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complaining because I’ve totally got it in the bag. The husband is guilty, and the silent beard guy is his cohort.”
    “My usual technique is not going to work here,” Sadie said.
    “You mean the one where you stun people with your beauty, fool them into thinking you’re a shallow airhead, and then dazzle them with your brilliance,” he said.
    “Yes. Totally wrong for this setting. People here respect authority, and they don’t see women as authority figures. We’ve stumbled back to the nineteenth century. For the duration of our stay, you’re the expert, and I’m along to learn your techniques.”
    “Excellent,” Hal said. “What do you think we should do first?”
    “Nap.”
    “This is why you only have one client,” he said.
    “We’re going to stakeout the pumpkin patch tonight. We need some rest,” she said.
    He bounced lightly on the bed. “Why does it have to be a single? We could have napped together. Cousins nap together all the time, right?”
    “Totally,” she agreed. “As long as they’re under the age of two.” She patted his head, scuttled back to her room, and made herself fall asleep.
     
     
    She awoke sometime later to a glorious smell. The house was redolent with the scent of sausage and fried apples. Her nose led her to the kitchen where she found Fiona and Hal.
    “Fiona, your divorce is official, right? I like to make sure before I ask a woman to marry me,” Hal said. He was practically drooling beside the stove, and Sadie didn’t blame him. If the food tasted half as good as it smelled, then it would be delicious.
    Fiona deftly flipped whatever was on the burner. Her hands spanned almost the width of the pan; she dwarfed Hal, both in girth and height, and yet she blushed like a schoolgirl at the attention.
    “Oh, now,” she said, setting the pan back on the stove with a clatter.
    “Good morning,” Sadie said. “Or rather good evening.”
    “Hi, sunshine,” Hal said, smiling.
    “Did you sleep?” she asked.
    He shook his head.
    “Hal, you didn’t sleep last night either,” she chided.
    “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to pulling all-nighters. Sleep is for the weak. All I need is a steady supply of caffeine. Incidentally, I’m seeing four of you right now, but it’s not cause for alarm until I start seeing six.”
    “You’re going to fall asleep in the pumpkin patch,” she said.
    “Apologize to the Great Pumpkin for me, will you?” Hal said. Fiona directed them to the table. She hadn’t contributed anything to the conversation, but Sadie thought that was the way she liked it. She was a quiet, steady sort of person. Like Luke. A wave of longing for him hit her like a fist to the gut. She pushed it aside.
    Fiona closed her eyes in what might have been prayer. Sadie dropped her head, trying to remember the mealtime grace her family used to say. “God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food.” Gideon had always turned “food” into a joke, making it rhyme with “good” to tease Sadie and her mother. As the years waned, Victoria had found it less cute until eventually the prayer was dropped altogether and family meals disintegrated into tense silence.
    The food, though heavy, was delicious. Sadie and Hal told Fiona so. She didn’t reply, but her ample cheeks warmed again, and she smiled a little. She had a dimple if one was inclined to look closely. Fiona was a woman of contrasts. Sadie liked interesting people. She could probably do quite a case study on her hostess. In a way, she and Fiona were mirror images of each other. She was dainty and feminine with blond goldilocks curls and wide blue eyes. She gave the image of someone who had never broken a nail, much less climbed a tree. But inwardly she was still the tomboy she had once been—the daddy’s girl who loved nothing better than fishing, skipping rocks, and target practice. Fiona, on the other hand, had all the looks of a masculine warrior and yet seemed to like all things frilly.