“DENTON WOULDN’T keep his mitts off me. I only gave him a small shove, but since he was already drunk, he lost his balance and ended up flattening my brother’s wedding cake. And that’s how I ended up ruining Jason’s reception last weekend,” Anastasia Knight told her friend, Claire Sullivan, as the two of them headed north on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive.
Anastasia was driving her vintage red Triumph convertible, her dark hair gathered in a ponytail to prevent it from whipping in the wind. The August day was warm but a cool breeze off the lake kept the temperature reasonable.
Claire had tugged a Chicago Cubs baseball cap low on her head to keep her hairdo in place. For someone in her seventies, Claire looked younger than her years, especially in the sapphire jogging suit she was wearing.
“Oh, dear.” Claire shot her a concerned look. “Was he very angry?”
“Who?” Anastasia asked as she adeptly scooted the car around slower traffic. She drove the way she lived—with confidence and a dash of excitement. “Denton? Or Jason?”
“Denton deserved what he got,” Claire stated. “I meant Jason.”
“He wasn’t real pleased, but Heather was a brick. She got everyone laughing and then distracted the crowd by gathering us together so she could throw her bouquet.”
“And how did that go?”
“Well, Heather’s maid of honor was her radioshow producer, Nita Weiskopf. She sure isn’t the shy sort. Nita was right in front—ready to do whatever it took to grab that bouquet. I was way in the back.”
“Being the shy sort yourself,” Claire noted with a teasing grin.
“Yeah, right.” Anastasia grinned back. “We both know I don’t have a shy bone in my body. I was in the back because I didn’t want to catch that bouquet and get stuck being the next bride.”
“You’ve got something against brides?”
“Not at all. As long as I’m not one of them. I like my freedom too much. Anyway, Heather threw the bouquet straight toward Nita. Then the strangest thing happened.” She paused for a moment. “Despite my best efforts to stay away from the blasted thing, it suddenly veered, and landed right on top of me. It was either catch the flowers or get hit in the head by them.”
“How lucky for you!”
“I wouldn’t call that lucky. Meeting you at the library, now that was lucky.” Anastasia had felt an immediate affinity with the older woman, and their friendship had continued to grow over the past year.
“It was a red-letter day for me, as well,” Claire fondly declared. “As is today. Think of it. Me, a businesswoman. I can still scarcely believe it.”
“You’ll be great.”
“I’ve wanted to open my own ice-cream parlor for years, but it was always just a dream, one I never thought I’d be able to see fulfilled.”
“It was a stroke of luck that the owners of the building where I live decided to sell now,” Anastasia said. “The store on the main floor has that wonderful marble counter, perfect for your ice-cream parlor. The place was just crying out to be renovated. I can’t believe that, after the Polish deli located there closed, the storefront stood empty for a year.” Pausing to give Claire a grin, she added, “You know you’ve got a good tenant in me. And when you rent out the third-floor apartment, you’ll have another regular income.”
“I know. I can’t wait to get started with the renovation on the storefront. I hope to open up for business in six weeks.”
Fifteen minutes later, Anastasia parked on the street in front of her building. She’d barely turned off the car engine when Claire hopped out and hurried to the front door.
“Goodness, I’m so nervous I can’t even undo the lock.” The older woman paused to squeeze Anastasia’s hand. “Thanks again for coming with me to the real-estate closing. It meant a lot to me that you were there to hold my hand.”
Anastasia hugged Claire. “That’s what friends are for.”
“I was hoping my grandson would be back from his conference in New York to come with me…but I guess he got tied up.”
Anastasia wanted to tie him up and talk some sense into the bum. There was no love lost between Anastasia and Claire’s grandson, David. Not that she’d ever actually met the guy, but that didn’t stop her from disliking him. He sounded like a workaholic who didn’t take the time to really appreciate his grandmother, who was a pretty incredible woman.
Claire’s sky-blue eyes were clear and bright, and her auburn hair showed no sign of white, thanks to her religious visits to Paula’s PowderPuff Beauty Salon, which she’d confessed she’d been going to since Eisenhower was president. And Claire had a big heart. She deserved better than a grandson who wasn’t there when she needed him.
“Forget about David. Here…” Anastasia unlocked the door, opening it with a flourish. “Welcome to…Have you decided what to name your ice-cream parlor yet?”
“Not yet.” Claire rushed inside. Standing in the middle of the snowflake-patterned terrazzo floor, she twirled and shouted, “Mine! All mine!”
Anastasia laughed at her friend’s exuberance. Like Claire, she could see the possibilities here even though the vacant storefront wasn’t looking its best at the moment. The previous owner of the building had passed away last year and his heirs had argued amongst themselves before finally deciding to sell the property.
They hadn’t bothered fixing up the storefront, but the two apartments above were in good shape. The three-story red-brick building, built in the 1920s, was located in the northern suburb of Evanston, a hop, skip and jump from Chicago’s city limits. Situated on a corner, it got enough passing traffic to bring in customers, without too much congestion to make it difficult to park. The storefront was also close enough to Northwestern University’s campus for students to frequent it as well.
All in all, it was the perfect place to make dreams come true. And Anastasia was determined to do whatever she could to make Claire’s dreams come true.
“What the hell is going on here?” The furious question came from a glowering but gorgeous guy standing inside the front door they’d both forgotten to lock. He looked mad enough to do serious damage to someone.
“Back off!” Anastasia’s voice was powerful and curt, just as her self-defense teacher had taught in his class. Ever the city dweller, she reached into her oversize purse for a can of pepper spray. Keeping her eyes fixed on the man’s face, she aimed it in his direction. Better to be safe than sorry. “Stay away!”
Far from being intimidated, the intruder had the gall to give her a mocking look. “Or what?” he drawled. “You’ll suffocate me with shaving cream?”
Looking down, she realized she’d grabbed the can of lady’s shaving cream she’d picked up at the drugstore earlier that day.
“David, what a surprise!” Claire exclaimed, coming closer to give him a big hug. “I thought you were still at that conference in Buffalo.”
“I just got in and heard your garbled message on my answering machine. It sounded as if you said something about buying an ice-cream parlor…”
“I left this address, but 1 didn’t think you’d drive all the way over here to see the place yourself. And as soon as you got home, too. What a dear boy you are.”
Boy? Anastasia thought in disbelief. There was nothing boyish about this man. He had Black Irish good looks, with dark hair and eyebrows. His wonderfully thick lashes framed incredibly blue eyes. Although it was only three in the afternoon, his angular jaw was shadowy with a hint of stubble. He looked tired and a little disreputable, as if he’d had a rough trip.
He was dressed in jeans that had seen their fair share of wear and a denim shirt that molded his broad shoulders. The rolled-up sleeves displayed his tanned arms. He was well-built, more on the lean-and-mean side than the pump-iron muscular side. She guessed him to be about six-two.
“What’s going on here?” David demanded again.
“This—” Claire gave a sweeping motion around the dusty storefront “—is my future.”
“No, it’s not,” David immediately corrected her. “Your nest egg in the bank is your future.”
“Not any longer. I traded it in on this.”
David paled beneath his tan. “You did what?”
“You don’t have to shout, dear.” She shot him a mildly reprimanding look. “I may be in my seventies, but I’m not deaf yet.”
“I can’t believe you’d do something like this without consulting me first,” he said disapprovingly.
“You’ve been so busy lately, I haven’t wanted to bother you.”
Was that a flash of discomfiture Anastasia saw on his face or was it just a trick of the lighting? She couldn’t be sure because now his expression was one of total anger. “You shouldn’t have done this. Tell me, what exactly have you done?”
“Bought this building.” Claire patted a wall fondly.
David looked as if his grandmother had hit him with a two-by-four. “Bought it,” he carefully repeated. “As in paid money for it?”
“That’s right. And got a mortgage on it,” Claire added.
“What on earth possessed you to do that?”
“I’m going to open an ice-cream parlor. I told you on your answering machine.”
“An ice-cream parlor. Did some fast-talking franchiser get hold of you and con you out of your money?”
“Of course not. My ice-cream parlor will be a throwback to earlier times, when the ice cream was homemade,” she said proudly.
“Don’t you think it’s a little late in life to be starting a project like this?” he said. “Running a business these days is more trouble than it’s worth. You should be spending your retirement years enjoying yourself, not tied down to working here all hours.” David spoke to his grandmother as if he was admonishing a stubborn child, infuriating Anastasia on Claire’s behalf.
The big galoot had his nerve! Anastasia was too angry to speak. Luckily Claire was calm and eager to convince David of the wisdom of her action. Personally, Anastasia thought it was a waste of time. The guy clearly had a closed mind. Closed, hah! It was locked up tighter than Fort Knox.
“The two apartments upstairs are in good shape,” Claire was telling him, “but the storefront does need a little work.”
“A little work?” David repeated, looking around in disbelief. “It needs a miracle!”
“I thought that maybe you could help us fix it up.” Claire gazed at him expectantly. “You’re starting your leave of absence now, right?”
“Right, but…”
“I plan on having my grand opening, in six weeks, on October first,” Claire said with excitement.
David’s voice dripped with gloom. “Even I know that’s long past the high-demand period for ice cream.”
“Ice cream is always in demand,” Anastasia said finally. “Besides, properties like this in such a good location are rare and Claire couldn’t just wait around until next summer.”
David focused his angry gaze on Anastasia. “And you are…?”
“Oh, please excuse my poor manners,” Claire exclaimed, pressing her hands to her flushed cheeks before fluttering them in his direction. “David, this is Anastasia Knight, a friend of mine. You remember, I told you about her.”
“No, you didn’t. Just like you didn’t tell me about this place.”
“I most certainly did tell you about Anastasia. I don’t have all that many friends.”
“The only friend you told me about is that mousy children’s librarian.”
Claire frowned. “Mousy?”
David shrugged. “I forget exactly how you described her, but all librarians are the same. I think it’s great that you found some old woman to hang out with.” He paused, belatedly aware of the hostility in the room. Maybe he wasn’t the most silver-tongued guy on the block, but then tact wasn’t exactly his strong suit. And he’d had a hell of a trip from Buffalo. He attempted to regain lost ground. “I meant it’s great you found an older woman to, uh, befriend you.”
His normally sweet-tempered grandmother was shaking her head in irritated disapproval. What, now his grandmother was going to object to him calling her old? Then what was the politically correct term? “A preretirement woman to be your buddy?” he tried hopefully.
The two glares he received in return let him know he wasn’t even in the ballpark. And the impatient tapping of Anastasia’s orange gym shoes gave him the impression that she was particularly offended by his comments.
“I never said my friend was old, older or preretirement age,” Claire firmly stated. “Nor did the adjective mousy ever come into the conversation.”
David was getting a bad feeling about this.
“Let me guess,” he said.
“I’m the mousy old librarian,” Anastasia confirmed for him.