“Since when do you need a personal trainer, Mother?” Janet asked.
“Everyone needs a trainer,” said Oscar in an oddly high-pitched voice. He raked his gaze over Janet like he was peeling a peach. He stuck out his tongue and licked his lips.
Gage had to grit his teeth to keep from saying something.
“Stand up and turn around,” Oscar said to Janet.
“Excuse me?”
“Come on, dear.” Gracie took Janet’s hand and tugged her to her feet. “Let Oscar assess you.”
“Mother! This is ridiculous.”
“Yes, Gracie,” he said. “Your daughter is exquisite, but it wouldn’t kill her to do extra crunches.” Oscar angled his head and eyed Janet’s tush. “Lunges and squats are in order, too. Looks like someone’s gotten lax in their fitness routine.”
Anger, quick and unexpected, shot through Gage. How dare this over-inflated baboon barge over and start criticizing Janet, who possessed the most amazing body he had ever laid eyes on? He would never kick her out of bed for not possessing buns of steel.
“So, Mother, is there any reason you and Oscar dropped by to humiliate me?” Janet plunked back down in her seat, folded her arms over her chest and glared at the duo.
“Don’t feel ashamed, dear. I just got to thinking that maybe the reason you couldn’t get a man was because you needed a little extra toning. Oscar volunteered to give you some pointers.”
“Perhaps we could discuss this at a later time,” Oscar, the slab of beef, offered.
“Yes, later, that’d be much better.” Janet wearily shook her head.
“Say tonight, over dinner at a healthy restaurant.” Oscar glanced around Donovan’s and turned up his nose at the chicken-fried steak on the platter of a nearby customer. “How about Tofu’s? It’s a new vegetarian restaurant on Eighth.”
“No. That’s not good for me. I’ve got a jogging date with Lacy and CeeCee this evening.” Janet shoved an escaping tendril of dark hair behind one ear.
“Honey, don’t you get it?” Gracie interrupted. “Oscar isn’t here just as a trainer. He wants to date you.”
Date! Gracie wanted her intelligent, gifted daughter to go out with this Neanderthal? The woman was so misguided. She had no idea what kind of man her daughter needed. Gage clenched his hands to keep from sharing his opinion. No one had asked him.
“Mother, please don’t put me in the position of being rude to your trainer.”
“Oscar.” Gracie laid a hand on the big man’s shoulder. “Why don’t you wait outside in the car for me?”
Oscar hesitated a minute, then nodded and went back through the restaurant.
Janet looked desperate. She was frowning, her lips puckered in displeasure. More than anything, Gage wanted to ease that frown. He wanted to get Gracie off her back.
“Now, sweetheart, if you would just give Oscar a chance, I’m sure he’s a wonderful man with...”
“I’m not going out with him,” Janet interrupted. “And that’s final.”
Yay! Hip, hip, hooray! Stand up against her mother’s matchmaking. She deserved so much better than some muscle-bound jock who would monitor every fat gram she ate.
“Honey, please. We simply have no time.” Gracie even looked at her watch as if each second was important. “I went to see Nadine yesterday.”
“Not again,” Janet groaned.
“Don’t close your mind so fast, Missy. Nadine said if you haven’t already met the man of your dreams, you will meet him very soon. Romance is in your stars. But she said your stubbornness will blind you to his true identity. We can’t let that happen.”
“That’s Nadine just covering her backside in case this mystery man never appears.”
“Ahem.” Gracie cleared her throat. “Nadine predicted you would be a girl, didn’t she?”
“Fifty-fifty chance on that one.”
“Will you just listen to me a minute, Miss Hardhead, and stop interrupting? In eighteen months, I will be fifty-two. It will kill me never to have grandchildren. I so hated that you were an only child. Please give Oscar a whirl. You never know, darling; he might be the one.”
“Believe me, Mom, I know Oscar isn’t The One. Actually, I don’t believe there’s any such thing as The One.”
“Tsk, tsk, so stubborn.”
“I don’t understand why you believe this astrologer. Why are you trying to arrange our lives to fit into her predictions?”
“You know she’s been the family astrologer for over three decades. Your grandmother used her and your Aunt Rhonda, too. That has to count for something, doesn’t it? And Nadine has never failed me.”
Janet gave her mother a skeptical look.
“Well, okay, she told me not to buy cell phone stock because she thought cell phones were only a fad and maybe she made a mistake when she told me that Hamilton Mint commemorative gold-plated Elvis Presley toilet scrub brushes would triple in value. I admit financial predictions are not her long suit, but she’s never been wrong about matters of the heart. Please listen to her. I love you and I want to see you happy.”
“I am happy.”
“You don’t look it.”
Janet glanced over at Gage and shot him a “help me” expression.
Superman’s theme song played in his head. Janet needed him. Gage to the rescue!
He rose to his feet. “Mrs. Hunter.”
Gracie blinked. “Yes, dear.”
“Janet can’t go out with Oscar. Not tonight or any other time.”
The relief gleaming in Janet’s eyes galvanized him. He felt like a million bucks. She had needed his help.
“And,” he continued, warming to the subject, “she won’t be going out with anyone.”
“Oh?” Gracie’s eyes rounded in surprise. “And why is that?”
“Because we happen to be dating…exclusively.”
5
Was the man out of his friggin’ tree? Dumbfounded, Janet’s jaw dropped. Dating exclusively? What?
What!
Gage shot her a humble Lone-Ranger-after-a-daring-rescue grin, as if he had done something praiseworthy and not just upset the world’s biggest apple cart.
Janet pressed a hand to her chest and tried to breathe. She was almost certain her face was a lovely shade of livid purple.
Gracie, however, was beside herself with joy. Squealing gleefully, she flung her arms around Gage’s neck. “Oh, my goodness. This is so wonderful.”
She let him go, then spun around to face Janet. “See, see,
