Moonlight Over Manhattan(66)

“But you didn’t feel like that with your grandmother?”

“She made sure we spent time together. She was the one who taught me to cook. It made me feel special. When you’re a twin, you’re often lumped together as if you’re one person. It’s ‘you girls,’ or ‘the two of you.’ It’s hard to be an individual, particularly when you look identical to someone else.”

“Did the two of you ever switch places and fool people?”

“Occasionally. I’m a terrible liar, so fooling people was never something I was good at.”

He noticed the way she used her hands when she talked, and the way her face lit up when she talked about her grandmother.

There was so much more to Harriet Knight than was visible on first acquaintance.

And he wanted to know more.

“Surely you didn’t only cook in the Hamptons. What happened when you were at home in New York?”

“I spent as much time in my room as I could.”

That revealing statement told him everything he needed to know about her childhood.

It made him want to hold her and wipe out the memories.

“Your grandmother taught you well.” He finished his soup and put the spoon down.

“Can I ask you something?”

It occurred to him that Harriet Knight was the only woman he knew who would seek permission to ask him something that was obviously going to be uncomfortable.

“After making soup like that you can ask me anything.” And because of the shine in her blue eyes, and the way she was looking at him.

“Will you agree to be Santa?”

Of all the questions he’d anticipated, that hadn’t been on the list.

“Why do you care?”

“I think it would be wonderful.”

“Are you offering to dress up as my elf?”

“If you’d like me to.”

“It’s Christmas Day. Don’t you have anything better to do on Christmas Day? Aren’t you seeing your sister? Your brother?”

“Not this year. Daniel is going away with Molly, and Fliss is spending Christmas with Seth’s folks. I’m staying by myself.” She said it brightly, as if she couldn’t imagine anything more exciting than being on her own for the holidays.

He felt a stab of anger. “They didn’t invite you?”

“Oh yes, they invited me. But I’ve never spent a Christmas without them before and I thought I should.”

She’d chosen to spend Christmas on her own? He was trying to understand why someone like her would do a thing like that, when the answer came to him.

“Challenge Harriet?”

“Yes.”

It didn’t sound like a challenge to him. It sounded brutal. “Harriet, this is—” He broke off and started again. “Why deprive yourself of family, when family is so important to you?”

“That’s why.” She stood up. “Because I need to know I can survive by myself.”

Survival sounded like a pretty brutal goal too.

Telling himself it was none of his business, he changed the subject. “My sister is coming tomorrow to pick up Madi. I’m hoping to be back at work.”

“Ethan, you could barely walk to the bathroom.”

“I’ll take a cab to the hospital.”

“I don’t know much about the ER, but I assume the doctors aren’t supposed to be sicker than the patients.”

“I’m improving by the hour. My cough is better. By tomorrow I’ll be fine.”

She opened her mouth as if she intended to argue, and then closed it again. “Great. If you tell me what time I’ll make sure I’m here when they arrive. And I’ll move out after that.”

He had no idea why the prospect of that made him feel disappointed. “No hurry.”

She paused, her hands on the tray, a strand of hair sliding forward. “If Madi isn’t here, why would I stay?”

It was a fair question.

Because his apartment was a whole lot nicer with her in it?

Because having her around lifted his mood?

Because she was gorgeous?

Any one of those replies would have earned him one of her questioning looks, so he didn’t give voice to any of them.

“All I meant was that you don’t need to rush off. There’s no pressure. I’m grateful for what you’ve done. Move at your convenience.”

“Right.” She straightened and picked up his tray without looking at him. “I’ll do that.”

MONDAY MORNING CAME too quickly.

Harriet packed her things into her case with the same absence of enthusiasm she’d felt when she’d packed to come here, which made no sense. She’d moved in as a favor to a client and for Madi. Her services were no longer needed.

Crazy as it was to admit it, she’d enjoyed the weekend. Crazy and a little selfish maybe, because Ethan had been sick. There had been something comforting about being just the two of them, closeted in his apartment while snow fell outside the window. It was as if they’d stepped out of their lives for a moment and inhabited a different world.

She was disappointed that it was over. She’d enjoyed the quietness of it, the coziness.

Oh who was she kidding?

She’d also enjoyed spending all that time with him. She’d enjoyed their conversation, those shared glances, the way it felt when his fingers brushed against hers and the way his gaze followed her round the room.