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“We think of marriage a lot, Ef. It’s just Harris is building his career and—”

“Blah blah blah.”

Oh, my, she was saucy today.

Effie swept a hand through the air. “In my day, a man knew what he wanted. Anyone who wishy-washes around for six years without asking a girl to marry him ... well. It’s just not right. Why should he buy the cow if he gets all the sex he wants?”

There she went, mixing metaphors as she was prone to do, but worse, she’d just said the wordsex.This conversation was completely out of control. “How did my mom know she wanted to marry my dad?” There. A change of subject, one she was dying to know more about, but she had to be careful. Effie sometimes got sad talking about her mom. Maybe today wasn’t the day to bring it up after all.

“Oh, Daniel was a charmer. A lot like Lukas, actually. He was irresistible. We all fell in love with him. Your mother was a free spirit. Just like you.”

“I left my free-spirit days behind me a long time ago.”

“Samantha, my goodness, you’re too young to talk like that. Those high school bullies were cruel, but even they didn’t break your spirit. It seems that ever since Kevin died, you seem to want to ... I don’t know, please everyone. You stopped taking risks, and love is a risk. Just remember you’ve got to please yourself. It’s your life and you’ve only got one.”

Sam set down her brush on her palette. Wow, and she thoughtshe’dhad an agenda. She hadn’t expected to get mowed over by her little white-haired grandmother. “I’m not a people pleaser,” she said defensively.

“Dating Harris pleases everyone but me. You took on the Historical Restoration to please Harris’s mother. And you banned sugar from your diet like Harris because he pressured you to lose weight, although God knows why, you have a beautiful shape.”

“Dating Harris pleases me. Maybe volunteering for the theater was partially because of Camilla Buckhorn but I fell in love with this place. You know I’m passionate about it. And being sugar conscious is healthy. Harris loves me the way I am.” Minus five or ten pounds, that is.

Effie dismissed all of Sam’s arguments with a flick of her wrist. “Your mother was lucky. She met her true love early in life. Her life was too short but she was very, very happy. It’s the one thing I take comfort in. That’s all a parent or grandparent wants. For their children and grandchildren to have a happy life.”

“I plan to have a happy life, too. No need to worry.”

Effie surprised her by standing up and walking over to her. “Are you really happy, dear?”

Oh, no. She’d wanted to have girl talk with Effie but not this. Not now, when her life seemed so upended.

Effie rested her veined hand on top of Sam’s wrist. That hand had done a lot of comforting. A lot of soothing and tear wiping. Suddenly, Sam felt herself getting weepy. “Oh, Gran, of course I am.” But her voice sounded weak. Cowardly almost.

“I may not seem like I’ve experienced much, being widowed at thirty and having those heart valve problems for all those years until I finally got my surgery. But I know when a person is happy. Maybe you’re confusing what youthinkyou want with what youreallywant.”

“Lots of girls go through a bad-boy phase, and Lukas was mine. He’ll never settle down, Effie. It’s not in him. Harris is everything I’ve always wanted—stability, a real family, roots. He’s ambitious and our kids will have every opportunity. His family sailed on the Mayflower, for God’s sakes.”

“Remember, sometimes mutts make better pets than pedigrees.”

“Effie!”

“Harris may look the best on paper, dear, but is he the man of your heart? Just like our family may not look very traditional on paper, but we’ve love you with everything we have. Even Brad—”

“I know, Effie. I love our family. It’s just even if Lukas were capable of sticking around, I don’t want to live a celebrity life. I’m a simple person. I love teaching and I want a family.”

“Lukas and you are adults now. Maybe it’s time to stop seeing each other in black-and-white terms. Let the past go, and start getting to know each other in the present.”

Voices from the grand lobby below interrupted them, thank God. Effie, the world’s worst portrait sitter, turned and looked. Of course. “Oh, it’s Jess,” Effie said. “Is that big hunka-hunka her new boyfriend?”

Sam stood and looked over Effie’s shoulder. A very large man in a tank top and shorts, whose biceps looked inflated even from this distance, trailed behind Jess, carrying several large boxes. “Oh, my. That must be Hugo, her new boyfriend. She said he was going to help her carry stuff for the benefit.” Sam waved out the carved opening that overlooked the lobby like a Juliet window. “Up here, Jess!” she yelled.

It was good to see one of her boyfriends helping out. Maybe Jess had finally done what Sam had recommended, found a guy who was kind and hardworking and not into himself. Ever since her broken engagement to a college football player named Trevor five years ago, Jess had dated a slew of good-looking idiots. But maybe Hugo was different.

Jess breezed by with her own load and beckoned for Hugo to go ahead into the office wing. “Everybody, this is Hugo. Sorry we’re late. We had to stop and eat a snack and grab a protein shake.”

“A snack?” Sam asked. What was a snack for him? A small calf?

“Tuna and almond butter,” Jess said, beaming at Hugo. “It was very ... proteinalicious.”

Oh, man, Jess starting to take on the habits of her boyfriends was always a sign of trouble. Especially since Jess was a carb woman through and through.