a whole new way to have fun?

He and Molly waved cheery see-you-laters to the Calebows. As they walked away, he thought he heard Dan muttering to Phoebe, but he caught only one word.

"Slytherin."

Molly waited until they were far enough away before she let her agitation show. "You have to get your things out of the cottage! I don't want them to know we've been sleeping together."

After the way they'd looked coming out of the woods, he figured it was already too late, but he nodded.

"And don't let Dan get you alone again. He'll just give you the third degree. I'll make sure one of the kids is always around when I'm with Phoebe."

Before he could reply, she took off toward the cottage. He kicked at a clump of gravel and headed for the B &B. Why did she need to be secretive? Not that he wanted her to say anything-things were rocky enough as it was. But Molly didn't have to worry about being traded to Detroit like he did, so why didn't she tell them to go to hell?

The more he thought about it, the more her attitude bothered him. It was okay for him to want to keep this private, but somehow it wasn't okay for her.

Chapter 20

In olden days a girl who liked a boy always made sure he won when they played cards and board games. "Playing Rough" article for Chik

They changed out of their suits in time for Molly's tea in the gazebo, which she'd decided to hold at three o'clock instead of five because it would be better for the kids. She complained to Phoebe that the paper plates and store-bought cake disqualified her from a photo spread in Victoria magazine, but Kevin knew she cared more about having a good time than bringing out the good china.

He nodded at Lilly, who'd walked over with Charlotte Long and Charlotte's friend Vi. He'd already noticed the cottage residents shielding her from the curiosity of the more transient guests at the B &B. He thought about going over to talk to her, but he couldn't think of what to say.

Molly kept herself surrounded with scampering poodles and noisy kids. She had a red heart barrette in her hair, pink jeans, a purple top, and bright blue laces in her sneakers. She was a walking rainbow, and just looking at her made him smile.

"George!" Molly bounced up and down waving at Liam Jenner as he got out of his pickup around four o'clock and walked toward them. "George Smith! Thanks for coming."

Jenner laughed and walked over to give her a hug. He might be old, but he was a good-looking son of a bitch, and Kevin wasn't crazy about the way he and the bunny lady were hanging on to each other.

"You've got to meet my sister. She used to run a gallery in New York, but I won't tell her who you are."

Yeah, right. Molly's eyes flashed the mischief jitterbug, but Jenner was oblivious. Sucka.

As the artist headed toward Phoebe, he walked right past Lilly. Maybe Liam had gotten fed up with all her early-morning rejections at the kitchen table. Kevin couldn't figure it out. If Lilly didn't like being around him, why did she keep showing up for breakfast?

He glanced from Lilly to Molly and tried to pick the exact moment when his long practice of surrounding himself with low-maintenance women had exploded in his face. He slammed his ball cap down on his head and promised himself he'd watch game film tonight.

The men wanted to talk football, and Kevin and Dan complied. Around five some of the adults began to drift away, but the kids were still enjoying themselves, and Kevin decided he'd put up a basketball hoop tomorrow. Maybe he'd buy some rubber rafts for the beach. And bikes. The kids should have bikes while they were here.

Cody and the O'Brian boys came running up, their faces sweaty and clothes grimy. Exactly the way a kid should look in the summer.

"Hey, Kevin! Can we play softball?"

He could feel the smile spreading all over his face. A soft-ball game on the Common, right where the Tabernacle had once stood… "Sure we can. Listen up! Everybody who wants to play softball, raise your hand."

Hands went up all over the place. Tess and Julie raced forward, and Andrew started to yell and hop. Even the adults were interested.

"A Softball game is a wonderful idea," Charlotte Long chirped from her lawn chair. "Get everything organized, Kevin."

He smiled at her poking. "You want to be a captain, Cody?"

"Sure."

He looked around for another captain and started to pick Tess, but something about the way Hannah was sitting at her father's feet cuddling the poodles got to him. He'd seen her hand inch up, only to settle back into her lap. "Hannah, how about you? Do you want to be the other captain?"

Kevin was startled to see Dan drop his head and groan.

"No, Kevin!" Tess and Julie cried together. "Not Hannah!"

Molly surprised him most of all-the bunny lady, who was supposed to be so damn sensitive around kids. "Uh… maybe it would be better if you picked somebody else."

What was wrong with these people?

Luckily their callousness didn't faze Hannah, who jumped up, smoothed down her shorts, and gave him a smile that looked exactly like her aunt's. "Thank you, Kevin. They hardly ever let me be captain."

"That's because you-"

Phoebe laid her hand over Tess's mouth, but even she looked pained.

Kevin was disgusted with all of them. Nobody was more competitive than he was, but he'd never stooped low enough to make a little kid feel bad just because she wasn't athletic. He gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't pay any attention to them, sweetheart. You'll be a great captain. You can even choose first."

"Thank you." She stepped forward and surveyed the crowd. He waited for her to choose either him or her father. She surprised him by pointing toward her mother, a woman who played so badly that the veterans on the Stars' team had gotten in the habit of scheduling dental appointments just so they'd have an excuse to leave the team picnic before the annual softball game.