Cherish & Blessed by Tere Michaels Page B

back….” Helena took a deep breath. “I asked Shane to marry me, and he said yes.”
    The table erupted into celebratory noises. Matt got to hug them both first, a crushing group thing that made Evan smile. He made his way around the table to the happy couple, waiting for the line of people to die down a bit.
    “So that’s a surprise,” Evan murmured as he wrapped his arms around Helena.
    “Yeah, right? I just… the words came out before I could overthink them,” she whispered, hugging him back tightly.
    “In the middle of chaos, you come up with this being a good idea?” he teased.
    “Well, yeah.” Helena pulled back to smile at him. “I realized that worrying and waiting wasn’t being honest with him. I told him how I felt, what I wanted, and he… wanted the same thing.”
    “Chaos.” Evan kissed her cheek.
    “Yeah. I expect pointers.”
    “Drink in moderation, hit your head on padded walls, and have a Matt.”
    Helena giggled.
    Not long after, the party started to break up. Helena and Shane clearly required a quiet spot to celebrate their engagement—one that didn’t include friends, recent strangers, and teenagers. They left, immediately followed by Blake and Cornelia gathering their things and making noises about doing the same.
    Evan asked Kent to step outside with him for a moment, much to Miranda’s horror.
    They stood on the walkway, the air filled with scents of wood burning and rain or snow at some point in the near future. Evan let the silence go on just long enough and tried not to think of it as an interrogation.
    “So you and Miranda had a talk about things.” It wasn’t a question.
    “Yes, sir. We had a really good talk, actually, like almost the whole night.” He cleared his throat nervously. “I think we both understand each other a little better now. And I want to be there for her, you know—about her mom and stuff.”
    “Good.” Evan rocked back on his heels. “When do you get back into the city?”
    “Uh, Sunday.”
    “Okay. So how about we have dinner—you, me, and Miranda. My treat.”
    “Oh. Wow. Thank you. That would be nice.” Kent paused, scuffing his shoe on the pavers. “What about your uh… Matt?”
    Evan paused. “Let me check with Miranda, see what she wants,” he said honestly.
    Kent looked genuinely relieved and something more. Approving of the response? “I think that’s a really great idea.”
    A knock from inside the house caught their attention. They turned to see Miranda waving nervously through the screen door.
    Evan gestured for her to come out.
    “Sorry.” Miranda came down the stairs slowly, wrapped in a throw from the couch. “Your mom and dad are packed. They’re ready to go.”
    “Are you staying, then?”
    “Yeah, Dad, if that’s okay.” She looked between them, clearly dying to ask what they’d talked about.
    “Don’t even have to ask. I’ll drive you back whenever you want.”
    “Thanks.” She and Kent clinked together like magnets, shoulder to shoulder, and shared a meaningful look.
    “Your dad invited us out to dinner on Sunday.”
    “Oh. Sure. The three of us?” Miranda half smiled.
    “If you want,” Evan said, and almost immediately Miranda seemed to realize what she’d said.
    “Well, if it’s an interrogation, Matt probably won’t want to come,” she said, breezy and casual. “But if we’re just eating….”
    “See, I’d call it just the opposite,” Evan teased, and the nervous laughter that followed was almost natural.
    “Let me go help my parents,” Kent excused himself. He gave Miranda the most basic and least passionate kiss on the cheek he could manage, as if to remove all question of sexual contact from the equation, and suddenly Evan added more to the list of stuff he just didn’t want to know was going on. Because acting like you weren’t having sex meant you were absolutely having sex.
    Once Kent was in the house, Miranda stayed where she was, gaze locked on the hibernating bushes that