“What’s she like?” Isabel asked.
Jordan had to think about her answer for a minute. “She’s sophisticated and polished and a bit standoffish, but then we Buchanans tend to overwhelm people when they first meet us.”
“Do you like her?” Isabel asked.
“I really don’t know her,” she hedged. “And I’ve only been around her a couple of times.”
“But?” Kate prompted.
“But... no, I don’t like her. I haven’t seen her with him in a long time. I don’t think he loves her.”
“If she’s as uptight as Michael, it would be a good match,” Laurant interjected.
Jordan nodded. “He is uptight, isn’t he? He didn’t used to be that way.”
“Getting shot in the back three times will definitely change a person for a while,” Michelle said.
Kate turned to Isabel. “He’s lucky to be alive. He was in Afghanistan when it happened.”
“We tried to get more information, but no one is talking,” Jordan said. “Our father knows the details, but he’s the only one, and Michael acts like it never happened.”
“It did change him,” Kate said.
Jordan agreed, then added, “I miss the old Michael.”
Laurant reached for the bowl. “Hey, who ate all the potato chips?”
Everyone pointed at her and started laughing.
The men could hear their laughter all the way in the sunroom where they were camped out. It was quiet now because ESPN was showing highlights of last year’s football games, and the footage was riveting. Noah and Nick were sprawled in easy chairs with their feet up on ottomans, and Theo was half-asleep at one end of the sofa. Alec was sound asleep at the other end. Dylan walked over and nudged him awake when he started snoring.
Michael had just checked on Isabel once again and now stood in the doorway, drinking a Pepsi while he watched highlights of the Notre Dame–Michigan game.
At a commercial break Dylan pulled his phone from his pocket and punched in the number to hear the voice messages on his home landline in Silver Springs. It took several minutes to get through them all, and when he was finished, he turned to Noah. “Can you pull up YouTube on the television?”
“Sure. What do you want to see?” Noah asked as he reached for the remote on the table next to him.
“Isabel singing a song she wrote. It’s causing quite a sensation. According to most of the messages on my phone it’s gone viral and has really taken off.”
It took only a couple of minutes for Noah to find it. No one said a word while they watched Isabel hypnotize her audience with her voice. She captivated all of them. Michael could barely catch a breath. It seemed that every cell in his body reacted to her, and he didn’t have any idea what he could do about it. He thought he should turn around and walk away, but he didn’t.
As soon as the song ended, Nick whispered, “Wow.”
Noah nodded agreement. “Wow” summed it up.
“She’s incredible.” Theo made the comment.
Michael couldn’t keep his irritation from showing. “Look at how the crowd is grabbing and pulling at her.”
“Play it again,” Alec requested.
And so they all watched and listened to Isabel once more. The reaction was the same.
“She really is amazing,” Alec said. “I remember her singing at your wedding, Dylan, but her voice is much stronger now, more mature.”
Dylan dropped down into a chair. “The numbers are skyrocketing.”
“You mean the number who have watched the video?”