“Wait till you taste it.” Dotty beamed.
Once we all had a generous slice and had quieted down enough to devour it, Loretta said, “So, Magnolia, I’ve seen a manly pickup truck parked outside your apartment a few times lately.”
I forked a big bite of culinary perfection in my mouth, considering how to answer that.
“A manly truck like maybe a farm truck?” Rosy asked.
Loretta nodded and winked. “Definitely something a farmer would drive.”
“Maybe it’s a Lily Pad customer?” I offered dryly. Luke was the opposite of Dotty’s paper-store customers.
The round of laughter confirmed they all knew I was joking…and guilty.
“I don’t mean to pry,” Loretta continued, “but if you have anything you’d like to share with us, your secrets are safe.”
I swallowed my food. “It’s not exactly a secret, just not something we’re not broadcasting.”
“You and Luke Durham?” Kona asked. “I thought you were arch enemies.”
“We were.” I launched into the short version of our history and my mother’s visit and Felix’s part in the whole thing. None of it needed to remain a secret anymore. My conscience was clear. “The only reason I’ll ask you to keep it quiet for now is out of respect for Luke and his daughter. I don’t know how he plans to approach that yet.”
“We’ll keep it to ourselves,” Loretta said, and though she had a rep for being the queen of the town gossip club, I trusted her to keep her word in this case. She wasn’t a mean-spirited gossip, just…involved. She knew everyone, worried about everyone, kept track of everything.
“So is this serious, Magnolia?” Kona asked.
I let out a nervous laugh. “It’s new. It’s scary because we have a history. It didn’t work out before, so I’d probably be crazy to think it could this time.”
“You never know till you try,” Darlene said. “He’s a looker. Definitely worth trying, I’d say.”
“I wish you the best, darling girl,” Rosy said, and the others voiced their agreement.
“Karma can be good too,” Nancy pointed out. “Maybe it’s coming around in your favor after dealing with that small, insecure man for most of your life.”
I liked that thought but knew there was more to Luke and me working out than karma. A lot more.
Chapter Twenty-One
Luke
The Saturday before Thanksgiving, Addie and I had another daddy-daughter date night planned. Our activity this time would be making friendship bracelets.
I’d been on time tonight, in no small part due to the weather. A cold, heavy rain had been falling for the past three hours, making work miserable. The crew had finished stringing thousands of lights along the gravel road, around the parking lot, on the nearby outbuildings, and around the sections of trees that would be for sale this season. There were so many lights out there you could probably see our place from space.
These last few days before Thanksgiving would be busy as hell, but if the weather cleared up enough, we’d get it all done.
When I came inside, I found my dad sitting at the table, reading a magazine. A red meat sauce simmered on the stove, and a bowl of steaming spaghetti sat next to it on the counter.
“Hey, Dad, you okay?” I asked as I wiped the water off my face.
“Just resting,” he grumbled. “Was on my feet too much today, I reckon.”
Cooking didn’t help, I knew. I felt bad that my dad got stuck with most of the cooking, even though he’d volunteered to take it on once his doctor ruled out heavy farm work. Between meal preparation and Addie, he had a lot to handle on top of chronic pain.
He shoved his chair back as if to get up and finish putting dinner on the table.
“I’ve got this, Dad. You rest.”
He muttered as he stood anyway, took stuttering steps to the counter as he regained his balance, and turned the burner under the sauce off. No one ever said he wasn’t stubborn.
