LITMIR.BIZ

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owners’ call home. If it’s local, then I’ll reserve a room at a restaurant with good food and service, or a hotel suite.”

      The seconds ticked off as Belinda and Griffin stared at each other. He hadn’t shaved, and the stubble on his lean jaw enhanced rather than detracted from his classic good looks. Dressed in an olive-green barn jacket, jeans, black crewneck sweater and matching low-heeled leather boots he reminded her of a Ralph Lauren ad.

      “When did you decide all this?” she asked, breaking the silence.

      “It was the day I went to clean out Grant’s office—something I’d avoided doing for weeks—because I didn’t want to admit to myself that my brother had been right when he said that the price of success is grossly overrated.

      “As I stood in his twentieth-floor corner office overlooking downtown Philadelphia I could hear a voice in my head. At first I thought it was my imagination, but it wasn’t because I was reliving the one time I saw my brother drunk. He’d just gotten a promotion and a coveted corner office. I’ll never forget his face when he stared at me, then said, ‘Success don’t mean shit when you look at what you have to sacrifice in order to achieve it.’ At first I thought he was just being maudlin until he talked about how he was able to remember everything about his clients’ stock portfolios but he couldn’t remember his wife’s birthday or their wedding anniversary. He talked about the meetings and business trips that took him away from home where invariably he’d miss a recital or his daughters’ school plays. For Grant, making it had become all-consuming. I suppose it had something to do with proving to your parents that Donna hadn’t made a mistake when she agreed to marry him.”

      “My parents were never against your brother marrying my sister,” Belinda said, defensively.

      “I didn’t understand how Grant felt until I met your family for the first time. My first impression was that the Eatons were snobs. You come from generations of teachers, doctors and lawyers, while my mother and father were the first in their family to graduate from college. Grant had less than a month before he would get his degree and he still hadn’t heard from any of his prospective employers when your father took him aside and said that if he ever needed money to take care of his daughter or grandchildren then he shouldn’t hesitate to come to him. His offer cut Grant to the quick, but he smiled at Dr. Eaton and said that he wouldn’t have married his daughter if he hadn’t been able to support her.

      “So, the day Grant got his seven-figure salary and all the perks that went along with his position, he warned me about putting success before family. I never wanted children because I didn’t want them growing up with parents who fought more than they made love. And since life doesn’t always play out the way we want it to, I’m committed to making the best of the hand I’ve been dealt. I promised my brother I would take care of his children in the event anything happened to him, and that means being available for parent-teacher conferences, school concerts, supervising sleep-overs and chauffeuring them when it’s time for college tours.”

      Belinda tried to hide her confusion. She’d believed that Grant worked long hours so that Donna could be a stay-at-home mother and the envy of the other women in their social circle who were jealous because they were working mothers.

      “I didn’t know,” she said softly when she recovered her voice.

      “I doubt if Donna knew how Grant felt. He wasn’t one for opening up about himself—not even to his wife. In that way he’s a lot like my dad. It has taken my father more than forty years to tell my mother that he’d been carrying around a world of resentment because she got pregnant and he had to drop out of medical school to take care of her and their child.”

      Belinda couldn’t stop the frown forming between her eyes. “He should’ve accepted half the blame. After all, she couldn’t get pregnant by herself, Griffin.”

      “You’re preaching to the choir, beautiful. People always blame others when something goes wrong in their life because it’s easier than accepting responsibility that perhaps they, too, were wrong.”

      Belinda lowered her gaze, staring at Griffin’s strong, brown throat. “I should apologize to you.”

      “For what?”

      “I retract what I said about you not having any redeeming qualities.”

      “You said no such thing.” Belinda’s head came up, her exotic-looking eyes filling with confusion. “You said, and I quote, ‘I’m not attracted to you, and there’s nothing about you that I find even remotely appealing.’” He placed his free hand over his heart. “You have no idea of how much you hurt me when you said that.”

      Belinda was hard-pressed not to laugh at his affected theatrics. “Suck it up, Rice. What I said pales in comparison to when you said I wasn’t at the top of your list for what you’d want in a woman.”

      Griffin angled his head and smiled. “Guess what?”

      “What?”

      “I lied.”

      Her smile matched his. “I suppose since we’re into true confessions, then I’ll admit that I lied, too.” She wanted to tell Griffin that she was attracted to him and found him very appealing.

      Griffin brushed a light kiss over her parted lips. “Let’s go back inside and close this deal. I’m certain Sabrina and Layla are anxious to take their puppies home.”

      Belinda caught the sleeve of Griffin’s jacket. “Before we go in I just want to remind you that the girls are leaving to go on a class trip to D.C. two days before I’m out for spring break. We’re going to have to make arrangements to board the puppies for those days.”

      “They won’t have to go to a kennel.”

      “They’re too young to be left alone.”

      “Don’t worry so much, Lindy. I’ll stay at your place until you come home.”

      “What if you have to leave town on business?”

      “Whatever it is can wait,” he said softly. “Remember, family comes first, even if it’s of the four-legged furry persuasion.”

      * * *

      Roberta Eaton smiled at her granddaughters, each holding a tiny puppy with dark fur and tan markings. “What do we have here?”

      “Grams, this is Cecil Rice,” Sabrina announced in a loud, dramatic voice. “He’s a Yorkshire terrier.”

      “And this is Nigel Rice,” Layla said, introducing her puppy. “We gave them British names because Aunt Lindy told us that Yorkshire is in England.”

      Roberta Eaton pressed her palms together. “They’re so tiny. How much do they weigh?”

      “Nigel is two pounds and three ounces and Cecil two pounds and six ounces,” Sabrina answered, bragging like a proud mother.

      Roberta shook her head in amazement. “Together they don’t even weigh five pounds.” She leaned over, kissing her granddaughters who were now as tall as she was. “Go show your Gramps the puppies, then put them away because it’s time to eat.”

      Belinda hugged and kissed her mother before heading toward the kitchen. She hadn’t missed sharing a Sunday dinner with her parents since Donna passed away because she knew what it meant to her mother to have at least one of her children with her for what throughout past generations had become a family day.

      Myles, who lived and worked in Pittsburgh, wasn’t expected to return until the end of the school year, and her younger sister, Chandra, was now a Peace Corps worker assigned to teaching young children in Bahia.

      Roberta gestured to the tall, casually dressed man standing behind her daughter, clutching the handle of a crate. “Griffin, please find some place to put that doggy prison, and then come eat.”

      Griffin complied, putting the wire crate in a corner of the spacious entryway. “I have to go back to the car and bring in dessert.”

      “You

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