Page 16 of Speak No Evil

Her cousin pulled herself away from Uncle Tim and Will and followed her upstairs and down the hall. “Where did you meet such a hot ticket?”

One of the upstairs bedrooms had been converted into bridal dress central. Her grandmother joined them there before Gwen could answer. “It’s about time you found a nice-looking man of your own, Gwennie, dear.”

Leslie plopped onto the sewing machine chair. “Please don’t tell me he’s a professor like the last one.”

“What last one?” Granny looked from Leslie to her and back. “I don’t remember him. What did he look like?”

“You didn’t meet him. Neither did Leslie.” Gwen had never brought any guys over here, not since high school, anyway, but Leslie knew because Gwen had made the mistake of confiding in her. “I can’t even think about romance now. My boss is depending on me to keep the lab running smoothly while he’s on vacation. I can’t let him down.”

“But that’s only temporary. He’ll be back in how long?”

“Six weeks.” Gwen dropped her sweater on the arm of the armchair and shimmied out of her jeans. “But if I mess up, I could lose my job.”

“I don’t believe that. Your boss wouldn’t have put you in charge unless he trusted you.”

Leslie had a point. Her experience with the biology professor was the real reason she was currently off men, but she did want to do a good job. She also needed a little more time to put the bad experience behind her.

“He can still be a friend.” Gran meant Will. “Tell me how you met him?

That she could answer without mentioning the strange men suddenly popping up all around her. She would also need to sidestep any of Leslie’s questions about why it had taken her so long to get home.

“He works with my roommate at the shipping company.”

“Really?” Leslie handed her the pale pink dress that had been hanging on the back of an open closet door. “What’s his job? Personal trainer?”

Leslie, who had a more than passing acquaintance with hot men, always noticed a guy’s muscles first. Her groom was ripped, but that didn’t mean everyone went gaga over a man’s muscles. All right, all right. She had, too.

“No.” Gwen fluffed the taffeta skirt with lace overlay on her bridesmaid’s dress, hoping to distract them from talking about Will. “This is a really lovely color.”

Her grandmother picked up the cue and chattered away about dresses and materials and sewing. Gran had always made all her own clothes, most of them right out of the pages of Vogue magazine, and so far, had made dresses for three family brides, including Leslie.

“I’m waiting,” Leslie said.

Her cousin was like a dog with a tug toy. “He’s an engineer.”

“And a friend.” She gave Gwen a knowing look. She and Gran and the rest of the family had taken finding Gwen a beau as a personal challenge. “Everything starts on the friend level.”

“I only met him tonight. I want to get to know a guy before rushing into anything romantic.” The way she had with the professor. But live and learn, and she planned to remember her lesson.

“You’re not getting any younger,” Leslie’s mom said from the doorway.

“I’m only twenty-nine.” A sudden thought nearly cut off Gwen’s breath. “Please, Aunt Kathy, don’t say anything about any of this in front of Will.” She’d die of mortification.

Knowing her family’s tendency to share her personal information, her uncle had probably already embarrassed her. The best course of action now was to focus on getting the dress hemmed so she and Will could leave. She dove under the dress’s skirt and tried to shift the bodice down without testing the stitches temporarily closing the back.

“I haven’t had a chance to ask a question,” Aunt Kathy said. “Tim’s picking his brain on the Jets playoff possibilities.”

“Leslie, help Gwen get into her dress so I can get this done in time to watch my program.”

Her gran never missed an episode of “Blue Bloods,” which meant she probably admired Will’s physique, too.

Gwen adjusted the garment’s waist.

“Oh, my. You look so much like your mother!” Gran clasped her hand to her chest. “Doesn’t she, Kathy?”

“Especially your smile,” her aunt added.

Gwen stopped adjusting the dress. She wasn’t anything like her foolish mom. “I have her genes. That’s all.” She climbed onto a small platform normally used to display house plants on the sunporch.

---