Free Finding The Way Back To Love (Lakeside Porches 3) by Katie O'Boyle Page A

I need to worry?” Sara eyed Sam.
    Sam kissed her temple and whispered something that made her blush again.
    “Where did you ever get that expression?” Gwen asked. “Talk a hungry dog off a meat wagon?”
    “My Grandma Callahan said it all the time.”
    “Wait, wait, wait,” Joel said. “The Pinellis have an Irish grandmother named Callahan? Why didn’t I ever hear this?”
    “Yeah, we do. Why?”
    “So does Joel,” Manda answered. “Bridie O’Donohue.”
    “Tompkins,” Joel finished the name. “I’m surprised you haven’t heard the tales about her.”
    “Like what?” Sam and Peter asked in unison.
    “She read tea leaves, for one thing,” Joel told them, with a twinkle in his gray-green eyes. “And Manda and I have encountered a little magic in her attic at 14 Lakeside Terrace, that she might have left behind.” He stole a glance at his wife, whose face glowed with pleasure. “And Justin had a couple of uncanny experiences when he first moved into my place on the third floor.”
    “So did Gianessa,” Gwen added.
    “You mean here at the Manse when she and I threw our bouquets, right?” Manda nodded.
    Everyone seemed puzzled.
    Manda said to Sara, “You remember. Gianessa and I threw our bouquets side by side after her wedding. We expected Sara and Grace to grab the bouquets, but mine went way off course, to that beautiful woman in the sari.”
    “Who, by the way, had an engagement party here yesterday,” Joel told them.
    “Cool.”
    Sara cleared her throat and finished Manda’s story, with a hint of jealousy in her voice. “And the bouquet with my name on it”—she gestured with a flourish—“landed in Gwen’s hands.”
    Peter’s turned to Gwen, and a smile broke over his face.
    Gwen dropped her gaze to the tablecloth. Her cheeks flamed, and her fingers trembled.
    Peter captured her hand and warmed it.
    Joel asked how everyone liked the meal, and Gwen gave him a grateful smile. “Delicious,” she said.
    They had pushed their plates away and sat sipping coffee, when the band launched into its first number, a lively swing. Sam called across the table, “Manda.” His arms and shoulders imitated hers as they moved to the music. “You want to dance?”
    After a whispered conversation with Joel, she said, “Sure.” Sam took her hand, and they threaded among the tables to the dance floor.
    “How about you and me, Peter?” Sara asked.
    “I don’t know,” he hedged, with a question in his eyes for Gwen.
    Gwen squeezed his thigh under the table. “Go for it. I’ve never been much of a dancer.”
    Sara rushed him onto the floor, leaving Joel and Gwen at the table.
    “He’s a good sport,” Joel told her.
    Gwen tipped her head with a little smile. “Yeah, he is. I’ve learned more about him tonight than I have since we met.”
    “Which was Friday, you said. How did you meet?”
    Gwen recounted Haley’s break-in and her first encounter with Sam and Peter.
    “Two whole days, and he rates the most elegant dress at the dance?”
    “That was a mistake, wasn’t it? Even Brandi knew that.”
    “I’ve got to tell her to keep her judgments to herself. But did you notice the hierarchy?”
    “I’m clueless, Joel. Educate me.”
    He nodded toward the incoming and outgoing chiefs, both dancing with their spouses. “Protocol dictates that their wives are by far the most gussied up. Followed by the spouses of the visiting chiefs—Canandaigua and Geneva, I think.” He pointed across the room. “And Seneca Falls and Clifton Springs, I’m pretty sure. The custom applies on down the ranks.”
    “This is when I need our old friend Lorraine advising me.”
    Joel burst out with a laugh that got Manda’s attention, on the dance floor. He waved at his wife and turned back to Gwen. “Don’t go by Lorraine’s advice. She’d tell you to ditch Peter and find a millionaire.”
    “Absolutely, she would.” Gwen sipped her Saratoga water. “You’ve got to admit, though, she does know