"Hey..."

Beth spoke softly, but David jumped anyway. "Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you."
"Hey, Beth.. um... how long have you been standing there?" The cliched line seemed perfectly normal in that context.
"Long enough to know that Kim's a handful, apparently." She stepped inside and closed the door. "What's her problem?"
Listen..." David planted his feet. "I'm sorry you overheard that. You have to understand... Kim... she has trust issues."
Beth sighed. "I guess I'm not getting any shoes then, huh?"
"I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you some other way."
"Don't sweat it. I'm sorry. Why don't we get back to it, huh? Sooner we finish, the sooner you can get home and deal with it, yeah?"
"Yeah." He seemed grateful.
They got back to work and managed to finish the prep close to 8:30. Beth gave Davidand apologetic hug and a pat on the back before heading down to the garage.

On the way to her car, she got a call from Brian.
"Hey, baby!" she answered. Shit. I didn't call him.
"Hey, I just got home from the event. We wrapped early. Where are you? Kyle said you haven't been home yet."
"Wait... Kyle? Your brother? He's at the house?"
"Yeah... shit I guess I forgot to tell you. He got in today, so he's here."
"That's great." She grabbed the door handle of her car and climbed inside. "I'm sorry, I stayed late to help David. He needs to prep for a big case that's appearing in court on Monday." She turned the car over. "I thought I'd be home before you, so I guess I just forgot to text you."
"Oh, that's fine. I was just..."
"Aw... you were worried about me?" she smiled.
"Maybe..."
"Well, I'm in the car now, I'll see you guys in a bit."
"Ok, love you."
When Beth arrived at home, Brian was in shorts and a t-shirt, but he didn't appear to have showered yet, and when she hugged him he smelled faintly of cologne, perfume, and cigar smoke. She didn't mind too much though, and she hoped that he wasn't suspicious of her lingering hug and passionate kiss.
Kyle Jackson, Corporal, U.S. Army (Ret.) introduced himself. He was in jeans and a tight green t-shirt, and despite his extended hand, she gave him a hug instead. They enjoyed a late dinner, ordering pizza and drinking beer while Kyle and Beth got acquainted. Freshly discharged, he had taken a military transport from Damascus to Tel Aviv, and flown from Tel Aviv to JFK. After a quick 12 hour layover in Manhattan, during which Kyle had crashed with a friend in Brooklyn, he had gotten on a plane to LAX that had gotten in at around noon. He was jet-lagged, though the 12 hours spent on the east coast helped a little bit. He would be looking for a job, and an apartment, but Brian was quick to assure him that he could stay with them for a while without a problem.
Beth began to notice Brian's eagerness to show himself as hospitable to his brother, and seemed to be bending over backward to make Kyle feel welcome and loved. Beth would have chalked it up to just being a proud big brother, if it hadn't been for the look that Kyle had given Brian after a particular bout of gushing praise and pride, which had caused Brian to subside into 'yeah's and 'so, anyway...'s. Something weird was going on there.
Eventually, jet lag caught up to Kyle. Beth and Brian headed upstairs to let him sleep.