Close to You

him
without even seeing him? It takes a special person to do that. A
kind and compassionate person.”
    “ I’ve done bad things,” she
whispered hoarsely.
    “ I have a pretty good sense
of people, and I can tell that whatever you think you’ve done isn’t
as bad as you think.”
    “ The hell it’s not,” she
said loudly.
    The tables next to them glanced over
uncomfortably.
    Oddly, for once, she didn’t
care. She leaned forward, feeling the eruption coming and unable to
stop it. “I’ve done bad things to my son and the woman he loves. I’m cold and
uncaring, and I have a black heart.”
    Grant appeared to digest the words.
Then he shook his head confidently. “A woman with a black heart
wouldn’t give a damn about a man down on his luck.”
    The sympathy in his eyes
nearly slayed her. She knocked her chair backwards as she stood up
to leave. “ Yes, I do . You should run away now while you have the chance, before I
ruin your life too.”
    Catching her hand, he stopped her.
“Margaret, I’m not going to run.”
    She looked down at his hand as tears
flooded her eyes. “Then you’re a fool.”
    “ Maybe a gambler rather
than a fool.” He smiled gently. “But I have a feeling the risk here
is worth the projected reward.”
    “ That only proves you’re a
fool.” She tugged her hand free and rushed out of the restaurant,
chased by fears, regrets, and wishes she had no right
making.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter Twenty-seven
     
    Treat gazed sightlessly at the plans
he was supposed to be discussing with his crew manager Don. He knew
he needed to focus but he could only think about one thing. He was
in love with Eve.
    He didn’t know when it happened. He
didn’t know how. But sometime between being bewitched by her shoes
and kissing her he’d fallen head over heels.
    It made him feel warm.
    It made him panicked.
    “ Hey boss.” Don walked up
to the table and nodded at the blueprints. “You ready?”
    He shook his head. “Just a
sec.”
    Don stuck an unlit cigarette in his
mouth and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Woman
troubles?”
    Treat smiled ruefully. “Is it that
obvious?”
    “ Glazed look like you’ve
been hit over the head with a cast iron pan? Forgetting things?
Staring off into space?” The older man nodded. “Definitely a woman
involved. Maybe I should look at the plans myself before we build a
church instead of a daycare.”
    Treat pushed the plans over. “Be my
guest.”
    Don took the cigarette out and pointed
it at Treat. “You need to go take care of things? Because I’ve got
this covered. ‘Sides, you’re no good to us like this.”
    He chuckled. “I’m that bad, am
I?”
    His foreman shrugged. “We’ve all been
there. Last fight my wife and I had I got so worked up I lost my
wallet. You know where it was?”
    “ Where?”
    “ In the freezer, where I
keep my vodka.”
    “ I didn’t take you for
vodka drinker.”
    “ Whiskey’s my drug of
choice, but desperate times.” He stuck his fist out.
    He bumped Don’s fist. “Amen to
that.”
    His foreman waved his hand. “Go woo
your woman.”
    Treat cocked his brow.
“Woo?”
    “ Yeah.” Don looked at him
like he was a two-by-four short of a house. “By the look on your
face, this one’s important, so you’ve gotta woo her. Especially if
you’ve done something wrong and, let me tell you”—he leaned in—”it
doesn’t matter what happened, you’re the one who did something
wrong, if you know what I’m saying.”
    The thing was, he was the one who’d done
something wrong. “Wooing it is.”
    “ Good.” Sticking the
cigarette back in his mouth, he said around it, “Go conquer and be
a man.”
    Clapping a hand on Don’s back, he
headed straight for his truck. It didn’t strike him until he was
halfway to Laurel Heights that he had no plan. Eve wouldn’t just
let him woo her, not after misleading her the way he
had.
    What should he do?
    He’d wing it, he decided as he
parked.
    His cell phone rang as he walked down
the block. Because it was Rick, he answered it. “Do you have any
idea how to woo a woman?”
    “ That’s when you buy her a
six-pack and invite her to take off her clothes, right?”
    Treat shook his head. “It’s no wonder
you’re still a bachelor.”
    “ The pot and the kettle, my
friend.”
    “ Not for long, if I can
help it.”
    There was stunned silence on the other
end. Then Rick said, “Damn.”
    “ The thing is, I fucked
up.”
    “ Of course you did.