“I guess it wouldn’t help if I…” She reached down between them and gripped his shaft through his clothes.

“Maggie,” he warned, his forehead coming down to rest on hers.

“Oops.”

“Don’t make me drag you into the backseat of my mom’s sedan, darlin’.”

It seemed like something he would do. To be on the safe side, she released him and ducked under his arm.

“Do you want me to wait with you?” she offered.

“I don’t think that’s going to help,” he said, eyes steely.

“I’ll just go get a drink then and make small talk with your family while you try not to think about how hard you came in me last night.”

“Maggie!”

His bark was cut off by her laugh as she closed the door. She felt downright cheerful now and helped herself to a soda—correction, a pop—before taking a seat at the table next to Wallace.

“Have you found anything on Ava’s family?” Maggie asked.

He snorted. “Mrs. Campbell’s a mystery. I can trace the line forward from her, but not back. The local history books mention her coming from some wealthy European family, but I haven’t found anything related to the Dedmans.”

“Maybe her family changed their last name when they came to America?” she guessed, recalling her genealogy research in elementary school. The great-great-great-grandfather of one of the kids in her class had gone from the Russian Kohnovalsky to the easier-to-spell Cohen.

She distinctly remembered a classmate, the pigtailed Judy McDonald, asking Maggie where her dad was on her family tree drawing. Maggie had gone home to ask her mother that very question, but it was years before she revealed the truth. Years before she realized she was better off not knowing.

Cody and then Emmett joined them at the table.

“How are you feeling about the test tomorrow, Cody?” Emmett asked.

The boy winced. “Okay, I think, Mr. Wright.”

Maggie blinked. Sy’s dad was Cody’s biology teacher? Small towns were so…small.

“Cell metabolism is tough,” Emmett sympathized. “You need at least a C on this to keep graduation alive. I think you can do it. If you want, after lunch I can walk you through a quick refresher.”

Cody nodded. “Thanks. That would help a lot.”

Maggie felt like this was information she should have known. So much for being a cool, informed sort of guardian.

“Are you having trouble in science?” she asked Cody.

He gave a shrug. “More like with school in general.”

Before she could extend a vague offer of some sort of help, Blaire announced that it was time to eat, and there was a stampede to the table. Maggie didn’t miss the knowing look that passed between Blaire and Mama B when Silas took the seat on her left and slung his arm around her chair. Laying claim.