Mia Ross - Hometown Family

He slanted her a look she could only define as suspicious. “I do fine.”

Okay, so money was a bad subject. Caty switched back to classic cars.

“I love my MG, but I know next to nothing about it. If I get in and it starts, I’m happy. Come to think of it, it was making a weird clunky noise when I pulled in at the church earlier.”

“I can look at it if you want,” Matt offered as they pulled off the main road onto a lane marked Sawyer Farm.

“I didn’t mean to hint for free help with my car,” she explained. “I’m happy to pay your regular rates.”

“No problem, sweetheart.”

Matt drove past the rambling white farmhouse and parked beside several cars in the turnaround in front of one of the barns. He shut off the engine and came around to open her door. The truck sat high enough that she could look him dead in the eye.

Making full use of the higher ground, she gave him her most intimidating lawyer’s glare. “Do not call me that.”

He gave her the most clueless look she’d ever seen. “Why not?”

“Guys like you use cute nicknames to cover up the fact that you can’t remember the names of all the women you date, that’s why. Baby, honey, doll, things like that.” She ticked them off on her fingers, grimacing in disgust. “It’s insulting.”

Shaking his head, he offered his hand to help her down. “Whatever you say, Caitlin.”

Batting his hand away, she climbed out on her own. “That doesn’t count. I told you my name half an hour ago, and we’re not dating.”

“Got that right,” he muttered.

The two of them stalked off in different directions, and Caty wondered if he was as glad to be rid of her as she was of him. She’d tried everything she knew to be pleasant, but he wasn’t having any of it. The man was hopeless.

The black Lab snoozing on the back porch lifted his head as she approached. When he recognized her, he thumped his tail in welcome.

“Hey, Tucker,” she said softly, scratching underneath the stars-and-stripes bandanna tied around his neck. “How’re things here?”

Brows furrowed in that Lab way, he cocked his head and whined. “I know,” she sympathized. “But don’t worry. It’ll be okay.”

He answered with a couple more tail thumps, then settled his chin on his paws as she stepped over him to knock on the back door. When a familiar voice yelled for her to come in, Caty smiled and went inside.

All the windows were open, and whirring fans drew fresh air through the house. There were four women in the kitchen, one spooning batter into muffin tins, another emptying the dishwasher. The other two were arguing over how much coffee to put in Marianne’s commercial-grade double-pot coffeemaker.

With her graying hair and slender build, a casual observer would think the smaller one was at a disadvantage. Anyone who knew her knew she hadn’t lost an argument since she was old enough to talk. A longtime widow with eight grown sons and grandkids numbering in the twenties, Ruth Benton had the courage of a lion. And the heart of a pussycat.

“Ruthy, I should’ve known you’d be here.”

The field general of the little army dropped her point midsentence and turned to her with a delighted smile. “Caty Lee McKenzie, is that you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Ruthy rushed over to fold her into a hug, then grasped her arms and pushed her away to look her up and down.

“Too skinny,” she chided, pressing her lips into a disapproving line. “What? They don’t have decent restaurants in Charlotte?”

“None as good as yours.”

“You could learn how to cook.” Ruthy took a pair of ruffled red oven mitts from the counter and pulled them on. “It’s not that hard.”

“Not for you ladies, anyway.” Caty included the others with a smile, then focused back on their leader. “The tables outside are full of food. What’s all this?”

Ruthy moved a wire rack to a clear spot on the counter. “Those kids will have enough to do without worrying about what they’re going to eat the next couple days.”

Caty looked around and laughed. “Couple days? I think they’re set for the week.”

“It’s not much.” Harland’s favorite chef waved off the compliment with her spatula, using it to transfer one of the yummy-looking pastries to the cooling rack. “Just a little of this and that.”

From the side porch, Caty heard voices and the sound of a filling washing machine. “Are they doing laundry?”

“Sure are. There’s a mountain of it back there, some clean, some not. I set two of John’s darlings on it. Told them they could each keep a pair of his boxers for their trouble.”

Caty grinned. “He doesn’t wear boxers.”

“They don’t know that,” Ruthy replied, the laugh lines around her eyes crinkling as she winked. She shoved a tin of her famous blueberry muffins into the oven and turned to Caty with a suspicious look. “And how do you know that?”

“Truth or dare, junior year.”

The older woman studied her long and hard, then chuckled and shook her head. “If you ask me, a man’s old enough to live on his own, he’s old enough to do his own laundry.”

“Marianne likes taking care of him. Besides, his house is about a hundred yards away.”

“Still, he could come up here and take care of it himself. She’s got enough to do, what with teaching and taking care of her kids and this big house. I don’t know how Ethan got by without her all those years.”

“He didn’t eat as well, that’s for sure,” Caty agreed, sneaking a piece of flaky crust that had fallen on the counter.

Ruthy saw her do it but just smiled. “I always thought you and John would get together.”

Actually, he’d asked. Many times. Caty adored him, and tempting as it was, she had no intention of joining his endless collection of admirers. “Why ruin a good friendship?”

“All the time you were in college, you never brought a beau home. I know you had them, but did you bring them to meet me? Not once.”

“I didn’t want you to go stealing them away from me,” Caty replied with a grin.

She hmphed at that. “More likely you had that nose of yours buried in your books. You always did.”

“That’s what it takes to be successful.”

Ruthy pinned her with a knowing look, and Caty got the distinct impression that those wise blue eyes could see right through her. These days, she was accustomed to dealing with acquaintances, people who respected her but didn’t really know her. Sometimes she thought Ruthy knew her better than she knew herself.

“You’re way too serious, sweet pea. If you want to help, I’ve got plenty of big pans that need washing.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Caty stepped out of her gorgeous but very impractical shoes and set them on the mat by the back door. Then she rolled up her sleeves, tied on an oversize apron and started scrubbing.

Chapter Two

Feeling very out of sorts, Matt took a couple deep breaths to calm his temper. He wasn’t easy to rile, but the very classy Caitlin McKenzie had gotten under his skin in record time. Maybe it was the intelligence driving her sharp tongue. Or the way she had looked at him with more sympathy than he deserved. After his nasty parting shot, he figured he wouldn’t get any more of that from her. It was his own fault, but he regretted starting out so badly with her.

Then again, he thought as he approached his family, that was the least of his problems.

His younger sister Marianne saw him first, and he couldn’t miss the annoyance she quickly tried to mask with the smile she usually reserved for company.

“Kyle,” she said, “why don’t you and Emily go in the kitchen and get a snack?”

“Sure, Mom.” He spun his little sister around and headed her in the right direction. “C’mon, Emmy. Grown-ups wanna talk.”