“Hope, what aren’t you telling me?” Ryan advanced.
“Newman!” Hope stepped around him and hurried to her man, who was approaching in that slow easy way he always had of walking.
Paul Theodore Newman. Tall, assured, with a head full of blond curls, he was also an old friend to Ryan.
“Hey, baby.” He wrapped his arms gently around Hope and hugged her. “Not overdoing it, are you?”
“No. Mom made me take it easy.”
Ryan watched the couple and felt something inside him ease. He’d wondered about the relationship between the boy he’d known and his sister. Wondered how it could work, even though he’d been assured it did. All his worries slid away as he saw the genuine love they clearly had for each other.
Hope pressed her cheek to his chest. That was new too. Hope rarely needed anyone. Once it had just been him, and their mom occasionally. But even then, she hadn’t been the hug and hold on type.
He felt a stab of jealousy that she didn’t need him anymore. Which was ridiculous, as he’d chosen to put distance between them, not her.
What the hell had happened withWildlife? He’d be finding out before he left.
“We’re throwing the ball around, Newman. You coming?” Cubby asked. Ryan’s buddies had watched the reunion.
“You guys head on.” Newman waved them away.
“No, you go, Newman. I have catching up to do with Ryan and Mom.”
“Okay. But I’ll be home to cook dinner for all of us. Don’t even lift a peeler.” Newman kissed Hope’s nose.
“A peeler? Seriously?” Ryan said. “When did you get all protective and macho?”
Newman grinned, then gently released Hope and came forward.
“Well, hell, if it isn’t my favorite rock star. How are you, bud?”
They did some man slapping and a chest bump.
“All good, Newman, or should I say bro-in-law-to-be?”
Newman was a corporate raider. He took companies on the brink of folding and helped them rise from the ashes. The man was sharp, and in school they’d all copied his homework. “What’s it been, bud. Nine years?” he asked.
“Eleven.”
“Well, I’ll make up your bed when I get back.”
“Firstly, I can do that, and secondly, due to the imminent arrival of my niece or nephew, I’m staying at Macy’s cottage. Buster organized it.”
“I suppose you could have your old bed.”
He faced his mother again, hearing the reluctance in her voice. She’d offered but wasn’t really behind the idea of him sharing her space. “I know that, but I didn’t want to put you out when I practice with the guys online.”
His mother’s mouth drew into a line. “Then you’ve made the correct choice, as I have no wish to listen to that noise.”
“She loves you, really,” Newman said softly.
“I know what she’s about, so don’t sweat it.” Ryan waved his words away. But it did get to him that his mother had never acknowledged what he’d done. Never acknowledged she was proud of him. His career choices had never been quite good enough for her. And now she didn’t want to hear “that noise” like he was a total newbie just learning to play an instrument.
“You told him about the upcoming visit?” Newman looked at Hope, who Ryan noticed quickly dropped her eyes.
“No,” she mumbled.
“Hope, you need to tell him.”