But not all their guests were here, he realized as he carried the tray of vegetables. Sydney and Micah were both seated, and Lilian was in her usual place, but no Indi and her plus-one yet. Maggie told him to sit and returned to the kitchen for her blueberry-glazed pork chops, still in the oven.

Lilian said something about Indi texting earlier, promising that Bennington knew dinner was at six, saying he’d meet her at the store and they’d drive out together.

But Neil could hardly pay attention, not with his gaze drawn repeatedly to Sydney. Was that one of Indi’s dark green scarves in her hair? Red waves spilled from behind it and a few framed her face in front. She wore the same cream-colored sweater as she had her first night here and looked every bit as pretty as he’d tried to pretend he didn’t notice that night.

He just wished she didn’t look so tense. Wished there wasn’t a strain thick enough to stick with a pitchfork clinging to the air in between her and Micah. He’d shared a stiff handshake with the younger man, then a mumbled greeting.

He could feel Micah’s assessment now, Sydney’s foster brother obviously making no attempt to hide his scrutiny as he picked up his glass of water and took a drink. “So, you’re the farmer.”

Lilian snorted beside him. Sydney bit her lip.

Neil chuckled. “Well, technically, we all are. Lilian’s got a vegetable garden bigger than our backyard. Indi’s got goats. But yeah, I guess I’m the only one who’d technically put it on a résumé.” He shrugged.

“It’s a blueberry farm,” Sydney filled in. “Neil mocked me my first morning here when I told him I hadn’t even thought about the fact that berry farms existed. In the Midwest, it’s all corn and soybeans and wheat. Livestock, of course.”

“I didn’t mock you.”

“You all but patted my head and told me to go back to the city I came from.”

He unfolded his napkin and laid it in his lap, knowing if he looked up and if she happened to be smiling, his return grin would give away far too much. More, he got the feeling, than Micah would be okay with. And way too much ammo for Lil. “Well, maybe that was because someone was pretending to be scared of a cow.”

But then he did look up. And she was smiling. And his pulse skittered.

Okay, Lilian could say whatever she wanted. And Micah, he could just—

“So, I guess technically or legally or something, Syd might be your niece.”

Neil’s too-warm smile faltered. “Um . . . huh?”

Micah pinned him with a smirk. “If she’s really who that private investigator thinks she is, then you and you”—he pointed to Neil and Lilian—“are Sydney’s aunt and uncle, right?”

Any other time and he’d get a fair bit of amusement out of Sydney’s wide-eyed look. Same look she’d given Melba. Only this time, it wasn’t an act.