Paige rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, your lashes are safe. You're right, I've come too close to dying once already this year. So, I guess I'll just have to make do with my own pale, thin lashes."
He looked closely at her eyes. "Your lashes look nice."
"That's because they're fake, or most of them anyway. Mine are so thin and pale that I look sick if I don't add lash extensions." It was thefirst thing she did after leaving the rehabilitation center last week. She needed the confidence boost.
He leaned a little closer and studied her face, his gaze bouncing from one eye to the other. He was so close, she spotted little specks of gold in his brown irises. The hint of mint gum on his breath caused a shiver of awareness to shoot through her.
"They look so natural, I can hardly tell.” The low timber of his voice caused goosebumps to break out on her arms. “Your eyes are such a striking blue. Like your father's."
Warmth crept over her cheeks under his intense scrutiny. "Thank you. My mom's eyes are blue too. And so are my brother's."
"A strong family trait, huh?" He grinned as he straightened. "At least it's a good one. I got my grandpa's big ears that poke out." He pulled both ears out from his head and made a funny face, making his eyes bulge.
Everyone burst out laughing.
"Your ears do not poke out," Paige said when he stopped being silly.
"They used to. When I was a kid, I wore a baseball hat all the time and I tucked my ears into it to hide them."
"No, you didn't." She'd learned Gabe liked to joke.
"I did. I swear." He pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped a few times before turning his phone for her to see. "My sister sent me this gem last month. I was about six years old."
A photograph of a young boy with long eyelashes and missing two front teeth filled the screen. He wore a baseball cap tugged low on his head; ears tucked under the rim.
She chuckled. "They don't stick out now.” She studied his ears skeptically. “Did tucking them in the hat help with that?”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Gladys said as she got off her table. "I bet he had plastic surgery."
"I would never." Gabe let out a bark of laughter. He turned back to Paige and grinned. "Fortunately, I grew into my ears. Now, I just have a big head."
"I'll say." Luke threw a small towel at Gabe, hitting him square in the face.
Laughter filled the room again.
Fifteen minutes later, Paige was reluctant to leave after scheduling next week's appointments. She'd laughed more over the past three hours than she had for months. Lingering would be awkward though, so she headed for the door.
It opened before she grabbed the handle. A teenage boy, who looked like he could be Brent Butler’s younger brother, walked in carrying a sub sandwich. The red and white checkered paper around the sandwich was a dead giveaway that he'd just come from Charity's Diner—the diner—originally owned by Paige's Aunt Charity but recently been purchased by Paige’s sister-in-law Amy.
He held the door open for Paige.
She thanked him and was almost through the door when Gabe's boisterous voice filled the room. "Where'smysandwich, Travis? I'dkillfor a good turkey bacon club.”
Paige whirled around and glared at Gabe.
He'd teased her about using that figure of speech, yet here he was saying it to Travis. He made eye contact with her and gave her a devilish grin that made her heart skip a beat. The handsome therapist was still smiling when the door closed.
CHAPTER 6
Gabe stored the gardening tools in the shed and latched the door. He wiped the perspiration from his forehead as he and surveyed the yard.
Mom and Grace helped him clean out the garden plot and plant tomatoes, jalapeños, peppers, and onions. Then Mom disappeared inside, saying she needed to do laundry.
Grace stuck around to help him clean out the flower beds and plant the new annual flowers mom bought every spring, until she received a phone call a few minutes ago.
There was a certain satisfaction to seeing all they’d accomplished, but his concern for his mother had intensified over the course of the afternoon. She’d rested twice in the shade of the birch tree on a lawn chair, but by the time she went inside, she looked exhausted.
When he walked into the house he was not surprised to see his mom napping on the couch, yet the sight alarmed him, tightening his chest. He washed up then sat on the loveseat beside Grace, who had a book in her hand.
