Page 26 of Sweet Temptation

“Only because I let you.” Garret laughed. The tension dissipating, he took hold of her hand and squeezed it tightly. “Time to get this show on the road.”

And wasn’t that just a darn shame.

The moment the two of them crossed the threshold into the kitchen, the hum of chatting voices slowed. Making sure his mother had seen their clasped hands, Garret regretfully let go of his link with Jackie and followed her inside. What he hadn’t expected was the sudden bustle of activity as first Jillian slung a dish rag over the back of a chair and announced, “I have some ideas for new candle scents. I think I’m going to head to my room and work on it before supper.” Then Rachel followed with, “I’ve got some files I need to update,” quickly disappearing to her room. Next thing he knew, Carson and Jess were dragging Jackie into the living room to watch some special on PBS that couldn’t be missed.

He was pretty sure neither his brother nor the man’s wife could have cared less about PBS, but here he was, alone with his mother in the kitchen. Recognizing what the family had done, no time like the present to start the tumbleweed blowing on the upcoming marriage charade.

Her breadmaking done, and the loaves in the oven filling the house with delicious aromas that would make any man drool, Alice Sweet was now peeling potatoes.

“Can I help?”

She cocked her head and closed one eye while staring at him, then shrugged. “Never can have too much help in the kitchen.”

Standing at her side, he began working on the first potato, the peels falling onto the newspaper covered counter. “I’ve been thinking.”

His mom continued to peel the potatoes without looking at him.

“Did Dad court you?”

Her hand froze, and then a slow smile bloomed. “Some might call it that.”

“Why?”

She returned to peeling. “According to your father, he decided he wanted to marry me the first time he laid eyes on me. But he had the good sense to realize if he’d proposed that same day, I’d have suggested the men in white coats come and take him away.”

Garret nodded. Made sense to him. Though right about now, a few people might suggest the men in white coats come take him away for what he was planning. “Dad always told us that when you know you know, but he never said what he did to win you over.”

Dropping a peeled potato in a pot of water, his mother reached for another. “Well, the day after we met, he sent me a dozen roses and all he did was sign it, ‘with admiration, Charlie’.”

“That sounds kind of lame.” He hadn’t meant to criticize his dad, but surely the guy could have been more creative.

“It was perfect. Anything more and I’d have thought him a player.”

“Hmm. Then what?”

“Every day it was a little something more. Somehow he found out that I loved Nora Roberts books and he sent me her latest release. Then another day it was a bouquet of balloons.”

“Balloons? Isn’t that rather childish?”

His mom’s smile brightened like the sun. “It was endearing like your father. By the end of the week when he called to ask me to join him for dinner, I would have joined him on a trip to the moon if he’d asked.”

“Really?”

“Really. Of course, y’all know your dad and I only dated for three months before we got married.”

It might be a sign of a bad son, but Garret actually had forgotten that part of their parents’ romance.

“You, uh, thinking about courting someone?” his mother didn’t look up, just kept peeling the potatoes.

“Mm hm.”

Her head bobbed. “Wouldn’t be Jackie in the other room, would it?”

It was his turn to nod.

With a shrug, his mom turned to face him, waving the peeler in his face. “Follow your heart and you can’t go wrong.”

This time, his cheeks tugged a smile out of him and potato in one hand and peeler in the other; he flung his arms around her. “Thanks, Mom.”

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