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Helen refused to listen to her daughter. It wasn’t every day a woman was told she had beautiful eyes. Even if they were compared to her daughter’s. Helen focused hers on the man who thought they were so attractive.
“You have some amazing aromas coming out of your kitchen,” he said.
Helen suddenly felt immensely talented as a cook. Taller and more self-assured too. “Would you like to come to the kitchen and have a look?”
“Yes,” he said reverently. “It will add to the anticipation, if that’s possible.”
She let him hold her elbow and follow his nose into her kitchen. They approached the stove.
“Roast beef,” he said. “May I open the oven door? Only for a moment, I promise.”
She nodded, overwhelmed.
He cracked open the oven door, looked inside quickly and drew in a deep, appreciative breath. “Perfection,” he said.
Helen tried to wave off the compliment. She didn’t succeed. “I sear it at five hundred degrees, and slow-roast it at two-fifty,” she breathed.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“I once had roast beef at a four-star restaurant in Paris. The aroma couldn’t compare to this. I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up telling you the taste cannot compare either.”
“Ohhh.” Helen decided she’d enjoy this now and go back to hating him later.
Maybe.
***
“What was that all about?” Mary was unsettled and even a little disgruntled as they drove home from what was supposed to have been a horrible meet-the-mother dinner. “Did you have to turn my mother into a puddle at your feet?”
“It was better than letting her stab me with her carving knife after she was done with that mouth-watering roast of beef.”
Maryletthesilencegrowuntilhewasreadytogive her a straighter answer.
“That was all about me trying to protect you in a difficult situation,” he said finally. “If you believe in this cursed-love thing, your mom does too. Ergo, she hates me. Ergo, I should make some effort to make her like me, or she’ll make you downright miserable aboutmewhilewegeteachotheroutofeachother’s systems.”
In some ways, that was more than she’d wanted to know. She resolutely blocked out the bit about anyone getting someone out of his or her system. She refocused on Van’s astonishing effect on her mother. “You charmed my mother’s socks off.”
“I’ve had a fair bit of experience with difficult situations,” Van said carefully.
Ouch.Somethingelseshedidn’twanttoknow,and she couldn’t let this one go. “How many parents of girlfriends have you met, anyway?” she demanded. “A million? A bazillion?”
He didn’t answer.
“Come on, ’fess up.”
“None, if you must know. But this wasn’t all that different from trying to get everybody to put down the guns after a tough round of union negotiations. For that matter, getting them to even hear what anybody said in the first place.”
“Oh.” That wasn’t so bad. A big part of the miracle he had performed at Van Deventer Ventures was getting management and the union working together when they needed to. She still wasn’t satisfied with his answer, though. “No. That’s not all there is to it. I’m sure of it.”
“Oh, all right. If you must know … ”
“Yes, I must know.”
“It was her hair.”
“Her hair?”
