the opposite.
“Can you take a picture of it, Aunt Jenna?” Logan asked. “I want to show Mom.”
A shadow passed through Jenna’s eyes but she nodded. “Of course, but I think you should be holding the fish so she can see how big it is.”
“Can I hold it, too?” Tori wanted to know.
“I have an idea. Why don’t I take the picture and all three of you can pose with the fish?” Dev couldn’t resist.
“Okay!”
Jenna didn’t join the chorus. She sighed and pulled a slim black gadget out of her pocket, the kind that did everything but clean your house.
Dev held out his hand and she reluctantly dropped the expensive little piece of technology into his calloused palm. Dev stood patiently through the brief tutorial that followed.
“Now, how should we set this up?” Jenna squinted at the sun. “Maybe—”
“I think I can take it from here.” Dev lined up the shot. “Ready?”
Only two blond heads bobbed. In this instance, Dev went with the majority.
“Stand right there—Logan don’t drop the fish.” He took a step back and the trio came into focus. Logan with his proud, gap-toothed grin. Tori cheek to cheek with Violet, who’d managed to sneak into the frame. And Jenna, beautiful but somber.
Dev wondered what she was thinking.
She’s thinking that you’re going to drop her phone into the lake and cut off her only tie to civilization, an inner voice chided. Take the picture.
He snapped a few quick shots. “Okay, time to put the fish on a stringer so you can take him home with you.”
“His name is Fred,” Tori announced.
Everyone turned to stare at her.
“We’re not going to name it.” Logan rolled his eyes. “We’re going to eat it.”
Tori looked horrified by the thought. “We can’t eat Fred.”
“Toriiii.” His sister’s name rolled out on a groan. “That’s what you’re supposed to do.”
“But his family will miss him,” she wailed.
Logan sent a silent appeal to Dev for help.
“Sorry, bud. Your fish, your call.” No way was he going to weigh in on that decision. And one look at Jenna’s face revealed whose side she was on.
Logan heaved a sigh. “Okay. But just this once.”
“Just this once,” Tori agreed cheerfully.
No one believed her.
“Come on.” Dev grabbed the bucket and strode down the dock.
At the edge of the shoreline everyone, including Jenna, release a collective breath as Fred propelled himself into the deeper water with a graceful swish of his back tail fin. Along with the bluegill Dev had planned to have for supper that night.
Tori clapped her hands. “Fred’s going home.”
“I’m going to follow him.” Logan leaped to his feet.
“Wait for me.” Tori followed, chasing after her brother through the waves that lapped the shoreline. Violet tore after them, barking her approval.
Dev had a hunch his company was going to seem pretty boring from now on.
“They’re good kids.” Dev watched Logan pause to grab his little sister’s hand when she stumbled in the wet sand.
“They are.” There it was again. That brief flash of vulnerability Dev had seen in Jenna’s eyes the day before. “Sometimes I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with them.”
“Another reason to wear something more practical on your feet.” Dev couldn’t resist teasing her a little. Call him a glutton for punishment, but he wanted to see that mischievous smile again.
“I do have another pair of shoes.” Jenna’s chuff of indignation stirred a ribbon of silver-blond hair on her forehead. “I just didn’t think I’d need them. I didn’t plan to be in Mirror Lake for more than a day or two.”
Dev could relate. He’d arrived at his grandfather’s old fishing cabin for a weekend. Five years ago.
“So what made you decide to stay?”
Jenna was silent for so long, Dev didn’t think she was going to answer the question.
“My sister.”
It was a little unsettling to discover they had something in common. Jenna had come to Mirror Lake because of her sister and Dev was there because of his brother.
“This is a good place.” Dev watched a young bald eagle spin a lazy circle over the treetops. “Kids need room to roam.”
Jenna’s lips compressed, a sign she didn’t agree with him. “That reminds me. I’m sorry that Logan interrupted your day. I guess I need to have a talk with him about boundaries.”
Dev remembered the look of wonder on Logan’s face when he’d offered him the fishing pole.
“I didn’t mind. And he can fish off my dock anytime he wants to—”
Jenna was already shaking her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“It’s safe as long as he’s not down here alone. Even at the end of the dock, the water isn’t over his head.”
“That’s not it. I don’t want Logan or Tori to get too attached to…this place.”
“I thought Logan said they lived here.” From what the children had said the day before, he assumed their mother had bought it.
Jenna shook her head. “My sister rented the cabin for the summer. It’s temporary. When she gets home, I’m hoping I can convince her to move closer to me.”
From the expression on Jenna’s face, that day couldn’t come soon enough.
Why that bothered him, Dev didn’t know. Especially since he’d dropped a not-so-subtle hint that she wouldn’t last a week.
Tori skipped up to them and tugged on Jenna’s arm. “I found a spider on a tree over there, Aunt Jenna. Do you want to take its picture, too?”
Too?
Dev glanced at Jenna and saw twin patches of color underline the sculpted cheekbones.
“No thanks, sweetie.”
Logan joined them. “But it’s bigger than the one you found this morning.”
