LITMIR.BIZ

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I would love to go to dinner and a movie with you.”

      “Terrific.” Will stood up at the same time she did, which brought them into rather close proximity to one another. “Tomorrow night?”

      “I’ll need to arrange for a babysitter,” she said, not backing up because that would be so obvious. “I think Elsie wouldn’t mind. Thank you.”

      “No, thank you,” he said, looking at her with those marvelous eyes of his. “Do you like Italian?”

      She nodded. “I love Italian, yes.”

      He opened his mouth, hesitated. “Good. Italian it is.”

      There was a tension between them Elizabeth knew someone could cut with the proverbial knife.

      “Italian it is,” she repeated, taking a deep breath.

      “You can pick the movie. As long as it isn’t a courtroom drama. I always want to start shouting at the screen when they get it wrong. I might embarrass you, not to mention getting us both thrown out.”

      “Thanks for the warning. I’ll look for a comedy.”

      “Good idea.” He stepped closer to her. “I’ll pick you up at six. We’ll eat first and then go to the late show.”

      “Sounds … sounds like a plan.”

      Would he just do something? Talk, not talk. Move, not move. Kiss her, not kiss her. Something!

      “I had a very good time tonight, Elizabeth,” he told her.

      “And that surprises you?”

      He ran a hand through his hair, mussing it in a most appealing way. “You figured that out?”

      She nodded. “I just haven’t figured out why you invited us.”

      His eyes shifted slightly, but then he looked at her as if he didn’t have a secret in the world. “You haven’t looked in a mirror lately?”

      “Oh.” Well, there’s an answer that will go down in history! “I … I wasn’t fishing for compliments. But … but thank you.”

      “You’re welcome,” Will said, and then he moved even closer, and Elizabeth knew what was coming next. He was going to kiss her. She’d been out of the dating game for a lot of years, but she recognized a move when one was being put on her.

      She lifted her face so that she could meet him halfway. If nothing else, curiosity was winning out.

      “Mom? Mom! Can I get out of bed? I’m thirsty!”

      Will stepped back. “I thought it would take fireworks to wake up those kids.”

      “Or the sound of a pin dropping on cotton. They have an inner sense that tells them when I’ve just slipped into a bubble bath or I just picked up the phone to call my mother—that sort of thing. I don’t know how they do it, but they do it. I’m sorry, Will.”

      “I should be going anyway,” he told her, heading for the door. “Practice is at nine tomorrow morning.”

      “Mom!”

      “Yes, I’ll … we’ll see you then. And we did have a wonderful time tonight.”

      She closed the door behind him, fought the urge to lean herself up against the wood and sigh a girlish sigh and then headed for the cabinet to get Mikey a glass of water. No, she should make that two glasses of water, or Danny would be sure to ask for one. And then, with them both awake, they really needed to brush their teeth and get into their pajamas and …

      She nearly dropped the glass when she heard the knock on the door.

      “It’s only me, Elizabeth,” she heard Will call through the door.

      “Uh … it’s open?”

      He stepped inside, holding on to the pair of child booster seats. “I figured you might need these,” he said, putting them down on the table.

      “Oh, yes, of course. I’m sorry I didn’t think of that. Thank you.”

      “You’re welcome. Oh, and one other thing.”

      Elizabeth gripped the glass tightly. Here it comes. He’s going to kiss me. What do I do if he kisses me? Close my mouth? Open my mouth? Fall on the floor in a dead faint?

      Will walked past her to lift the lid on the cookie jar. “I thought I’d take one for the road,” he said, holding up a cookie like some sort of prize. “See you tomorrow.”

      “Yes … see you tomorrow,” she echoed, lifting her hand to give him a small finger-wave.

      This time, after the door closed, she counted to ten, waiting to hear his car move off down the drive.

      Then she sat down in one of the kitchen chairs and laughed until Mikey padded into the room to remind her he was still thirsty.

      Once back on the main road, Will used his hands-free cell phone to call his cousin. She answered after five rings, her voice sounding as if he’d woken her up. Good.

      “Chessie, this isn’t going to work.”

      “Wha … who—Will? What time is it?”

      He shot a look at the dashboard clock. “Not quite midnight. And I mean it, Chessie. This isn’t going to work. I’m going to call it off.”

      “You’re going to call what off? For God’s sake, Will, it’s midnight. Just because you can operate on less than eight hours’ sleep doesn’t mean the rest of us can. Call me back in the morn—Oh, wait. Um … does this have anything to do with Elizabeth? I thought you told me you were just taking the three of them to a ball game. Ah, man, Will, what did you do?”

      “Nothing,” he told her, looking to his left before pulling out onto the highway. “I did nothing, I should do nothing, I am doing nothing. It was a stupid idea, Chessie. She’s not my type.”

      “If you mean she isn’t cold and ambitious and only out for herself, then no, she isn’t.”

      “Leave Kay out of this,” Will told her, concentrating more on his driving than he was on what Chessie was saying. Always a mistake.

      “Aha! So you knew just who I meant, didn’t you?”

      “Never mind that. I’m just telling you—”

      “Never mind that? You wake me up in the middle of the night, and then don’t even give me a moment to gloat when I score a major hit? Hi, Will, this is Chessie—remember me? I gloat. I live to gloat.”

      “Yeah, yeah, score one for Chessie. Can we get back to the reason I called, please? Because your plan is full of holes, Chess. There’s no such thing as just waking someone up. You have to figure out what to do with them once they’re awake.”

      “You could be nice and hang up and call them again in the morning,” his cousin said. She then added quickly, “Okay, okay, I know you’re not talking about me. You’re talking about Elizabeth. What did you do, Will? Turn on all your boyish charm in one go?”

      “This has nothing to do with me. I’m only saying that Elizabeth … that she’s …” How about that? Him, the silver-tongued lawyer, at a loss for words. “She could get hurt.”

      He could hear Chessie getting out of bed. Well, either she’d thrown back the covers and gotten out of bed, or she had just levitated a good three feet above the mattress. “William Hollingswood … what … did … you … do?”

      “Nothing. I didn’t do a single thing. All right, almost. I was going to kiss her good-night. Hell, it’s the natural end to an evening. But I didn’t. Chessie, I don’t think the woman’s been out on a date since her husband died. How do I say this and not have you crawl through the phone and murder me? Okay, I can’t. She’s ripe, Chess. Ripe for the

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