Chapter 13
Luke raced home after the breakfast shift at the diner, eager to get ready for his date. Mom wheeled in on the knee scooter she’d got from the specialist as he was taking his shoes off at the door.
“Luke! How was the diner?”
“Busy, as usual.” He leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Can I borrow your iron?”
“Of course. What do you need it for?”
“My clothes are still a bit wrinkled from traveling.” He ran upstairs to his room and pulled a pair of charcoal gray pants from the hanger.
Then he debated back and forth as to which dress shirt to wear.
He decided on the navy blue one and carried them both downstairs to the laundry room, past the watchful eyes of one Deborah Graham.
“Luke? Where are you going tonight?” She followed him down the hall, her good leg pushing her scooter along.
“That steak house over towards State College.” He pulled the ironing board down from the wall above the washing machine and poured water into the iron. Then he started it heating while he laid his pants out first.
“Luke Graham, do you have a date?” Shrewd blue eyes gawked at him.
“Uh, yes. Yes, I do.” His palms started to sweat. Would Mom be mad?
“With who?” Right now, she was confused. He hadn’t dated much when he lived in Hawthorn Hills. In fact, he hadn’t dated much… period.
Luke winced. “Maggie.”
Instead of glaring, Mom lit up. “Really?”
Now it was his turn to be confused. “You’re not mad?”
“Mad? Why would I be mad?” Mom clenched her fists on her hips. “She’s a sweetheart.”
Luke ran a hand through his hair. “She’s your employee, though.”
“Who cares? You’re not her boss.”
He breathed a sigh of relief as the iron light changed to green, letting him know it was ready. “Okay. Good.”
“Does this mean what I think it means?”
Luke focused on getting the wrinkles out of his pants. “What would that be?”
“Are you thinking about staying?”
The iron hissed with steam as he considered the question.
“I hadn’t thought about that.” It was true, he hadn’t thought about what a future here would look like.
Guilt from wondering if he could have saved Aaron had he only been around rose its head once more, but he shoved it down so he didn’t burn a hole in his trousers.
“She’s a nice girl, Luke. And you don’t live here.”
“It’s not like she’s from here. She hasn’t been in town that long.”
“But I also don’t think she’s just passing through, either.” Mom sighed and leaned on her handlebar. “She hasn’t told me why she’s here, but I get the sense that she’s looking to put down roots.”
He set the iron down to hang up his pants and laid his shirt on the ironing board. “How do you know that?”
She tapped her nose. “Moms know these things.”
Once the shirt was wrinkle-free, Luke put it back on the hanger and unplugged the iron. Mom was still standing there.
“Be careful with her, Luke.”
“More mother’s intuition?” He chuckled.
She waved her hand in a so-so gesture. “Just women’s intuition.” She looked up at him, her eldest son. “We never talked about your sperm donor, but there’s a reason he never knew about you.”
Luke dropped the smile. Concern filled his chest. “What do you mean?”
Mom backed out of the doorway, leaving room for him to get past her. “It’s ancient history, now. But he wasn’t good for me. And I see something familiar in Maggie.”
He stared down at his mom, the strongest woman he’d ever known. Apparently even stronger than he’d realized. “Thanks.”
She raised her eyebrows. “For the warning?”
Luke shook his head. “No. For leaving him. And for finding Dad.”
Her eyes grew watery as her lips curved in a fond smile. “He was a good man.”
“The best.” Luke leaned over and kissed the top of her gray head.
She slapped his arm. “Go shower for your date, mister. And you should trim your beard.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He gave her a silly salute and marched back up the stairs.
“Luke Graham? Is that you?”
“Hi, Miss Morrison.” Luke smiled at his old second-grade teacher standing behind the reception desk of the Hawthorn Haven. She’d opened it after retiring from teaching, saying she couldn’t sit around being idle.
“None of that, you’re out of school. It’s Virginia to you.”
“How are you?”
“I’m doing well. What are you doing here? Aren’t you staying with your mom?”
“I am. I’m here for—”
“He’s here to pick me up.”
Luke lifted his head to the mahogany staircase and his heart stopped.
Maggie stood on the landing, sunlight streaming through the stained-glass window and turning her hair into a blazing halo.
Her green dress crossed in the front and highlighted her generous curves, the swell of her breasts visible at the v-neck.
Off to the side was a bow, and it made him want to unwrap her like a present.
She glided down the stairs and Luke swallowed the lump in his throat.
“Make sure you take your key with you, Maggie. I won’t wait up.” Virginia winked at them, the saucy bird.
A delicate blush stole over Maggie’s cheeks as she reached for her coat on the coat tree. “Have a good night, Virginia.”
Luke waved back at his former teacher as he opened the door for his date.
She was grinning ear to ear. Hopefully Maggie didn’t mind the small-town rumor mill.
Everyone would know about this by the time they got back.
With a hand at the small of her back, he led her to the passenger side of his car and opened this door for her as well.
Then he ran to his side of the car and got them on the road.
“How was your day? You worked the breakfast rush, right?”
“It was busy as always,” he said. “Maggie, you look … stunning.”
“You clean up nicely, too.”
“I’m so glad you changed your mind about this.” He licked his lips. “Can I ask why you did?”
“Why I changed my mind?”
“Yes.” His palms slid on the wheel, and he gripped it tighter.
She paused, taking so long to answer that he wondered if he’d upset her. But a glance to his right and he realized she was just deep in thought.
“It wasn’t any one thing, really.” She finally spoke. “I wasn’t ready before.”
He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips. “Thank you.”
She stole her hand back with a smile. “Are you always such a gentleman on dates?”
He smirked. “No idea. I think my last proper date was in… high school?”
Maggie turned and looked out the window. “It’s been a long time for me, too.”
Luke couldn’t help but puff up his chest a little at that.
The scenery flew by, traffic on their side as they arrived at the restaurant. Luke insisted on Maggie waiting for him to open her door. The shy smile she gave him told him she wasn’t used to such treatment, and he vowed to prove that she deserved it.
After giving his name at the host stand, they sank onto a bench in the waiting area.
It was, after all, Saturday night in a college town.
While this place wasn’t known for its alcohol, it was certainly date night for a lot of people in the area.
Luke wrapped his arm around her shoulders and spoke in her ear.
“Where are you from?”
Maggie bit her lip and cast her gaze downward. “Oklahoma.”
“That’s quite a distance.” Her cheeks turned pale pink. “Why Hawthorn Hills?”
“I needed a change of scenery,” she said with a shrug. “It’s kind of funny, really. I was on my road trip and decided I was done, so I threw a dart at a map and it landed on Hawthorn Hills.”
Luke raised an eyebrow in surprise. “A map?”
“Yeah,” she giggled. Apparently, the memory was funny. “At first, I thought it landed in the middle of nowhere and I was going to have to re-throw. But the bartender that was helping me checked and saw the dot for your town.”
“Huh.” Having grown up playing games like Dungeons and Dragons with his friends, Luke understood better than most how probability worked.
This sounded like divine intervention. What were the odds that Maggie would throw a dart and hit his hometown on a map at the same time he was arranging to take leave?
“It’s dumb, right?” Her green eyes started to shutter in the dark restaurant.
“Not at all.” He infused his voice with conviction. “You wanted a fresh start, and you got it. Nothing you do could ever be dumb.”
Her cheeks flushed red as she turned away, and muttered something that sounded like, “You’d be surprised.”
“Graham, party of two?” called the host.
“That’s us.” Luke stood and offered his hand. When she didn’t let go as they followed the host to their table, he counted that as a win.
Their server promptly appeared and asked for their drink orders, and they spent some time going over the menu. Luke found himself distracted by the peekaboo game her dress played with her cleavage, but once they put their orders in, she picked their conversation back up.
“Why the FBI? Why not local law enforcement?” She tilted her head at him.
He sighed, swirling his straw through his water. “How much has Mom told you about us?”
“Honestly, I didn’t know she had more than one son until she fell. We don’t get a lot of chances to chat when we’re working.”
Luke nodded, well aware of how busy a day at the diner got. “She met my dad when I was nine. They got married when I was ten. And then when I was seventeen, they had Aaron.”
Her eyebrows formed a red vee on her forehead. “I don’t follow.”
“My Dad was not my father. Aaron and I are only half-brothers, but we’ve never made the distinction. Legally, Marcus was my father because after he and Mom got married, he adopted me. It never mattered to him.”
Immediately, Maggie picked up what he wasn’t saying. “But it mattered to you?”
He blew out a breath. “I couldn’t say anything, but yeah. The kids at school weren’t kind, and the stigma of a single mom was a lot worse back then. Everyone knew he wasn’t really my father because…” he made a waving gesture with his hands, “… small towns.”
Maggie nodded. Her attention was a heady thing. It had him spilling things he had never told anyone before.