The Military Wife (A Heart of a Hero, #1)(49)

Bennett’s gaze rose slowly to meet hers. “You sure you don’t mind if Jack comes in?”

“I told you earlier, I don’t mind a bit. I have a feeling Ben is going to love Jack and we’ll be fending off requests for a dog this Christmas.”

“Will he follow me?” Ben asked.

“Sure. Just ask him.” With visible effort, Bennett let go of his dog.

Ben backed into the hall and patted his legs. “Come on, boy. Do you want to see my house?”

Bennett ruffled the dog’s ear and said softly, “Go on, Jack. It’s all right.”

The dog trotted after Ben, who laughed and skipped into the den. Her mom hovered in the doorway but retreated after giving Harper a pointed look.

“Hi.” Their texting over the last two weeks didn’t make their face-to-face meeting any less awkward. The opposite in fact. Most of their communication had been about ideas for the coffee shop and Darren’s condition, but occasionally they’d veered toward more personal topics.

Like Bennett’s funny story about the man who wandered into his shop with a waist-long beard and overalls looking for supplies to live off the grid. Or her telling him about Whit, the insurance salesman who called her once a week asking her for a date—to discuss her policies.

She asked him what he cooked himself for dinner, and he confessed to ordering Chinese takeout and pizzas too often. He’d texted her one night at almost eleven to see what she was doing. The answer had been reading a thriller sure to keep her up until she finished.

“I see Noah in Ben, but mostly you.”

“He’s got Noah’s smile and good nature.”

“You’re not good natured?”

“No, I’m stubborn as all get-out, remember?”

A slow smile spread over his face and an answering warmth that had nothing to do with the martini spread through her body until she was tingly.

“Something smells amazing.” He lifted his nose and sniffed like a hunting dog.

“My mom’s famous lasagna. Come on in and meet her.”

“That’s something a woman’s never said to me.”

She stopped short. “You’ve never been serious enough with a woman to meet her family?”

“I guess I haven’t.” He gave a one-shouldered shrug.

Nonplussed, she didn’t know what to say, so she bypassed the landmine. “Come on then. You can meet the real Gail Frazier, retired librarian, nude painter, and martini maker extraordinaire.”

She took his hand and tugged him toward the den. Her mom was on all fours on the floor with Ben and Jack London. Turning and sitting cross-legged, she eyed Harper and Bennett with a sharpness that made her drop Bennett’s hand like a hot potato. Needing some space for her own sanity as well as to squash the weird vibes her mom was putting out, Harper went to give Jack a rub on the head.

Her mom rose like a woman who did yoga three times a week and offered a hand to Bennett. “I’m Gail. And let me apologize for the deception a couple of weeks ago. I tried to talk Harper out of any trickery, but by now, you know what she’s like.”

“Mom, I’m standing right here.” Harper’s interjection didn’t faze either one of them.

“She’s something else, that’s for sure,” Bennett said.

Her mom patted the back of Bennett’s hand with her free one. “Everything seems to have worked out fine.”

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Frazier.”

“Gail, please. Or I won’t offer you a drink. What’s your poison? I make a mean martini, but I have a few beers rattling around the fridge if that’s more your speed.”

“A beer would be great, Ms.—” At her mom’s tsking, he said on a slight laugh, “Gail.”

“Another martini, dear?” Her mom raised her brows toward Harper.

“Yes, please.”

“Can I have a Coke, Yaya?” Ben piped up from the floor.

“No, but you can have some lemonade. Can you help me, Harper?”

Help? Ha. Her mom sashayed off before Harper could come up with an excuse.

“I’ll be right back. Make yourself at home.” She barely kept herself from flouncing off like a teenager getting ready to receive a lecture.

With the efficiency of a bartender, her mom poured beer and lemonade into two frosty mugs, then added the martini ingredients to the drink shaker. “You didn’t tell me Mr. Caldwell is a certified hotty-pants.”

“Do they give certifications out for that? Is there an international governing body?”

The sound of crashing ice as her mom shook the martinis put a pause on their conversation.

As she poured, her mom said, “I’m not an innocent or an idiot. Something is going on between the two of you.”

“He’s helping me formulate a solid business plan.”

“And that’s all?”

“Pretty much.” Harper folded and unfolded the hem of her shirt.

Her mom put a hand on top to stop her fiddling, and Harper looked up. Her mom wore a sad little smile. “It’s okay if you like him. And I mean, like like him.”

“I don’t—Okay, even if I am sort of, kind of attracted to him, nothing can happen between us.”

“Why not?”