Close to You (17 page)

Margaret looked between the two of
them. Their body language suggested intimacy, but it was the way
they looked at each other that made her gasp. They were in
love.

She focused on Treat. She’d never seen
him look at a woman that way, not even his ex, whom Margaret hadn’t
liked from the start. Her mother’s heart clenched with a mix of
emotions, from happiness to jealousy and everything in
between.

He touched Eve’s hair. “I have
something to tell you, and you aren’t going to be happy about
it.”

Margaret realized suddenly that the
girl didn’t know she was Treat’s mother. She looked at her son, who
shot her a quelling glance. Hurt spread through her slowly, like
bile.

Eve shook her head. “I know you came
over here to talk to her for me. You like to take care of people.
But I’ve got this.”

“
You don’t—”

“
Really.” Eve turned to
her. “I told Treat I think you’re the one responsible for
everything happening to my shops, including the flood.”

Margaret squared her shoulders. “You
have no proof.”

“
No, I don’t,” she
admitted, “but my gut says it was you, and I’m here to tell you
it’s enough. I also want to know how you knew my coffeehouse was at
risk for flooding.”

“
I told her,” Treat
said.

They both looked at him.

He only had eyes for Eve though. He
took her face in his hands. “Margaret is my mother. I should have
told you earlier—”

“
You think?” Eve exclaimed,
her face paling. She stepped back, horror dawning on her face.
“Were you in on it?”

“
Of course not.” He scowled
at her. “I would never do anything to hurt you.”

“
Except lie to
me.”

“
Eve—”

She held her hand up. “Stop while
you’re ahead.”

“
You have every right to be
angry at me, but I didn’t want your feelings for my mother to
interfere with what we had growing.”

She snorted. “But you went back and
reported to her how to get me to close down.”

“
Of course I didn’t.” He
pointed at her. “You know better. You know me.”

“
I thought I knew you.” She
looked back and forth between them both and then shook her head.
“You’re banned from Grounds for Thought. Find someone else to
ruin.”

Head high, she walked out of Crumpet.
Margaret watched her son’s gaze follow the girl until she was out
of sight.

And then he turned to her. “Did you do
it, Mom?”

She swallowed, trying to frame the
jumble of emotions in her chest. How could she make him understand?
“I was afraid.”

“
Afraid of
what?”

She winced at his harsh tone. “Afraid
to lose what little I have. Crumpet, but especially
you.”

“
You know the irony there,
Mom? By acting this way, that’s exactly what you’re doing. Driving
me away.” Shaking his head, he strode out of the store, the soft
click of the door shutting behind him sounding so final.

Panic flooded her. Instead of feeling
empty, she felt full of all sorts of emotions, none of them were
good.

What had she done?

She realized she was clutching the
damn pearls, like they were a lifeline to Harry, like somehow he
could magically fix everything for her.

Only Harry was never coming back, damn
him.

Chapter Twenty-five

Eve flipped the sign in the
window to
closed
with a huge sigh. Normally she’d spend an hour cleaning and
prepping for the next day, but this evening all she wanted was a
hot bath. She could mop in the morning.

She headed to turn the lights off when
someone knocked on the glass of the door. Turning, ready to motion
to whoever it was that, no, she wouldn’t make one last cappuccino,
she saw Olivia waving to her through the window.

Unlocking the door, she let the woman
in. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

“
Taking you out for a glass
of wine. Get your coat. My chariot awaits.”

Eve frowned. “What about Romantic
Notions?”

“
I closed early today.” She
shrugged. “It was obvious something’s bothering you, and you looked
like you could use a friendly shoulder.”

“
Do I look that
bad?”

“
Only like your puppy just
died.” Olivia grinned. “Come on. I know the perfect place. Bring a
scarf. I’ll wait for you outside.”

Eve was bewildered about needing a
scarf until she saw Olivia sitting in her car, an old silver
convertible with its top down. The woman looked like a movie star
from the past with her scarf wrapped around her head and her
driving gloves.

“
I feel so glamorous,” Eve
said as she climbed in.

“
I love this car.”
Grinning, Olivia put it in gear and took off.

She zoned out, focused on the way the
wind ruffled her hair, until she realized they were pulling into a
parking spot. “Rock star parking,” Olivia said, yanking the brake.
Grabbing her purse, she nodded to the right. “We’re going to
Nectar.”

A wine bar, it looked romantically lit
and cozy inside. “I should warn you that I’m not the kind of girl
who puts out on the first date,” she said as she got out of the
car.

Olivia laughed. “Say that after you’ve
had a few glasses of wine.”

“
It’s a school
night.”

“
Like that’s stopped us
before.” Olivia breezed by her and held the door open to
her.

A tall sandy haired man looked up as
they walked in, a smile lighting his face when he saw Olivia. He
came out from behind the bar with his hands outstretched. “Olivia,
it’s good to see you.”

Her friend lifted her cheeks to be
kissed. “You too, Chris. This is my friend Eve.”

He turned his welcoming smile to her
and took her hand warmly in both his hands. “Have a seat and I’ll
bring you menus.”

“
Better yet, just bring us
a couple glasses of something red.” Olivia glanced at Eve.
“Something weighty for serious discussion.”

“
Got it.” He guided them to
two low chairs with a table between them and went to take care of
their order.

Eve sank into her seat and sighed.
“You have no idea what today was like.”

“
But you’re going to tell
me.”

“
Treat is Margaret’s
son.”

Olivia frowned as she removed her
scarf. “Did you know that?”

“
No.” She gave her friend a
meaningful look. “And I didn’t find out until after I slept with
him.”

“
Yikes.” Olivia
winced.

They paused as the wine guy delivered
their glasses. Taking a moment to approve the wine, they sipped in
silence. Then Olivia leaned forward. “Okay, tell me how you found
out.”

“
I went to confront
Margaret about the flood in my shop.”

Olivia’s eyes widened.
“Seriously?”

“
Well, yes. I wasn’t going
to let her keep sabotaging me.” She frowned. “When I got to her
store, Treat was there. I thought he was defending me but it turned
out she’s his mom.”

Olivia stared at her for a long
moment, her crossed leg kicking in the air. Then she shook her
head. “You don’t know he wasn’t defending you.”

“
He lied to me,” Eve said
resolutely.

“
And that sucks, but if he
had malicious intent, he wouldn’t have been so helpful with
everything. Didn’t he offer to fix the flood damage for almost
nothing?”

She sank back, pouting. “Probably out
of guilt.”

“
I’m totally on your side,
and I agree that lying to you was not a good thing to do, but
there’s got to be more going on than there seems. He likes
you.”

“
We don’t know that for a
fact.” But even as she said it, a niggle of doubt made her
pause.

“
I’ve seen the way he looks
at you. We can safely call it a fact,” Olivia said with a lift of
her brow.

“
How does he look at
me?”

“
Like you’re a Nutella
latte and a chocolate croissant all in one.”

She sighed. “That’s what I don’t get.
Then why would he lie to me?”

“
If you’d known Margaret
was his mother would you have gone out with him?”

She frowned.

“
Exactly.” Olivia gazed at
her knowingly from over the rim of her wine glass. “I’m not saying
he didn’t do anything wrong, I’m just saying don’t dismiss him out
of hand. Finding someone who you click with, who you love, is such
a rare thing.”

“
Are you speaking from
experience?”

“
Yes.” She got a sad,
faraway look in her eyes for a moment before she snapped out of it.
She arched a brow at Eve. “Don’t think I didn’t notice how you
didn’t deny being in love with him.”

“
I don’t know how I feel,”
she lied.

Olivia looked disbelieving but didn’t
call her bluff. “Just think about it.”

“
I don’t have time to think
about it. Daniela Rossi is coming to visit the store in a couple
days and I have a ton to do to prepare for her, thanks to Treat’s
mother.”

“
Do you need
help?”

She smiled, genuinely for the first
time all day. “I’ll make it. I just really need this event. I told
you Margaret is in the running to host it, right?”

“
Yeah.” Olivia shook her
head. “Once Daniela meets you, there won’t be any contest. Just be
yourself. You’re irresistible.”

“
You have to say that
because you’re my friend.”

Olivia shook her head. “No, I’d tell
you if you sucked.”

She laughed and held out her glass.
“Here’s to honesty.”

Olivia clinked her glass. “And to
friends.”

Chapter Twenty-six

Margaret
looked around Crumpet, wanting to rip all the
doilies off the tables
. She couldn’t
remember why she’d been so focused on this place. She hated
it.

Pacing back and forth between the
kitchen and front door, she was aware of the looks her staff was
giving her, as well as the ones they exchanged between themselves.
Let them look—she didn’t give a damn.

She felt like she was crawling out of
her skin.

Treat wasn’t talking to her. She
worried her pearls, remembering the way he’d looked at her when
he’d pelted her with his accusations. He’d been around too—she’d
seen his truck parked in front of Grounds for Thought, at the other
end of the block.

It stung.

She deserved it. She’d all but driven
him over there.

She stared out the window.
She hadn’t meant for it to go this far. She only meant to annoy Eve
with the flyers, the reviews, the imaginary cockroaches… She had no
excuse for the water hose. She’d
been in a
state, a strange dazed-out-of-her-mind state that she’d never
experienced before.

It was no better now. She swore the
walls were closing in on her.

The business phone rang, and she
hurried to answer. “Crumpet.”

“
Have lunch with me,
Margaret.”

She stilled, recognizing Grant’s
voice. She must have still been experiencing the temporary insanity
because she said, “Okay.”

“
I thought I just heard you
say okay.”

“
I did.” If she didn’t get
out of there, she was going to scream. “Where do I meet
you?”

He gave her the name of a restaurant
on Divisadero and California and told her he’d meet her there in
fifteen minutes. Not wasting any time, she told an incredulous
Tanya she was leaving for a little while and rushed out of the
teashop.

Grant was already there when she
arrived. He stood up, smiling, looking happy to see her.

She didn’t deserve to have someone
look so pleased about her. She frowned.

“
Margaret, you look as
lovely as always.” He kissed her cheek and pulled the chair
out.

“
Thank you,” she murmured.
Her heart pounded for some reason. She put a hand to her chest,
wondering if she was on the verge of a heart attack.

“
Are you all right?” Grant
asked, concern lining his face. “You look flushed.”

“
Just warm.” She tugged at
her necklace. They felt like they were choking her. Aware of the
way he watched her, she picked up the menu. “What are you
having?”

They ordered, and she managed to make
small talk. But as soon as the waitress left with their order,
Grant sat back and studied her.

“
What is it?” she asked,
fidgeting.

He shook his head.

The way he looked at her made her
uncomfortable, like he could see all parts of her, even the part
that did bad things for her own profit. She shifted in her seat,
trying to hide.