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unvarnished truth. “Do you really think so, Gram?” she asked, unable to keep the plaintive note from her voice.
    Gram gave her a chiding look. “Come now, girl. You know the answer to that as well as I do. I’ve seen a lot of men fall in love through the years. Mack looks as smitten as any of them. He’s looked that way for a long time now,” she added pointedly.
    “I want to believe that,” Susie admitted.
    “Then believe it,” Gram said briskly. “I’m glad you finally brought him around to join us for dinner. I was beginning to think you were going to let him get away. That would have been a real pity.”
    “Mack’s not really mine to lose.”
    “Nonsense!” Gram responded with asperity.
    “No, it’s true. We’ve been friends a long time,” Susie said, a wistful note in her voice. “That’s as far as it’s gone.”
    “But you want more,” Gram surmised. “You’re certain of it?”
    Susie nodded. “I really do.”
    “What’s stopping you from reaching for it?”
    “Habit,” Susie said at once. “And fear. I’m afraid if we try and don’t make it, I’ll lose my best friend.”
    “If Mack’s friendship is that important to you, you’ll find a way to make it work, even if having a more intimate relationship fails,” Gram said confidently. “One thing I know for sure—if you truly love this man and don’t try to have the relationship you really want with him, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. When you’re as old as I am, the one thing you know is that it’s too late to make up for the things you didn’t do.”
    Susie hugged her grandmother, felt her frailty that was belied by her strong spirit. “You’re very wise.”
    “I should hope so,” Gram said. “After eighty-some years, I hope I’ve learned a thing or two.”
    Susie grinned. “Eighty-some? You’re finally admitting to being eighty?”
    “At some point it was going to be obvious to anyone looking at this wrinkled old face that I couldn’t pass for sixty or even seventy anymore. Why not own up to the truth?”
    “You’re going to be young when you’re a hundred and two,” Susie predicted.
    “If I live that long, I hope it’s with my wits about me and the ability to work in my garden. Otherwise, what’s the point?” Nell’s expression turned wistful. “And I’d like to see Ireland one more time. If that doesn’t happen soon, I fear it will be too late.”
    Something in her tone worried Susie. It was the first time she could recall hearing her grandmother come close to admitting that she didn’t have a whole lifetime left to her.
    “We’ll make it happen,” Susie assured her, determined to find a way. If the others knew this was Gram’s dream, they’d want to make it come true before it was too late. “I’ll see to it.”
    “Don’t you worry about an old woman’s daydreams,” Gram chided. “Concentrate on making your own come true.” She took the glass and towel from Susie’s hands. “Now go out there and get into that football game. You could always run as fast as most of the men in this family.” She gave Susie’s hand a squeeze. “Just be sure you don’t run so fast that the right man can’t catch you.”

    Susie had always been a bit of a tomboy, but Mack hadn’t expected her to throw herself into the family’s touch football game with such enthusiasm. In fact, he’d been counting on her staying inside with all the other women, while the men blew off steam. He’d needed some distance. Being caught up in an O’Brien celebration had been a little bit like a fantasy for him. It made him yearn for things that right at this moment seemed out of reach.
    Okay, it was more than that. His wish for her to remain safely inside might hint at a disgustingly sexist attitude, but it was also a matter of self-preservation. Being around her today had stirred up some totally unexpected responses. It was as if all that talk about sex the other night had taken root in his brain—or