“What did I tell you? I don’t do anything I don’t want, and right now, after seeing how freaked out he is and how insane he’s sounding, I’m glad you’re here, okay? Don’t apologize for something I volunteered to do. As far as your trust, I’ll give my lawyer a call. There has to be something he can do to make sure we get you what you’re owed, okay?”

I stared into his dark, rich eyes as he spoke and felt the twisted knot in my stomach uncoil. “Thanks Kane. You’re a good man.”

His mouth kicked up at the corner. “As your husband, it’s now my job.”

I laughed softly and then his smile vanished. “Go. Go outside, hang in the pool with Heather. There’s nothing we can do about Lincoln’s tantrum or what his mom said until we know more.” His brows tugged in, wrinkled with worry. “We’ll figure the rest out later, okay?”

“Come on.” Heather pulled on my hand until I stood with her. “Kane has a point. We now know he’s pissed, but he’s still almost a full country away. There’s nothing else you can do until banks and businesses open Monday anyway, so let’s go see if we can have some fun.”

“Just don’t get drunk and drown in my pool, please,” Kane called out, and by the wink he gave me, I figured that was more directed at Heather.

“Geez, bro, you’re always ruining my fun.”

These two. Even while I was still on the verge of tears, they could still make me smile.

Heather dug out two floating pool chairs from Kane’s garage along with a floating cooler where she settled our bottles of wine and that was how his parents found us when they showed up, Heather and I lounging in the pool, me three drinks in and wearing a teal one-piece suit Kane bought for me.

He’d needed to go into practice. A light day he said to stretch and recover and watch game film, so he wasn’t home when Tracy and Chuck showed up, apparently having a key because they walked right in.

For being in their late-fifties, Tracy Andrews didn’t look a day over thirty. Her hair, black and sleek like both Heather and Kane’s, was cut in a severe bob that rested at her shoulders. It shone in the sunlight as she stripped out of the cover-up she wore, revealing a fire engine red bikini and a svelte body. Her features were like Kane’s, all sharp-edged and lines that gave her a serious look where Heather had the softer features of their dad. But Tracy’s heart was larger than all of Massachusetts, and I’d always felt welcome by them. Especially her.

She waved at us as she headed straight to the hot tub and then called to me. “Come here, sweetheart. Let me love on you a bit.”

“You better hurry,” Chuck said, entering the backyard with a cooler filled with, I assumed, beer, considering he had a simple Coors Light in his hand, navy-blue swim trunks and a white T-shirt on. He looked as healthy and built as Kane and always wore a deep farmer’s tan from working in his fields and with his cattle all day long.