her side. He was still smiling, so the first introductions couldn't have been too bad.
"Hi, honey," he said and slipped his hand into hers again. This time the feeling of his fingers against hers didn't seem so strange. In fact, Laila was growing to enjoy this casual contact. It had been a long time since anyone other than a child had held her hand.
"Dinner!" Bubbe Esther was calling to everyone. "Let's eat!"
Hal's stomach rumbled and Laila squeezed his hand. "I hope you're hungry. It's apt to be quite a spread."
"Always." Hal's fingers squeezed hers back.
For a minute, his eyes locked on hers and all Laila could do was stare back at him. Funny, but she hadn't noticed that behind his glasses was a pair of vivid green eyes sparkling with good humor. Kind eyes. And, she thought with a bit of shock, sexy eyes.
"Wait, Laila." Esther waved the others into the dining room. "You two can't go to the dining room dressed like that. This place is classy."
The old lady grinned and indicated her sparkling, sequined dress. "See? They even got me all duded up. You'll have to change. Why don't you two head down to your room and put something else on? We can wait a few more minutes."
"If that's what you want us to do," Hal said graciously.
Esther reached up and pinched his cheek. "Such a nice boy. Already you know how to kiss up to Bubbe Esther. Smart!"
"All right," Laila agreed. "We'll check into our rooms--"
"Room," Bubbe Esther said.
"Bubbe?" Laila frowned.
"We just got you one, bubbeleh. This place is full for the whole week with everyone here, and we had to conserve space. So we figured, you're a grown woman now. With a fiancé." Esther sent another smile to Hal. "Your Zayde and I are modern thinkers. It's all right with us!"
But it wasn't all right with Laila. Holding hands and calling each other honey was one thing...but sharing a room? She could say nothing about it, though, because any protests would sound strange.
"Thanks, Bubbe," she said instead, and pressed a kiss to her grandmother's wrinkled cheek. "We'll go change."
"Those great grandkids of mine are running on candy and caffeine. Oy! Their poor parents. They're driving us all meshuggeneh!" Esther winked. "Don't get sidetracked."
With that last comment, she swept away toward the dining room.
Sidetracked? Laila wanted to crawl into the ground and die. Getting sex advice from her grandmother had to be the lowlight of her love life. She dared not look at Hal. With burning cheeks, Laila led the way to the main desk to check in.
To their room. Room!
Chapter 3
Dinner was chaos and cacophony. Laila's family was loud, affectionate and boisterous. The kids--five nephews and seven nieces--flung food when they thought they could get away with it and whapped each other with their napkins when they thought they couldn't. Her brothers and sister argued back and forth over childhood memories. Her mother refused to take sides. And over it all, Bubbe and Zayde reigned like royalty.
Hal loved every minute of it. As an only child of only children, he hadn't grown up with family all around. Even though he knew this was just a job, a sham, it was nice to pretend for a few hours that he belonged to this family. Besides, with all that was going on, nobody seemed to notice or care he was just as accident prone as the children.
"Get some sleep," Esther was saying to everyone. "Tomorrow, the real fun starts!"
Ruth carried her son Henry, whose eyes were bleary with sleep. "I hope you like being run ragged, David. My grandmother is notorious for planning fun-packed vacations."
"I'm sure it's going to be great." Hal ruffled Henry's hair. "Good night, Henry."
The little boy smiled sleepily and Ruth laughed. "See you in the morning."
Though he'd sat next to Laila during dinner, they hadn't had much time to talk. Now the lobby slowly quieted as people returned to their rooms or sought out further entertainment at the lodge's nightly show. Laila sank down into one of the overstuffed chairs by the fireplace, which now crackled with flames.
In the orange light, her dark hair gleamed with red and gold highlights. She stared pensively into the flames, her chin in her hand. Hal took a seat across from her.
"So," he said, then faltered. He knew he should start the conversation using one of the pre-approved LoveMatch topics, but nothing seemed appropriate when Laila looked so thoughtful. "Your family seems nice."
She glanced around the room, checking