‘‘Two,’’ Cam corrected.

‘‘One’s just a tote—it doesn’t count.’’

‘‘Okay.’’ Cam popped the trunk, pulled out a generous dark-green suitcase. ‘‘You carry the one that doesn’t count.’’

‘‘Putting your bride to work already?’’ Phillip crossed to the car, waded through the dogs. ‘‘I’ll take that, Anna,’’ he said and kissed her with an enthusiasm that had Seth rolling his eyes at Cam.

‘‘Turn her loose, Phil,’’ Ethan said mildly. ‘‘I’d hate for Cam to have to kill you before he even gets in the house. Welcome home,’’ he added and smiled when Anna turned to give him as enthusiastic a kiss as Phillip had given her.

‘‘It’s good to be home.’’

THE TOTE, IT TURNED OUT, contained gifts, which Anna immediately began to dispense, along with stories of each one. Seth only stared down at the bright-blue-and-white soccer shirt she’d given him. No one had ever gone on a trip and brought him back a present. The fact was, if he thought about it, he could count the gifts he’d been given—something for nothing— on the fingers of one hand.

‘‘Soccer’s big over in Europe,’’ Anna told him. ‘‘They call it football, but it’s not like our football.’’ She dug deeper, then pulled out an oversized book with a glossy cover. ‘‘And I thought you might like this. It’s not as good as seeing the paintings. It really grabs you by the throat to see them in person, but you’ll get the idea.’’

The book was filled with paintings, glorious colors and shapes that dazzled his eyes. An art book. She’d remembered that he liked to draw and had thought of him.

‘‘It’s cool.’’ He muttered it because he couldn’t trust his voice.

‘‘She wanted to buy everyone shoes,’’ Cam commented. ‘‘I had to stop her.’’

‘‘So I only bought myself a half a dozen pair.’’

‘‘I thought it was four.’’

She smiled. ‘‘Six. I snuck two by you. Phillip, I stumbled across Maglis. I could have wept.’’

‘‘Armani?’’

She sighed lustily. ‘‘Oh, yeah.’’

‘‘Now I’m going to cry.’’

‘‘You can sob over fashion later,’’ Cam told them. ‘‘I’m starving.’’

‘‘Grace was here.’’ Seth wanted to try on his shirt right away but thought it would be too lame. ‘‘She cleaned everything—made us wash up in the Bay—and she fried chicken.’’

‘‘Grace made fried chicken?’’

‘‘And potato salad.’’

‘‘There’s no place like home,’’ Cam murmured and headed for the kitchen. Seth waited a few seconds, then followed.

‘‘I guess I could eat another piece,’’ he said casually.

‘‘Get in line.’’ Cam pulled the platter and bowl out of the fridge.

‘‘Don’t they give you stuff to eat on the plane?’’