Adding Up to Marriage by Karen Templeton Page A

well Silas knew, having climbed every vertical surface in the county when he was a boy. Not letting the guys have a tree house wasn’t going to forestall the inevitable, Silas’s druthers be damned.
    The boys barreled back outside, wielding their frozen treats like swords as their high-pitched yells once more filled the air.
    His heart.
    â€œIs it finished yet?” Ollie screeched, bouncing around like a water drop on a hot griddle.
    â€œActually, honey…” Jewel started as Noah shot a hard look in Silas’s direction.
    â€œActually, they were waiting for me to help,” Silas said, rolling up his sleeves, and he thought Jewel’s eyebrows were going to fly off her head.
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    Even though the temperature rapidly dipped once the sun set, it took more than a little nip in the air, Jewel discovered, to dissuade a Garrett brother from grilling outside. Odd, how barely two hours earlier she’d thought the brothers would come to blows—at least verbal ones—and now here they were, trading good-natured barbs as Silas grilled hamburgers and Noah gave him endless grief about his skills. Or lack thereof.
    Then again, two hours ago she’d thought sure she was about to get canned. If not kicked out of the state.
    Weird dude, that Silas.
    Wrapped in a throw from the sofa with both boys huddled in their jackets next to her at the picnic table, Jewelwatched Weird Dude, the softly flickering light from the grill caressing his sculpted features and making her tummy flop around like a fish out of water.
    â€œCome and get it,” he yelled, and the boys scrambled off the bench and over to their daddy. Naturally, they begged to eat up in their brand-new tree house, never mind that they had no idea how they’d get their food up there. Leave it to Uncle Noah, natch, to come up with A Plan; a minute later there was nothing but the sound of giggles and scuffling…and the occasional deep chuckle from their uncle.
    Chuckling himself, Silas brought two plates over to the table, setting one in front of Jewel. “Cold?” he said in acknowledgment of her Indian Maiden getup.
    â€œFreezing. You think we could move this inside? Noah’s with them,” she said when he glanced up at the tree. “They’re perfectly safe.”
    â€œLike you said,” he said with a half smile. “They’re with Noah. Tell you what—how ’bout I start a fire in the pit on the other side of the patio? Will that do?”
    When she nodded, he picked up both plates and headed across the yard, leaving her to shuffle along behind like a burrito with feet. A little later, seated on a cushioned patio chair and her limbs thawed, she finally found the guts to say what she hadn’t before.
    â€œI’m sorry. I really should have asked first. About the tree house.”
    Stretched out in a redwood chair a few feet away, Silas glanced over, took another bite of his burger. “Why? When you assumed you already had a go-ahead?”
    She exhaled. “I might’ve…stretched that part a bit.”
    â€œYa think?” At least she heard a smile in his voice. “Jewel,” he said when she started to speak again, “I’m over it. Obviously. But, yes, you should have asked.” His eyes grazed hers. “Don’t assume. Please. Drives me bananas.”
    â€œObviously,” she echoed. “I won’t do it again, I promise. Not consciously, anyway.”
    He laughed, the sound not as deep as his brother’s but richer, somehow. More…sincere, she thought. Then he got up to stir the piñon logs in the pit, making sparks fly. From across the yard, the boys’ laughter exploded from the tree the same way. Like sparks. Crouching in front of the pit, his back partially to her, Silas looked over for a moment then back at the fire.
    â€œThe sad thing is,” he said, fiddling with the poker, “I probably would’ve built them the damn