Logan frowned. “I don’t think so.”

“Hey, you said realism was important. I think it’s also important for you to see what it’s like to be an actor.”

Luke snorted. “She got you there.”

“No way in hell am I dressing up like some freakin’ alien.”

“Oh, Logan. You’d make a great alien. You have the build for it.”

Des turned to Emma. “He does, doesn’t he?”

“I am not going to be in the movie.”

“I think I’ll ask Martha if she wants to be in it, too. The two of you could be together. Like an alien family.”

Des could almost see the smoke blowing out of Logan’s ears.

“Martha would eat that up, wouldn’t she, Logan?” Luke asked.

“Yeah, she would. And she can definitely do it. I’m not gonna.”

Des quirked a brow. “Are you afraid to spend a day as an alien?”

“No. I’m just not interested. And I don’t have the time.”

“Oh, come on, Logan,” Luke said. “It’s the opportunity of a lifetime to say you were in a movie. Make the time.”

“Luke’s right,” Emma said. “If I had someone to cover for me at the clinic, I’d do it in a heartbeat. And Martha will love it if you do this with her.”

Luke and Emma stared at him, and Des smiled. She had him, and he knew it.

“Fine. I’ll be an alien.”

Des took a sip of her wine and smiled at him over the rim. “This is going to be so awesome.”

“And then we’ll work on your rifle skills,” Logan said.

“Can’t wait.”

With that settled, Logan looked over at Luke. “You and Emma coming for the Fourth?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Emma said. “Martha said we don’t come around often enough, and she misses all the dogs.”

“That’s her way of guilting you into coming over for Sunday dinner.”

Luke nodded at Logan. “Martha has a way with that guilt. And we’ll definitely be there for the Fourth. I wouldn’t want to miss the fireworks.”

Logan’s lips curved, and, oh, he was sexy when he allowed himself to smile. “It’s the best part.”

Luke grinned. “You just like blowing shit up.”

“Well . . . yeah.”

“Like that time you shot that rocket off and set the grass on fire.”

Des looked to Logan, who shrugged. “It was a science experiment.”

“Bullshit,” Luke said. “You bought that rocket at the model store, built it, and thought you could send it to space.”

“I sent it up, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. And right into the dry grass. Man, Dad was pissed about that fire.”

Des caught the hint of a smile on Logan’s face. “He was.”

“Uh-oh,” Emma said. “You were in trouble, Logan?”

Luke laughed. “When you have to bring the water truck out to contain a grass fire in the middle of the dry season, trouble is an understatement. I thought for sure our dad was going to have to call the fire department.”

“It’s a good thing he got it contained with the water truck, or my ass would have been as burnt as that field.”

“So, your father was a little mad, huh?” Des asked.

“Oh, more than a little mad. I was shoveling cow shit for a month.”

Des laughed.

“Oh, poor Logan,” Emma said.

“Don’t ‘poor Logan’ him,” Luke said. “He deserved it. And then there was the time you hid all of Mom’s makeup in the barn.”

“Now that was someone you didn’t want to piss off.” Though Logan’s lips curved when he said it.

Des grinned. “You hid her makeup in the barn?”

“That stuff was like liquid gold to her. She put it on as soon as she got out of bed every morning. I thought she was pretty enough without it, and I told her that. She said no woman is beautiful until she has her hair and makeup finished.”

“Apparently you disagreed,” Emma said.

Logan nodded. “So one morning in the summer, I got up early, snuck into her bathroom and gathered up all her makeup into my school backpack, and hid it in the barn.”

“You could hear her screaming all the way from in the kitchen,” Luke said with a smile.

“How old were you?” Des asked Logan.

“Seven or eight, I think.”

“She came after you like you were the devil himself,” Luke said, pride in his eyes as he looked at his brother. “And even better, Logan played dumb, said he had no idea where her makeup was.”

“Yeah, but she knew it was me.”

“She always blamed you for shit.”

“Mostly because I was the one to blame for most of it.”

Luke laughed. “That’s true.”

“Did you get in trouble for hiding her makeup?” Des asked.

“She sent me to my room for the day. Which for a kid that age is like being in hell.”

“And if I recall, Dad thought it was pretty funny when Mom complained about it over dinner. He told her Logan was right and she did look pretty without makeup. Which set her off all over again.”

Logan nodded at Luke. “Yeah. And then I got sent back up to my room after dinner.”

“She was mad at you for about a week over that,” Luke said.

“It was worth it.”

They both laughed.

Des leaned back in the kitchen chair. “Makeup seems like kind of a silly thing to get so upset about.”

“You didn’t know our mother,” Logan said. “No sense of humor.”

He left it at that, and Luke didn’t elaborate, so Des didn’t probe any further, but she really wanted to know more about the woman who raised him. He’d mentioned her once, but only to say she was gone, and she’d remarried. His voice had been flat and she hadn’t wanted to ask. But she was curious.

After dinner, they all took their dishes into the kitchen and helped Emma clean up, then settled into the living room with drinks. Logan had switched to soda, but Des enjoyed another glass of wine. She had an early call tomorrow, but she didn’t want to leave. She’d so thoroughly enjoyed this day that she wanted it to go on as long as possible.