“Relatively,” Keaton said. “We were three years apart in school and never had a chance to get to know each other. If not for Grace’s arrival, our paths might never have crossed.”
With everything as ready as it could be for the moment, Lark had no more excuses to avoid her guests. “Can I get you something to drink?” she asked Gloria. “Water? Soda? Tea? Coffee? Wine?” She ran out of offerings and snapped her mouth shut.
“I have a bottle of your favorite Shiraz,” Keaton suggested.
“Maybe with dinner. For now I’ll take a glass of water.”
“Flat or sparkling?”
“Sparkling.”
“Plain? Lemon? Raspberry?”
Gloria shot her son an amused look. “No wonder you like her. She’s prepared for everything.”
Lark’s cheeks burned, but the remark hadn’t been unkind. “I wanted to make sure I had a variety of things on hand.”
“Lemon.” Gloria stepped into the kitchen and shooed her tall son out. “What can I do to help?”
Lark hovered near the refrigerator, a glass in one hand, a bottle of water in the other. “With ice or without?”
“Without is fine.” Keaton’s mother relieved her of the items with a gracious smile. “What can I do to help?” she repeated.
Knowing she would be all thumbs with Gloria in the kitchen, Lark gave her head a vigorous shake. “You came here to see your granddaughter, not to help me. Dinner’s in great shape. Most everything is ready to go.”
“Good. Then you can come sit with me and tell us everything about you.”
Although Lark wanted to protest, Keaton’s mother had her neatly trapped.
“There’s not much to tell.” She glanced at Keaton’s father, noting his stern expression, and wished she was anywhere but here.
“I’m sure that’s not the case,” Gloria replied, drawing Lark onto the couch and motioning for her husband to hand over Grace. “David, why don’t you go help Keaton with the steaks? You know how I like mine cooked.”
Lark was able to relax a little when the Holt men headed out back to the enormous grill Keaton had recently purchased. David Holt so obviously disapproved of her and Keaton being together. She wasn’t yet sure where Gloria’s opinion lay, but she suspected she was about to find out.
“My son is obviously taken with you.”
“I care for Keaton a great deal. I’m not going to hurt him. I hope you know that.” The three rapid-fire sentences left Lark breathless. She stared at Grace, longing for an ounce of the baby’s current tranquility.
“We’ve upset you. I’m sorry about that. It’s just that learning about your relationship with our son like this has come as a little bit of a shock.”
As much as Lark wanted to let her guard down with Gloria, she’d been fooled by someone’s appearance of niceness before. Not that she thought Keaton’s mother was manipulative. With her thoughts spinning in confused circles, Lark kept her lips pressed together.
The silence didn’t seem to bother Gloria. “I don’t want you to think that we’re prejudiced against your relationship with Keaton because you’re a Taylor.” She paused. “Well, perhaps my husband is a little distressed... But some of what’s caught us off guard is that Keaton has always been a private person. We know he dates, but he hasn’t brought a single girl around since high school. He must be pretty serious about you to share with us what’s going on between you.” She paused again to let her words sink in. “And so soon. How long have you been...seeing each other?”
Lark had a strong desire to shift uncomfortably, and held still with effort. “A couple weeks. Since he moved in here. I know things seem like they’re happening fast, but I’m not sure Keaton is as serious as you think. We’ve been thrown together by circumstances.”
But in truth, she wasn’t sure how Keaton felt. He made love to her with tenderness and passion, but that was in his nature. Lark doubted Keaton had left a string of casual one-night stands in his wake. At the same time, he was a man and not exactly ruled by his emotions. For one thing, she was pretty certain that of the two of them, she was the one falling harder.
“Is that how you feel about him?” Gloria asked. “That this is just a convenient fling?”
This wasn’t a conversation Lark wanted to be having with Keaton’s mother. Surely Gloria would understand that what happened between Lark and Keaton should remain between them.
“Neither one of us has spoken about the future. Right now we’re focused on Grace.” That said, Lark stood. “I’d better get everything ready. Those steaks are going to be done in no time, and I would hate for them to get cold while we wait for the rest of the food.”