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chin, he’d informed her a few weeks ago when she’d tried to tell him that the occasional pimple was not the end of the world. A man’s beard, he’d said. Not a wimpy zit.
    Raina was not ready for either development. Not quite yet.
    â€œWhy don’t you just call him Gideon?” Peter’s scowl was ominous. “He’s not your uncle.”
    â€œHe’s your uncle. He’s your father’s brother.”
    â€œYeah, well…where did you hide the damn hair dryer?”
    â€œPeter, please don’t talk like that.” She handed him the blow-dryer, and he mumbled his thanks. “You told me that this was where you wanted to come. We’re here. The next step is to venture beyond this room.”
    â€œIt’s been a long time since I’ve been up this way.” Barefoot and so far dressed only in his favorite ripped-knee jeans, he plopped on the rumpled bed he’d claimed as his, then fell back as though he’d just run a marathon. “I mean, I was just a kid. I don’t know him. I don’t know anybody here, and I feel like I’m supposed to. It’s weird.”
    â€œI know.” She sat down beside him and patted one knobby knee. “You miss your dad.”
    â€œYou always wanna blame everything on that.” He pushed up on his elbows and looked her in the eye. “It’s not that.”
    â€œTell me what’s wrong, then.”
    â€œNothing’s wrong. Why does something always have to be wrong? I just—” Dramatically he flopped back down again. “It isn’t like what I thought it was gonna be.”
    â€œYou haven’t been out of the room yet.” She knew it was no use to ask what he was looking for. He didn’t know. “Let’s go see what it’s going to be like. Give it a chance. If it’s no good, we’ll go home.”
    He sat up. “Is there a damn plug around here?”
    There went her chance to use the bathroom. “Try—”
    â€œFollowing the lamp cord, I know.” He dived for the head of the bed and tossed pillows over his shoulder like an overgrown pup burying a bone.
    She laughed and shook her head when he announced, “Pay dirt.” Then he flopped on his belly and hung his head over the side of the bed, brushing his hair forward. “You know what, though?” He tucked his chin and turned to look at her upside down. “He seems pretty cool.”
    â€œWho?”
    She held out her hand for the dryer, making an offer she hoped would hurry things along. It was the kind of thing he might have asked her to do for him a year or so ago. Now he might be offended. Then again, he might take her up on it. She never knew which way he was going to jump next.
    â€œUncle Gideon.” He plunked the dryer in her hand. “ Gideon. You know what Dad told me once? That his brother got all the looks, and he got the brains.”
    â€œYour father said that?” She turned the machine on low and directed it at his nape, gently finger-combing his hair and feeling favored by his willingness to confide a remembrance, and to still let her coddle him once in a while.
    So Gideon had all the looks, huh? He was the younger of the two, but physically, Gideon was the big brother. He’d certainly never shared Jared’s taste for expensive clothes, and she remembered Jared teasing Gideon about his need for a barber once. His hair wasn’t as long as it used to be, but it was still shoulder-length, still an attractive expression of hisown personality. But nothing, surely, that Jared would covet in any way.
    â€œThat was a strange thing for him to say. Your dad was very handsome, and Gideon is…” She shrugged. “Gideon is Gideon.”
    Peter peeked up at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    â€œIt means it’s been a long time since I’ve been up this way, too.” She smiled and turned the dryer on full