“What we really need is a psychologist—not a parapsychologist. What about that shrink of yours, Colin? Is she trustworthy?”
Colin observed Lillian dourly. “Who says I have a shrink?”
“For crying out loud,” Lillian said, “have you forgotten what this town is like? Everyone knows you took her out to dinner last night. Ben Morris saw you at The Pub, and you know what a gossip he is. Why else do you figure I have to work so hard to keep my life private?”
Colin thought about last evening with Alex. He’d been thinking about it a lot...how it had felt to hold her in his arms those few moments. He’d wanted to go on holding her, but for her that hadn’t been an option. He’d never known anyone who tried so hard to stay in control. The soon-to-be ex-husband must have really damaged her somehow. Or maybe something else was to blame.
“Colin,” said Lillian, “I’m just asking if this Dr. Alex Robbins is discreet.”
“She’s not about to go gossiping with Ben Morris.”
“You don’t need to tell her any details about me, Colin. Just ask her to talk to your grandpa. Ask her to set him straight about this ghost nonsense.”
“Psychologists aren’t like auto mechanics,” Colin said. “They can’t just schedule an appointment to fix somebody’s transmission.”
“Well, we’d better do something, or we’ll have a parapsychologist on our hands. Is that what you want?”
He didn’t know what he wanted, it seemed. In the past, when he’d started to feel the old restlessness, he’d simply moved on, changed his life. But now things were more complicated. He had a grandfather who wasn’t getting any younger. And he had a son who’d grown up too quickly. Colin couldn’t just walk away from all that.
CHAPTER FOUR
THAT EVENING, ALEX SHOWED up at the McIntyre house with a sackful of groceries. She was breathless, and her cheeks were becomingly flushed again. As she shifted the bag from one arm to another, she gazed at Colin almost defensively.
“Okay, so maybe I’ve gone too far,” she said. “But when you called and invited me over for dinner... then said it was your turn to cook so you were sending out for pizza...well, I couldn’t resist taking matters into my own hands.”
He leaned against the doorjamb, appreciating the sight of her. She was wearing something sleeveless, her blond hair falling over her shoulders.
The flush in her cheeks deepened. “Kissing you was a big mistake,” she muttered. “So if you’re thinking about last night, please stop.”
“I’m thinking about right now.”
“Dammit, Colin. Just...don’t.”
He took the groceries from her but remained on the porch. “Are you here to give me a cooking lesson?”
“Not exactly. I’m hardly the domestic type myself. But a family dinner calls for something.”
Lettuce was poking out of the bag, and he caught the pleasing aroma of ripened tomatoes. When he went to the grocery store, he usually confined himself to microwavable selections.
“Too bad we have to make it a family dinner,” he said.
She gave him a keen glance. “We already tried the one-on-one thing, and it didn’t work out.”
“I thought it worked out fine.”
She stared at him, her eyes a very deep brown. “I know you don’t take me seriously, Colin, but you could at least try.” She gazed at him a moment longer. Then she took the grocery bag back from him and strode into the house.
Colin followed her down the hall to the kitchen. The material of her dress swirled invitingly against her legs as she walked and her hair rippled gold. She appeared soft and feminine, but he sensed an implacable core. She gave the impression that she’d been taking care of herself for a very long while and she didn’t want any help with the job.
When she reached the kitchen, she started removing items from the bag and placing them on the counter. the lettuce and tomatoes, two packages of whole wheat hamburger buns, a jar of pickles, a jar of relish, a bottle of ketchup, some mustard.
“Guess you didn’t trust us to have any condiments,” he said.
She produced a carton of ice cream and placed it in the freezer. “Got any pans?”
He had to rummage in a few cupboards before he found them.
Alex shook her head. “You really don’t cook, do you?”
“Hey, it’s my grandfather’s house, not mine.”
She handed him a can of peas and pearl onions. “Think you can manage that?”
Colin got busy with the opener. He found that he liked spending time with Alex in a kitchen. She didn’t seem to need useless conversation. A companionable silence settled between them as he opened a few more cans and dinner began to cook on the stove.
Herb poked his nose into the room. “Hello, Dr. Alex.”
“Hello, Mr. McIntyre.”
“No need to be so formal,” he said gruffly,
“considering my grandson’s finagled you into doing his work tonight.”
She smiled. “Mind if I call you ‘Herbie’?”
“A lot of folks do.” He peered at a pan sizzling on the stove. “Those hamburgers?” he asked doubtfully.
“Veggie burgers.”
“Veggie burgers?” he repeated. “Serves Colin right—he’s strictly a meat-and-potatoes man.” Chuckling, Herb disappeared.
“Don’t listen to him,” Colin said. “He’s the one who thinks you can’t have a meal without steak.”
“You wish we were having real hamburgers, don’t you?”
Those veggie things did look kind of odd, but he wasn’t about to say so. Now Sean appeared, hovering uncertainly in the doorway.
“Hi,” Alex said casually. “Mind doing the salad?”
He hesitated, but then he came over to the counter and confronted the lettuce. After a moment he started tearing off big pieces and tossed them into a bowl. Alex didn’t comment, just went on about her business. Colin realized she was handling everything just right. She wasn’t making a big deal about Sean helping out, wasn’t telling him how to do things differently, wasn’t paying much attention at all. Colin himself probably wouldn’t have been able to resist setting the kid straight.
A short time later the four of them sat down together. Make that five for dinner, if you included Dusty. Except this time the little terrier abandoned Herb and waited at attention next to Alex’s feet. The others seemed to be at attention, too. Sean didn’t slouch quite so much in his chair; Herb didn’t use his silverware to point. The food looked all right: ravioli in tomato sauce, two different kinds of vegetables, the haphazard salad Sean had made. And, of course, the veggie burgers.
The conversation was actually civil. Maybe Sean didn’t contribute much, but Herb and Alex had plenty to talk about: her practice in Chicago, his days in the mine. It took Colin a while to realize that he was almost as silent as his son. Apparently he didn’t have much to contribute, either.
Alex brought out the ice cream for dessert—double chocolate chunk fudge—and the four of them polished it off in no time. Afterward they removed to the living room, Dusty trotting behind. Sean hunched in an armchair, looking supremely bored. Colin noted, however, that he didn’t make a quick exit the way he did most evenings.
Just