“Is that Nash?” Stef asked, mercifully changing the subject.
I looked up and spotted him ambling slowly in my direction.
Sloane hummed. “Those Morgan brothers sure were built to catch the eye.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Nash Morgan looked every bit the wounded hero. I noticed quite a few of the moms and even one or two of the dads thinking the same thing. He was wearing worn jeans and a long-sleeved Henley. He had a baseball cap pulled down low, and I noticed he’d ditched the sling for his arm. He walked slowly, carefully. It looked casual, but I guessed the pace was dictated more by pain and exhaustion than by a desire to look cool.
“Mornin’，” he said when he arrived.
“Hey,” I said. “Want a seat?”
He shook his head, eyes on the field as the Knock ’Em Outs played defense.
Waylay glanced up and spotted him and waved.
He waved with his good arm, but I saw the grimace under the smile.
The man should be sitting at home resting and healing, not strolling around town without his sling. I realized my annoyance with his brother was spilling over onto Nash.
“Sit,” I insisted, rising. I all but manhandled him into my chair.
“I don’t need to sit, Naomi. I don’t need to be at home resting. I need to be out here doing what I’m good at.”
“And what’s that?” I asked. “Looking like you got hit by a fleet of school buses?”
“Ouch,” Stef said. “Better listen to her, Chief. She’s mean when she’s riled.”
“I don’t get riled,” I scoffed.
“You should be riled given the bomb that got dropped on you,” Nash said.
Uh-oh.
“I changed my mind. You can stand up and walk away,” I decided.
He looked smug then. “You didn’t tell them?”
“Tell us what?” Sloane and Stef said at the same time.
“I didn’t get a chance,” I fibbed.
“Did you get a chance to tell your parents? Or Liza J, seein’ as how she owns the property in question?”
“What’s happening right now?” Sloane wondered.
Stef’s eyes narrowed. “I think our close-mouthed little friend here is keeping more from us than just her exploits in bed.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” I huffed.
“Naomi didn’t mention to you that Tina was connected to a break-in in town?” Nash asked, knowing full well I hadn’t.
“She most definitely didn’t mention that.”
“How about that in order to commit the robbery, Tina broke into Naomi’s cottage and stole one of her dresses?”
Sloane tilted her sunglasses down her nose to look at me. “Not cool, babe. Not cool at all.”
“She pulled the ol’ Wrong Twin again, didn’t she?” Stef asked, not looking at me. It wasn’t a good sign.
“Look. I just found out about this—”
“I told you three days ago, Naomi,” Nash reminded me.
“I’m not real clear on the law in Virginia. Is it okay to put duct tape over a police officer’s mouth?”
“Not when he’s on the clock,” Nash said with a grin.
“Why wouldn’t you tell us? Why wouldn’t you say something? If we need to be on the lookout for your sister, it’s better if we know about it,” Sloane pointed out.
“Let me explain something about our little Witty here,” Stef said to Sloane.
“And here we go,” I muttered.
“See, Naomi doesn’t like to inconvenience anyone by doing anything annoying like talking about what’s wrong. Asking for help. Or standing up for what she needs and wants. She prefers to scurry around like a mouse, making sure everyone else’s needs are met.”
“Well, that’s just fucked up,” Sloane decided.
I winced. “Look, guys. I understand that you’re concerned. I get it. I am too. But right now, my priority is to get custody of my niece. I don’t have the time or the energy to worry about anything else.”
“Your evil twin has been in your house that you share with her daughter,” Sloane interjected.
“She stole from you. She committed a crime disguised as you so once again you’d be the one to pay the consequences. And you didn’t think it was worth mentioning?”
“Thanks a lot, Nash,” I said.
Sloane crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t blame a man who just took two bullets,” she said.
“Guys, don’t you think you’re overreacting?”