Page 15 of Shadowed Witness (The Secrets of Kincaid #2)

Allye found herself next to Eric at the table. Bryce and Corina sat on the opposite side, with Hailey and Wesley across from each other on the end closest to Jenna’s high chair.

Eric slipped a small chunk of meat from his plate and held it under the table. Houston inhaled it, his tail loudly thumping against Bryce’s leg as he enjoyed the treat.

“You’re spoiling my dog,” Corina said.

“Is that a problem?”

She shifted sideways to look at the German shepherd. “I guess not.” She turned her eyes to Bryce. “Not like my husband hasn’t been spoiling him since we returned from our honeymoon.”

Bryce didn’t look up from his plate. “That is categorically false.” He cut a corner off his own steak and offered it to Houston. “I’ve been doing it since we started dating again.” He planted a quick kiss on Corina’s cheek, and she leaned into him.

Allye grinned. “All right, you love birds. Remember there are other people present.”

Bryce cocked his head. “You hear something, Corina?”

“Nope.”

“Didn’t think so.” He kissed his wife again.

Allye kicked him under the table.

“Ow!”

She mimicked his head movement from a moment before. “Oh, that’s funny. Eric, did you hear something?”

Eric just shook his head, but she saw the hint of a smile as he lifted a spoonful of mashed potatoes to his lips. Everyone else chuckled, and Bryce gave them a mock glare before throwing up his hands.

“Fine. No more PDA—for now.”

Allye’s phone rang.

“Rude,” Bryce teased.

“It’s Mom.” She swiped to answer it. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Hi. Where are you?”

“Eating at Bryce and Corina’s.”

“Oh. Did you forget about dinner?”

She groaned. “Oh, Mom. I’m so sorry.”

Her mom’s sigh came through the line. “It’s okay.”

“Could we do tomorrow? Or dinner Tuesday?”

“Tomorrow’s out—I’m meeting with Thomas Marshall about a newspaper article he wants to run about local real estate, and I’ve got a house to show Tuesday evening.”

“I could do early. Or late.” She waited for her mom to think through her appointment schedule.

“Around eight?” she finally said. “We should be done by then, but I’ll have to call you.”

“That’s fine.” She paused. “I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll see you Tuesday.”

“Okay. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

She blew out a breath and slipped the phone back into her pocket.

“What was that?” Bryce asked.

“Mom and I were supposed to go to Zhan’s for dinner. I completely forgot.”

“You’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

“I’ve had a lot on my mind.” She avoided looking at Hailey, but she could feel her cousin’s gaze on her.

“Anything I can help with?” Corina asked.

Allye shook her head. “No. But I’ve had a lot of senior photo sessions lately, plus I’ve been working on my photos and knitted items for the Wool Fest next weekend.

I’m trying some new ideas this year, and they’ve been more involved than I expected.

” All true, though neither of those were the real reason she was struggling.

But now was not the time to go into all that.

“Let me know if you change your mind.”

“Same here,” Hailey said. Her tone held a slight undercurrent, but no one besides Allye seemed to catch it.

She bit back a sigh. Though she appreciated the offer, there was nothing either of them could do to fix her real problems—and delegating anything festival related would require more mental energy than she had to expend.

“Don’t stress too much over it. Your displays are always stellar,” Bryce said.

“Thanks.” Despite the enormity of her other issues, she hoped he was right. She loved the annual weekend festival and hated that things weren’t coming together like they usually did. Or maybe they were, but it really didn’t feel like it.

She picked at her food as the conversation turned to other things, but she wasn’t hungry anymore. Well, she hadn’t really been hungry all day. Unfortunate, because this tasted great.

Allye glanced around the table. Everyone seemed to be fully focused on predictions for the upcoming football game, which she had no interest in. But she didn’t mind—and she much preferred this topic to the previous one.

Hailey added a spoonful of mashed potatoes to Jenna’s plate of soft foods.

Without releasing the bit of roll in her hand, the baby stuck two fingers in the new option, tasted it, and flung the bread over her shoulder.

Houston, who had strategically positioned himself near the high chair once the guys stopped feeding him, caught the scrap midair.

Allye stifled a smile. The dog was smart.

He knew where the most food was likely to fall.

Jenna raised goopy fingers in greeting when she caught her watching. Allye lifted her hands above the table and signed, You like mashed potatoes?

Grinning, the baby mimicked the sign for potatoes , then started babbling at her in an adorable baby version of ASL, with quite a few distinct signs in the mix.

Allye’s gaze drifted to her cousin. Hailey was watching the exchange with pride.

As she should. As soon as Jenna had been diagnosed with congenital hearing loss, Hailey had begun poring over ASL books and videos.

Allye and the rest of the family had learned a few signs, some of them getting further than others, but Hailey had thrown herself into it and made sure to expose Jenna to the language as much as possible.

Hailey caught her eye and signed, You okay?

She nodded.

Her cousin made a sign she didn’t recognize, but if her expression held any clue to the meaning, she’d probably signed a sarcastic Really? or something to that effect.

Now was not a good time for this conversation. Making sure no one else was paying attention, she finger spelled L-A-T-E-R .

Hailey responded with Yes and a sign that Allye suspected meant later .

She didn’t want to talk about it later either, but later was better than now. She lifted her fork and took another bite of her steak. It was starting to get cold, which didn’t help her lack of appetite. She swallowed, then pushed the plate back. Maybe she’d just plastic wrap it and take it home.

“If you’re done, we going to get to try that pie?” Bryce pointed his fork at the dessert she’d brought.

She removed the foil cover from one of the pies and reached for the spatula she’d grabbed from Corina’s kitchen earlier.

“Oooh, what is that?” Corina asked.

“Peach crumble pie.”

“Sounds good,” Eric said.

“I hope it is. Haven’t tried this recipe before.” She usually made a traditional crust for her pies, but that would have taken more energy than she had to spare today. This recipe used the crumble mixture for both the bottom crust and the topping. Simple, easy, fast. And hopefully, still tasty.

She served each of the others a large slice, but only cut a small one for herself.

Before Allye got a bite into her own mouth, Corina exclaimed, “This is wonderful!”

Eric swallowed and nodded enthusiastically. “I take back what I said. It’s not good—it’s amazing.”

Wesley and Hailey echoed the sentiment. Bryce only winked at her and grunted, but at the rate he was clearing his plate, he shared their approval.

She smiled and lifted a spoonful. “Guess I’d better taste it, then.”

“Not necessary. You probably won’t like it.” Bryce reached for her plate, and Corina swatted his hand.

“Behave.”

Allye effected a somber tone. “I must make my own evaluation, dear brother.” She popped the bite into her mouth. Sugar, spices, and peachy goodness pirouetted across her taste buds. “Not bad.”

Her nonchalant verdict elicited laughter from the others.

“Seriously, Allye. I love this. What did you change in the recipe—and can you share it?” Corina asked as she dug her spoon back into her slice.

Allye almost chuckled at the fact Corina knew her well enough to assume she had tweaked the recipe, despite it being her first time making it.

“Sure. It’s just a simple one I found online, but I added a bit of coriander, ginger, and cardamom to the spices it called for.

” She took another bite and analyzed the flavor.

“I like how it turned out, but next time I might sub brown sugar for some of the white though.”

“I think it’s perfect,” Bryce declared.

“You want more?” She eyed his scraped-clean plate.

“I wouldn’t turn it down.”

She removed the cover from the second pie and dished him another generous slice.

Good thing she’d decided to double the recipe.

Corina hadn’t mentioned how many they were expecting for dinner, but Wesley, Hailey, and Jenna—or just Hailey and Jenna when Wes was busy—were frequent additions to their impromptu gatherings.

Making two pies was better than coming up short, and she’d figured she could leave any leftovers with Bryce and Corina.

After handing her brother’s plate back to him, she turned to the others. “Anyone else?”

Hailey held up her hand. “It was delicious, but I’m totally stuffed.”

Wesley started to answer, but his ringing phone cut him off. He stepped away from the table and answered it.

“How about you?” Allye turned to Corina.

Her friend pretended to be considering. She looked down at her still nearly flat belly and nodded as if coming to a decision. “Baby says we should have a little more.”

“And my little niece or nephew gets whatever they want.”

Bryce released a groan. “You’re going to be that kind of aunt, aren’t you?”

“Mm-hmm.” She leaned across the table to slide a second piece onto Corina’s plate. She grabbed the pitcher of lemonade. Might as well refill their glasses while she was up.

Corina turned to Bryce. “So you don’t think I should have more pie?”

Bryce waved his hands. “That is absolutely not what I meant.”

She winked at Allye. “Sure sounded like it. A girl could get offended.”

“Better watch it, Bryce,” Eric said dryly.

He sent him a withering look. “You too?”

Eric shrugged and focused on scraping the last of his pie from his plate. Hailey snickered.

Bryce dropped his shoulders and sighed in mock defeat. “Can’t win with all of you against me.”