“And this handsome young man?” Brenda asked.

Tad flushed and laughed. “I’m Tad,” he said.

“It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Brenda Banks,” she added. “Your sister works for my brother,” she told Tad.

The boy’s eyes lit up and he smiled from ear to ear. “Gosh, he’s so nice!” Tad said. “He drove us home from the movies just before Halloween. Sis was freezing in just her sweatshirt, and she gets sick easy in the fall...”

“Tad!” Clancey exclaimed, flushing.

“Sorry,” Tad said, gritting his teeth.

“I get allergies in the fall, too,” Brenda said, easing the tension. “I won’t keep you—it’s too cool to stand talking. I just wanted to say hi!”

“You’re pretty,” Tad told her, and flushed a little.

“Oh, you’re going to be a heartbreaker when you grow up,” Brenda said with twinkling eyes.

“That, he is,” Clancey had to agree.

“See you!” Brenda said, smiling, and went to her car.

“What a nice young woman,” Mrs. Martin said on the way home.

“Very nice,” Mr. Martin, at her side, agreed.

Clancey, in the backseat with Tad, only nodded.

“Is her brother as good-looking as she is, Clancey?” Mrs. Martin asked with a wry smile.

Clancey took a deep breath. “Why, I don’t really pay much attention, Mrs. Martin,” she lied. “He’s not in the office much, and I stay so busy...”

“I see.” And Mrs. Martin did. But she didn’t say another word about it, changing the subject abruptly to the price of bread, which she found alarmingly high.

Brenda watched them drive away with a sigh. Clancey was wearing a dress that very obviously came from a secondhand store, and her shoes had looked too small. Tad had on a suit that was about a size too large for him. She felt bad for them. She wondered if her brother ever noticed Clancey. She was a pretty woman. From what she’d learned by eavesdropping, it was just Clancey and her little brother at home, which meant that Clancey was obviously trying to support both of them on her paycheck. She wondered how in the world they managed.

She recalled seeing Clancey at the Army recruiting office and grimaced. The younger woman didn’t look all that robust. It was painful to think of her wearing fatigues and working in some dangerous foreign country where she couldn’t even speak the language.

Well, maybe Clancey would give up on that idea. She hoped so. Regardless of her brother’s irritation with his clerk, Brenda liked her very much. It was a shame that Colter was still hung up on Grace. If only she could think of some way to make him notice Clancey!