There were no eyes more astute than the ones belonging to Phoebe and Dan Calebow. All four of them rotated toward him.

He slipped his hands into his pockets and played it cool. “Hey, there. Nice surprise.”

“We thought so.” Phoebe’s polite response stood in marked contrast to the warm way she used to greet him, while Dan’s expression was assessing. Kevin beat back his uneasiness by reminding himself that he was untouchable, the best quarterback in the AFC.

But the Chicago Stars had no untouchables as long as the Calebows were at the helm, and right then it flashed through his mind exactly how this could play out if he wasn’t careful. If they decided they wanted to keep him away from Molly, he’d be called into the front office one day soon and hear that he was part of a big-ticket trade. A lot of struggling teams would be more than happy to give up some top draft choices for an All-Pro quarterback, and before he knew what had happened, he’d find himself playing for one of the league’s bottom-dwellers.

As he watched Dan taking in the pine needles stuck to Molly’s hair, a mental picture flashed through his head of himself barking out signals for the Lions in the Silverdome.

Molly hugged the kids who were chirping around her. “Are you surprised to see us, Aunt Molly? Are you surprised?”

“Roo! Kanga’s here to play with you!”

“… and Mom says we can go swimming in …”

“… fell off the monkey bars and got a black eye!”

“… this boy calls her every day, even though …”

“… then he threw up all over the …”

“… Dad says I’m too young, but …”

Molly’s attention shifted from one child to the next, her expression flickering from sympathy to interest to amusement without missing a beat. This was her real family.

The sharp ache took him by surprise. He and Molly sure weren’t a family, so it wasn’t as if he’d been cut out of anything. He was just having a leftover reflex from his childhood, when he’d dreamed about being part of a big, messy crowd like this one.

“Omigosh!” Molly squealed. “You’re the Smiths!”

The kids squealed back and pointed their fingers at her. Gotcha, Aunt M!

Kevin remembered Molly’s earlier comment that a family named Smith was checking in today. Meet the Smiths. His sense of dread grew.

Molly gazed at her sister, who was holding Roo the Fierce. “Did Amy know who you really were when she took the reservation?”

Tess giggled. At least he figured it was Tess, because she wore a soccer jersey while her look-alike scampered around in a sundress. “Mom didn’t tell her. We wanted to surprise you!”

“We get to stay all week!” Andrew exclaimed. “And I want to sleep with you!”

Way to go, Andy boy. You just tossed good ol’ Uncle Kevin right out on his ass.