“Ah, here we go,” he said with a slight smile, surprised again when she smiled back.

“I would like to state that at the time, I really did believe Elizabeth was good for you. I knew that she hurt you when she left. I knew that you cared about her. You never got together, seriously, with anyone else after she moved. So when Elizabeth told me she was moving back, I wanted to be sure. I wanted to make sure you had a chance to decide what you wanted.”

He shook his head, bemused. “Couldn’t you have just asked if I wanted to get back together with Elizabeth?”

Linda gave him a droll look. “Clarke, I’ve known you for your entire life. When have you ever given me a straight answer?”

“True,” he admitted with a boyish grin. “But then, when have I ever not done the exact opposite of what I thought you wanted me to do?”

“Very true,” she said primly. “I made an error in judgment when I finagled you into lunch with Elizabeth, though I certainly didn’t expect you countering quite so robustly.”

“What, you didn’t expect me to get engaged to my best friend?”

“I should have. It was what, the third time?”

He grinned, unabashed.

“I figured it would pass, the way it always does with you two. And then I realized I was wrong.”

He smiled again, though this time it was genuine, one that came from deep inside, rather than the usual knee-jerk desire to provoke or charm. “Yeah. You were wrong.”

“I’m glad.”

Again with the surprises.

Clarke opened his mouth to ask for clarification but paused as the server came to take their orders. Clarke got the burger and a cab franc, his mom roasted salmon to go with her chardonnay.

“You’re glad to be wrong?” he asked once the waitress had moved away. “Did I hear that right?”

“Well, I don’t care to dwell on the sentiment,” she said. “But as I said before, I want you to be happy. It was my initial goal in setting you up with Elizabeth, but I realized almost immediately that if you’d ever had feelings for her, they’d long since faded.”

“When?” he asked curiously. “When did you know?”

“That night when we had you and Audrey over for your ‘engagement dinner.’ ”

He snorted in disbelief. “Sure. If you knew that early, why’d you try to call our bluff with the engagement party?”

His mom merely smiled and sipped her wine.

Clarke’s eyes narrowed. Then he sat up straighter. “You weren’t trying to call our bluff?”

She met his eyes steadily, and Clarke’s heart pounded.

“And with the wedding planner? When you set up that appointment, it wasn’t to try to force our hand and get us to back out?”