He was feeling something similar and fighting it for all he was worth. Grace was coming home. He had to keep that in mind. Clancey was too young, too burdened, too everything.

He got up from the chair. “Can I get you anything before I go?”

“No. Thanks for everything, Mr. Banks.”

It rankled that she was so formal with him. Of course, it was better that way. Good idea not to be intimate, even in speech.

He picked up his hat and slanted it over his right eye. “If you need anything, call the office.”

“I will.”

He nodded. He looked around at the sparse furnishings and back to the colorful quilt that covered her. He noted the different colors and cloths. “Is that a memory quilt?” he asked suddenly.

She laughed. “Yes, it is. My mother made it long ago, from scraps of cloth that came from her great-grandmother and all the kids, down to me and Tad. It’s comforting, in a way. She’s gone, but echoes of her live on in the house.”

“Echoes.” He nodded. “We have a memory quilt that our grandmother made for Brenda when she was a kid. She still sleeps with it. She says it’s like our grandmother cuddles her in it.”

She smiled up at him. “That’s how I feel, when I sleep under mine.”

“You women and your fantasies,” he teased. “I have a plain comforter. Keeps me warm. No sentiment attached.”

“I like sentiment.”

“Of course you do. You’re a woman.”

She just shook her head.

After he left, she recalled that long, hot look they’d exchanged and her whole body throbbed. She had to get herself together. Banks was not for her. He was already hung up on Grace Charles, and they had a history. It made her sad to consider the other woman. Banks was sexy and responsible and he had a nurturing nature, although he rarely let it show. She was never going to forget how kind he’d been to her when she got sick.

But along with those memories was the fear of having him find out that Morris Duffy was related to her, even just as a stepbrother. He was working on a case involving her grandfather and he didn’t know it. She was grateful that he’d never connected her address with that of Dalton Reed, her grandfather. She hoped that one day she could work up the courage to tell him the truth.

Cal brought Tad home and presented her with a fish platter from the local fish place.

“Oh, I love fish! Thank you so much!” she exclaimed.

“I like fish myself, and Tad is crazy for it,” he chuckled.

“I sure am! Thanks, Cal!” Tad called as he ran down the hall toward his room. “Video game time!”

Clancey just shook her head. “If we could just bottle that energy,” she said of her brother.