Page 116 of The Perfect Distraction

Colton and Beth exchanged a glance, but Brooke went right on talking.

A short time later, when Judy brought out the desserts, she was smiling. Apparently, Mason wasn’t the only one who’d been charmed by her sister.

When Mason bit into one of Brooke’s chocolate chip cookies, he chewed it thoughtfully with exaggerated mouth movements until he finally swallowed.

“Well? Don’t keep me in suspense,” Brooke teased.

“Delicious!” Mason proclaimed and made a big show of licking his lips.

Beth saw Brooke’s eyes go right there, but nobody else appeared to have noticed. Beth couldn’t wait to get home and grill her sister about Mason. But then she realized she wasn’t in any hurry to go home.

It was a gorgeous day, and everybody seemed relaxed, even Judy. Beth supposed Brooke deserved most of the credit for that, although she’d like to think that Judy might be warming up to her too. Maybe it had helped for her to meet someone from Beth’s family. Of course, she hadn’t met Becca yet!

After a while, Joey coaxed the men into a friendly game of soccer.

“You ladies are welcome to join us,” Mason said, directing his invitation to Brooke.

“You guys go ahead. We’ll watch,” Brooke said with a wink.

A wink! Is there something in the water around here? First, it was me and Colton, then Becca and Simon, and now Brooke and Mason? What’s going on? Smiling to herself, she turned her attention to the game.

Colton and Joey had teamed up against Mason and Joe.

“Age before beauty,” Joe called when they were trying to decide who should get the ball first.

“Speak for yourself,” Mason joked.

“Doesn’t matter. We’ll kick your butts no matter what, right, Joey?”

“Yeah!” Joey said, giving his dad a high five.

“They’re so cute together,” Brooke proclaimed.

“Colton’s a good dad,” Judy said.

“Like father, like son,” Beth added.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Judy studying her, but she didn’t flinch. She wasn’t going to cower in the corner every time Judy was around. If she wanted evidence that Beth was serious about being in Colton and Joey’s life, then she’d make her feelings known.

While they watched the men (or boys, based on the way they were carrying on), Brooke asked Judy about the family woodworking business and about living in Harbor Springs.

“Lived here all my life. Never had any reason to leave,” she said.

“Beth probably told you that we used to come up here every summer when we were kids,” Brooke said innocently.

Beth and Judy hadn’t talked much at all thus far, and Beth waited to hear Judy’s response.

“Colton mentioned that,” she replied.

“It seems like a great place to raise a family.”

“Colton’s ex didn’t think so,” Judy muttered. “It wasn’t cosmopolitan enough for her.”

“Well, it’s a good thing Joey has so many other people around who love him too,” Brooke said, venturing a quick glance at Beth.

If she could have, Beth would have leaned over and given her sister a big hug, but with Judy watching, she remained neutral. Once again, she thought about how lucky she was to have her sisters on her side.

Just then, Joe came up on the deck and said, “Which one of you lovely ladies wants to take my place? I’m getting too old for this!”