She slid into the booth. “Well?”
He passed the shrimp scampi over to her. “If we can fool this crew, we can do the same with my family. And I’ve got a confession. I bragged that I would get afakegirlfriend so that Aunt Bernie wouldn’t set me up with a blind date every weekend. I even told Tripp that I would leave every few weeks and spend a weekend somewhere to keep the ruse going.”
“Why?” Lottie asked.
“If you could have seen some of the dates that Aunt Bernie sent Brodie and Tripp on, you would understand.” He chuckled.
“Tell me about them,” she said.
“One of the best stories is when she set Brodie up with this woman to have dessert and coffee at my sister Tertia’s café. Brodie had been at war with his neighbor, Audrey, over his farm. She wanted to buy it because her family had owned it at one time. He wasn’t selling for any amount of money. Anyway, to try to make a long story short, we had a tornado that wiped out our house. And the same storm landed a potbellied pig on the place. That critter got loose and tore up Audrey’s aunt’s flower beds. She got ahold of the animal and marched into the café with it. She set it on the table where Brodie and his date were.”
Lottie shook her head and eyed Knox, disbelief written all over her face. “Are you serious? What happened? Does he still have the pig?”
“Pansy is still on the farm and has a brood of babies now. What happened is that pig upset tea on the woman, and she left in a huff. I could probably get you one of those piglets. It could be trained to the litter pan that Prissy uses, and we could take it for walks in the evening like Brodie does with Pansy,” he teased. “Oh, and my brother married Audrey. That’s the wedding where I met you.”
“Forget the pig and buy me a candy bar or a rose.” She grinned. “I’ve got a cat, and that’s enough. Changing the subject here. This would be a fantastic dish to serve for Uncle Jack’s retirement party.”
“So, you like it?”
“Love it,” she answered. “Even more than Eddie’s spaghetti. That’s what they’re having in the rec hall tonight.”
“Is that a compliment?” Knox asked.
“A really big one,” she answered. “I try to get him to make it once a week, but he says it’s only good for a small crowd. If he doubles and triples the recipe, it’s not the same.”
Knox finished off his plate of food and cleared both empty plates. “Now, for dessert.”
“I’m way too full for anything else. Let’s take a walk around part of the lake and then come back for cheesecake,” Lottie suggested.
“That would be a good way to keep up appearances, wouldn’t it?”
“Yep, and walk off some calories at the same time. You cooked, so I’ll do the dishes,” she said.
“The dishes can wait. Let’s go, darlin’.” He opened the door and held out a hand. “Don’t you just love the smell of apple blossoms blooming in the spring?” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Does that sound too mushy?”
Lottie stood up, put her hand in his, and together they left the trailer. “Not at all,” she answered out the corner of her mouth and then raised her voice. “It’s a shame that they had to cut down so many apple trees for the houses, but I am glad they saved a few. Aunt Mandy and my mama will probably make lots of pies, and maybe even some of Mama’s famous apple butter when the apples ripen.”
“Mmmm…” Knox said. “Biscuits fresh out of the oven, slathered in apple butter.”
“Or waffles,” Lottie added as they passed by the rec house.
Knox sniffed the air. “I smell spaghetti. If I had any room left, I would go in there and beg a plateful.”
“It is every bit as good as it smells, but the shrimp was better.”
“Well, thank you, darlin’,” he said. “Maybe someday I’ll serve it to you in bed.”
“In your dreams,” she smarted off.
“Hey, now,” he protested, “those are fightin’ words. My dreams are classified and…”
“And I’m not on the need-to-know basis, so I can’t be read in, right?”
“That’s what the file says, but if you were to let me cook breakfast for you…” He let the sentence hang.
“You can make breakfast for me every morning,” she said. “I’ll gladly come to your trailer before work and eat your cooking.”
“You are a prickly woman, Miss Charlotte Johnston.”
