“She is not staying in my room,” Seth blurted. “She just came over to tell me she was ready to go to dinner.”
Jenny actually laughed. “Did I ask for an explanation?”
“No, but I thought you should know,” Seth said, then added emphatically, “There is nothing going on. Absolutely nothing.”
Jenny glanced at Abby, who looked almost as amused as she did. “He sounds guilty.”
“Doesn’t he?” Abby said. “I wonder why that is.”
“Why, indeed?” Jenny replied.
Seth looked from one woman to the other, then headed for the stairs. He had a hunch if he opened his mouth in his own defense one more time, he’d only dig a deeper hole for himself. This one was plenty deep enough.
* * *
Seth was so quiet at dinner that Abby began to worry that she’d pushed him too far, with a little unanticipated, but welcome assistance from Kelsey and Grandma Jenny.
“You okay?” she asked eventually.
“Of course.”
“We were just teasing, you know.”
“Oh, believe me, I got that.” He looked her in the eye. “How much longer am I supposed to hold out before this gets out of hand?”
“Out of hand? That’s an interesting way to put it. We are two consenting adults who are obviously attracted to each other, Seth. What’s your definition of out of hand in those circumstances?”
“I’ve warned you,” he began.
“That you’ll never fall in love again,” she said solemnly. “Yes, you’ve mentioned that.”
“You don’t seem to be taking me seriously.”
“I have heard every word you’ve said,” she contradicted. “I’ve taken them to heart. There are no misunderstandings, Seth.”
He frowned. “Then why do I have the feeling that you’re deliberately testing my limits?”
She smiled at that. “Because it’s so much fun to see you squirm,” she confessed. “Flirting with you is more entertaining than anything that’s happened to me in a long time. You make me feel sexy, desirable.”
“Well, of course you’re sexy and desirable,” he said as if she ought to be aware of that.
“Marshall didn’t think so,”
Seth looked satisfyingly incredulous. “Seriously?”
“Not after the first couple of years,” she admitted. She’d often wondered if that was because he’d feared intimacy might lead to a pregnancy he refused to confess he didn’t want.
“We’ve already established that your ex-husband was a jerk,” Seth said.
Abby smiled. “Yes, you’ve mentioned your opinion before.”
Again, that incredulous look passed over his face. “You don’t agree?”
“Sure, in some areas, he was, but in general he was a good guy, Seth. I don’t want you to get the wrong impression. He just wasn’t the right man for me.”
He shook his head. “You’re a lot more forgiving than you ought to be.”
“It hardly makes sense to hold a grudge at this point. I’m just saying that you make me feel things I haven’t felt in a long time.” She leveled a look into his eyes. “And I consider that to be a very good thing.”
“Even if the end result leads to disaster?” he asked.
“It can only do that if we’re not honest with each other,” she told him. “So far, you’ve been brutally honest with me. I promise I have no long-term expectations.”
To her surprise he looked more disappointed than reassured. “That doesn’t seem to be setting your mind at ease the way I thought it would,” she told him.
“Yeah, I know. I can’t explain it, either,” he said, looking charmingly bewildered.
Abby hid a smile. “Okay, let’s look at this. We have fun together, right?”
“Sure.”
“We tend to look at the world the same way.”
“Agreed.”
“There’s some kind of chemistry thing going on.”
“Hard to deny that,” he said. “Where are you going with this?”
“Just trying to say that from my perspective, it’s all good. I didn’t come to Seaview Key hoping to fall madly in love and settle down for the rest of my life. My marriage wasn’t great. We’ve established that. I’m no more eager to repeat the experience than you are to have your heart broken again. Seems to me that puts us in the same place emotionally, or close to it.”
Seth frowned. “You don’t see yourself getting married again?”
“If the right man comes along, sure,” she said, then amended, “Probably. I suppose it depends.”
“On what?” he inquired curiously.
“Whether making that commitment feels like the right thing for both of us. I’m not opposed to living with someone at this stage of my life. I don’t need a piece of paper to make it legal.”
Seth regarded her as if she’d suddenly grown two heads. “Women don’t think like that.”
Abby’s lips curved. “Really? It’s how I think.”
“But all women want happily ever after,” he insisted.
“All women want a man who loves and respects them and makes them deliriously happy,” she corrected.
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t require a marriage license.”
He continued to look skeptical.
“You still disagree,” she concluded.
“Sure. Despite some of the examples I’ve been around, I believe in marriage. I always wanted to share my life with someone, have a family.”
“But now you don’t,” she reminded him softly. “At least what you’ve been telling me is that the pain of losing Cara was so huge that you’d never risk loving anyone that deeply again.”
Seth sat back. “That is what I’ve been saying,” he agreed.
“And I’ve been taking you at your word.”
He frowned at that. “So, what? This stuff you’re saying is what you think I want to hear, not what you believe?”
“Oh, no. I believe it,” she said. “I’m not saying it just so I don’t scare you to death. I’m trying to get you to see that every relationship doesn’t have to lead to the altar to be strong or committed.”
“But if two people are committed to each other, with or without saying the vows, there’s just as much pain involved if it all falls apart.”
She held his gaze. “So light and casual is the only way to go for you?”
“I guess, yes,” he said, then shook his head. “No, that’s all wrong, too.”
Abby hid a smile. “You seem to be having a little trouble sorting out where you stand.”
“Tell me about it,” he
