“Elizabeth?”

“Hmm?” Elizabeth looked up from where she sat on the suede sofa, her feet drawn up under her. She cradled a cup of mint tea in her hands.

“I know Sarah thinks Daniel is wonderful, but be careful anyway. I don’t want to see you get hurt like you did with Brian.” Victoria fell silent, allowing Elizabeth to absorb her warning.

Sitting in a matching suede armchair across from them, Trudy nodded and reached for the serving tray placed on the coffee table. “I agree with my sister.” She used a tiny pair of tongs to pick up a perfect cube of sugar from its dish and dropped it into her empty teacup. “We love you, so just be careful.”

“Men can’t be trusted,” Victoria continued, shifting her position on a chair across from her sister. “Brian left you, and Howie dumped me last week.”

“Oh, no.” Her cup half way to her lips, Elizabeth looked at her friend in alarm. “Are you okay?”

“I’m bouncing back,” Victoria adjusted the hem of her nightgown so that it covered her knees, “but what makes me mad is that Howie said my money intimidated him. Now he’s seeing some woman who cleans rooms at The Waldorf Astoria.” She chuckled wryly. “Oh, well, if he marries her, she’ll make a better housekeeper than I ever would.”

The women's laughter filled the house.

“Don’t worry about me, Victoria. I’m not getting involved with Daniel, regardless of what Grams may think or want.” Elizabeth took a sip of tea. “As for you, I’m sure you have several guys already begging you to go out with them.”

“Are you kidding?” Trudy glanced at them briefly before giving her full attention to the tea she poured into her cup. “My sister is the only woman I know who can snap her fingers in a crowded room and men will kill one another to see who reaches her first.”

“Trudy!” her sister glared at her.

“Well,” Trudy giggled and settled back in her chair, “it's not far from the truth.”

“What ever happened between you and Brian?”

Victoria's question caught Elizabeth off guard.

“I'd rather not get into it,” she answered, offering a weak smile. The shattered remains of a vase, some pills on the coffee table, and worshiping the porcelain god flashed through her mind. “It's in the past and it doesn't really matter now anyway.”

A you’re-not-fooling-me look settled upon Victoria's pretty face. “After all this time, you still can't talk about it?” She shook her head. “Elizabeth, did Brian physically hurt you? Did he do something that you should have reported?”

Trudy stared at Elizabeth over the rim of her cup, her large blue eyes wide with worry.

Elizabeth smiled reassuringly. “Brian hurt me, but I'm just as much at fault for what happened between us as he is.” She sighed, attempting to reign in her fear and squelch the onslaught of tears threatening to start. “I just don't want to talk about him, okay?”

Several seconds passed, but finally, Victoria nodded.

“I was serious when I said that Daniel looks a lot like Brian,” Trudy said.

“She's right,” her sister added.

“I know he does, and I realize now that is why I was interested in Brian, but their personalities aren't even remotely close.” Looking at her friends, Elizabeth wished she could share the truth with them, but if she did, they would think less of her, and she couldn't handle that. “What Daniel and I had is in the past, but Grams thinks we're destined to be together. I don't want, nor do I need, a man in my life.”

“Amen to that,” Victoria said loudly.

“Ready for some more bagels?” Sarah called from the kitchen.

“No thanks,” they called simultaneously and grinned at one another.

Sarah appeared in the doorway. She wiped her hands on her apron, an amused expression upon her cherubic face. “Is Alex still asleep?”

“Yeah,” Elizabeth popped her last bite of bagel into her mouth, “all the excitement yesterday wore him out.” Her grandmother stood quietly watching them. Elizabeth sensed something was on her mind. “Okay, Grams, out with it.”

“Out with what?”

“Don't play cute with me. You always get quiet like this just before you dump a load of news on me.”

“Now, Elizabeth—”

“Grams...”

“Should we leave?” Trudy asked.

“No, dear,” Sarah ambled across the living room and paused at the coffee table to pour herself a cup of tea, “you're family too.”

“Well?” Elizabeth shot her grandmother a pointed look.

“I have decided,” Sarah turned and settled into an upholstered chair on the far end of the sofa, “to enlist George’s aid with the design and construction of a bookstore-café, which will be part of Our Daily Bread.”

“Oh, hell,” Trudy whispered. “Let me out of this room before there are casualties.” She set her teacup on the coffee table and stood up.

Elizabeth motioned at Trudy to sit down. “Grams, you never mentioned anything to me about starting construction on the bookstore so soon. We only talked about what a great idea it is and argued it's too soon for it.” She stared hard at her grandmother, who sat stirring her tea without looking at anyone.

            “If you have too much time to think about it, you start backpedaling.” Sarah sipped her tea; the steam curled around her face. “You’re a bargain hunter, Elizabeth, and you have plenty of business savvy, but you won’t take chances when the odds are in your favor.”

            “I hate it when you drop things on me unexpectedly. And I'm sick of you saying that I don't know when to take chances.” Elizabeth scooted to the edge of the couch and set her cup on the tea tray with too much force. “You'll gripe about me keeping things from you, but what do you call this?”

            “Janay will be over any minute.” Sarah eyed the cup that Elizabeth had just slammed down on the tray. “I invited her to have tea with us.”

            “Grams, don't change the subject.”

            “I'm not,” she said, shooting her granddaughter a dark look. “I want to ask Janay if she would be interested in managing the bookstore.”

“You’re jumping into this whole thing too fast.”

“It is a cool idea, Elizabeth,” Trudy cut in. “We used to have coffee in a couple café bookstores, remember? They draw a nice crowd of people, plus the quiet, contemplative atmosphere is appealing to those who like a nice get-a-way place.”

Brows raised, Elizabeth looked at her friend. “I know that, but those places are booming businesses.”

“I agree with Elizabeth,” said Victoria. “Sarah, it's risky to start such a venture when your restaurant could go under within two or three months. You should focus on drawing more business first.”

“See?” said Elizabeth.

“It's two against two, so it's a tie,” Sarah retorted in a half amused tone.

“We're not opening a bookstore,” Elizabeth said hotly.

“Elizabeth Louise, I own half of our business. However, it was my stock investment that paved the way for it and that same investment has provided us with our comfortable lifestyle.” Sarah leaned forward and picked up a bagel. Calmly, she dipped a spoon into a jar of marmalade and spread it over her breakfast, her voice just as steady as her movements. “So, my dear granddaughter, since you fought and lost the battle of what to do with my Christmas bonus that I invested, what makes you think that you'll win this battle?”

“Fine,” Elizabeth said icily. She barely glanced at Trudy and Victoria, who moved to the safety of the kitchen. “But when the bottom falls out of everything, you're the one who will be fully responsible. I will not accept the blame for your carelessness.”

“That's fair,” Sarah said. “While we're discussing it, Trudy and Victoria said that they would like to take Alex to the mall for the afternoon. Since they’ll be gone, and I’ll be at the restaurant, Daniel agreed to take you over to St. Clairsville to price building materials. I already looked at the building next door and talked to the owner, who offered a reasonable price.”

“What the hell do you need me for in all this?” Elizabeth yelled. “You’ve already taken care of everything.” She placed her hands over her face and flopped back against the couch cushions. She muttered, “I love you, but you can be such a bitch.”

“Lower your voice,” her grandmother snapped. “Besides, every woman is allowed to be a bitch at one time or another and I choose to be one now.”

Elizabeth gaped at her, and Sarah smiled back.

“If there's blood shed in there, I'm not cleaning up the mess,” Victoria called from the kitchen.

Elizabeth glared at her grandmother. “I’ll cuss if I want to because you're being unfair and inconsiderate.”

“Maybe, but at least I'm not afraid to try something new.”

“Excuse me,” Elizabeth stood and retied her robe, “I'm going to go get dressed before I say something else I might regret—or throw something at you.”