“I mean, why are you together at one in the morning?”
“We were on a date,” said Larry.
“You don’t think he’s a little old?”
“Amber!”
Amber gestured at Larry. “Well, he’s out here giving me a lecture on how I can do better than Zane. Maybe I think you can do better than Larry.”
“I’m quite sure she can,” Larry said quietly.
“I can’t,” said Crystal. “And I don’t want to. And how the hell did this get to be any of your business?”
“You’re in my house, talking about my relationship.”
Crystal took a deep breath. “You’ll get the kids to school tomorrow?”
Amber glared at her.
“Okay,” said Crystal, moving toward the door.
Larry rose to go with her.
“You and Zane are your own business,” Crystal conceded. “But if you go out with him again, you call me. I’ll babysit. Anytime.”
The anger went out of Amber’s expression. “Thanks, sis.”
“You’ll call?”
“Of course.” Her laughter tinkled lightly. “Why would I say no to free babysitting?”
Crystal glanced at Larry, knowing he was the one who had paid Lisa tonight. He gave her a subtle shake of his head. He had no desire to make an issue of it. Jennifer and David were great kids. He had no objection at all to kicking in for their care.
He and Crystal walked silently down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk where Rufus waited in the car.
“I really don’t know what to say,” she finally offered.
He hit the unlock button on the car, heading for the passenger side to open her door. “Neither do I,” he told her honestly. “The weekend didn’t exactly end the way I’d expected.”
She coughed out a laugh. “It didn’t turn out anything like I’d expected.”
Larry smiled in return as he opened the door.
She paused partway in. “Want to do it again sometime?”
“All of it?” he asked, not bothering to mask the hope in his voice.
“Any and all,” she replied.
“You busy next weekend?”
“Nope.”
“You busy tomorrow night?”
She shook her head.
“What about now? You busy right now?”
She squeezed her eyes shut for a second. “I really have to sleep.”
He smoothed back her hair. “Of course you do.” It was one o’clock. And there was no good place for them to sleep together. He didn’t want to take her to a motel.
Maybe he’d rearrange his house tomorrow, move his old bed into the guest room and buy a brand new one. He was single now, and it was time for him to make the space his own.
He shifted his hand so it was cupping her cheek, leaning down to give her a gentle kiss on the mouth. “Dinner at my place tomorrow?”
She drew back, giving him a questioning look.
“I want you to see it,” he told her.
There were so many things he wanted to show her, to tell her, to discuss with her. He knew his emotions were running way too hot, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. He was a revving engine, and she was nitrous oxide.
“Tomorrow,” he promised.
“Love it,” she responded with a smile.
CHAPTER NINE
AS CRYSTAL MUNCHED HER WAY through her morning cereal, she couldn’t decide which to put on the top of her worry list: her sister, her niece and nephew, or her burgeoning feelings for Larry.
She’d spent the weekend with a man.
She’d made love with him, and she’d have done it again had the date not ended abruptly. He was fun and funny, attractive and intelligent. And his sex appeal was off the charts. The men in her future were going to have one heck of a time measuring up.
If there were any men in her future.
At the moment, she couldn’t imagine herself with anyone other than Larry. Which led to an interesting question. Where did they go from here?
Since her disaster of a marriage with Simon, she hadn’t thought much about the future with any individual man. She’d had a generic fantasy in the back of her mind of a husband and children, a picket fence and a dog.
Her gaze strayed to Rufus where he was snoring on the living-room mat. He wasn’t what she’d pictured for the dog, but he was growing on her. And now she, astonishingly, had trouble imagining any other dog.
Just like she had trouble imagining any other man.
But Larry might not want more children. She knew Dean was in his late forties, so Larry must be fairly close to the same age. She hadn’t asked, because asking made it seem like it mattered, and it really didn’t. Except when it came to the tricky question of children.
Steve was completely grown up. He had a great career. He was engaged and about to embark on his own life. Heck, Larry could become a grandfather in the next few years. Why would he want to become a new father?
And, really, why on earth was she obsessing about this? They’d slept together one time. They’d had, technically, three dates. And here she was planning their happily ever after. Larry would probably break out in hives if he had the slightest inkling of the direction her thoughts were taking.
There was a shuffling noise on her porch as somebody reached the top of the stairs.
Rufus’s ears perked up, and Crystal rose in anticipation of a knock. Maybe it was Larry. And maybe she should wipe this stupid, dreamy expression off her face and behave like an adult.
“Crystal?” her mother called through the closed door.
“Hey, Mom.” She quickly wiped the expression off as her mother turned the knob to enter.
“You coming down to work today?” her mother asked without preamble.
Crystal nodded. “Sure. Something going on?”
Stella closed the door behind her. She was dressed in no-nonsense charcoal slacks with a pale-blue, Softco Machine Works collared shirt tucked into the waistband. She’d always tended toward stocky, but she was solid and healthy and still full of energy, even though she was in her fifties.
“Just the usual,” she said. Then her gaze went to Rufus, and she wrinkled her nose. “I came up on Saturday, but it looked like you were away.”
“I went to the race at Dover.” No sense beating around the bush. Amber had met Larry last night, and word would be out in the family by the end of the week. “With Larry Grosso.”
Her mother’s expression tightened. “I thought he was helping you with your cookbook.”
“We’re also friends.”
“Friends?”
“We like each other. We enjoy each other’s company.”
Stella’s face pinched in suspicion, but she didn’t voice the obvious question. “Your father and I wanted to talk to you.”
Crystal’s first thought was about Amber. Or maybe it was Larry. Then she had the horrible thought that one of her parents could be ill.
“Is everything okay?”
“Pretty much,” said Stella.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I want to talk to you later, with your father and Amber.”
“Mom.”
“You’ll just have to be patient. This curiosity of yours has always been a problem.”
“I’m not curious.”
Her mother frowned at her.
Crystal wanted to press further, but Stella was as stubborn as they came. Stella wanted a family conference, and she’d wanted to pique Crystal’s interest. She had.
“What time?”
“Six.”
“For dinner?”
“Of course for dinner.”
So much for her date with Larry. “Did Amber say yes?” On the bright side, at least it would keep Amber away from Zane tonight.
Then Crystal had another thought. “Are the kids coming?” She didn’t want any more marginal babysitting situations.
“I haven’t talked to Amber yet.”
“Make sure she brings them.”
Stella stared at her with a probing curiosity. But Crystal wasn’t about to crack. She could play things equally close to the chest.