Close to You

hand all over it.” He gestured to the place setting.
“Elegant, refined, classic. Understated but fine.
Delicious.”
    She felt unaccustomed heat rising to
her cheeks. She sipped her tea to distract herself, but she put it
down immediately. She hated tea. “I don’t know that I’d go that
far.”
    “ I would.” He picked up
another sandwich. “Why did you call me?”
    She blinked at the change of
conversation. “What do you mean?”
    “ You called me. I really
didn’t think you would, but I’m incredibly thankful and excited
that you did.” He leveled his intense gray eyes at her. “Does this
mean you’ll consent to going out to dinner with me?”
    “ I—” She hadn’t thought
that far. Really, she hadn’t thought that he’d still be interested
given the way she’d treated him.
    He took her hand and raised it to his
mouth. He pressed a kiss to her fingers. His breath on her skin
made her shiver. “There’s this little restaurant in Noe Valley
that’s delightfully like a trip to Italy. Have you ever been to
Italy?”
    “ No.” She’d always wanted
to go. Harry had too, given that he was an architect, but they’d
never made it. The fire in her blood burned, and she listed toward
Grant, wanting him to take her wherever he wanted.
    He knew he had her too—it was in his
eyes. He leaned toward her, his gaze on her lips. “Come with
me.”
    A shadow fell over their table. She
was about to wave Tanya away when she heard Treat say,
“Mom.”
    Jerking her hand from Grant’s, she
looked up, unable to get past the guilt and embarrassment to smile
at her son. “Treat, what are you doing here?” she asked standing
up.
    His gaze held steady on Grant. “I’ve
been trying to reach you. You aren’t answering your
phone.”
    “ Oh. Yes.” She took his arm
and tried to move him away from the table. “Maybe we
can—”
    Grant stood up and held his hand out.
“Grant Norquist.”
    “ Treat Byrnes.” He glanced
at her before returning his assessing gaze to Grant. “You’re my
mother’s...”
    “ We just met,” she said as
Grant said, “Friend.”
    Treat raised his brow. “So you’re
friends who just met?”
    “ Treat,” she admonished in
her best motherly tone, which wasn’t effective given she felt like
she’d just been caught under the bleachers with a boy by her
dad.
    Grant put a hand on her back. “He’s
concerned for your welfare, Margaret. He has every right to
question who I am.”
    Her son crossed his arms. “And who are
you?”
    “ Someone who’s very
interested in taking your mother out to dinner.”
    She flushed, glancing at Treat. Would
he think that she was being unfaithful? His gaze was shuttered and
she couldn’t tell what was going through his mind.
    “ But for now I can see you
two have things to discuss,” Grant said, dropping his napkin on the
table. “Thank you for tea, Margaret.”
    “ You’re welcome,” she said
automatically.
    “ I’ll call you. Answer your
phone.” He lifted her chin and kissed her cheek.
    The spot where his mouth touched
burned. It was uncomfortable and exciting all at once. She put a
hand up to it, intending to wipe it away but instead pressing her
palm to it to hold the feeling in.
    “ Treat.” Grant nodded at
her son. “I hope to see you in the future.”
    Treat nodded, watching the man stride
out of the teahouse. Then he turned to her. “That was a
surprise.”
    “ It doesn’t mean
anything.”
    “ He wants it to mean
something.”
    She couldn’t talk about Grant to her
son. She didn’t know what to make of him herself. “I’m glad you’re
here. I need to rearrange the store for that event—”
    “ Mom, someone left the
garden hose on at Grounds for Thought. You wouldn’t happen to know
anything about it, would you?”
    She froze, her heart stopping. Then it
started beating wildly. “Why would I know anything about that?” she
asked warily.
    He shrugged, too nonchalantly. “I
don’t know. Because you seem to have a thing against Eve’s
business, and I seem to recall telling you that her shop was in
danger of flooding in the back.”
    Aware that her customers were
watching, she took his arm and led him to the front, away from
eavesdropping ears. “Are you accusing me of tampering with
something?”
    “ I’m not accusing, I’m
asking.” He watched her steadily. “You haven’t been yourself, and
you’ve been so fixated on Eve.”
    “ I have not been fixated.” She glared at her
son. “You’re