nodded.
“I’ll see you tomorrow and try to loosen up,” he pledged.
She nodded again.
“And by the way,” he said with a beautifully devilish smile, “your hair looks better today.”
Dani laughed, glad to finally have her weird hairstyle of the previous evening acknowledged.
“Thanks. I did it today instead of Evie.”
“I don’t think the kid has a future ahead of her as a stylist.”
Dani laughed yet again. “I don’t think so either.”
Then she watched Liam Madison walk out of the kitchen, hoping that tomorrow he might show the twins more of the human side he’d finally shown her tonight.
And enjoying the sight of tight buns in khakis as a secret reward to herself for a day that hadn’t been any fun until just now.
“Bryan! Did you see our socks?” Evie asked by way of greeting Dani’s best friend as the twins rushed him Tuesday morning when Dani let him in.
“Let me see ’em,” Bryan Dreeson instructed, peering down at their feet. “Oh, my gosh! Those socks are great! Red Minnie and Mickey? Why don’t they make them in my size?” he lamented.
“Let’s see yours,” Grady said as he bent over and pulled up one leg of the attorney’s suit pants to reveal snazzy argyles. A love of flashy socks united Dani’s friend with her charges.
“Pretty,” Evie judged with awe.
“And he brought you one of his special quiches for breakfast, too—”
The twins cheered and jumped around like crazy people, laughing at themselves as they did.
“Okay, okay,” Dani said to contain them as she closed the front door behind her friend. “I want you to go down and finish getting dressed while I talk to Bryan, and then you can have breakfast.”
Bryan’s family had lived in the house next door to her grandparents. Being the same age, Dani and Bryan had grown up together and been best friends since soon after Dani had gone to live with Nell and Nick Marconi.
Bryan had called the night before and told her that he would stop by on his way to his office this morning to bring her papers. He was an estate lawyer and had handled the trust Dani’s grandmother had left.
“Mmm...fresh tomatoes, spinach and cheese,” Dani said as she carried the quiche to the kitchen. “The kids love this. And so do I.”
“Because it’s delicious,” Bryan said with no humility whatsoever.
“Are you eating with us or have you already had breakfast?” she asked as they got to the kitchen and she set the quiche on the island.
“I waited so we could eat together. And I’m desperate for a cup of coffee!” he said dramatically, going to the cupboard to get a mug—a familiarity that had developed since he became a frequent visitor after Dani had taken up residence here and left the apartment they shared.
“I have to warn you—I didn’t make the coffee and it’s really strong. Gramma would have called it battery acid.”
“The marine made it?” Bryan asked. They talked almost every day and there was nothing in Dani’s life that Bryan didn’t know about, including every detail of the situation with the twins, her efforts to contact Liam, his arrival and request to move in and that Monday had been designated as the day for that.
“The marine or elves. It was here when I got up,” she said.
“Am I gonna get a look at him?” her impeccably dressed blond friend whispered over his shoulder as he poured the dark brew.
“I haven’t even seen him this morning—he’s an up-before-dawn guy. He says he likes to run at sunrise. Then he had an appointment with a lawyer to deal with paternity if the DNA proves he’s the father,” she said just as softly so the kids didn’t overhear anything.
“Too bad. I wanted to see if he lives up to your description.”
“If he lives up to my description? How did I describe him?” She’d thought she’d described him as average. Even though he was actually far, far above average.
“You made him sound so hot that steam was coming out of my phone,” Bryan claimed.
“I did not,” Dani denied as she got out four plates, silverware and a knife to cut the quiche.
“You sooo did,” Bryan countered. “Down to every tiny little freckle—”
“He doesn’t have freckles.”
“And you should know because you didn’t miss a thing. You had me drooling and hoping he plays for my team.”
“Evie and Grady are probably his so I don’t think he plays for your team,” she whispered again.
“And wouldn’t you be crushed if he did,” Bryan teased.
“No,” she said. Maybe a little too emphatically because it made Bryan laugh.
It also provoked him to give her his fashion once-over. “Your hair is down. Instead of yoga pants or rolling-around-on-the-floor-with-kids jeans you have on a nice pair, and that come-hither pink sweater set? You are dressed for more than work,” he deduced before adding, “It’s all right if you kind of like this guy, you know? This has been a rough few months. You’re due for a little good.”
“Well, it isn’t going to come out of this,” she responded confidently without denying that, like yesterday, she’d primped more for work than usual. But she’d told herself that she had a busy day ahead and that that was the reason. Not Liam Madison.
“Then I’ll keep hoping that he’s gay,” Bryan challenged.
“And I’ll tell Adam on you,” she countered, referring to Bryan’s longtime boyfriend.
The exchange made them both laugh. It was the kind of back and forth they’d shared since childhood.
As Dani cut slices of Bryan’s homemade quiche he took papers out of his briefcase and slid them across the counter to her. “Gramma’s trust,” he said. He’d always called her grandmother Gramma the same way Dani had even though there was no relation. “Since you’re the only beneficiary all ownership has been transferred to you.”
That sobered her. “Already.”
“It’s been six weeks since she passed. We did the trust instead of a will because it would be quicker and easier at the end and wouldn’t have to go into probate like a will. And there’s the proof—no court, no court costs, over and done. You’re now the sole owner of the house and Marconi’s Italian Restaurant.”
Essentially
