She wandered to the porch rail to lean over and scan her flower beds. Coming right along, she thought with a sense of righteous satisfaction. ‘‘I thought we could have a backyard picnic on the Fourth.’’

‘‘They have fireworks on the waterfront,’’ Ethan put in. ‘‘Every year, half hour after sunset. You can see them from right here on the porch.’’

‘‘Really? That would be perfect. Wouldn’t it be fun, Seth? You could have your friends over and we’d cook burgers and dogs.’’

‘‘That’d be cool.’’ He was already down to scraping his bowl and calculating how to finesse seconds.

‘‘Have to dig out the horseshoes,’’ Cam decided. ‘‘Do we still have them, Ethan?’’

‘‘Yeah, they’re around.’’

‘‘And music.’’ Anna shifted just enough to rub her husband’s knee. ‘‘The three of you could play. You don’t play together nearly often enough to suit me. I’ll have to make a list. You’ll have to tell me who we should invite—and the food. Food.’’ She thought she feigned flustered irritation very well as she pushed away from the porch rail. ‘‘How could I have forgotten? I promised Grace to trade her my recipe for tortellini for hers for fried chicken.’’

She dashed inside to retrieve the index card that she’d neatly written the recipe on—something she’d never done before in her life—then dashed back out again. All apologetic smiles.

‘‘Ethan, would you run this over to her?’’

He stared at the little white card. If he hadn’t been sitting down, his hands would have jumped into his pockets. ‘‘What?’’

‘‘I promised I’d get her this today and it completely slipped my mind. I’d run it over myself, but I still have a report to finish. I’m just dying to try out that fried chicken,’’ she went on quickly, pushing the recipe card into his hand, then all but dragging him to his feet.

‘‘It’s kind of late.’’

‘‘Oh, it’s not even nine o’clock.’’ Don’t give him time to think, she warned herself. Don’t give him a chance to pick out the flaws. She pulled him into the house, used smiles and fluttering lashes to move him along. ‘‘I really appreciate it. I’m so scatterbrained these days. I feel like I’m chasing my own tail half the time. Tell her I’m sorry I didn’t get it to her sooner and to be sure to let me know how it turns out once she tries it. Thanks so much, Ethan,’’ she added, rising up to give him a quick, affectionate peck on the cheek. ‘‘I love having brothers.’’

‘‘Well . . .’’ He was baffled, closing in on miserable, but the way she said that, the way she smiled when she did, left him helpless. ‘‘I’ll be right back.’’