Willow Brook Road(50)

“And had sense enough not to choose one who was wrong for her,” Megan reminded him. “An old expression comes to mind, something about having to kiss a lot of frogs before finding a prince.”

“I don’t want our girl kissing any blasted frogs,” Mick grumbled.

“Darling, it’s a metaphor.”

“Whatever. This will go better if I give things a little push. Now, who do we know who’s available?”

As they approached the town green, he noticed that Megan was no longer listening to him. He followed the direction of her gaze and spotted Carrie with a young man and, apparently, a boy who’d climbed to the top of the jungle gym. She and the man were laughing and applauding the boy’s achievement.

“Who’s that?” Mick demanded, studying the scene intently and trying to assess any potential there. Was the man a married acquaintance or an available single dad?

“I’m not 100 percent sure,” Megan equivocated.

Mick frowned at her. “Who do you think it is?” he asked with considerable patience. Sometimes it required ingenuity and a trained prosecutor’s skills to get his wife to reveal anything she wanted to keep to herself. This appeared to be one of those times.

“I’ve heard that the young man Mack hired as a web designer at the paper just took custody of his nephew. I’m guessing that’s him. Sam Winslow, I believe.”

Relieved to know that the man was employed by a family member and likely both single and responsible enough to be given custody of a child, Mick eagerly turned to head in that direction. “Let’s go over there and say hello,” he suggested, only to have his wife take a firm grip on his arm.

“Not on your life. They’re obviously enjoying themselves, and that’s the goal you had in mind, right? Leave them alone. Let nature take its course.”

“Sometimes nature takes too darn long,” Mick said, but he did allow himself to be persuaded to take the long way around the green en route home in order to keep the peace with his wife.

Tomorrow, he vowed, he’d do a little investigating and determine if this young man was the right sort for his precious granddaughter. After all, not just anyone would do.



Carrie felt as if she’d been frozen in place for a solid ten minutes. First there’d been Sam’s unexpected dare that she go on a real date with him. While she was still absorbing that and deciding how to answer, she saw her grandfather and fully expected him to charge right on over and start interrogating Sam about his intentions. Grandpa Mick was not known for his discretion, his subtlety or his timing.

The one man she’d risked bringing home from college had been reduced to stuttering once Mick got started. Despite an impeccable background, a path to a law partnership in his father’s very respectable New York law firm, poor Nathan hadn’t been able to withstand Mick’s cross-examination. Carrie had concluded that didn’t bode well for his career in a courtroom or for their relationship. Any man who couldn’t hold his own with Grandpa Mick was doomed. Surprisingly, she wasn’t quite ready to put Sam through that test.

“Carrie?”

Sam’s questioning tone snapped her attention right back to him. “Sorry. I just saw my grandparents.”

He grinned. “And what? It required all your concentration to will them not to come over here?”

She laughed. “You’re amazingly perceptive. See how well it worked? They’ve already moved on.”

“Which raises the question of why you didn’t want them to meet me,” he said. “Or am I misinterpreting?”

“Oh, no, you got it exactly right. Well, not about them meeting you. The other way around.” She sighed. “It’s complicated. It’s not that I don’t want you to meet them ever, just not yet.”

“Because?”

“Let’s just say that once Grandpa Mick gets an idea in his head, he tends to run with it, and that includes running roughshod over anyone in his path. Neither of us needs that sort of pressure.”

“So he’s a meddler,” Sam concluded.

“And a master manipulator,” she confirmed. “Much to my dismay, I’m his current project. I don’t think you need to get tangled up in whatever plans he decides to pursue for me.”

Amusement danced in Sam’s eyes, but he said very solemnly, “Okay, then. I’ll watch my step if we happen to cross paths.”

“Oh, you’ll cross paths,” she said with regret. “I predict he’ll have figured out who you are within the hour if he doesn’t know already, and you’ll find him waiting on the doorstep at the paper first thing tomorrow morning.”