SEBASTIAN shifted in his chair at the dinner table. After the news about Alexandra and Wilkes, he was less eager to be at his aunt and uncle’s house tonight, but it beat spending the evening alone. Aunt Sadie’s eyes softened when she placed the garlic mashed potatoes on the table in front of him. She probably knew about what he was going through, even without Sebastian saying a word.

“Sorry I’m a bit tired from my physio session today,” he lied, trying to save face.

“No need to apologize, son,” his uncle Lucas told him from the head of the table. “I mean, you’ve always been more on the quiet side.”

“Don’t worry about us,” his aunt added. “You hardly talk much after those sessions, but now we think we have a better understanding about why that is tonight.”

Sebastian looked over at his aunt when she finally took a seat so they could start eating. “Really? You’ve already figured me out, haven’t you? I could never hide stuff from the two of you.”

Sebastian said that, but was skeptical. Unless they picked up watching TV all of a sudden after not owning one for the thirty-plus years they had been together, there was no way she could have his situation figured out. Hell, even he didn’t have his situation figured out. Still, while he was skeptical, he was also a bit curious now. “Tell me, then. What is it you think you understand is going on with me? Maybe I need all the help I can get.” It was as much a challenge as it was a request.

He reached for a piece of bread, waiting for one of them to say something. He was expecting some long, drawn out explanation, but instead, Aunt Sadie surprised him with three short words.

“You’re in love.”

“Excuse me? How did you guess that?” He was fairly certain he snorted somewhere in his reply. She was right, but how on earth did she figure this out without him saying a thing? It was beyond him.

With confidence, she replied, “You might be trying to tell yourself you’re not, but you’re not fooling anyone. I’m guessing you aren’t even doing a decent job at fooling yourself.” A slight smile turned up one corner of her lips. “Go ahead, try to tell me I’m wrong.”

“I’m more interested in what I’m doing, or not doing, to give off whatever is making you so sure of this.” He admitted to nothing. Nothing. If he did, their next request would be to meet her. Right now, there was no one to meet.

After a sip of her wine, she sat her glass down carefully and tilted her head, staring at Sebastian with an odd expression on her face. “Wow. You really are in denial, aren’t you, son? Whoever this girl is, she did a number on you. Was it a nasty break-up?” Her words flowed out without a breath between sentences. Sebastian opened his mouth to say something when she spoke again. “Wait…this is pretty recent, isn’t it?”

“You can’t have a breakup with someone you never really had a chance with,” he finally admitted. “So, how long have you been a psychic, Aunt Sadie?” He looked over at his uncle. “Has she always been like this? I haven’t seen her like this before.”

Uncle Lucas nodded. “There’s no point trying to keep anything from Sadie, son. She’ll drag it out of you before you ever open your mouth to speak, so you might as well lay it on the line.”

Sebastian turned to his aunt, hoping there was still time to change the subject. “Do you think you can share your garlic mashed potatoes recipe? These are great with the pot roast.”

“Hmmm.” Something about the way she was studying him made him uncomfortable. He was either being scrutinized or was about to get a lecture on the tribulations of dating.

No thank you, I’ve had enough of it this round.

Remaining silent, he added nothing more. He cocked an eyebrow, filled his mouth with the pot roast on his plate, and waited. He was sure the curiosity on his face was information enough, and curious he was, as to what analysis she would come up with. She made it clear she was going to ignore his attempt to change the subject. She wasn’t going to let this topic go.

“Why do you feel you never had a chance before, if you feel so strongly for her now?” Aunt Sadie resumed eating as if this was a suitable dinner topic for family, like world news, or politics, or the top wine and cheese pairings during the summer months. He, on the other hand, was completely out of his element.

“It’s a long story,” he answered, immediately realizing he had fallen into her trap by getting right back into the topic.

“It always is,” she said with a smile. “So, let’s hear it. Your uncle and I don’t have any other plans for tonight. All we have is time. Besides, talking about it usually helps. Most normal people call it venting.” Her smile grew to a grin. “What’s her name?”

“Alexandra,” he uttered.

“Tell us how you met her,” she encouraged.

He took a deep breath. This was too tough a conversation to have just hours after learning the woman who told him out of the blue that she loved him was now back with her ex. “I think I’d like to leave well enough alone, Aunt Sadie.”

“Tell me something. What do you have to lose? It’s not like you have anyone else to talk to about it. You parents wanted us to remain close, and it’s clearly bothering you, so why not?”

Ahhh. The guilt trip. Works every time.

Deciding he wouldn’t go into too much detail, he told them, “She grew up next door to me.”

“The girl next door! How cute and cliché. Convenient too. So, you grew up together. Go on.”

The weight of just that admission felt heavy on his chest. Whoever said talking about things was therapeutic must not have had much emotion in the mix. This felt heavy and empty and useless all at once, not at all therapeutic or helpful.

Aunt Sadie raised her eyebrows. “You can tell me.”

Sebastian opened his mouth to politely ask her to please drop the subject when his phone rang in his pocket. A smile crept up his face before he pulled it from his pocket. This could be the save to get him out of this interrogation, never mind how good dinner tasted tonight.

“I’m so sorry,” he apologized, looking down at it to see who was calling, fully intending to exaggerate whatever the call was about so he could leave before the hot seat burst into flames with him in it. When he saw the number on the screen staring back at him, he thought twice about answering at all.

Why exactly is Alexandra Storme calling me…and why now?

He wasn’t up for talking to her. He swiped the reject call button, slid the phone back into his pocket, and told his aunt and uncle something pressing came up. It was too much to take right now. In his Jeep, he pulled out the cell phone again, this time checking for messages. There were six voice and text messages. The first five were from Alexandra, all telling him she needed to speak with him urgently—no doubt to come up with some story to explain away what happened between her and Wilkes. The next was from Clint. He tabbed to Clint’s number in the call logs and tapped the green call icon. Clint picked up after one ring.

“Hey Bash.”

“Hey. I just saw your call. What’s up?”

“I was hoping you had time to swing by here for a few minutes this evening. I could use your help with something, and there’s no way I’d ask anyone else.”

“Sure. I’m just leaving my aunt’s place now. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

Beth was out when Sebastian made it to Clint’s place. He helped move a small but clunky ottoman from one bedroom to another. It was something Beth probably couldn’t handle on her own anyway, but not so heavy that it would bother Sebastian’s knee. On his return downstairs, the TV was on the music channel, naturally. He would have asked Clint to change it, but it was country music. He wasn’t too worried about having to see Lexxi Rock show up, however after five minutes into another odd job—fixing a living room ceiling vent that had been rattling and driving Clint insane—Sebastian realized he was wrong. There they were, Wilkes and Lexxi, in a clip of the music video for their upcoming duet, no doubt. Clint didn’t allow him to ignore it, either.

“Hey, there she is. Can you even believe we met her?” Sebastian continued tightening the screws that held up the vent, and didn’t answer. “Have you heard the new song she did with her ex?” he asked.

“You mean her boyfriend,” Sebastian pointed out.

Clint huffed. “Not even close.”

“Well, they sure look like they’re together. It’s also all over the magazines and tabloids. There has to be some truth to it.”

“Maybe you should have asked her to move in with you when you had the chance.”

“I did. Look, forget it.” Sebastian had no intention of getting into what went down between him and Alexandra.

Clint turned back to the TV, pointing at it as he appeared to be gearing up to speak at length. “Just look at them. Look at her body language. She’s all business. Nothing like she used to be before he cheated on her. Look at how she’s sitting on that bar stool. See that?” Clint pointed until Sebastian stopped what he was doing with the air vent and turned to look. “She’s leaning away from him. A woman who’s interested in a man would lean towards him. He, on the other hand, is all about her. It’s just not reciprocated.”

Sebastian narrowed one eye and glared down at Clint from the step-ladder. “The kiss they aired seemed reciprocated enough.”

Clint looked up at him, a sly grin tightening his mouth. “Don’t you know a publicity stunt when you see one? Wait. Never mind. Don’t answer that. I’m sure you don’t.” He laughed. “Every shot of those two that has surfaced the past little while has been bullshit. Well, except that one of them kissing. That one still baffles me a little because in every other picture, it’s obvious her heart’s just not in it.”

“Can we drop this so I can finish up what I came here to do?” At this point, Sebastian was really ready to pack it in.

“Listen to me, man. I saw the way she was looking at you the night she came for dinner. She looked at you with much more interest than she looks at cowboy there…and she’s dated him. What does that tell you?”

Sebastian stepped down the ladder. “It tells me that you won’t give up this topic, and as I’m done with this air vent, I’ll just head on home now, buddy.”

“Come on now. I’m telling you she wants you. Why is that so hard for you to take?”

Picking up the ladder and stepping to the front door, Sebastian told him, “If this is how she shows me she wants me, I’d rather be alone. On that note, I’ve got to start training tomorrow for the firefighter physical. I’m meeting up with Nate and Rodrick really early in the morning. I’ll get this back in the garage. Let’s talk about it another time.”

“Like never, huh?”

With one foot already out the front door, Bash answered, “That would work too. Tell Beth ‘Hi’ for me when she gets in, okay? Have a good night.”