They all clamoured into the vehicle and Alyssa squeezed in the back between Hailey and Lucy, her stomach roiling and sour despite the delicious smells wafting from the trunk. The drive had been a brief ten minutes but the seconds stretched into what felt endless and exhausting. Now more than ever she wished she'd had elected to drive to Eva's rather than walk, but was softened by Lucy who, smiling, reached over to hold her hands. Little pudgy fingers wrapped tightly around hers. That tiny, firm grip being the only thing that held her together.

As far as first impressions went, the Davies home was a sight to behold. Certainly larger than Eva's with a grand front veranda that wrapped all the way around. Blue shutters over large windows, the siding painted white and grey. A garden, lovingly tended, spilled along the front of the home, framed by aged Maples that blazed in autumn golds and reds.

As the girls ran on up to the house, Alyssa helped Eva and Marshall manage the bags, carting the booze and a large covered tray into the heart of the Davies home. Inside was abuzz with people. More than she had thought to see or knew how to handle. But it was a family holiday, after all. Only made sense that the home would be filled with family. Though having come from a small one, Alyssa always found herself uncertain and baffled by these large, bursting at the seams type of gatherings.

As a child she'd been envious of her friends who had a houseful of brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and cousins, listening to all their stories she'd often wished to know what that would feel like. But those childhood dreams were long since dead and buried. She'd learned to accept that was never going to be her life and she'd been content with merely her sister and her girls until they were all unceremoniously taken away from her.

As Eva guided her to the kitchen dozens of people approached, interrupting their progress with smiles and hugs and hellos. Alyssa struggled to keep up with all the faces and names, smiling and nodding at the slew of introductions. It seemed an eternity before they finally made it to the kitchen where music streamed with the punctuated bass of Tupac.

A slender woman stood over the stove, a cap of pewter curls cut in a wedge around her ears bopped to the music, singing along to the words with a hand waving as she did. At Eva's 'hello' she spun around with a smile. Bold blue eyes in an expressive face that was all character and charm. Reaching for a towel, she wiped her hands before embracing Eva with a firm, enthusiastic hug.

"Oh, you're here. Wonderful. Turkey's just about ready."

"Great. We brought the things you'd asked for. And, this," Eva turned to Alyssa, reminding her at that she was in fact in the room and this was all really happening. "This is my sister."

"Um. Hi," Alyssa managed, setting down the bags and tray on the small table all ready overburdened with covered dishes of food.

"Oh, my dear it's so lovely to finally meet you." Lottie hugged her hard and fierce as she had with Eva but Alyssa was numb. Unfeeling. Everything about the Davies home, though warm and inviting was more than she was prepared for or expecting. She had banked on having some private time with Eva and her nieces, not to be inundated with a slew of strangers she didn't know or care to know.

The last thing she wanted was to have to compete for more of Eva's attention much as she had been all week. The kitchen door swung open and Marhsall spilled in with Jenelle, the pair of them laughing and teasing as siblings often do. Jenelle's arms snaked around Ethan's neck.

"Mom, look who's decided to grace us with his presence?"

Ethan's lips quirked into what Alyssa assumed was his version of a smile, tickling Jenelle until she released him.

"Oh, there's my darling boy. Whatever shall the people of Haven do without their hero roaming the streets uphold the virtues of law and order?" Lottie teased. A tiny thing compared to her towering children, she roped her arms around Ethan's waist and kissed his cheek when he stooped to hug her.

"Hi mom."

"Are you staying for dinner?"

"An hour or two," Ethan answered, stroking a hand over her back. "Most have taken night off to spend with family so Sheryl's holding the fort until I get back."

Unsure what else to do with herself, Alyssa stood awkwardly by as they spoke about absent siblings, one in LA unable to make the flight with his wife and kids, a couple of girls who were vacationing in Paris with school mates.

"Let me introduce you to Eva's darling sister." Lottie reached for Alyssa, drawing her with a waving hand. "This is my eldest, the ever loyal public servant."

"Yes, we've met, actually," he said.  Unlike the rest of the Davies' brood, he didn't move to hug or touch her. Instead he kept his hands wedged in his pockets and eyes on her face.

"Yes, it's nice to see you again," Alyssa said, equally forced. "Haven't seen you around the gym lately."

Ethan cleared his throat, eyes shifting a degree to the left. "Long hours make it hard to maintain a consistent schedule. I go when I can manage, but the job comes first."

At that Lottie rolled her eyes with a teasing laugh and said something about him being his father's son before leaving them to deal with hauling the turkey out of the oven.

"Happy you could join us."

He didn't look particularly happy about it. Which was fine because neither was she. They stood there for only the briefest moment but he was doing it, that cop thing she'd seen before when they'd first met on the beach. His deep, powerful gaze was like looking into flood lights—they'd illuminate everything they touched, pushing away all the dark shadows with light. Revealing the truth and secrets no one else could see.

And there was more going on inside of her then she was prepared to share with anyone, him included.

"I should give your mom a hand," she said and turned to pluck up a covered dish from the table. She brought it out to the dining room to join the ones Eva and Jenelle had set out. The process of helping to set the table kept her busy, and hopefully, safe from Ethan's silent scrutiny. They'd set out two gorgeous walnut tables with leaves pushed together, and, by her count, twenty-two chairs circling around. Soon the seats were full with the gaggle of aunts and uncles, Eva's girls and couple of younger cousins close to them in age.

When everything was set, Alyssa claimed the seat of honour next to Lottie and opposite Eva and, thankfully, Ethan. It was overwhelming, seeing them all together and gathered like this. There was a closeness about them that was decidedly lacking in her own family growing up. A deficit that had never bothered her before because when all else had failed, she'd had her sister, and that had been enough.

Until recently.

This holiday was one of many she'd stopped celebrating all together because it had only stood as another reminder that she had been alone. That her sister, the one person she'd come into their world with—had shared every birthday and milestone with—was gone.

And though relationships with her mother had been strained, at best, following her death, the observances of family traditions had held little meaning or purpose to her anymore, so she'd stopped caring about them all together. Yet here, now, sitting around this table, seeing it all like a ghostly spectator, it was suddenly too much.

Too dense. Too...everything.

They fit together, all of them, so easily. So effortless. Just the way she'd used to. She listened to the chatter and laughter, all the stray comments and inside jokes, each one nailing her again and again.  

This was family, she realized. Born of heart instead of blood. And she, the outsider, clearly didn't belong.

Alyssa went through the motions, plastering on that smile she hadn't unscrewed from her face since arriving. Dishes and trays were passed around, plates loaded up with mashed potatoes, sautéed green beans, slices of turkey, mounds of stuffing, and of course cranberry sauce and gravy drizzled over the top. She entertained conversation, nodding and murmuring where appropriate while she forked off a few bites and pretended to care about to what was going on around her, but really she was miles away.

Years away. Locked in some dark, black hole she couldn't crawl out of.

When she'd eaten as much as she could manage, Alyssa rose from the table, plate in hand—needing the excuse to slip away while everyone else was too occupied to notice.

"I can take care of that," Lottie offered, reaching for her plate, but Alyssa held on tight.

"The cook never washes and certainly never clears. I've got it." Forcing a smile, she rushed from the table and didn't stop or look back until she was on the other side of the kitchen door.

Alyssa scraped off what she had been able to force down of the birthday cake into the bin before dumping the dish into the sink. She stood there for a moment, her hands planted to the quartz and arms shaking.

This was it. She was going to snap and the tears wanted to come.

Change was something Alyssa had never learned handle well and the last six years had been nothing but change. Change that she didn't want and certainly wasn't ready for. Change meant hardship and sacrifice and the only lifeline that had kept her sane with the notion that once the Randy Kincaid matter was put to bed, that life and everything in it would shift back to where it was before the entire mess imploded, shattering her perfect little world into dust.

            But it was quickly growing more apparent, by the millisecond, that going back was never ever going to happen.

            And it wasn't fair.

She was used to being the one Eva always needed to fix everything. The one who'd had her life all together. Who'd played by the rules, did as she was told—stayed in line, and yet life hadn't worked out so smoothly for her, had it? She'd lost her job—actually, it had been wrenched out of her hands, more like. Her fiancé had taken for the hills and her she was, standing in the Davies' home, surrounded by Eva's shiny new family.

            Rendering her virtually obsolete.

The door whisked open behind her and she bit down the urge to scream. Christ couldn't she be alone for one fucking minute? Straightening, she pulled on the joyful mask as best she could, and turned to see Ethan, always quiet and observant, watching her.

She lowered her brows, a silent challenge, full of unspoken demand. Daring him to say something. To question her.

Instead, staying nothing, he moved to the fridge and yanked open the freezer. Plucking out the ice trays, he carted them to the back door and tossed the cubes out into the yard. Setting the now empty trays on the counter, Ethan crossed the kitchen and stuck his head out into the dining room.

"Hey, we're out of ice. Gonna take Alyssa to grab more." Nodding his head for her to follow, he cracked the back door open, waited. Not that Alyssa needed much more of a push. Any reason—any excuse to get out, even if only for a minute, was enough and so she grabbed it like a lifeline.

As Ethan pulled out his keys and pressed button, unlocking his large, black rover. Smooth as a gentleman, he opened her side first, holding the door until she'd climbed inside. Alyssa braced herself as he came around, slid into the driver's seat. As the engine roared and Ethan reversed out of the driveway, she knew this was it. The questions would come, which would invariably be followed by meaningless platitudes.

Only they didn't. No questions, not even the barest flicker of curiosity.

Alyssa, as subtly as possible, studied him from the periphery of her vision. His intense gaze fixed to the road, both hands on the wheel—ten and two, of course. Music played, but whisper soft. She could make out the unmistakable genius of Kings of Leon and almost smiled.

When they reached the gas station, as he stepped out, pausing only to ask if she wanted anything. Shaking her head a quick no, she sat in the car, anxious, gnawing on her lip, the minutes peeling away slowly before he returned with a large bag and a small bottle of coke.

And waited until he'd and slid in behind the wheel and tossed the purchased items in the backseat before pinning him with a glare. "Well?"

"Well what?" he asked, swiveling so he could reverse out of the parking spot.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Me? Nothing. Just came out to grab ice." His gaze flickered to her for a moment, with a glimmer of mocking. "Case you failed to notice, we were out."

She answered his mocking with a smirk. "You're seriously not going to start pecking at me with questions? Interrogate me?"

Ethan arched a cool, unaffected brow, merging with the cars on the street. "Not unless you want me to. Done anything illegal that I need to be concerned about?"

"No."

"Good. Then we're square." That shut her up, Ethan thought, rolling his tongue into the pocket of his cheek to mask the smile. She sat there for a while in silence as they drove through the tidy, quiet residential streets. Sloping and rising with the gentle incline. Homes flanked by stately oaks and regal Douglas firs.

She'd looked absolutely miserable standing there in his mom's kitchen, and it had only got progressively worse throughout dinner. Now, sitting next to him, he could see her thoughts were a whirling mess, and noted the way her hands—elegantly shaped—worried with the hem of her shirt. Bunching and twisting and always restless. Never still.

A tick he'd learned to pick up on over his years of studying people, looking for lead-ins and cues to give him a picture beneath the words, either to corroborate or contradict their story. In Alyssa's case he'd wager she was stewing about something.

Something to do with her sister, though any idiot with eyes could see as much.

Turning his thoughts and attentions from her, Ethan focused on the drive. He loved it here. Haven had and would always be home for home. He took pride not only in his work, but in this place. The island was a mix of farmland and mountains, of lakes and forested stretches. Up ahead he could he see the range of peaks of Mount Sullivan and Hope hill that dominated the northern rise of the first nation's reservations.

He lived on that scenic edge, away from the bustling inner core of Haven, he preferred to be immersed in the quiet, surrounded by nature and the spectacular outlooks of the sea and valleys across to the mainland.

            Warm summers and mild, wet winters meant he could enjoy the trails and paths throughout most of the year with his dogs. How anyone thought to surround themselves in the concrete confines of a large city baffled him. All that glass and cold grey slabs shoot up to the sky, blocking the light—the exhaust tainting the air.

            How could you breathe? Pulling into his parents drive, Ethan shook it all off. Turning off the ignition, he left the car running with the music streaming softly from the speakers. Realizing he had no intentions of getting out of the car, Alyssa whipped her gaze to him, confused.

"What are you doing?"

He levered the handle on his seat, reclining a notch or two into a more comfortable position. "You look like you could use another minute or two."

"But what about the ice?"

"It'll keep," he said, sliding his gaze to her briefly. "If I go in there without you, and someone sees—which would likely be the case—they'll ask where you are. So the way I see it, only way to prevent a barrage of questions I know you want to avoid is to stay here with you."

Seeing his point, they sat there for a while, in silence. Well, not really silence as she huffed and sighed and muttered. All while Ethan quietly sipped the coke he'd bought.

"Something's gnawing on you," he said. "Want to talk about it?"

"No."

He snorted at that. "Suit yourself." Halfway finished his coke and figuring they'd pushed it about as long as they could, he capped the bottle. "Come on. Show face for another fifteen minutes then I'll give you a lift home. Everyone knows I've got to head back in to work and won't question why I have to leave. It's on the way so you can latch on that as an excuse as a reason to escape."

While he unbuckled his seatbelt and slid his keys out of the ignition, Alyssa just sat there, watching him. "Why are you so...helpful?"

Ethan shrugged, but in truth he didn't have a clue what to say. Only that something about Alyssa tugged at him. Tugged at him hard. And it made him want to be the one to stand for her. To be that pillar of support she apparently needed. Even if he knew that part of him was crossing a murky line he had no business crossing.

"It's what family does, right?" he said, needing to set clear boundaries and not step a toe beyond them. "Bail one another out?"

Her smile spread, transforming her already stunning face. "Should I start calling you Big Bro, now?"

Ethan's jaw clenched. "Not unless you want to."

She pursed her lips, shrugged. "I think I'll pass. You're not that big, anyways." Her playful humor softened his raised hackles. At six-five, two hundred and thirty lean pounds? Nope, not big at all.

Reaching for her seatbelt, she pressed on the button but the clamp wouldn't disengage. Alyssa tried again, wiggling the belt, tugging, to no avail.

"Shit, sorry. I forgot that the passenger belt acts up. Keep meaning to fix it but...well, I don't have people riding up front often." Without thinking, Ethan reached across her. Close. Close enough that he could smell the hint of soap and oranges on her skin. Close enough that he was aware she'd stopped breathing, otherwise her breasts would have brushed up against his arm.

Clearing his throat, Ethan fumbled with the latch, his grip tight on both the belt and the buckle while part of him wondered what that would feel like. And not just her breasts, but her thighs. Her waist. The sleek, athletic length of her legs.

Because his palms had gone a little clammy, it took him a second longer than it should have to work the two sections apart.

"There." Relieved, Ethan slid back and was out of the car in a flash. "Just remember to hold the button down when you slide it in on the way back. Stops it from jamming." Hauling the ice out of the back, Ethan turned and headed back towards his parents home. Not stopping to see if she was behind him. Though he heard the door shut and knew she wasn't far behind.

He needed distance from her. Space. Otherwise he was liable to do something stupid. Like kiss her.

The ride to drop her home was going to be...interesting.