“Nothing to tell. I went to his house for dinner the night after Matilda’s baby was born. He said he wanted to clear the air. Then he took me sailing. We talked.” She’d thought about telling her sister what her grandmother had told her about their mother, but decided it was best to wait until they were together in person. “I’ve seen him a few times since then. Lunch. Dinner. We went kayaking once. That was fun.”
“You’re dating him? Is this serious?”
Serious? Fliss felt a flicker of alarm. “No! We’re just friends. Hanging out.”
“Friends with benefits.”
“No benefits. At least, not the ones you’re talking about. Seth had this idea that we should focus on other things for a while.” And she’d started to wonder how long “a while” was.
“Are you sure this is a good idea? I’m worried.”
“Don’t be.”
“He hurt you. I don’t want to see that happen again.”
“You’ve got that the wrong way around. Look, it’s been ten years. It’s all behind us.”
“If it’s behind you, why did you pretend to be me and escape from Manhattan?”
“I’m a drama queen.”
“Have you talked about it with him? No, of course you haven’t. You never open up, not even with me.”
Fliss frowned. If Harriet had a clue just how much emotion she’d protected her from, she’d be relieved. “I have told him a little. The downside of keeping everything to yourself is that misunderstandings so easily occur.”
If she hadn’t kept everything to herself, she might have believed he loved her.
If her mother hadn’t kept everything to herself, they might have understood more about why the marriage was so difficult.
Had their mother lied to protect them, or herself? It was something she’d thought about a lot.
“So you’ve talked to him?” There was an edge to Harriet’s voice that Fliss couldn’t ever remember hearing before.
“A bit. I’m a work in progress.”
“That’s great.” Her tone suggested otherwise, and Fliss wondered if Harriet was worried about her revealing too much to Seth.
She was a little uneasy about it, too. Talking freely was a whole new thing to her. Part of her wanted to confide in Harriet, but she didn’t want to worry her more than she already had.
“Tell me what’s been happening with you.”
“First, tell me more about Seth.”
“Nothing to tell,” Fliss said, and felt the lie stick in her throat.
* * *
HE MADE A point of spending as much time as possible with her. Even on the days when he’d had a long day in the clinic, he saw her, if only for a few hours. He’d thought about it and decided that trust came with familiarity, and familiarity came with contact. Lots of contact. That worked just fine for him. He’d even dropped in to see her in her grandmother’s house, and found them working side by side in a kitchen that smelled like heaven.
He’d accepted the offer of coffee and sat at the table watching while Fliss had rubbed butter and flour together, the look of concentration on her face absolute.
When she’d pulled a batch of finished cookies out of the oven, concentration had given way to pride.
Her grandmother had broken one in half to check the texture, and declared them perfect.
Seth had eaten four. It didn’t bother him a bit whether she could cook or not, but he liked the fact that she was growing closer to her grandmother. The way he saw it, opening up took practice, and as long as she practiced on people she could trust, that could only be a good thing.
“Saw you and Fliss together on the beach again.” Jed Black lifted his daughter’s kitten out of the crate and put him on the examination table. “She’s a fine-looking girl.”