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to cook the fish they had caught that day. Not that there was any steam behind the argument, just humor. She’d never witnessed anything like it before and was glued to their every word.
    Cole had even grabbed his aunt and had danced around the back porch trying to distract her from putting lemon pepper seasoning on the fillets.
    “ Cole Dalton Grayton.” She dropped her hands to her hips and looked at him. Wendy could see a slight smile on the woman’s lips. “The last time you tried to grill fish, they came out burnt.”  
    “ Maybe we should wait until Marcus gets here.” He held the bottle of spices over his head so his aunt couldn’t reach it. Cole was a little over six foot, and his aunt was shorter than Wendy at five six. She was reaching and playfully jumping at Cole, trying to get the bottle from his reach.  
    She laughed. “I’ve made plenty of fish in my time, young man, and there is nothing wrong with the way I cook it.” She stopped jumping and held out her hand.
    Cole just looked at her and shook his head. “You’re right. There is nothing wrong with your cooking,” he said in a sarcastic voice with a smile.
    Cole’s father chuckled beside her, causing her to glance over at him.
    Whispering, she leaned closer to the older man and asked, “What’s this all about?”
    He shook his head. “Every one of the boys fancies themselves the best chef.” He smiled over at her and then said loud enough for everyone to hear, “Course, if my arthritis wasn’t acting up, I’d get right over there and show them how it’s done.”
    Smiling, Cole nodded. “Course you would, Pop.” He’d dropped his guard long enough that his aunt had jumped up and grabbed the bottle from his hands.
    “ There!” Rushing over to the fish as she giggled, she dashed seasoning all over the fillets.  
    He groaned. “Really?” Just then there was a chuckle from behind them. She turned just in time to watch Marcus and Shelly walk up the back stairs.
    “ Lemon pepper again?”  
    Their aunt turned towards him with a frown and nodded her head. “Bout time you two got here. I thought I was going to have to cook all this myself.” She smiled and walked over to hug the pair.
    “ If you’d been here five minutes earlier, you could have helped me hide the bottle.” Cole walked over and picked up the seasoning.  
    “ What’s up with the lemon pepper?” Wendy asked, leaning closer to their father.  
    Mr. Grayton smiled back at her. “Well, my Julie never really learned or had the patience to cook using anything but lemon pepper. It’s sort of an addiction.” He patted her hand. “Hope you like it. I know the boys outgrew it… oh, about two years after they came to us.” He chuckled.
    Marcus wrapped his arms around his aunt’s shoulders and smiled down at her. “She would use it in everything, even macaroni and cheese.”
    “ Remember the time she made lemon pepper spaghetti.” Cole cringed as he sat next to her.  
    She couldn’t stop herself from laughing. Even when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, her smile remained. She watched Shelly’s eyebrows shoot up when she noticed Cole’s move and decided she would have to talk to her friend alone, later.
    “ We caught ’em, you cook ’em.” Cole nodded towards the fish when his brother tried to sit down across from them.  
    Marcus sighed. “While you two sat around on a boat and threw a couple lines in the water, I worked on the house all day. I’m not only beat, I’m sore as heck.”
    Laughing, Cole shook his head. “You know the rules.”
    Throwing his head back and groaning, Marcus walked over to the hot grill. “Fine, but I’m scraping this off and using different seasoning.”
     

Chapter Four
     
    B y the time the food was served, Wendy was feeling more comfortable. She had a wonderful time talking with the group and had laughed as much as she always did around the Grayton family members.  
    Their aunt, Julie, was even funnier than