Page 31 of Visions of You

“Hailey give you any problems?” I asked quietly as I sat on the couch across from her.

“Of course not. I told her a story about your grandfather and me, and she settled right in.”

I smiled. “Must have been one of the G-rated ones, then.”

Nona narrowed her eyes but didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, she asked, “Did you get a chance to talk to Felicia? You were gone for a while.”

I considered my answer. I’d asked Nona to watch Hailey so I could have a conversation with the chef. But I was a lousy liar. And we Markham kids had all learned to our detriment that Nona had an unerring sense for the truth. “I did, then I ran into April down there. We talked for a few minutes.” I resisted the urge to rub my lip again.

Nona’s expression turned sly. “Did you now? That sounds promising.”

Nona was forever trying to fix her grandchildren up. It was a mystery to us why she’d left Dad alone since Mom passed, but he was still single and content with it. “If you say so. It was just conversation, Nona.”

She scooted to the edge of her chair and peered at me. “Not considering what I saw when you barged into the kitchen.”

I sighed, knowing there was no getting out of this. “And what would that be?”

“You and April were about to rip each other’s clothes off, right there at the table! Who knows what might have happened if I hadn’t stepped in?”

I couldn’t resist a smile. “So that’s why you were so hell-bent on making me look like an idiot?”

“You didn’t need my help for that, Gabriel.”

My smile widened.

Nona clasped her hands in her lap. “Maia and Evan both have a high opinion of April. And I enjoyed meeting her too. You have my blessing.”

“Well, thank God that’s settled! Now I can sleep tonight.”

She laughed and shook a finger at me. “It might have only been a conversation, but it was a beginning.”

It was a hell of a lot more than that.

My smile faded, and her gaze sharpened. “Of course, you’ve been driving the dive boat rather frequently, haven’t you? I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.”

“I’m here to trim expenses, Nona. Driving is a part of that.” I wasn’t sure why I was hesitant to tell her about my interaction with April, other than the obvious reluctance to give her any more ammunition to use against me. Except I’d kissed April in front of several employees. It was bound to go around the resort grapevine like wildfire. But that didn’t mean I wanted to tell my grandmother about it.

Her smug smile told me she wasn’t buying my denials. “And if itcauses you to spend your mornings with a beautiful woman in her swimsuit, I’m sure you keep your eyes averted.”

“She wears a wetsuit most of the time.”

Nona dropped the teasing tone, eyeing me seriously. “Just because you had an awful experience with Kora doesn’t mean you should write off love altogether. You’re too fine of a man to be alone, Gabriel.”

I sighed. “I have no interest in a permanent relationship, but there’s a pretty huge gulf between that and alone. I might be ready to investigate the space between.”

I stood and held a hand out to Nona, helping her to her feet. “Come on. I’ll walk you home.”

“Home is all of two hundred yards away.”

“Why do women keep arguing when I try to be chivalrous? Doesn’t anyone appreciate a nice gesture anymore?”

A smug smile came over my grandmother’s face as she looped her arm through mine. “Oh? Did you walk another woman home tonight?”

Shit!

I opened the door, and we walked into the warm night. “Yes, I walked April to her door.”

Nona patted my bicep. “Trust me, Grandson. Women appreciate a gallant gesture.Especiallyones from tall, dark, and handsome men. Kora was an idiot.”

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