Obsession Falls(65)

“Pains in the ass.” He cracked that almost smile of his and pointed out each brother in turn. “You’ve met Garrett. He wanted to be a cop from the time he was a kid. He was married for a while but she was the worst. They got divorced a few years ago, thankfully. Now he’s raising their son, Owen.”

“He seems like a nice guy.”

“He’s solid. This one is Zachary. He’s the smartass of the family. Despite the fact that he’s a man-child, he does well for himself. He’s an electrician; owns his own business. And that’s Theo. He played professional football for about a minute but he got injured. Now he’s the high school football coach. That one is Luke. You met him, too. He inherited our great-uncle’s custom auto shop.”

“Who’s that one?” I pointed to a boy on the far left. He was a little chubbier than the rest of them, with round cheeks and a bit of belly showing beneath his shirt. The type of kid well-meaning grown-ups referred to as husky.

“Reese.”

“That’s so weird, I knew who your other brothers were, but I don’t know if I’ve ever heard his name. What’s he like?”

He paused for a long moment. “I don’t know. He left Tilikum a long time ago. Hasn’t been back.”

Before I could ask why, he walked away, toward the kitchen. I understood. He didn’t want to talk about it. Despite my curiosity, I decided not to press the issue.

The back door opened and Marlene came in. She smiled warmly and adjusted her glasses. “Hi. Sorry, I was in the shop with your dad, I didn’t hear you drive up.”

“No problem,” Josiah said.

“Nice to see you again, Audrey.”

“Thanks. You too.”

“Is Dad around?” Josiah asked.

“He was right behind me.”

The door opened again and Paul came in. He was like an older version of Josiah, with the same perpetually furrowed brow and thick arms stuffed in flannel. He tipped his chin to me but didn’t say anything.

Yep. So much like Josiah.

“Audrey, are you responsible for the new Hometown Spotlight section in the paper?” Marlene asked. “Because it’s so charming.”

“Yes, that’s me. I’m glad you like it. My editor was a little stubborn about taking up front page real estate with something that’s not breaking news, but I convinced him to try it for a few weeks at least.”

“I loved it,” she said.

“Thanks. I’m hoping to interview the sheriff soon. I heard he’s originally from Seattle, so I want to know what it’s like to go from big city law enforcement to a small town.”

“Sheriff Cordero is such a good man,” Marlene said. “Hopefully you can pin him down. If not, let me know, I’ll put in a good word with his wife.”

“That would be great, thank you.”

Paul grabbed a towel and wiped off his hands. “I got the tile samples.”

“Let’s take a look,” Josiah said.

He slid a box closer and started taking out square tile samples. “You said neutral, so that’s what they gave me.”

Josiah moved them around, as if putting them in order. Some were in varying shades of beige, others gray. He slid a dark slate gray tile away from the others. I agreed. It was too dark.

He turned to me. “What do you think? Master bathroom floor. They’ll be larger than this, we’re just looking at color.”

That was easy. I pointed to the one I liked, a cream color. “This one. It will brighten everything up in there.”

“Agreed.” Josiah handed it to his dad. “Let’s do this in both upstairs bathrooms.”

“Done and done.” Paul’s eyes moved to me. “Good choice.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

“That will be pretty,” Marlene said. “What if we used that in our master bathroom?”

“Are we putting new tile in our bathroom?” Paul asked.

She smiled at him. “It doesn’t have to be right away but it would be nice.”

He leaned over and gave her a light kiss. “Anything for my bride.”

Oh my gosh, they were so adorable, I could have died.

There was a knock at the front door and I realized I was staring at Josiah’s parents, kind of dreamily. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to have noticed.

“That must be Louise,” Marlene said. “She’s picking up a casserole to take to Doris Tilburn. She’s recovering from gallbladder surgery.”

“Oh good,” Josiah said, his voice flat, “you get to meet my aunt Louise.”

I couldn’t tell by his tone if he was actually glad or if he was being sarcastic.

He’d said to assume sarcasm, so I went with that.

Marlene answered the door and an older woman in a bright red velour track suit swept in. Her long gray hair was in a ponytail and her lipstick matched her outfit.

Josiah made a noise that was a cross between a throat clear and a groan.

“Hi, Louise.” Marlene hugged her and they came into the kitchen. “Have you met Audrey?”

She turned to me and smiled. “I haven’t had the pleasure. I’m Louise Haven but you can just call me Aunt Louise.”

“It’s nice to meet you.”