“You couldn’t have knocked?” he said to his brother instead. He now regretted giving his family the code to the gate out front, but he’d done that before he found Tia hiding in his room, never dreaming it would be a problem.

Eli spread out his hands. “Why would I? I had no idea you’d finally started dating again.”

“This isn’t a date,” Seth said.

“It looks like a date to me,” Eli responded with a grin.

In the early years, Eli had been remote. He’d been dealing with his own issues. But the older and happier he got, the more he liked to tease and goof around. Seth usually gave as good as he got—they needled each other whenever they were together—but tonight wasn’t the time. “We’re just sharing a dinner,” Seth told him.

Still grinning, Eli walked over and sampled the bread. “Then you won’t mind if I join you.”

“Where’s your family?” Seth expected Cora and the kids to come bounding into the house any second.

“At home. I went out to get some ice cream so we can make sundaes, and I bumped into—” his gaze shifted to Tia before returning to Seth “—someone.”

The way his voice dropped when he said someone sounded foreboding, but Seth was so distracted he had no idea what Eli was talking about. Regardless, it would have to wait. “Okay, we’ll discuss it later.”

“I doubt you’ll want to put it off any longer,” Eli murmured. “That’s why I swung by on my way home. You weren’t answering your phone. Shiloh’s parents know you’re in town, man.”

“You ran into Lois?”

“Graham. And he was clearly unhappy that they haven’t heard from you. You need to call them.”

Seth had stretched his luck too far. “Okay. I will.”

A perplexed expression claimed Eli’s face as he looked at Tia again. “Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere?”

Tia didn’t answer. She froze like a deer caught in headlights, so Seth took Eli’s arm and pulled him back toward the entrance. “Listen, can I call you later? You wouldn’t want that ice cream to melt.”

Eli laughed. “Okay, I can tell when I’m not wanted. So this is a date?” He lowered his voice to a whisper so that Tia wouldn’t be able to hear him. “Where’d you meet her? Online? Had to be, since you never leave the house. But...why does she have all those bandages on her face?”

Tia suddenly shot out of the kitchen and skirted around them, surprising them both. “Your brother can stay. I—I have to get back, anyway. I’ll take care of Kiki later,” she said and hurried into the cold, leaving her coat behind.

Eli turned to watch her. “Where’s she going?”