That thought made Stephanie’s stomach hurt. Would he want Abby back now that she was single again? No. Of course not. He loves you, you ninny. He’s engaged to you. But what if— Stop it. Just stop.

“Hey, hon.” Her stepfather’s voice jarred her out of the disturbing thoughts. “Got a table for your dear old dad?”

“I thought you guys were cheating on me by going to Domenic’s tonight.”

Charlie chuckled. “Sarah had to work late, so we missed our reservation.”

“I feel so bad about that,” Sarah said as she joined them.

“I told you I don’t care where we go, as long as we go together.” Charlie raised his arm to put it around Sarah, and she flinched away from him.

When she realized what she’d done, she seemed horrified. “Sorry,” she muttered, her face flushing with embarrassment.

“Let’s try this again,” Charlie said, slowly raising his arm and looping it around her shoulders. “Better?”

Sarah nodded, and Stephanie led them to their table. She loved them together, two wounded souls finding comfort in each other. Speaking of wounded souls… She seated Charlie and Sarah and went over to the bar to try—again—to talk to Grant.

She slid onto the barstool next to him. “Do I need to be concerned about my chef?”

“What?”

She nodded to his plate, which was mostly untouched.

“Oh no. It’s amazing, as always. I’m just not very hungry.”

“We missed you at your mom’s for dinner.”

“Oh shit. I totally forgot about Adam’s welcome-home thing.”

“Everyone was worried when we couldn’t reach you.”

“Sorry. I was… I forgot.”

Stephanie didn’t mention how wildly out of character it was for Grant to miss an opportunity to spend time with his family, especially when most of them were there. She didn’t think he’d want to hear that right now. “You ready to go home?”

“Are you?”

“I could be.”

“Sure. Whenever you’re ready.”

He looked so tired that her heart ached for him. Whatever was keeping him awake at night was doing a number on him. She’d give anything to share his burden, but he wasn’t sharing, and she’d stopped asking to keep the peace. “Give me five minutes.”

Stephanie went to talk to her manager and hostess, putting them in charge for the rest of the evening with orders to call her if anything came up that they couldn’t handle. While she normally wouldn’t leave so early, she needed to spend some time with Grant.

She collected him from the bar, where he’d left a generous tip for Cissy.

“Have a good night, you guys,” Cissy said.

“You, too.”

As Stephanie drove them home, he didn’t say anything, and she left him alone, even though she churned with questions and worries she didn’t dare share with him.