just before I was supposed to walk down the aisle. He wasn’t sure if I was the kind of wife he wanted, or if he loved me enough to spend forever with me.”
“Stupid bastard.” He got up, brushing past her to grab the Epsom salts and lightly scented oil and bubble bath he kept under the sink.
“Why do you think he’s the stupid one? It could be me. You don’t know.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “I know.” Any man who broke up with a woman like that after he asked her to marry him was cruel.
She gave him another soft smile. There was a sweetness about her and he wanted to pull her mouth to his just to see if he could taste it.
“You look like a man who has run a lot of baths for women,” she said as he added everything to the hot water.
“I’ve been known to take a bath from time to time. I was a college football player. I took a lot of hits and last year I did a Spartan Sprint and dislocated my elbow. The hot water usually soothes it when it starts acting up”
“A Spartan Sprint? Is that one of those 5K mud runs?”
He shook his head. “My brother-in-law and I did a long-distance one. Twenty-seven obstacles. There was fire, mud and barbed wire. We would have been the fastest team if I hadn’t slipped.”
“That sounds like my worst nightmare.”
“We’re going to do another one in Miami in March.”
“Crazy. I can barely walk down the street without falling and you sign up for death runs.”
“You sound like my mother.”
They grinned at each other for a moment before he looked back at his tub that seemed inviting. He had never taken a bath with a woman. He liked his private time, but it was something he might like to try with her.
“I’ll leave you alone now. Take as long as you want in here.”
“Thank you, Asa.”
He nodded and left her.
He settled in to read, but he couldn’t concentrate on the words because his thoughts kept returning to the presumably naked woman in his bathroom.
A knock on his door saved him from trying to go back to his book. He found his mother standing there. She was looking fashionably proper, with her hair swept up elegantly and wearing a gray wool coat that would probably never go out of style. Dr. Andersen might have a PhD in advanced mathematics, but she was no absentminded academic. She could intimidate nearly anyone she came across and that was why Asa was uneasy about her unexpected appearance at his door. It had nothing to do with the woman in his bathtub.
“Mom? Hey. What are you doing here?”
She breezed past him with a smile on her face. “Do I need an excuse to see my baby boy?”
“Um. No? You just never drop by unannounced.”
“I was in the city to have lunch with a former colleague at Columbia and I thought I would stop by. I have something to tell you and I figured I should do it in person rather than over the phone.”
He sat down hard on the stool at his breakfast bar. “Are you sick?”
“No! Of course not.”
“Are you divorcing Dad?”
“Asa! Do you think I would look this happy if I were divorcing your father or sick?”
“I don’t know, Mom. You could be coming over here to tell me that you’re running away to Bora Bora with one of your students.”
“I’m not sure where you got such an imagination from. You’re starting to sound like your sister.”
“Did you tell her the news?”
“She knows. It was her idea.”
“It was Gin’s idea and you’re happy about it?” He crossed his arms across his chest. “This I’ve got to hear.”
“Your sister wants to throw a big get-together at her house on Hideaway Island with both families. It’s going to be wonderful—two weeks of holiday festivities, topped off with a huge Christmas party they are inviting the whole island to. I’m so excited. And I’m making the point of telling you that you’re going to use up that vacation time you have accrued and spend the whole time with us down there.”
“Okay,” he agreed.
“No argument? No, ‘I have plans,’ or ‘a date?’ Or something more important than following your mother’s dreams and wishes?”
“I was planning to see Virginia at Christmas anyway. You could have told me this over the phone. What else is going on?”
“Your father and I are retiring to Florida. I put in my paperwork yesterday and we’ve officially put the house on the market. We are going to be looking at homes on Hideaway Island while we’re there.”
“Oh.” He wasn’t expecting her to say that. He had always pictured his parents living in their Cape Cod–style home, but it made sense for them to move. His father had hurt his back shoveling the heavy snow more than once. And he had been retired from the military for years now. None of their children were home. There was no reason for them to stay. They should go but he felt odd about it. “Congratulations, Mom. The school will miss you.”
“Is there something wrong, sweetheart?” She touched his cheek and in that same moment he heard his bathroom door open. Out stepped Hallie in a short blush-colored robe. Her curly hair was damp, but he could see her perfect ringlets forming. Her eyes went wide when she saw his mother there, and he found Hallie to be incredibly beautiful.
“Well, who do we have here?” his mother asked.
“Hallie, this is my mother, Dr. Andersen. Mom, this is Hallie. She lives in 4A.” He could have explained why Hallie was there, but he didn’t want to. He was thirty-two years old and if he wanted to have a woman in his apartment, he would have a woman in his apartment.
“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.” Hallie started to rush forward, hand extended, but then stopped. He could see the pain on her face.
Asa went to her, his hand impulsively reaching out to touch her cheek. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I almost forgot that my body is one big, giant sack of soreness.”
“Did the bath help?”
“A lot. Thank you.”
“How’s your head?”
“I’ll take some aspirin when I get home. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you okay, dear?” His mother stepped forward. There was genuine concern on her face.
“I’m fine. I just fell on the ice yesterday and gave myself a little concussion. Your son came to my rescue. I was coming to tell you it was nice to meet you and then get
