Just One Kiss (Whisper Lake #4) - Barbara Freethy Page 0,81

brother was five years younger than her but six inches taller, with brown hair and her mother's green eyes. "You look good."

"You don't," he said dryly. "Bad night?"

"You could say that."

Tyler turned to Brett. "Hi, Brett. I'm Tyler."

"Mommy said you like baseball."

Silence followed Brett's unexpected words.

All three of them were shocked that Kelly had spoken of Tyler at all. He'd been nine when she'd left home.

"I do like baseball," Tyler said, a thick note of emotion in his voice.

"So do I," Brett said. "Mommy throws me the ball sometimes. She says I have a good arm."

Another painful reminder that Kelly might not have been present in their lives, but she had certainly been present in her son's life, and Brett needed his mother.

"We'll have to play catch sometime," Tyler said.

"But not today, not in the snow," her mom said in a decidedly cheerful voice. "I'm going to make chocolate chip pancakes in honor of Tyler, because they're his favorite. Brett, do you want to help me?"

Brett gave an enthusiastic smile and took her mom's hand.

As they left the room, she turned to her brother. "I thought you were going to call when you got a flight."

"I figured I'd surprise you just in case the flight got canceled or delayed again, but I was able to beat the storm." He paused, giving her a speculative look. "I have to admit I didn't expect to find Mom sleeping on your couch. Is there a reason she couldn't drive home?"

She gave him a reassuring smile. "It's nothing bad. She was watching Brett for me last night, and she just decided to stay over. She's actually doing really well, Tyler. Since she decided to meet her grandson, she has really changed for the better. It's like she remembered how to be a mother once she realized she was a grandmother."

"That's great news," he said with relief.

"It really is. I've had trouble trusting that she's okay and not about to go off the wagon again."

"What else is new?"

She made a face at him. "I know. I'm very good at worrying about things that might not happen. Anyway, I think she's trying her best to be our mom again, although she's still clueless. You don't like chocolate chip pancakes."

"Nope. Blueberry waffles are my thing. And you made 'em the best."

"I had a lot of practice perfecting those waffles for you." She paused. "I think it was Kelly who liked the chocolate chip pancakes."

"I'm sure they'll be good enough to eat and no reason to mention her mistake," he said easily. Tyler had always been the peacemaker, probably because she'd protected him from a lot of the really bad stuff, so he didn't have the same memories that she had.

"No reason to do that," she agreed. "Not with everything else going on."

"Is there any news about Kelly beyond the texts you've sent me?"

"Only that she was spotted at a convenience store on the road to Black Falls. Adam wanted to know if I had any idea where she was headed. I told him we camped there a few summers, but that was in Butterfly Canyon, and there aren't any cabins there. Anyway, the police are doing everything they can to find her."

"Good." He grabbed his bag. "I brought a few presents this year. I know we don't usually exchange, but once I heard about Brett and that you'd gotten a tree, I thought we'd need something to put under it." He paused, as his gaze moved to the tree. "Looks like you beat me to it. There are already presents there."

She was actually surprised to see those presents. "Mom must have wrapped some of mine. Or she bought some of her own." A warm memory ran through her head. "Remember how she used to hold off on wrapping our presents until the night before Christmas? She wanted us to wake up Christmas morning and think the presents were from Santa."

"I remember that. I'd go to bed with just one present under the tree, and the next morning there would be five or six."

They exchanged a smile at the shared memory.

"This is going to be a good Christmas, Hannah," Tyler said with an optimistic note in his voice. "Kelly will make it home."

She wanted to believe that. "If Kelly comes home, it would be the first time in fifteen years that we're all together."

"I can't believe it's been that long. This has to be the year."

"I hope so." She sent up a silent prayer that they would get