Page 64 of To Believe In You
He collected the ends he’d removed from the asparagus. The letters of the wordloveon his right hand showed as he brushed the cuttings into the trash can. She’d hardly been noticing his tattoos these last couple of days, even when his arms had been fully exposed after the wedding. The neck on his tank had revealed a glimpse of a pattern on his chest too, hanging close below his collarbone. Yet she hadn’t wondered what it was or how much of his skin it covered.
All the designs remained, but it was the play of veins and tendons in his forearms that captured her eye. The shape of his fingers suggested strength and agility. He was a musician, after all, and a good one.
Perhaps he could best be summarized as a loyal musician. Someone she could trust.
“Grandma knew.” Blurting out the admission felt as impulsive as kissing him had.
He let the lid of the garbage fall, studied her for a beat, then went back for the rest of the discarded cuttings. She had yet to throw him a curve ball that seemed to ruffle him, and his calm manner of listening without watching made it easier to continue.
“She knew both Dad’s and Shane’s character. She limited Dad’s inheritance to that single plot of land because she and Grandpa didn’t trust his judgment. She also talked to me about having Shane sign a prenup. When I refused, she changed the setup of her estate so he wouldn’t be able to get his hands on it in the event of a divorce. Meanwhile, I refused to admit there was any possibility we wouldn’t work out. And then we didn’t even make it to the altar.”
Matt frowned as he rinsed a dishcloth. Instead of commenting, he turned for his workspace and wiped it down.
She lifted the cutting board with one hand and slid the vegetables into the pan. Stray asparagus and halved cherry tomatoes bounced to the stove. “How did she foresee trouble I completely missed?”
“Here.” Matt came close, and the clean scent of his soap infused the air. His arm brushed hers as he took over the cutting board, and her fingers grazed his as she released the load.
As a single woman, living alone, few people touched her. Maybe that explained why an accidental graze of the hand shot fire through her nerve endings.
“You have better judgment than you think.” His voice came low and steady as he held the cutting board for her. “I knew not to trust Shane or your dad, but only because of what you’d said.”
She tightened her grip on the spoon and focused on transferring vegetables to the sauté pan. “You came along after Shane made his character obvious. By then, there was overwhelming evidence. Grandma saw a lot earlier than I did.”
When his reply didn’t come immediately, she wanted to look at his face, but if she turned, only inches would separate them. Too close. Too personal.
“Tell me about your grandma.”
Grateful for the unexpected reprieve from her self-doubt, she spent the rest of their time in the kitchen telling him about summers at The Captain’s Vista, the holidays they’d celebrated together, the trips the two of them had taken after Grandpa’s death.
Matt prayed over their meal, and she picked up her fork. She’d gone on too long, sounded ridiculously spoiled. She shouldn’t have gone into detail about her grandmother’s imposing house, European vacations, and The Captain’s Vista. In the process, she’d also tipped her hand about the inheritance, hadn’t she?
No wonder his expression looked serious. He stabbed his fork into his food with what could be annoyance.
She cleared her throat. “Sorry.”
His focus lifted. “For what?”
“Complaining. Feeling sorry for myself. I’ve had it good.”
He shook his head. “What about friends? Other family?”
“I had friends. Sleepovers, school dances, volleyball, the whole bit.” Just not much attention from her parents.
“Not you. Your grandma.”
“Huh?”
“Who was she close with?”
Grandma? Dad had been her only child. Grandma’s brother and his kids had been around some, but they weren’t close. “She had friends.” Lina had never been introduced, though. She’d gotten the feeling the connections had been casual, not deep. “Maybe not a best friend, but she got along with people.”
“How long before she died did she lose your grandpa?”
“I was thirteen, so quite some time before, but she talked about him often right up until the end—showed me ‘Howard’s little stamp collection’ lots of times. He spent hours poring over that book. We loved looking at it together and remembering him.” He’d been soft-spoken and gentle, more likely to walk with Lina to the park than sit and discuss business with his son. Grandpa had believed in building things slowly to stand the test of time while Dad threw strategies at the wall to see what would stick. No wonder the two hadn’t gotten along. “Grandma wore his wedding band on a necklace the rest of her life.”
“She loved and lost.”
Maybe experiencing that heartbreak had made Grandma a positive force in Lina’s life as she reeled after the demise of her relationship with Shane. Grandma knew how good a marriage could be and wanted Lina to hold out for the best. She’d believed in Lina’s worth.
