We looked good together.

We looked . . . right.

“We should invite Caroline to dinner,” I blurted out, almost desperately.

A buffer. Caroline would be the perfect buffer, and it would give me an opportunity to get to know her better. I hadn’t seen her again these last two weeks.

If Roane suspected my reasons, he didn’t let on. Instead he frowned. “Caro won’t leave Helena alone for tea on such short notice. Believe me, I’ve tried inviting her to different things and she declines every time. I stopped asking ages ago.”

It was my turn to frown. “Well, maybe that’s the problem. You stopped asking.”

Roane drew to a halt in the middle of the canned food aisle. “I think I know my cousin well enough to know what the answer will be, but if you insist.” Clearly irritated, he yanked his cell out of his back pocket to call her. His irritation was strangely amusing, probably because he was usually so laid-back about everything. Holding out my hand, I said, “Let me.”

His brows puckered. “You want to call her?”

“Maybe she’ll find it harder to turn me down.”

Roane’s lips twitched as he slapped the cell into my palm. “Aye, anyone would.”

I couldn’t help my answering smile, even though I shouldn’t encourage his flirtation. He’d already pulled up Caroline’s number, so I just hit the call button. After a few rings, she answered, “Hi, Roane.”

“No, it’s Evie using Roane’s cell. How are you?”

“Oh. Oh, I’m very well, thank you, Evie. How are you?”

God, I loved the way she talked. “I’m good but I’d be even better if you agreed to join Roane and me for dinner tonight at my place. Roane’s cooking. We’ll pick you up in”—I glanced at the time and calculated how long it would take us to get the groceries and return to Alnster—“an hour. Okay? Great. We’ll see you then.” I hung up before she could respond.

Roane stared at his cell as I held it out to him, and then me, then his cell, then back to me. Suddenly he burst out laughing as he took it from me. Throwing his arm around my shoulders, Roane pulled me into his side to kiss my temple. “You’re mental, lass,” he declared, still chuckling.

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“We’ll see.” He released me to push the cart up the aisle. “If she doesn’t call back in the next fifteen minutes, it worked.”

Turns out . . . it did work.

* * *

• • •

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that making connections with anyone in Alnster was akin to running with a knife. At some point I was going to trip over and land on the pointy end. It would be painful, even debilitating.

Yet I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

Not with Roane.

And apparently not with Caroline.

I’d stopped thinking about time and what it meant. Quantity didn’t matter in life. Quality did. Roane was a quality human being, and there was something about Caroline that drew me to her. Maybe it was because they were cousins and for some reason I could sense they both possessed a soul-deep kindness. Surprisingly, I’d also stopped questioning my own naivete. I was choosing to risk following my instincts, and there would be no more second-guessing.

I would befriend Caroline just as I had Roane, even if it hurt when I had to say goodbye.

How much could it hurt after only a month anyway?

Roane had been amused when we pulled up to a large cottage on the outskirts of Alnster. A tarmac road led all the way up to the house through the woodland. I could see from the SUV that the woods ended here, the view beyond the cottage that of fields.

“It’s a pity it’s one story. An upper floor would give views of the village,” Roane had told me just before he opened the door to get out.

His actions had been halted by the sight of Caroline bursting out of the front door, Shadow bounding at her back. She wore a calf-length navy skirt, the same Mary Janes from before, a navy sweater with a Peter Pan collar, and a pink long-line cardigan over the ensemble. In her hands was another Tupperware box.

Yay!

Shadow had jumped into the back of the Defender, saying a happy hello to Roane before giving my neck a swipe with his tongue. I’d giggled and scratched his ears, giving him the attention he desired as Caro got in beside him. She’d helped Shadow settle into the back seat and beamed brightly at Roane. Her smile had dimmed when she turned to me, but I hoped it was out of shyness and not dislike. “Hello. Let’s go.”

“Helena all right about this, Caro?” Roane had asked as he turned the SUV around. I’d caught a glimpse of a face peering out from the front window of the cottage as we left.