His Baby Bargain. Cathy Thacker Gillen

Matt.

      “Even more interesting,” Lulu murmured, waggling her brows.

      Matt gave his sister a quelling look. “I don’t see how,” he retorted.

      “Well, for months now you’ve refused to go out with anyone I’ve tried to fix you up with!”

      Lulu had been trying to fix Matt up?

      If so, then why didn’t she ask me? Sara wondered, a little jealously, given the fact they were both single, the same age and had known each other before. Then she immediately pushed the ridiculous notion away. She was a widow with a new baby who had also made it clear to everyone around her that she didn’t want a love life...

      Exuding sisterly exasperation, Lulu continued, “Nor would you deign to ask anyone out on your own! And yet here you are...with Sara and her crew...on what certainly looks like a social outing...”

      Once again, Sara lifted a staying palm and stepped in to clarify. “Only in the sense that the festival is a community event. And we are all members of the Laramie family.”

      Lulu looked at Matt, wordlessly beseeching him to verify that was indeed the case.

      Instead, to Sara’s consternation, the big jerk merely shrugged and kept a poker face. Mulishly refusing to comment either way.

      Determined to set the record straight, Sara continued firmly, “If we want Champ to get used to all sorts of crowds and venues, we have to bring him to all sorts of gatherings. Some big, like this. Some medium-sized. Some small and intimate.”