“If the only damage she could inflict was breaking your heart, I could look the other way. Like you said, it’s your life. But she could hurt all of us. Jacob’s already screwed up pretty badly. Mom’s holding the party to reassure everyone that things are going to be okay. And they will. There’s plenty of money to go around with the funds I’ve set up for the family so nobody will suffer the indignity of having to downsize while trying to live down Jacob’s bigamy and all the fallout from that.” Gavin shook his head. “Don’t make things worse by mixing Kerri up in all this.”
“She’s trying to help. She has been helping.”
“Don’t let your perception blind you to the reality. Just think about what I said.” Gavin started to turn.
“I will,” Ethan said. “And before you go, I want you to consider who truly deserves your distrust and judgment: a woman who’s just doing her job or our brother who left the company in shambles and ran off.”
Gavin glanced at Ethan over a shoulder. “I don’t trust either of them,” he said, then slipped inside.
Chapter Twenty-One
AFTER ETHAN DRAGGED Gavin away, Kerri stood in a corner and nibbled on a piece of brie. The rich texture melted on her tongue and she almost wept. High cholesterol or not, she deserved this much after what she’d dealt with so far.
Those two better not be fighting. She didn’t want to be responsible for a rift between the two brothers, especially when she was a temporary fixture in Ethan’s life. And it seemed doubly wrong to come to Stella’s party under false pretenses and then cause trouble for two of her sons on top of it.
Kerri looked around and saw a trio of young boys who seemed to be about ten fooling with a golf club in the backyard. They made a big deal of teeing up precisely and taking a wide-footed stance, shifting their hips back and forth like the pros and trying to look cool, but everything about the way they held the club and their swing was wrong, and none of their balls went very far or in the right direction.
“Give me the club, Eric,” one of the boys said. “You’re totally doing everything wrong.”
“Like you know how to do it. My coach said you have to rotate your shoulders like this.” The other boy got into position and swung. The ball careened off to the left, and his friends laughed and pointed.
Kerri winced. Whoever his parents were, they should have demanded a refund. The kid was awful.
Eric turned bright red, and his mouth thinned as he glared at the others. He was dressed just as expensively as the other two, but something seemed a bit off about the way he was interacting with them. The other two were clearly just as ignorant about golf as he was, but they had an abundance of self-confidence while Eric looked uncertain and a little humiliated.
Look away, Kerri. It’s none of your business. Let one of the family deal with it.
Kerri swallowed the last bit of cheese, pushed away from the wall and went out to join them. The boys looked at her questioningly.
“You guys are all doing it wrong,” she said baldly.
“No way,” the biggest boy said, as full of confidence as he was ignorant of proper technique.
“In fact, way. I’ve studied with the top coaches in the country.” During her childhood, when she’d done her best to be the grandson she’d thought her grandfather wanted. And as an adult her golf skills came in handy here and there. They hadn’t earned her grandfather’s love, but they gave her an opportunity to schmooze with clients who seemed to spend all their free time on the green. They’d admired her long drives and ability to hold her liquor. “Trust me, you’re doing it wrong.” She extended her open hand, palm up. “Lemme see that.” The boy gave her the club.
She got into position. “This”—she swung—“is how you do it.”
The boys just stared with their mouths open as the small white ball made a clean arc.
“See?” She gestured at Eric. “Come here. I’ll correct your form.”
He turned even redder, but he came forward and let her teach him. He was a quick study, even though it was obvious he’d never had any proper instruction. When he finally hit the ball cleanly, she clapped him on the shoulder. “There you go.”
“You should be in there enjoying the party instead of dealing with these troublemakers,” came a low voice.
She turned and saw Meredith with a glass of white wine in her hand. “Actually, I am enjoying myself.” And to her surprise, she really was.
“I’m going to steal her away, boys. You all behave,” she said.
Kerri followed Meredith amid a chorus of “Thanks!” from the kids.
“Thank you for being so nice,” Meredith said. “Especially to Eric. He’s my son.”
Ker
ri blinked. The other woman seemed too young to have a boy his age unless he was much bigger than his peers.
“I don’t let him play, though he wants to because he wants to do everything his uncles do. But I’m so… Well, I’m clueless about sports” —Meredith wrinkled her nose— “and I haven’t bothered to arrange for lessons.”