“Let’s go, Momma!” Rennie balanced on her inline skates. The day was gorgeous; it was now mid-fall, so there was a chill in the air but the sun was out. Perfect for skating.

She tightened Rennie’s helmet and made sure her kneepads were on tight enough. There would be no avoiding it, and if they moved quickly, they could head to the park and he wouldn’t even see them.

“Let’s go to the park. It looks like there’s a lot of traffic out here today.”

Rennie squealed her approval of that idea, and they headed out carefully as Elise locked up the house and they descended the steps.

“Hey there! Elise and Rennie, how are you?”

Damn and double damn.

“Hi there, Adrian!” Rennie called out, looking both ways and then skating across the street where Brody’s brother stood at the edge of the lawn.

“Good afternoon, Adrian. It’s a pretty day, Rennie and I are headed to the park.” Let’s go before Brody comes out.

“Wait a sec. Before you two go, I know Erin wanted to meet you.” He turned and bellowed his sister’s name, and Elise managed to get her helmet off, hoping she didn’t look too bad.

“Yeah, no one would ever know you can belt it out to the back rows with that yell,” a woman shouted as she came through the back gate toward them.

“Wow, your hair looks like cotton candy. That is wicked awesome.” Rennie’s voice was tinged with awe.

“You must be Rennie and her mom, Elise.” The pink-haired woman had to be Erin. Elise recognized her features from the CD covers she’d been on. She also saw the pain, chased by tenderness, in the woman’s eyes when she’d looked at Rennie. “I’m Erin. I’m glad to finally meet you two so I could thank you for helping Brody.”

Elise shook Erin’s hand and smiled. “It wasn’t like I could just leave him in the gutter. Really it wasn’t a big deal.” She tried to edge away, but Rennie was fascinated by that cloud of pink hair and stayed in place, staring up at Erin.

“Momma, I want my hair to look like that. Can I get it pink? Please? Pink is my favorite color and so that would be really cool.”

“You can have it pink in the summer when you aren’t in school if you still want it pink then.” She looked back to Erin and Adrian. “It was nice to meet you, Erin, and to see you again, Adrian.”

“Anyone seen Erin?” Brody called from inside the backyard.

“Out here!” Erin called back.

“Well, we really should be going and let you guys get back to your day.”

“Elise and Rennie. Just the ladies I wanted to see.” Brody walked out the open gate, and Elise saw quite the crowd gathered back there.

She waved, but Rennie hobbled over on her skates to give Brody a hug before starting to chatter. Brody, to his credit, appeared to be listening and nodded in all the appropriate places.

When Rennie finally slowed down, Brody looked up and caught Elise’s attention. “You two busy today? We’re having a barbecue. Adrian just went triple platinum, so we thought we should celebrate. We’ve got burgers, dogs, salmon and even veggie burgers if you’re so inclined. Cream soda and ice cream for later too.”

He was just so, gah, she shouldn’t let herself be so attracted to him, but that pull, that draw they both clearly felt, zinged between them.

“Ice cream? Momma, can we?”

“I don’t want to intrude on your family celebration.”

Erin took her hand and squeezed it. “We’d love to have you. There are a few other kiddos back there for Rennie to play with too.”

“It’s a ragtag group. They’ll fall out of their chairs when you come through. So pretty.” Adrian winked at her, and Brody moved closer, bumping his brother with his body.

“You wouldn’t be intruding. I was headed over to invite you two anyway. I would have come by earlier, but I didn’t know I was having a barbecue today until Erin showed up.” He shot his sister a look and she simply shrugged.

Erin grinned, appearing totally unrepentant. “Your backyard is big. It’s a nice day. Adrian’s place doesn’t have all the parking yours does. Plus, you know you love it.”

He snorted and looked back to Elise. “So?”

“Okay. Okay. But you can’t complain when she gets hopped up on sugar and starts talking a mile a minute.”

Brody tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear and she nearly melted on the spot. “All right.”

“Can I bring anything? I mean, I can toss something together.” Great, her voice went all breathy and his sister totally noticed.

“Just you and Rennie will be fine.”

“We just need to take off our skates and stuff. We’ll be right back!” Rennie pulled on Elise’s arm, so she followed her daughter.

“Just come through the back gate when you’re ready,” he called as they left.

“She’s very pretty.” Erin looked at her older brother as they headed into the backyard.

“And nice. Great kid.” Adrian was so helpful.

“A girl would have to be blind or dead not to see the way you looked at each other. When did that start?” That her brother had never actually looked at a woman that way interested Erin greatly. When he’d tucked her hair back, so gentle and sweet, Erin had seen the chemistry between them written all over their body language.

Brody paused, looked at her and gave up. “About a month. She’s got a business to build up, I have a business to keep afloat, she has a kid. We . . . It’s very casual. I like her. She’s a friend and we have chemistry. Like wicked crazy chemistry. She pushes my buttons in a big way. I gotta tell you, it’s really good to be me right about now. It’s not so much a secret, but we’re keeping it mellow around the kid. She’s a good kid.”