“ARE YOU INSANE?” Sara asked, slamming a cup of hot coffee down in front of Eli so hard that some of the brew spilled onto her kitchen table.

Festus, curled up beside Eli’s chair, made a disconsolate whining sound.

Eli opened his mouth, intending to reply that he was probably as sane as he’d ever been, but Sara didn’t give him a chance to speak, so he closed it again. Less chance of sticking his foot in it that way, he supposed.

“Brynne’s ex-lover shows up, out of nowhere, she understandably freaks out and what do you do? You, in your infinite masculine wisdom, swing right up onto your high horse and break things off.”

Festus whined again.

Eli sighed. “I didn’t exactly ‘break things off.’ I only told her that she probably wasn’t ready for anything serious.” He paused, cleared his throat. Suddenly, his previous reasoning didn’t seem as solid as it had before. “It’s not like I was judging her, Sara.”

“Idiot,” Sara said, hauling back a chair and falling into it. “Of course you were judging her! She got a shock—a pretty nasty one from the sounds of it—and instead of trying to understand that, you decided she was wrong to react the way she did. How dare you assume you know what Brynne is or isn’t ready for? She’s a grown woman, Eli, not the teenager you dated in high school!”

Eli sat back in his chair, released a long breath. He was, for the present, at a loss for words.

Sara was on a roll. “You couldn’t have just put your arms around her? Held her?”

Eli found his voice. “If Brynne wanted holding, she has an odd way of showing it. She was furious.”

“With Clay Nicholls, you damn fool!” Sara said. “I don’t blame her one bit. Imagine, just showing up in somebody’s life like that? Clearly, there was no text, no phone call, nothing! Brynne is minding her own business and wham!” She slapped her hands together, hard, making both Eli and Festus flinch. “There he is, landing at her feet like a hand grenade with the pin pulled!”

Eli shoved a hand through his hair. “You weren’t there,” he reminded his sister quietly. “When I said Brynne was furious, I meant with me. She got her back up and asked me if I was calling her a coward for running away.”

“I know what happened, Eli,” Sara said, very slowly, as though speaking to someone born without a brain. “You just told me. You jumped to a lot of conclusions, it seems to me, and I just hope you haven’t blown your chances with Brynne. Again.”

That again stung. Sara was referring, of course, to the stupid decision he’d made in high school, dumping Brynne so he could fool around with Reba. Was he ever going to get past that ancient tom-fuckery?