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“She tried,” he said.“I couldn’t commit, because I wasn’t sure you’d have me back.”
Bea searched his face.“You weren’t?”
“A man has doubts,” he said with a shrug.“Especially after only ten days together.”
Bea could see his point, though she’d never label Grant as a man who doubted anything.He seemed full of confidence and ability, and she tapped to text her children about him.With that done, she met his eye again.“I want to go to National Parks with you too.You and Shelby if we can.My love list said to visit ten of them.Is it okay if I go to Big Bend with my friends and then others with you?”
His eyes glittered with diamonds and stars.“Yeah, I guess,” he said, still acting put out.
“If you don’t want me to, I won’t,” she said.
“Bea.”Grant wrapped her in his strong arms again and began to sway with her right there in the kitchen.“I know how important your friends are to you.I would never tell you that you can’t go on a National Park trip with them.”
“Good,” she murmured.“Because I think Cass might’ve snuck into your hotel room and smothered you if I told her I couldn’t go to Big Bend.She’s been planning it for a week.”
“The planning sheet was blank, that I recall.”
“Oh, Cass holds it all up here.”Bea tapped her temple, grinning at Grant.“She’s a planner.She loves it.Loves planning events, dinners, what a room should look like, an outfit, all of it.”
“She does seem very type-A,” Grant said, kneading Bea closer and closer until she couldn’t get any closer.Bea’s phone went off several times, but she ignored it.“Probably the kids.”
“Yeah,” she whispered.Then she lifted up onto her toes and kissed Grant.She could answer the children’s questions later.
“Okay, Mama,” Beasaid with some exasperation a couple of days later.“He doesn’t like it when you blow in his face.”She scooped up her Frenchie, rescuing him from her mother’s torments.
Out on the patio, where she’d hung the piñata for her Supper Club a few weeks ago, Grant stood in front of the grill with her daddy.He used the walker the way he was supposed to, so Bea had no complaints.The two of them looked happy and friendly, and Bea opened the glass door and put Fresco out there with them.“How’s it coming?”she asked.
“Great,” Grant said, turning toward her.“Are they here yet?”
“Not yet,” she said.“I was just rescuing Fresco from Mama.”
“I need to sit down,” Daddy said, and Bea opened the slider further to accommodate his walker.She stayed close to him as he went into the living room, and she put his walker to the side of the recliner after he’d sat.
“Mama,” her son called, and Bea spun back to the kitchen.Her pulse pounded and ricocheted and fired all over her body.The sound of chatter, footsteps, and a rolling suitcase filled the air, and Bea stood further in the kitchen while her three children came through the mudroom to meet her.
“Hey,” she said fondly, taking Ted into her arms first.He’d called out, and he only had a backpack with him.He and Curtis traveled lighter than Meredith, who’d brought the carryon.
“Is that him?”Curtis asked.
Bea released Ted to jump in front of her younger son.“I’m introducing him,” she said.“Give your mama a hug.”
“Yes, Mama.”Curtis barely tore his eyes from Grant long enough to envelop Bea in a hug, and after she’d embraced Meredith, the four of them faced the sliding glass door.
Grant had seen them, of course, and he hung the tongs over the handle on the grill.He wiped his hands down his thighs and then swooped them through his hair.
Meredith linked her arm through Bea’s and sighed.“He’s handsome, Mom.”
“Looks good in blue,” Ted said.
Bea smiled and stepped forward to open the door for Grant.They did it together, and he stepped inside, right next to her.She linked her arm through his and turned to face her children.She’d been on this side of them before, but not for a while.As they’d grown and become adults, they’d become more about being friends than about her exerting a power role over them.
“Guys, this is Grant Turner.”She looked up at him, happiness flowing from her.“My new boyfriend.Grant, these are my kids.Meredith’s the oldest.Teddy’s in the middle.Curtis is the youngest.”
“It’s so great to meet you,” Grant said, moving forward to shake hands.That all happened, and her children demonstrated their perfect Texas manners.
“Mama says you live in South Carolina,” Curtis said, and Bea sucked in a breath.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Grant said.“Hilton Head Island.”
