Mad Enough to Marry - By Christie Ridgway Page 0,12

shouldn't they be weaning themselves from all this companionship? They would be heading off to separate colleges in a few months, after all— Gabby hours away at Berkeley and Tyler at the prestigious art school thirty minutes south of Strawberry Bay.

'*A11 right," she finally agreed, with a little sigh. "But listen, both of you, no bothering Logan when we get to the house, okay?"

Gabby looked as if she was holding back a smile. *1 don't think Tyler and I are the ones who bother him."

Elena made a face at her. **Ha ha. What I mean is...I don't want him, um, involved with us, you understand?"

Gabby shook her head. **Elena, we're going to be

living at the man's house for goodness sake. How are we going to manage to keep ourselves uninvolved?''

"We're staying in a separate apartment in his house. There are two on the second floor. One is his, one is ours." She looked down at the keys in her hand, trying to make clear—if just in her own mind— how she wanted this co-habitation to proceed. "We're there not as family of course, not even as friends, but purely on a business basis."

"I thought we were getting the apartment for free."

Tyler spoke up for the first time. "Sounds pretty friendly to me."

Elena glared at them both. "We have a bargain. You're right, no money is changing hands, but it's still strictly business."

Gabby giggled and then stage-whispered to Tyler, "She's letting him keep Elena in Bed.''

An embarrassed heat crawled up Elena's neck. "It seemed sensible. Gabby. We need every penny we can save."

Gabby shared a laughing look with Tyler. "Oh yeah, big sister. Very sensible. Very uninvolving."

Instead of defending herself, Elena jumped in the car and drove off. Brats. But she found herself smiling as she glimpsed the two of them in her rearview mirror, following in Tyler's fancy SUV. Despite their smart mouths, they did make an adorable couple. Gabby's exotic looks a foil for Tyler's blond all-American handsomeness.

And he did adore her sister. Though their breakup was inevitable, she didn't think he would hurt Gabby

in the same way that Elena herself had been hurt by boys like him. The way their mother had been hurt by their father.

It took less than five minutes to reach Logan's large but run-down Victorian. It still surprised her, even though a week had gone by since her first visit, that he'd quit his job as a vice president of the Chase family company. And it surprised her even more that he'd left the posh side of town to live in this blue-collar neighborhood.

The homes here were a mix of old Victorians and bungalows, along with newer, modest dwellings and apartment buildings. It wasn't that the area was seedy, or even particularly neglected, but the people in this part of Strawberry Bay worked long hours at demanding, often labor-intensive jobs. The kind of jobs that left little money, time or energy for the kind of niceties found on the pages of Martha Stewart's Living or Better Homes & Gardens.

Elena climbed the chipped cement steps to Logan's house and knocked briskly on the front door. When there was no answer, she let out a relieved breath and searched her pockets for the house keys he had given her.

By the time she'd found them, Tyler and Gabby had joined her on the porch. Inserting the key in the lock, she hesitated before opening the door. "It doesn't look like he's home right now, but just remember we don't want him—"

"Involved," Gabby and Tyler said together.

Elena thought they were laughing at her again, so

she gave them a quelling look then pushed on the door. When the first floor appeared Logan-less too, Elena left the door standing wide open. *'We might as well bring some things in before going upstairs.'*

They returned to the cars parked at the curb and helped each other load up. With an overstuffed duffel slung over each shoulder, a toiletries bag hanging on each elbow and two large cardboard boxes balanced in her arms, Elena led the way up the two flights of steps to the second floor. Similarly burdened. Gabby and Tyler followed her. The door to their apartment was at the top of the stairs, while Logan's was farther down the hall. Elena paused, then groaned.

"What is it?" Gabby's voice came out muffled, her face half-hidden by the boxes she carried.

**The keys are in the back pocket of my pants." Elena tried shifting the weight of her burdens to one arm. One