“And you shouldn’t keep poking your nose in my business! I love how you assume it’s about Josh. How do you know I wasn’t fired from my job earlier today?”
Her grandmother looked sheepish for just a second. “You’re right.”
“What did you just say?” Her grandmother’s honesty caught Dana totally off guard.
“You’re right. I don’t know if you were fired from your job. But if that were the case, you wouldn’t be avoiding us. So tell me what happened with Josh.”
Dana covered her face with her hands. “Oh my God.” She looked back at her grandmother with pleading eyes. “You need to back off a little, Gran.”
Her grandmother looked highly insulted. “I have wisdom, you know. Useful wisdom that might give you some insights—”
“Sometimes I wish I’d stayed at the hotel!”
Her grandmother’s jaw set in a hard line. “Well, no one is stopping you.”
Dana groaned. “Grandma, I didn’t mean it.”
Her grandmother didn’t respond as she walked away to her own bedroom, silently closing the door behind her.
Good one, Dana thought. Hurting your grandmother. Wasn’t this supposed to be a simple business trip? What an idiot she was; where did she get off thinking anything in the world was simple? She was thirty-two, for God’s sake. She should know better by now. She sat back down on the bed and tried to resume working, but it was useless: her concentration was completely shot. She decided to watch some TV to help her wind down, and then attempt sleep. Tomorrow she’d apologize.
The next morning, Dana woke up extra early to go running. Her plan was to get back with enough time to shower and prepare breakfast for her grandmother as an act of contrition. It would go one of two ways: either her grandmother would wave the food away, and in a weak voice say, “I’ve lost my appetite,” or else she’d cry and smother Dana in kisses. Either way, Dana was going to complete the mea culpa by telling her what had happened, as well as taking her out to lunch and showing her how the boutique was coming along.
She was just beginning to chop peppers for the omelet she was preparing when she heard her grandparents’ bedroom door open and close. Dana was actually longing for her grandmother to appear; upsetting her had been weighing heavily on her mind.
“How’s my girl?”
It was her grandfather.
“Let me guess,” Dana said dryly. “She sent you out here as her emissary.”
Her grandfather laughed as he carefully lowered himself into a kitchen chair. “She thinks I’m in the bathroom. But since she’s busy Googling, ‘What to do when your grandchild hates you,’ I thought it might be good if I talked to you.”
Dana hung her head for a moment before gesturing at the chopped veggies on the cutting board. “I’m making her favorite omelet. The coffee is percolating away.” She looked at her grandfather plaintively. “What else should I be doing, Grandpa?”
“Let me tell you something about your grandmother: she might come off as having balls of steel, but inside, she’s a very sensitive person.”
“I know that,” Dana said softly.
“She loves you to death. I can’t tell you how thrilled she is that you’re staying with us.” He pointed to a box of chocolates on the counter. “Can you get me one, please? I’m already sitting.”
“It’s 6 A.M.!”
“Dana? Get me the chocolate. I worked hard all my goddamn life and now, if I want chocolate at 6 A.M., I’m having it.”
“Fine,” said Dana, doing her best to cover her amusement as she plucked a chocolate from the box and handed it to her grandfather.
“Mmmm, chocolate-covered cherry,” he mumbled, chewing. “Back to your grandmother. She knows she’s a nag. She knows she’s critical. But she can’t help herself.”
“It’s more than just being a nag,” Dana lamented. “She’s pushy. And nosy. And she’s always got an opinion.”
Her grandfather sighed. “I know. But don’t you see? Giving you advice makes her feel useful.”
Dana paused. “I never thought of that.”
“Of course you didn’t. That’s why I’m sitting in this schmatte robe talking to you. She needs to be needed, Dana.”
Dana put down the chopping knife. “I feel awful.”
“Look, I would have lost my temper, too,” her grandfather admitted, glancing nervously at the kitchen doorway. “You’ve got all sorts of pressure what with opening the store, dating the weed-whacker—”
“I’m not dating the weed-whacker.”
“Hooking up, casual sex, whatever it is you kids do. My point is, she just wants to take care of you. She just wants to see you happy. So if she went a bit overboard after you avoided her all day”—Dana looked down guiltily—“cut her some slack.”
Dana found herself getting choked up. “I will. I promise.”
“And PS, we never had this conversation. She’d cut my pisher off if she knew I was telling you what a softie she is.” He waggled a hand in the direction of the chocolate box. Dana fetched him another candy, knowing she’d catch hell if her grandmother ever found out.
“My suggestion is this: apologize profusely, tell her you’re glad you’re staying here. Ask her to help you solve some problems, even if they’re completely bogus. Everything will be fine.”
“Thank you, Grandpa.”
“I’ll tell her I heard you stirring in the kitchen.”
He fumbled in his bathrobe pocket and pulled out a walkie-talkie. “Adele?”
There was a crackling noise before her grandmother’s voice sounded. “Is that you, Sam?”
“Who the hell else would it be? I think Dana’s up. Maybe it would be nice if we all had breakfast together.”
“All right, I’m coming. Don’t forget to wash your hands.”
Dana held her tongue as her grandfather pocketed the walkie-talkie.
“You’re a good girl, Dana. Now, hurry up and slip me one more piece of chocolate before she gets here.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“You tired? You want to sit?”
Strolling slowly up and down the consumer’s paradise that was Worth Avenue, Dana was reminded that her grandmother was a champion shopper. After a nice lunch on the terrace at the Palm Beach Hotel (the staff now recognized her, which was scary), her grandmother insisted they go for a little walk. That was fine with Dana. But she didn’t realize her grandmother was trying to achieve the world record for “Most Exclusive Stores Visited in One Day.”
Her grandmother checked her watch, assessing her surroundings. “There’s still a lot here I need to check out, Dana.”
“Grandma, we don’t have to do it all in one day. Besides, you live in Boca. You could come anytime.”
“True. But I’m here now with my beautiful granddaughter, so why not take advantage of it?”
Dana stifled a yawn. “Well, you might not be tired, but I am. Let’s wrap it up soon.”
Her grandmother carefully studied the large-type guide to the stores, fiddling with her sun visor. It was a nervous habit, reminding Dana of the way her mother was always checking her earrings in the mirror. But she’d never tell her mother that.
Dana’s grandmother folded up the map and put it back into her oversized shoulder bag. “I just want to look in Saks at their men’s bathrobes. That rag your grandfather shuffles around in is embarrassing. The material has worn so thin at the back I can practically see his ass.”
“I would have thought you’d like that,” Dana teased.
“I love him, but have you ever seen an old man’s ass?”
“No.”
“It’s not a pretty sight. Trust me on this.”
Dana, ever dutiful, spent another half hour traipsing around behind her grandmother before she finally couldn’t take it anymore.
“Why don’t we make a plan to meet by those benches across the street in half an hour? That way, you can continue robe hunting, and I can just close my eyes for a few minutes.”
Her grand
mother clucked her tongue. “You’re too young to be so tired.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been working long hours to make sure the launch of the store goes off without a hitch.”
Her grandmother smiled proudly. “It will.”
“I hope you’re right.” Because if it does, I could wind up in Paris. She couldn’t tell her grandmother that, though. She’d freak out. There was no point mentioning it, anyway, since it might not happen at all.
“Half an hour,” her grandmother said. “If I’m going to be longer, I’ll call you.”
Alone and finally able to relax, Dana sat on the bench, content to people-watch.
“Life’s rich pageant,” as Shakespeare wrote, though in this case, the operative word was definitely rich.
Her eyes lit on a tanned, lithe, blond woman who looked like she’d stepped out of a Ralph Lauren ad. She was holding the hand of a little girl who looked to be about three, all blond curls and big, curious brown eyes, wearing an adorable rosebud-patterned sundress and white sandals. Dana’s eyes welled up with tears as she struggled with envy, the same forlorn variety she’d struggled with at Lois and Johnny’s wedding. I’ll never have that, was all Dana could think. She knew she was being ridiculous. She was nowhere near the age when her eggs started to shrivel into white raisins and the universe started banging on the door, yelling, “You better have a kid soon.” But she couldn’t stop fixating on the worst-case scenario.
Was it so much to ask? A partner to spend her life with? Children to love? Self-hatred welled up inside her. If that was what she wanted so badly, then what the hell had she been doing spending time with Josh Green? Worse yet, why the hell was she thinking about him right now? She knew why, and she hated it: because in another time and place ...
“Oh my God. Honey, what’s wrong?”
Dana looked up into her grandmother’s fear-stricken face. She had no idea how long she’d been people-watching before the beautiful mother and child had walked by, nor was she aware of how indiscreetly she’d been crying. The only thing she was sure of was that she was glad she had sunglasses on.
“Just my period, Gran,” she lied, pulling her glasses off for a moment to swipe at her eyes. “You remember what it’s like: I could watch a commercial with adorable kittens tumbling out of a box and I’d burst into tears.”
“Except it’s not kittens. It’s babies.” Her grandmother deposited herself beside Dana, offering her a crumpled tissue from her purse.
“Talk to me,” her grandmother pressed gently.
Dana stared her grandmother down over the top of her sunglasses. “As long as you don’t say a word about Josh Green.”
“I can’t promise you that.”
“Forget it, then.”
“All right, all right, all right,” her grandmother capitulated resentfully, passing Dana another crumpled tissue that she waved away. “I’ll try not to. But remember, I’m old. That makes me very forgetful sometimes.”
“That might be the biggest lie I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth.”
“Talk, Dana.”
Dana took a deep breath, more to stall than anything else. The last thing she wanted to do was break down in front of her grandmother. She was fairly certain if she confessed just how strong her longings for a family were, her grandmother would be calling every wannabe matchmaker she knew within a fifty-mile radius. Then again, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing, if you ignored the fact she was leaving in two weeks.
“Okay, you asked for it: I’m crying because I’m single with no prospects, and the thing I want more than anything is a family. Don’t tell me I haven’t tried looking hard enough. I’ve been set up on blind dates. I’ve done speed dating. I’ve done Match Dot Com. I met one guy I really liked on JDate, but there was just one hitch: on our third date, I found out he was married.
“I know that all the traveling for my job hasn’t helped. But my job is all I have.” Dana squeezed the tension out of the back of her neck. “I’m weepy because I’m tired, and when I’m tired I get depressed, and when I get depressed, I become totally pessimistic. From where I sit right now—alone on a bench in Florida with my grandmother—I can’t imagine getting what seems to come so easily to everyone else.”
“If it comes so easily to everyone else, then why are there all these dating services out there?”
Dana had no reply to that.
Her grandmother looked pleased with herself as she fiddled with her visor. “Got you there, didn’t I?”
Dana smiled faintly.
“Love doesn’t come to everyone in the same way,” her grandmother continued. Dana was about to protest, and then remembered her grandfather’s advice. “Sometimes it sneaks up on you.”
“I don’t like to be snuck up on. I like to know what’s going on.”
“Some people have a whirlwind romance. Ever hear of that?”
“Yes, Grandma, I’m familiar with the expression.”
“Maybe you and Josh ...” her grandmother suggested tentatively.
“Done,” Dana said tersely.
“Before it even started,” her grandmother rejoined. Dana had already told her what had happened at the salsa club. Her grandmother had been uncharacteristically quiet. Perhaps she’d felt guilty because Dana had made her an omelet. But whatever the reason for her silence had been, the moment had obviously passed.
“Let me ask you something.”
Dana steeled herself. Those five words meant danger when spoken by Estelle Fine.
“Weren’t you the tiniest bit flattered when Josh was upset?”
“No.”
Her grandmother lifted her eyebrows. “You know what happens to little girls who lie, don’t you, Dana?”
“They get no jelly donuts for dessert,” Dana muttered in tandem with her grandmother. It had been a running joke between them since Dana was small.
Her grandmother pulled a Lifesaver out of her purse and popped it in her mouth, looking at Dana expectantly.
“Okay, I was flattered,” Dana admitted. “In retrospect. But that’s just biology, or pheromones, or whatever.”
“Which tells me something.”
Dana rolled her eyes, glad her grandmother couldn’t see behind the sunglasses. “What does it tell you?”
“It tells me you really like him. Because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t have felt flattered, even if it was in retrospect. You wouldn’t have felt flattered at all. You would have been nothing but disgusted. And quit rolling your eyes.”
“Why are we even talking about Josh Green? I was telling you about how I want a family, and somehow you turned it into me and Josh Green.”
“Got you again, didn’t I?” her grandmother said triumphantly.
“I don’t want to talk about Josh Green. I want you to go back to the part where you tell me love comes to people in different ways, and you’re not referring to Josh Green.”
“He’s perfect for you. You’re just too damn stubborn to see it.”
“I’ve known him for a week,” Dana snapped back, prompting passersby to look at her askance. “How can he be perfect for me? You know, Mom once told me you said Dad was perfect for her. Look how that turned out.”
“How was I to know the man liked to wear his pants around his ankles in the office?” her grandmother protested. “Bastard,” she added under her breath.
“I’m just saying, your hunches and intuitions aren’t always right.”
“What if Josh lived in New York?” her grandmother tried. “Would you have been so quick to pull the plug?”
“There’s no plug,” Dana said wearily.
“But there is fate.”
Dana rose. “I’m exhausted. Can we leave now?”
“Sure.” Her grandmother grabbed Dana’s forearm and hoisted herself up. “Just think about what I said.”
“Which part? About old men’s asses?”
“No, wiseass,” her grandmother said, laughing. “About whirlwind romance and fate.”
>
“I will.”
“You won’t. But I love you anyway, you brat. Now come back to Saks with me: I want your opinion on a bathrobe.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“I’m sorry.”
Dana stood at her grandparents’ front door, staring at the handsome man in front of her. His curly hair was damp, his body clean, and his face freshly shaved. He was even wearing cologne.
Dana wasn’t sure what to say. Her first reaction to Josh was desire cascading through her body. Perhaps it was the intoxicating brew of masculinity and humility. Or maybe Josh was simply sexy no matter what.
She took a moment to readjust. She’d been on the phone haggling with the trucking company that was delivering the rugs and furniture to the boutique. Dana wanted them there by seven the next morning. They claimed the earliest they could be there was nine, despite her being the first client of the day. She’d been about to “Push the up button” to speak to a manager when the doorbell rang.
“Can I come in?”
Dana ushered Josh in politely. “Sure.”
He pulled off his topsiders, carefully lining them up on the inside doormat.
“You can see which toes you mashed if you look close,” he joked.
Dana couldn’t help cracking a small smile. “How did you know I’d be home?”
“Saw the rental car parked outside.” Josh cocked his head, listening, but there was no sound but the hum of the air conditioner. “Where are your grandparents?”
“It’s five o’clock, Josh. They’re at the Cheesecake Factory for the Early Bird Special.”
Josh chuckled. “I barely finished lunch a little while ago.”
“Me, too.” They stood awkwardly in the hallway.
“Water?”
“That would be great.”
Dana led him into the pristine kitchen. It was only a few feet from the front door, but it was far enough for her to feel his eyes on her back, taking in her hiking shorts and her old, stretched-out Phantom of the Opera T-shirt. She felt self-conscious, even though she knew that was silly. The guy has seen you stark naked.
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