“He wants to wear it tonight. It’s a special shirt.” Caleb was physically restricted by the line in the yard, but he managed to sidle as close to Ruby as he could while still falling within the boundary. “I didn’t want to say anything while Eva and Maury were listening, but it’s made of skintight black leather.”

Ruby laughed. “There’s no way that’s true. Now I know you’re hiding something.”

Caleb was no more immune to the sound of Ruby’s laughter than Spencer was. Since Caleb couldn’t swoop her into his arms without stepping over the line, he grabbed her hand and held it to his chest with mock reverence instead. “You’re right. I can’t hold it in anymore. You, Ruby Taylor, are a goddess among women. A paragon of femininity. A vision of loveliness—”

“Not about that,” she said, cutting him short. She snatched her hand back in a way that made Spencer feel warm all over. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen a woman less interested in his brother. “You two give the appearance of being upstanding citizens who love well-behaved dogs and obedience more than is good for you, but there’s something else going on here. I can feel it.”

“We are upstanding citizens who love well-behaved dogs,” Spencer said. He would have been more than happy to let the subject drop there, but Caleb had never been good at knowing when to stop. He eyed Spencer as though seeing him for the first time.

“You know, the people at the laundry service would never be able to tell if you picked up the dry cleaning instead of me,” he said.

Spencer couldn’t pretend to misunderstand him. What his brother was hinting at—and what he was asking—was for Spencer to take his place at the meeting. It would be an easy enough thing to do. Although Caleb couldn’t emulate Spencer’s voice well enough to trick a dog, Spencer was more than capable of pretending to be his brother.

“I’ll do no such thing.”

“They don’t really care who comes to get it, just so long as they get a signature. And you’ve been able to forge my handwriting for years.”

“Caleb, I’m not doing that. You need to get the dry cleaning for yourself. You know it as well as I do.”

Even though Spencer was vaguely aware of Ruby standing and watching the entire interaction, she’d become only a secondary consideration. Caleb did need to get the dry cleaning for himself, and he did know it. Not because a judge had told him to, but because Caleb’s gambling addiction was a very real and destructive thing. All you had to do was look at their current living situation to realize it.