Free Only Through Love: A Cane River Romance Novella by Mary Jane Hathaway Page B

it felt like he was on the wrong side of the desk. “Age?
No. I don’t think they see us similar at all.”
                “Of
course not,” Gideon said, dismissing the idea.
                Henry
said nothing, her gaze slipping past him to focus on a painting above the
couch. Austin felt a bit of relief. He liked Henry. She was clever,
compassionate, and she loved Gideon with everything in her. But she made Austin
feel like she was looking into his soul.
                “Let
me take that,” Gideon said, reaching past Austin.
                He
turned and came face to face with Charlie. She was holding a stack of plates.
Her expression said that Austin was the last person she expected to see, and
not in a good way. She handed over the plates to Gideon and then retreated back
into the kitchen without a word.
                “I’ll
go see if she needs any help,” Henry said and walked past Austin, leaving him
to watch Gideon set the table and feel like the biggest jerk in the world.
Somehow he needed to talk to her before they sat across each other in this cozy
little family dinner. He didn’t think he could choke down the food while
Charlie glared at him, even if it was Ruby’s famous blackened catfish.

Chapter
Seven
    We are not hypocrites in our sleep.
―William Hazlett
     
                “We’re
almost all finished in here, sha .” Ruby brushed back her curly white
hair and hung up the damp tea towel on the peg by the fridge. The window above
the sink was open but the kitchen was still twenty degrees hotter than the rest
of the house. “Why don’t you go let them know we’re just waiting on this next
batch of biscuits.”
                Charlie
nodded but didn’t move. She really wished she could figure out a way to escape
and skip the dinner. Her stomach felt like it had curled up against her spine,
it was so empty, but she still would take the ramen noodles over making
conversation with Austin. If only she lied more easily, she could tell Ruby she
had a head ache and had to go home. Of course, knowing Ruby, she’d insist
Charlie lay down in their bedroom with a cold rag and then would check on her
every five minutes. She was stuck. All she could hope for was kitty corner
seating, far enough apart they didn’t have to make eye contact.
                “Anything
I can do to help?” Henry appeared in the doorway and surveyed the kitchen with
wide eyes. “Goodness. You two have really worked hard in here.”
                Ruby
beamed at the compliment.  “Charlie sure was a help. I thought I’d be teaching
her but she might have taught me a few things.”
                Charlie
snorted. Ruby wasn’t fooling anyone. She had seventy years of cooking on her
side and Charlie could barely recall how to sautee the collard greens.
                “We’ve
got some hungry men out there. I hope we done made enough,” Ruby said.
                Charlie
glanced over the pan of biscuits, steaming collard greens, mashed potatoes and
gravy, a plate piled with fresh corn on the cob, pots of peach jam and chow chow,
and the long platter of blackened catfish right from the oven. “I can’t imagine
they can eat all of this.”
                “Oh,
you’d be surprised,” Henry said. “I was in shock the first time I saw Gideon
put away a plate of hash browns and country ham at The Red Hen. I think Nita
gave him more than the usual serving anyway, but he still ate it and acted like
there was room to spare.”
                Ruby
peeked inside the oven and said, “A few more minutes. I’ll go put out the honey
and butter.”
                “Let
me,” Henry started to say but Ruby waved her away. “Watch the biscuits, you
two. I’ll be right back.”
                Charlie
opened the drawer and pulled out a stack of cloth napkins. “Bix refuses to use
paper