Her lips spread into a slow, sultry grin, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning in to kiss him deeply. His hands came up around her waist as he forgot that he and Evelyn had plans.
But Evelyn pulled away, kissed him once more lightly on the lips, then climbed back into the passenger seat, where she pulled a compact out of her bag to check her reflection. “I’d really better be on my good behavior now.”
He swallowed. She hadn’t said it back. “Why’s that?”
She looked at him, then reached over and wiped at the lipstick on his mouth. “Isn’t it obvious? I love you too.” She handed him a handkerchief. “Wipe that off well. You just raised the stakes. Let’s go. I don’t want to be late.”
Tony scrubbed at his mouth with the square of cloth while Evelyn reapplied lipstick, looking in her compact mirror. Then he pulled the car into gear and continued toward town.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Grandma?” I called, entering the cottage. I heard clattering in the kitchen and headed in that direction.
“Good morning, sweetheart. How was your run?”
“I ran into Joe,” I said, pulling out a kitchen chair.
“Well, of course you did.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I texted him when I saw your note.”
“What do you mean you texted him? Since when do you know how to text?”
“I know how to do a lot of things.” She was at the stove, French toast simmering in a frying pan, the smell of my childhood wafting toward the table.
“When I text you, you send back gibberish.”
“Oh, darling.” She turned around to face me, one hand on her hip, the other gesturing with a spatula. “Have you not figured out how much fun I have teasing you and your mother?” She smiled, turning back to the pan. “Never underestimate me.”
“I don’t,” I said through clenched teeth. “That’s what I want to talk to you about. I know your game. And I’m not interested in a setup.”
“A setup?” She slid thick-cut pieces of French toast onto a waiting plate. “What kind of setup?”
“This Joe guy. I know you think it’d be cute because he’s Tony’s great-nephew and all, but I’m not interested.”
“Of course, you’re not interested.”
I narrowed my eyes. Agreeing too readily was always a sign she was about to play an ace. “I’m serious.”
“I know, dear. You don’t even know him yet. How could you be interested?”
“That’s not what I mean!” She put a plate in front of me. There was syrup on the table and two glasses of orange juice.
“Eat,” she said, setting down the other plate and sitting. “We have a busy day today.”
“Oh, do we? You literally haven’t told me anything about this trip.”
“I certainly have. I have business to take care of.”
“And you won’t tell me what that business is?”
“No. It’s mine. That’s all you need to know for now. But that’s later in the week.”
“Joe said you want him to show me around the town?”
“This afternoon, yes. This morning, we need to run errands.”
“Why can’t you show me around town? I want to hear your stories about it, not some random guy’s.”
“He’s hardly random.”
“Look, historically, your fixups have been disasters.”
“One time—”
“Two. And that second one was enough for a lifetime.”
“You can’t tell me you haven’t seen that before. You’ve been married, after all.”
I rubbed at my forehead, not wanting to relive the worst date in the history of dates. And referring to my marriage in the past tense took some of the fight out of me. “Grandma, I’m not ready. And he lives almost five hundred miles away from me.”
“From your parents’ house, you mean.”
I looked up sharply, but she smiled innocently. So it was a setup, no matter what she said to the contrary. “I’m not moving to Massachusetts. Especially not for a guy.”
“Sounds like you’ve thought things out awfully far for someone who isn’t interested.” I threw my hands up, exasperated. “Now eat your French toast. You’ll need a shower too. I can’t take you anywhere like that.”
Defeated, I took a bite. “Where did the groceries come from?”
“Oh, I texted Joe a list before we left.”