sit down.
“What’s your idea of a romantic Valentine’s Day?” Carter asked Grace as he slowly consumed his ice cream. “What would really do it for you?”
Grace sighed. “Are we back to that again?” But she pensively gnawed her lip. “I don’t know if I should tell you. It’s going to sound indulgent. Foolish. Whiny.”
“I’ll let you know if it is or not.”
Grace gave him a crooked grin. She got over her shyness and decided to treat Carter’s question like a game of what-if.
“Well, first of all, I get to sleep late. Somebody else has the kids. There will be flowers all over the house. Inside my croissant, I’d find a pair of diamond ear studs....” Carter laughed at that. “In the refrigerator, a bottle of Perrier Joet champagne. The local spa would call to tell me I have an appointment for a massage, and they’re sending a car to pick me up. After that, we’re flown by helicopter to a secret retreat for three days and two nights of...” Grace stopped, remembering that her children were within earshot of her recitation. “You get the idea,” she concluded.
“Who’s the other person in the ‘we’ part?” Carter asked.
Grace reined herself in. Fantasy over. She was back at the mall with her kids, Carter, and a cast of thousands. She pursed her mouth. “I don’t know. I was just making it up.”
“Can I come with you?” Madison suddenly asked.
Carter grinned broadly. Grace glared at him. “I’m not going anywhere, baby. Mommy was just pretending.” She felt Becca pulling on her arm.
“I wanna go home.”
“We’re leaving now,” Grace said, standing up and taking her daughter’s hand.
* * *
Once they all arrived back at Grace’s house, Carter became the sole and exclusive playmate of Madison and Becca. And while Grace was amazed and relieved that her children had taken so effortlessly to him, she couldn’t wait for Carter to leave.
It wasn’t so much that he’d gotten too comfortable too quickly in her children’s lives, but that Carter was insidiously burrowing into hers. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy his company, his bantering and his thoughtfulness. It was the other possibilities that could be part of the package. Every time her mind ventured into the unknown, Grace was pulled back to reality by two things. The first was the notion that she’d somehow been unfaithful to her late husband’s memory. The second was a fear of falling.
Without interruption, and with nothing else to keep her company but her own thoughts, Grace did chores. First, she did the laundry, and then she repaired a hole in one of Madison’s pants. All the while something was definitely happening inside her. It was a gradual recognition of her loneliness. It was a desire to live again, and to love.
“I guess I should have offered to help.”
Carter’s voice startled her, and she looked over her shoulder to find him standing in the doorway of her kitchen, hands in his pockets.
“You are helping. You’re keeping the kids from fighting and getting in my way. Where are they?”
“In the family room watching a DVD. Square Bob something.”
Grace couldn’t help laughing. “It’s SpongeBob SquarePants. Who won the chess match?”
“We didn’t actually play a game. I thought it wiser to just show Madison a few moves, see what he could do. Who taught him? I don’t remember Benson playing.”
“He didn’t. My father taught Madison.”
Carter was watching her fold small T-shirts belonging to her son. “I guess it’s true what my mom once said to me. A woman’s work really is never done. What do you do to relax?”
“Relax? What’s that?”
He nodded. “I get you. Look, I think I’m going to get on the road back to the city.”
She put a half-folded T-shirt on a pile and followed Carter into the front room, where he’d left his coat.
“Thanks for being so patient with the kids.”
“Thanks for letting me come to play with them.” He grinned.
Carter put on his leather coat but left it unbuttoned. “When can I see you again?” he asked.
The question struck a nerve in Grace. She knew he wasn’t talking about being with her kids. “The next few weeks are going to be busy.”
He grinned knowingly, well aware that she had deliberately misunderstood. “Tell you what. I have to go look at some apartments the next time I fly in from Chicago. Can you come with me?”
“Call me when you get back,” she said coyly.
“Great. I’d like your opinion.”
“You might be sorry you asked.”
With his hand on the doorknob, he looked at her for a long moment. “I seriously doubt it.”
“Do you have to go?” Madison asked, wandering into the front room in his stocking feet.
“I’m afraid so. I have plans tonight, and I have to go get ready.”
Grace folded her arms across her chest and fixed her attention on the middle of Carter’s chest.
“Can you come back to see us again?” Madison asked.
“I hope so,” Carter said comfortably, watching Becca as she soon joined them, sucking two fingers and leaning against her mother’s side. Coming from the family room were the screechy, frantic sounds and dialogue of cartoon characters on the TV.
“Have a good trip back home to Chicago,” Grace said.
“New York is going to be my home,” he replied. Then he playfully pinched Becca’s nose. “Be sweet.” He turned to Madison and asked solemnly, “Is it okay if I kiss your mother goodbye?”
“Carter—” Grace started to object, but her disapproval was lost in Madison’s response.
The boy shrugged. “Sure. I don’t mind.”
“Madison...” she complained anew.
She barely had time to prepare herself when Carter stepped in front of her. She’d imagined something highly inappropriate. Her wild imaginings had already worked it out. But Carter’s kiss, light and affectionate, caressed her lips briefly and was done.
“I’ll call you before I leave the city,” he said.
He was gone before she could react.
“I’m hungry,” Becca announced.
“I’m going to do dinner right now, hon. Madison, please put your chess pieces away. And if you’re not going to watch that movie, turn it off.”
Madison knelt on the floor and swept together all the chessmen, putting them in a box. “Carter’s fun. I like him,” he said simply.
Grace grimaced ruefully to herself as she moistened her lips with her tongue.
What’s not to like?
Chapter 3
“Hi, it’s Grace. Can I help you?”
“You got a minute?”
Grace sighed. “I have a little more time than that for you, Marjorie, but I’m going into a meeting soon. Is everything okay?”
“As well as can be expected. I was wondering what you’re going to do in May for Benson’s anniversary?”
Grace, who was multitasking as she talked to her mother-in-law, furrowed her brow. “Benson’s anniversary?”
“Of