"Maybe you could keep me company while I put this sauce together."
"I suppose I could." It had beena she couldn't remember how long it
had been since she'd just sat in the kitchen with another woman. The
simplicity of it nearly made her sigh. "There's a show that Aubrey likes
to watch that's just coming on. Is it all right if I settle her down
with it? I can do the rest of the vacuuming when it's over."
"Great." Anna slid her tomatoes into the pot to let them simmer and
soften.
"I've never made spaghetti sauce from scratch," Grace said when she came
back in. "I mean, all the way from fresh tomatoes."
"Takes more time, but it's worth it. Grace, I hope you don't mind, but I
heard what happened the other night at the bar where you work."
Surprise made Grace blink and forget to memorize the ingredients Anna
had set out. "Ethan told you?"
"No. You have to pull on Ethan's tongue to get him to tell anything."
Anna wiped her hands on the bib apron she'd put on. "I don't want to
pry, but I have some experience with sexual assault. I want you to know
you can talk to me if you need to."
"It wasn't as bad as it could have been. If Ethan hadn't been therea"
She trailed off, discovered that thinking about it still made her cold
inside. "Well, he was. I should have been more careful."
Anna had a quick flash of a dark road, the bite of gravel against her
back as she was shoved to the ground. "It's a mistake to blame
yourself."
"Oh, I don't--not that way. I didn't deserve what he tried to do. I
didn't encourage him. The fact is, I made it clear I wasn't interested
in him or his hotel bed. But I should have locked up after Steve left. I
wasn't thinking, and that was careless."
"I'm glad you weren't hurt."
"I could have been. I can't afford to be careless." She glanced to the
doorway where the bright music and Aubrey's brighter laughter came
through. "I've got too much at stake."
"Single parenting's hard. I see the problems that can come out of it all
the time. You're brilliant at it."
Now it wasn't surprise, but shock. No one had ever called her brilliant
at anything. "I justa do."
"Yes." Anna smiled. "My mother died when I was eleven, but before that
she was a single parent. When I look back and remember, I see that she
was brilliant at it too. She just did. I hope I'm half as good at 'just
doing' as both of you when I have a child."
"Are you and Cam planning on it?"
"I'm good at planning," Anna said with a laugh. "I want to give just
being married a little time, but yes, I want children." She looked out
the window to where the flowers she'd planted were blooming. "This is a
wonderful place to raise kids. You knew Ray and Stella Quinn?"
"Oh, yes. They were wonderful people. I still miss them."
"I wish I'd known them."
"They'd have liked you."
"Do you think?"
"They'd have liked you for yourself," Grace told her. "And they'd have