He looked right back, that small smile still hovering at the corners of his mouth.

Chloe cleared her throat. “Well. This is cute and all…” She looked at Tara. “But I actually do really need to talk to you. Got a few?”

“Actually, not until later and neither do you. The guests are going to want breakfast.”

“This is a quick thing,” Chloe said, “but an important one.”

Oh hell. It was something big, Tara could see it in Chloe’s eyes. “Don’t tell me you got arrested again, because I’m pretty sure Sawyer’s going to throw away the key on you this time-”

“No. Jeez,” Chloe said, tossing up her hands. “A girl gets arrested one time-”

“Three times.”

Chloe sighed. “This is about you.”

“What about me?”

Chloe glanced uneasily at Ford, who clearly wasn’t budging, then sighed and pulled a white plastic stick from her pocket. “I was in the downstairs bathroom setting up a basket full of lotions and soaps, cleaning up, emptying the trash, that sort of thing.”

“I emptied the trash just this morning,” Tara said.

“I know,” Chloe said. “I saw you. Which means you were the last one in there. So I figured you’d want me to give this to you so no one else could come to the wrong conclusion.”

Tara looked down at the thing in Chloe’s hands in shock. “That’s a pregnancy test stick.”

“A negative one,” Chloe said. “Probably a relief for you guys, right?”

Tara nearly went into heart failure. “What are you talking about? It’s not mine.”

Ford’s face was utterly blank as he stared at the stick. After a beat, he lifted his head and met Tara’s gaze, his eyes completely shuttered.

Because he knew what she did. They’d used a condom. Every time. It was an unspoken, very serious thing with them, and they both knew it. So undoubtedly his mind was now leaping to the next possibility, that she’d slept with… Logan?

“It’s not mine,” Tara said again and grabbed Chloe by the arm. “Excuse us a minute?” she said to Ford, then without waiting for an answer, yanked Chloe into the pantry and slammed the door.

“Yeah,” Chloe said, looking around at the small but cozy space. “I can see why you pull Ford in here whenever you can. It screams ‘do me.’ ” She tested a shelf. “Does this hold?”

“Chloe, how could you?” Tara demanded in a harsh whisper.

“I don’t know. I guess I’d hop up right here, and then he’d stand between my legs and-”

“I meant how could you give this to me in front of Ford? My God, that was the most irresponsible, rude, grossly negligent sisterly thing you’ve ever done, and you’ve done a lot!”

Chloe paused a moment, clearly startled by Tara’s fury, as if she sincerely, honestly hadn’t given anyone else’s feelings a thought. As always, though, she rebounded with an excuse for herself. “Hey, if you’re close enough to need a pregnancy test with him, then he’s close enough to go through the worry with you. For the second time.”

“It’s not mine!”

“Well, it’s not mine,” Chloe said emphatically. “I haven’t had sex all damn year. Not since that hot Cuban guy in Miami, which landed me in the ER. A bit of a post-coital downer, I should add.”

“Oh my God,” Tara said. “It’s Mia’s.”

“What?”

“The pregnancy test! It’s Mia’s.”

Chloe contemplated this, then let out a slow breath. “Oh boy.”

Tara gritted her teeth. “I’m going to kill Carlos-”

“It’s not Mia’s. It’s mine.”

Tara and Chloe looked at each other, and then at the door, which had spoken to them. Chloe pulled it open and there stood Maddie.

And Mia.

They stood side by side, Maddie looking sheepish. “I thought I wrapped it up so no one would see it,” she said.

Tara stuck her head out into the kitchen and looked around for Ford.

“He left,” Maddie told her.

Mia still hadn’t said a word. She stood staring at Tara with barely veiled resentment. “You thought the stick was mine.”

Tara opened her mouth but Mia shook her head and took a step back. “I have to go,” she said and moved to the door.

“Mia, please.” Tara rushed to her. “Wait-”

Mia whirled back, her eyes swimming. “You thought it was mine,” she repeated. “You think I’m having sex and being stupid enough to do it without protection. You think I’d compound that stupidity by taking a pregnancy test here and then leave the stick where it could be found.” She winced and shot Maddie a look. “No offense.”

Maddie sighed. “None taken.”

“Mia,” Tara said, and heard the emotion in her own voice. “I’m sorry. It was a knee-jerk reaction, and I’m sorry.”

Some of the tension drained from Mia’s shoulders, but not all, as she nodded.

“So you’re not having sex?” Chloe asked her.

“No!” Mia said, hugging herself. “Jeez!”

“Good,” Chloe said. “Because I really didn’t want to be the only one not getting any.” She turned to Maddie. “And you. You really thought you might be pregnant?”

Maddie nodded, backed to a chair, and dropped into it. She confiscated Chloe’s coffee and sipped. Making a face, she added three heaping spoonfuls of sugar and then sipped again and nodded.

“So since you’re not preggers, you’re what, going for diabetes?” Chloe asked.

Tara gave Chloe a dark look that had Chloe miming zipping up her lips and throwing away the key. Tara still wanted to strangle her, but even more than that, she wanted to go find Ford and make sure they were okay. Or as okay as they could be when they were…

Hell. She had no idea what it was they were doing exactly, except spending a lot of time making each other moan the other’s name. In any case, she needed to see him, needed to make sure he knew it really wasn’t her. Unfortunately, Maddie appeared to be half an inch from meltdown so Tara pulled a chair up in front of her.

“Jax wants to get married,” Maddie whispered without prompting, then let out a shuddering breath, as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

“And?” Chloe asked.

“And I think that’s just the pregnancy scare talking.” Maddie lifted huge eyes to her sisters. “I don’t want to get married just because of that.”

“It’s more,” Tara said. “He loves you.”

“And I love him. But I don’t need the piece of paper.”

“How about the diamond?” Chloe asked. “Don’t you need the diamond?”

“No. Well, maybe.” Maddie let out a watery laugh. “But we haven’t been together all that long, really.”

“Six months,” Tara said.

“Yes, and we’re committed,” Maddie agreed. “And that’s enough for me. Shouldn’t that be enough?”

“Are you trying to convince you, or us?” Chloe asked. “Because I’m still on the diamond thing. It’d be pretty hard to turn down a big, fat diamond. And then you get a big party, a cool trip, and use of his credit card.” At Tara’s slight shake of her head, Chloe rolled her eyes. “And fine. More importantly, you’re wild about him. I know you are. He makes you smile. And he thinks your OCD is cute.” She smirked at Tara, like see? I can so be supportive.

“I’m not OCD,” Maddie said. “Exactly. And I am crazy wild about him. Maybe if I had been pregnant…”

“You’re just lucky the pregnancy scare happened now,” Tara said, extremely aware of Mia soaking up this sisterly exchange. “At a good age with a guy who loves you as much as Jax does.” She met Chloe’s sharp gaze. “What?”

“You say that like you don’t have one of the greatest guys we know wanting you.”

“Want is not love,” Tara said.

Chloe rolled her eyes again.

“If you don’t stop doing that,” Tara said. “I’m going to pop them in a jar and roll them for you.”

“And here I always thought that you were the brightest crayon in the box.”

Tara felt her eyes narrow. “And what does that mean?”

“Hey,” Chloe said, lifting her hands. “If you don’t get it, I’m not going to explain it to you. But his name starts with an F and ends with an O-R-D, and hello, he’s as head over heels for you as Jax is for Maddie.”

Tara stared uncomfortably at Mia, who was nodding. “Okay,” Tara said. “It’s true, we might have married all those years ago, but seventeen-year-olds shouldn’t marry.”

“Maybe not,” Chloe said. “But Ford’s all grown up now, and a pretty damn fine man if you ask me. He’s financially stable, hot as hell-sorry, Mia-and would probably die before he hurt you. So what’s the hold-up?”

“I’ve asked the same thing,” Mia said. “Minus the hot part, because ew.”

Tara sagged. “Me. Okay? The hold-up is me. The last time I was with him…” She glanced at Mia. “I didn’t handle things well.”

“You were a kid,” Maddie said and smiled at Mia. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Mia said politely.

“What a cynic you turned out to be,” Chloe chided Tara. “Not believing in the power of love.”

“Says the woman who can’t even say I love you,” Tara shot back.

Chloe clammed up, face closed now. “This isn’t about me.”

Mia looked outside as Carlos pulled in, her entire demeanor perking right up. “I gotta go,” she said, and vanished out the door.

Tara sighed, then turned to Maddie. “Back to you.”

“I’d rather not get back to me.”

“Tough,” Tara said. “Because I’ve had enough of me. Are we happy or sad the test was negative?”

“Aw,” Maddie murmured, her eyes going suspiciously damp. “You said we.”

“Hey, you said we were a we,” Tara reminded her. “About six months ago, when you pretty much demanded we all stick together and act like sisters, remember?”

“Yeah,” Chloe said, adding her two cents. “That’s true, Mad. You were all about the we. Hardcore we, actually.”

“Since when do either of you listen to me?” Maddie asked.

“Since you made us all hug and kiss and take the blood oath,” Tara said, then found herself being squeezed nearly to death by Maddie, who’d pulled her and Chloe in close.