“Dinner was wonderful, Mom.”

      “Thank you, darlin’.” Maeve Kelly beamed at Shannon, one of Reed’s two older sisters. “There’s nothing I enjoy more than feeding my family.”

      Wednesday-night dinner at his mother’s was a weekly ritual in Reed’s family. Not everyone could always attend. Shannon was a nurse anesthetist and her husband, John, was a lawyer with a busy practice. The same was true of Reed’s other sister, Bridget, and her husband.

      If everyone in the family, including brothers Daniel and Aidan, their spouses and children, came to dinner, the total count was twenty-three. Tonight only Reed, Shannon and her family, and Daniel and his family were there, making a total of eleven.

      Normally, Reed enjoyed these gatherings. With everyone’s busy schedules, he didn’t get to see much of his siblings and their families, even though they all lived in Eastwick or its environs. So he made an effort to attend the Wednesday dinners. Today, however, he’d just as soon have skipped it, because everyone, but most especially Shannon, had been giving him furtive looks filled with pity. He knew they all thought he was miserable over the breakup with Emma, but he also knew if he made a big deal of denying his misery, they’d think he was protesting too much.

      Once again he realized the best thing he could do to stop all the gossip in Eastwick and the unwanted pity of his family would be to start seeing someone else…and fast.

      Felicity.

      Jeez! No matter how he tried, he couldn’t get the sexy blonde out of his mind. Nor could he stop thinking about the way she’d looked earlier. He knew some people thought Felicity had ruined her hair when she’d chopped it all off after her divorce, but he liked the short, spiky style. In his opinion, she looked sexier than the other Debs, the tight-knit group of friends that she ran around with. They tended toward more conservative styles, whereas Felicity looked as if she could have been one of the trendy actresses on television.

      Today she’d worn some kind of sparkly butterfly clip in her hair and one of her trademark short black dresses that showed off her rather remarkable legs.

      He grinned, thinking of those legs and the completely inappropriate shoes she’d had on, all pointy toes and spike heels. She definitely hadn’t looked as if she belonged in the stables, but she’d certainly gotten him thinking in terms of throwing her into the hayloft.

      “Hey, Reed, you doing okay?”

      He turned to Shannon, who had scooted over next to him now that her two teenage girls, along with Daniel’s kids, had begun clearing the table.

      “I’m fine. Why?”

      Shannon, who had the Kelly blue eyes and dark hair, shrugged. “You know…” She lowered her voice, although no one else at the table was paying any attention to them.

      Reed stifled a sigh. “Trust me. I’m fine.”

      She looked as if she wanted to say something else, but instead bit her lip. Her eyes held concern.

      Reed reached over and squeezed her hand. “Thanks for worrying about me, Shannon, but I’m really okay. In fact, I’m relieved.”

      “Well, I think the whole thing stinks. What’s wrong with that woman, anyway?”

      “There’s nothing wrong with Emma. She was just more honest than I was. Our breakup is for the best.”

      “You’re not just saying that? You’ve been awfully distracted today.”

      He shook his head. “No, I’m not just saying that.” Shrugging, he added, “There was always something missing between us. I felt it, but I didn’t want to face it. I’m glad Emma did.”

      Now Shannon gave him a real smile. “You know, I never thought she was right for you, either.”

      He couldn’t help grinning. Her loyalty warmed him. He could always count on his family.

      “What’s going on over there?” Daniel said.

      “Who wants to know?” Shannon said cheekily, winking at Reed.

      After a few more lighthearted remarks, Daniel’s wife, Anna Lisa, turned to Shannon and said, “Hey, guess who I saw coming out of Goldman’s Deli this afternoon.”

      “Have no idea,” Shannon said.

      “Alex Newhouse.”

      “Really?”

      Alex Newhouse sightings were rare in Eastwick, for even when he was home and between films, he usually stuck close to his gated estate, especially during the height of tourist season.

      “Yes. You should have seen the tourists gawking at him.” Anna Lisa giggled. “Of course, I wasn’t much better. God, the man’s gorgeous! Those eyes…” She sighed. “Did you know Felicity Farnsworth is doing his daughter’s wedding?”

      Shannon nodded. “I’d heard.”

      “Wouldn’t you kill for an invitation?”

      “I know I would,” Reed’s mother said. “I’ve loved Alex Newhouse from the moment I first saw him in a movie.”

      “He is magnetic,” Shannon agreed.

      Reed wondered if he should mention the fact that the Newhouse wedding pictures were going to be taken at Rosedale. And that Alex would be in them. Best not to, he decided. The Newhouse family wouldn’t want an audience, especially at a photo shoot that was costing them five grand.

      “Felicity’s done quite well for herself, hasn’t she?” Anna Lisa said.

      “Surprisingly so,” Shannon said.

      Daniel stifled a yawn, clearly bored with this talk of weddings. “Reed, want to go catch the rest of the ball game?”

      What Reed really wanted to do was stay and hear what the women had to say about Felicity, but he couldn’t think of any way to do that, so he reluctantly pushed his chair back.

      “Why do you say surprisingly so?” Anna Lisa asked.

      Yeah, Reed thought, stalling by pretending something was in his shoe. Why do you?

      “Oh, you know,” Shannon said. “She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. I just didn’t think she’d have that kind of drive.”

      “She strikes me as a woman who, once she sets her sights on something, will work like crazy to accomplish it,” Anna Lisa said. “I give her credit for picking herself up after that horrible divorce of hers and making something of her life.”

      “It’s too bad she doesn’t