And there, in the corner, was Lucy DeSanto, looking like a stylish little doll in a cobalt-blue dress with chiffon sleeves that puffed ever so slightly at the shoulder. She was gazing up at a man I assumed to be her husband, one of those dark-haired, dark-skinned guys I found handsome but only in a slick way.

I shrugged off my black wool coat and handed it to the coat-check person, then squared my shoulders and was about to make my way over to Lucy, when I felt a tap on my arm.

I turned to see Grady, handsome in a suit and pink tie. Most guys should stay far, far away from pink ties, but on Grady, with his tall body and his brown hair gleaming under the store’s lights, he looked nothing but good.

“Wow,” he said, sizing me up with his eyes.

After the talk with my mom, not to mention the talk with Alyssa, I’d broken out the big guns to make myself feel better-my Christian Louboutin black patent leather heels, so high they’d cause a lumbar laminectomy if you wore them too often, and my Dolce & Gabbana dress I’d bought for my bachelorette party. It was low cut and too tight and sexy as hell. The plan for the bachelorette outfit had been to get sauced up and then head over to Sam’s and sauce him up, but I wasn’t about to save the dress for something that might never happen.

“Thank you,” I told Grady earnestly.

We hugged, and it was one of those hugs that lasts a nanosecond longer than normal. No one else would have noticed. But I felt it. We both did.

I pulled back first and smoothed the front of my dress, although, truthfully, it was too taut to need smoothing. Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lucy see me and point me out to her husband.

“Okay,” I said to Grady in a businesslike voice. “You’re going to have to go with me on this, but I need you to pretend that you’re my husband, and my name is Isabel Bristol. Can you handle that?”

“Do I have to change my name?”

“You can be Grady Bristol.” I saw Lucy moving toward me now, her husband in tow. “Got it?”

“What is going on with you, Iz?” he asked, but with a mischievous tone.

Lucy was three feet from me now. “Can you just go with it?” I asked Grady. “You know, just…go with the flow?”

He held up his hands in an exaggerated shrug. “I’m all flow, baby.”

“Hello!” I heard Lucy trill.

I faced her and put on my best I’m-sorry-have-we-met? face.

“Lucy DeSanto,” she said, putting a hand briefly on her chest. “We met at the playground on Sunday? This is my husband, Michael.”

“Oh, of course! How great to see you.” I shook hands with Michael. Up close, he truly was handsome, one of those guys who makes the lines at the side of his eyes look sexy. But his attractive face didn’t hide the sense of something shady behind those eyes. “I’m Isabel Bristol and this is my husband, Grady.”

It suddenly dawned on me that I was wearing an engagement ring, but no wedding band. Would they notice? I kept my left arm firmly at my side.

Grady shook hands with them both and squeezed me affectionately around the shoulders like a good husband would.

“Thanks for coming,” Lucy said. “I’m on the board for this charity. Have you been to our event before?”

Mayburn had filled me in on the cause-juvenile diabetes-and about the party they threw each year at a penthouse apartment considered one of the most striking in the city. The ticket prices were probably the highest of the year-nine hundred dollars each. I was determined to get out of this presale party without having to buy one.

“I haven’t been lucky enough to attend before,” I said, “but of course I’ve heard all about it.”

“Well, thanks so much for coming, and for supporting the charity. It really means a lot to us. Our son has juvenile diabetes and it has been tough. Just so hard to see him suffer.” Lucy blinked, and I could see her recalling her son hurting.

“I had no idea.”

She shook her head sadly. “I don’t mean to bore you at a party, but really it’s nothing you’ll ever recover from, seeing your child in pain. We’re just doing everything we can to help ease the pain for other people.”

Her obvious ache tugged at my heart. “How wonderful that you do that.”

I glanced at her husband, who was staring at my breasts. I couldn’t blame him, since, really, the dress was designed to get that response, but C’mon, buddy, we’re talking about your sick kid, here. His eyes finally met mine and he gave me a sardonic grin with one side of his mouth. I could see why Mayburn hated the guy.

I felt so bad for Lucy-she was married to this dude and she had a child with a serious illness. “Of course, we’d like to buy a ticket.” I put my hand on Grady’s shoulder. In that moment, I remembered for a fleeting second what it was like to feel part of a couple, and I missed it.

“Thank you!” Lucy clasped her hands together. “You’re amazing.”

I gave her my credit card, and she handed it off to a woman circling the room. Mayburn better reimburse me.

“So, how often do you take your daughter to that playground?” Lucy asked, looking from me to Grady and back again.

I glanced at Grady, whose eyes had gone a little big. “Yeah,” he said, giving me a wide smile. “How often do you take our daughter there?”

“Oh, usually once or twice a week.” I slipped my arm around Grady’s waist and squeezed it hard. Go with the flow. “I really want her to get to know more kids. You know, because she’s an only child.”

Michael DeSanto appeared inordinately bored with all the kid talk. “Excuse me,” he said, kissing his wife absently on the top of her head, while he looked over at the door. He moved away toward two women entering the store.

Lucy seemed to flag a little, watching her retreating husband, but she turned back to me and smiled wistfully. “I love that playground. It makes me want to be a kid again.”

“I know. Hey,” I said, as if an idea had just come to me. “We should get the kids together for a playdate sometime. I know Kaitlyn was acting up a bit but, honestly, she’s not like that usually.” Please, God, don’t let her be like that usually.

Lucy brightened. “I’d love to!”

“I wish I could ask you to our house…” I squeezed Grady tighter, willing him to stand there and look pretty. “But we’re in the middle of a renovation. It’s complete chaos.”

“Oh, come to our place. We’re right off of Fullerton.” She named the address. “What days are good for you?”

“Wednesdays?”

“Would tomorrow be too soon?”

“No, that’s great, actually.”

Mayburn was going to love me. “One o’clock?” It wasn’t like I had to go to work.

“Great!” Lucy said, her eyes bright. Honestly, the girl was the cutest person I’d ever met.

She pulled out her cell phone. “What’s your number?”

“Uh…” I panicked. What would Mayburn tell me to do here? Give her a fake one? But then what if she called about our playdate? And wasn’t that playdate the main reason I was here? I thought about my voice mail message, which only mentioned my first name.

I noticed Grady and Lucy looking at me strangely. “Uh…” I said again, and finally gave it to her.

She dialed it, and my phone started to ring. “There,” she said with a pleased grin, clicking her phone off. “Now you’ve got mine, too.”

“Thanks,” Grady said to Lucy. “It’ll be nice for Izzy and our daughter to have some new friends.” His hand had moved up to my rib cage, and he held me with a startling familiarity.

The woman came back with my credit card and a slip for me to sign.

“I should make the rounds,” Lucy said. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Nice to meet you guys, and thanks so much.” She beamed a lovely smile at Grady.

“No problem!” He squeezed me tighter around the waist.

And then, as soon as Lucy was gone, “my husband,” seemingly without a moment’s hesitation, pulled me gently through the glass doors, and once outside, turned me to face him, slipped both hands around my back…and kissed me.