Brenda didn’t know the particulars, but she had a good idea of what had gone on. Her brother was such a prude! He didn’t move with the times at all. Well, neither did Grace, who had some really radical ideas. Grace didn’t believe in makeup or dancing, because her church group was one of the more radical sects. While her brother wasn’t a libertine in any sense of the word, he was pretty laid-back for a lawman. He did at least take women out occasionally, because he loved to dance. She wondered if he’d really known Grace at all. She thought, privately, that the woman had been his ideal because he hadn’t dated much back then, and Mike Johns idolized her. He’d only been around Grace because of Mike. They’d never been out on a real date together. Perhaps if they had, Brenda speculated, Colter’s fixation on Grace might have died a natural death when he saw how rigid she really was in her belief system. But then, she decided, it was really none of her business.

She glanced at her watch. “I have to go. I don’t want to miss my favorite TV show.” She smiled at him. “Is Clancey still giving you fits?” she teased.

He gave a long-suffering sigh. “She threatens to quit every third day. I’d give real money if she’d actually do it.”

She laughed. “She might. I saw her at the Army recruiting office a couple of days ago, getting literature.”

His heart jumped for no apparent reason. He frowned. “Army?”

She nodded. “Don’t knock it,” she said with twinkling eyes. “She’d be out of San Antonio, for sure. And you’d be stuck with all those old files, down in the basement, all by yourself. Who’d take care of the office and handle calls while you were out? Who’d convert all those musty old files to computer files?”

He made a face and finished his coffee. “I’d find somebody. I asked for a man,” he added shortly.

“She’s a treasure,” she chided. “She can do all that stuff and even put up with you. Don’t start,” she interrupted when he opened his mouth. “I’m your sister. I know you.”

“I don’t fly off the handle as much as I used to,” he pointed out with a grin.

“Inspirational tirades, is how one of your colleagues used to put it,” she mused. “He said you ran out of the usual curses in about two minutes and started making up new ones when you exploded.”

He chuckled. “Well, I do have one saving grace—I don’t cuss in front of women.”

“I’ll have to ask Clancey about that.”

“Clancey’s not a woman. She’s just a kid,” he replied. “And please don’t tell me that you’re Facebook friends with her, too,” he said.