The Man Ban - Nicola Marsh Page 0,70

marriage had floundered and asked for another chance to make it better.” She rested her head against his shoulder, utterly besotted. “He showed insight I wasn’t sure he was capable of and made me realize what we had was worth fighting for after thirty-five years. So we both want to do better.”

Lydia straightened and pointed to her face. “I’m going to stop putting on a front all the time, trying to live up to an idea of perfection that’s in my own head.”

“And I’m going to semi-retire,” Alec said. “Cut back to twenty hours a week so I can devote the rest of the time to working on our marriage and putting your mother first so she never feels second-best again.”

“Wow.” Harper pressed her hands to her chest, where love for these two amazing people swelled. “I’m incredibly happy for you both.”

“Thanks, love, we’re happy too.” Alec slipped an arm around Lydia’s shoulders. “And if you don’t mind, we have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Are you kicking me out? What about lunch?”

“We’ll take you out for a Happy Meal sometime next week,” Alec deadpanned, and they all laughed, remembering it was their go-to bribe when she was little.

“I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone.” Harper stood and moved around the table to kiss her mom and dad. “I love you both so much.”

“Right back at you, kid,” her dad said, while her mom squeezed her hand.

As she left the house and headed for her car, Harper realized she hadn’t told them about Manny. She’d planned on filling in her mom on her new relationship status and telling her dad at a later date.

But it didn’t matter; she’d tell them another time. Seeing her parents reunited reinforced her belief in love again.

And maybe, just maybe, she could have a happily ever after of her own.

50

Manny had slept poorly last night. He’d been physically and mentally exhausted when he’d gotten home from Izzy’s and had barely mustered the energy to text Harper before falling into bed. But it took a long time for slumber to come, considering Izzy’s diagnosis and her fatalistic approach reverberated around his head.

He’d tried to take the emotion out of it and analyze it from a purely medical perspective. It didn’t help, because if Izzy were any other patient and not his grandmother, the prognosis would still be the same.

Not good.

Her age, combined with the length of time the endocarditis had gone undiagnosed, meant the risk of complications was high. Even if she survived the surgery, she could be in danger.

His grandmother could die, and there wasn’t one damn thing he could do about it.

He’d only felt this helpless once before, when his mom had died in his arms. Back then, he’d been consumed by guilt and uselessness.

This time would be different.

He could give his grandmother the one thing she wanted so badly.

He had it all planned out.

He just hoped Harper didn’t think he’d lost his mind.

Knocking on her front door, he knew what he was about to do was madness. He rarely made impulsive decisions. His analytical brain wasn’t wired that way. But the way he saw it, this wasn’t so impulsive. He felt more for Harper in the short time he’d known her than any other woman. She made him laugh, she challenged him, and she made him feel at peace, something he could do with a lot more of.

Do you love her?

He’d pondered that at length last night too. A difficult question to answer for someone who’d never fallen in love. But if love made him do crazy things, like volunteer to be her foodie assistant, extend his leave to be with her, and almost ravish her in a public place beside a lake, yeah, he loved her.

Now he had to prove it.

She opened the door, smiling, and just like that he knew everything would be okay. “Hey, handsome.”

“Hey yourself.”

She stepped forward and into his arms, like it was the only place she wanted to be. Overcome with emotion, he crushed her to him, craving her warmth, wanting her with a ferocity that shook him to his core.

But this couldn’t be about sex. Not now. Time enough to celebrate later.

When he released her, she stepped back and studied him, a tiny frown between her brows. “You okay?”

He had to be, otherwise she’d know there was something wrong, and he didn’t want to tell her everything until he had her answer.

“Yeah, still tired from that massive shift yesterday.”

“My man, the hero.” She brushed her lips