Feels Like Family. Sherryl Woods

from the spa and Maddie.

      What the sundae wasn’t accomplishing, Erik was. He was a very disconcerting man. Few other men would have dragged her out for ice cream at this hour or even guessed that it was what she needed. In fact, most men would have been put off by her tears and run the other way.

      “You ready to tell me what’s going on?” he asked eventually.

      She took another overflowing spoonful of the sundae to avoid speaking and shook her head.

      “Sooner or later you’re going to finish the ice cream and you won’t have an excuse not to talk,” he reminded her as he lounged on the seat across from her, seemingly content to sip his coffee while she made a total pig of herself.

      “I’ll have to leave as soon as I finish this,” she said, pleased with the perfect excuse. “I’m already running late for work. Barb will send out a search party if I don’t show up soon.”

      His mouth curved into a smile. “Okay, then. You’d better start talking now.”

      “Look,” she said, “I skipped breakfast. That’s the only reason you were successful at persuading me to come here. My blood sugar must have been low.”

      “And is that what made you cry in public?”

      She shrugged. “It can have all sorts of weird effects.”

      “Trust me, that’s usually not one of them,” he said.

      He sounded very sure. She studied him curiously. “What do you know about it?”

      “You have no idea how many pieces of miscellaneous information I have stored away here.” He tapped his head.

      “But you said that with some authority,” Helen countered. “Is that because you read up on diabetes so you could keep an eye on Dana Sue?”

      “Yeah, that’s it,” he said, but his expression had become shuttered. Helen sensed this was far from the whole story. Pushing aside the sundae, she put her elbows on the table and leaned toward him. Maybe she could avoid his probing questions by asking a few of her own. “I just realized that I know very little about you. Who are you, Erik Whitney? And what were you before you became a chef?”

      “What makes you think I was anything before that?” he inquired.

      “Because you’d just graduated from the Atlanta Culinary Institute when Dana Sue hired you. Unless you’re a very slow learner, which I doubt is the case, you must have done something before you went there.”

      He seemed increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation. “Look, the only reason we’re here in Wharton’s is so you can get whatever’s bothering you off your chest,” he reminded her. “This isn’t supposed to be about me.”

      “But you’re so much more interesting, or at least your reaction is. What are you hiding, Erik?”

      He regarded her incredulously. “What makes you think I’m hiding something? And what exactly do you think I’m hiding? Some nefarious past as a bank robber, perhaps? Or maybe you think I’m AWOL from the marines?”

      “I’m an attorney. I deal in facts. I try not to have any preconceived ideas, which is why I’m asking you.” She tilted her head and noted the closed expression on his face. “You know what I find absolutely fascinating?”

      “Not a clue.”

      “You’ve gone all secretive and strong, silent type all of a sudden. Why is that, especially if you have nothing to hide?”

      “No particular reason other than not liking to dwell on the past,” he said, his tone indifferent, but a tic in his jaw suggested he was anything but indifferent.

      “Well, just so you know, it’s the kind of thing that kicks a lawyer’s curiosity into high gear. The art of a successful cross-examination depends on being able to read body language and expressions.” She surveyed him lingeringly, then added, “I’m considered to be very, very good at it.”

      “It’s hardly the big deal you’re trying to turn it into,” he said. When she continued to pin him with her gaze, he finally shrugged. “Okay, here’s the condensed version. I was an EMT. I decided it was time for a change. There’s not a lot of drama in that.”

      Helen was less surprised by the revelation than she probably should have been. It explained a lot about how observant he was when it came to Dana Sue’s monitoring her diabetes and the close eye he always kept on Annie and her eating patterns. Still, it didn’t seem as if it were something he’d want to hide, yet he’d obviously been very reluctant to reveal it. She couldn’t help wondering why.

      “Did you like the work?” she asked.

      “For a long time, yes,” he said, his expression still guarded. “Look, if you’re feeling better, I need to get back to the restaurant.”

      “Running out on me just when things are getting interesting?” She shook her head. “It intrigues me that a man who was trying to dig around in my psyche just minutes ago can’t handle the idea of me asking personal questions.”

      “I wasn’t the one having a public meltdown,” he said. “If you spot me having one, feel free to ask all the questions you want.” He tossed some bills on the table and was gone before Helen could formulate a response.

      She stared after him, then distractedly picked up her spoon and ate the last few bites of her now-melted sundae.

      “Now there goes one very sexy man,” Grace Wharton declared as she joined Helen. “How’d you let him get away?”

      “I think I scared him off,” Helen admitted, vaguely unnerved by how guilty that made her feel. He’d been kind to her and he’d given her an excuse to take a few minutes to gather the composure she’d lost after her conversation earlier with Maddie. What had she done in return? She’d cross-examined him as if he were some kind of criminal.

      “A man like that doesn’t scare too easily,” Grace said. “You didn’t mention marriage or something like that, did you? That’s the only thing I can think of that scares a confirmed bachelor.”

      “The subject of marriage most definitely did not come up,” Helen assured her. “What makes you think he’s a confirmed bachelor?”

      “I’ve seen just about every single woman in town throw themselves at him at one time or another,” Grace said. “He flirts right back, but that’s as far as it ever goes. For a while I thought he might be hung up on Dana Sue, but then Ronnie came back and that put an end to that.”

      “Interesting,” Helen murmured. She wondered what Grace would think if she knew about the kiss Erik had laid on her not that long ago. Her lips still burned every time she thought about it. He hadn’t shown any real interest in repeating it, though. If he was a confirmed bachelor, and that kiss had shaken him as badly as it had her, maybe that alone was enough to make him cautious around her, especially when the conversation took a more personal turn.

      Before she could pick apart her own theory, her cell phone rang. She snatched it out of her purse.

      “You planning to come to work anytime today?” Barb asked wryly. “I have a waiting room filled with clients and they’re getting restless.”

      “Oh, my God,” Helen said, glancing at her watch. It was going on ten. “I got sidetracked.”

      “By Erik Whitney, if the rumors are true,” Barb said, proving that the Serenity grapevine was faster than the speed of light.

      Helen didn’t fall in to her trap. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

      “Make it four,” Barb retorted. “Your nine o’clock looks as if he might start breaking things.”

      “On my way,” Helen said.

      When she’d turned off the phone and jammed it into her purse, she looked up into Grace’s fascinated