Free A Gift for All Seasons by Karen Templeton Page B

attention to April, who’d stood as well to wriggle into her blazer before hiking up her own purse onto her right shoulder.
    With her left hand.
    His gaze zinged to hers. Which she took captive with another one of those sweet smiles before following her cousins through the restaurant to the cashier. And never looking back.
    “Y’all want to sit here?” Jeannie, the waitress, asked. “I can clean it up in a jiff.”
    “Sure,” Luke said, sliding behind the table and inhaling deeply. “Smell that?”
    Patrick hesitated, then sat across from him, scarred side to window, the seat still warm from April. “Besides the fried fish?” True to her word, the waitress cleaned off the table in a jiffy, laying down fresh paper napkins and cutlery, then menus. Superfluous though they were, since everybody in St. Mary’s knew the menu by heart from the time they could talk. Probably before.
    Luke breathed deeply again, then let out his breath on a happy sigh. “No, numskull. Women . Sweetest smell in the world.”
    Patrick shook his head. “You’re pathetic.”
    “No, you’re pathetic,” Luke said, leaning back in the booth, his arm stretched across the back. “Give me one good reason why you haven’t asked April out.”
    “And since when is my personal life any of your concern?”
    Ignoring him, Luke sat forward again to tick off a list on his fingers. “She’s cute, she’s available and she’s interested. And don’t tell me she’s not.” Luke’s sharp gaze softened. “And she seems like a real doll.”
    Jeannie brought them tea, flirted a little more, took their orders and left. “Which is precisely why she’s not my type.”
    “Type? What the hell, type? All I’m saying is ask her out. See where it goes. Why are you looking under the table?”
    “Checking to see if Ma’s hiding under there.” Patrick straightened. “’Cause that sure sounds like her words coming out of your mouth, Mr. Marriage Is For Suckers.”
    “Who’s talking marriage, for crying out loud? I’m just saying, what’s the harm in, you know? A little female companionship, if you get my drift.”
    “Yeah. Got it. Except April’s not that type.”
    “Not your type, not that type...” Luke shook his head. “You’re hopeless, you know that?”
    “No, I’m a realist. For one thing, in case you missed it, I tried dating. It sucked. Or I suck at it, not sure which. For another, April’s...classy. And real. Not that you’d know anything about that—”
    “Hey!”
    “She’s also a recent widow.”
    “Oh, yeah? Then she’s probably...how can I put this?” Luke grinned. “Needy.”
    “Just what I need.”
    “Actually—”
    “In any case, I doubt she even knows what she wants right now. Or needs.”
    “Oh, and you do?” Luke leaned forward, lowering his voice. “There’s worse things than having a fling with a hot widow, bro—”
    “Luke. Stop it.”
    “Huh,” Luke said, leaning back again.
    Patrick’s gaze shot to his brother’s. “What?”
    “You’re scared.”
    “I’m not—”
    “The hell you say. You’re scared. And you know why? Because you’ve got feelings for her.”
    “That’s ridiculous, I barely know her.”
    “And how many times have we heard Pop tell us about how, like, within five minutes of meeting Ma, he knew. Huh? How many times?”
    Patrick rubbed his scarred cheek, the blood trying to come to the surface making the skin itch. “And since when do you believe in that crap?”
    “Just because it hasn’t happened for me doesn’t mean it didn’t for them. Or couldn’t for anybody else.” He gestured toward Patrick. “Like, say, you.”
    “And if you recall,” Patrick said steadily, his gaze pinned to his brother’s, “it did happen for me. With Natalie. And look how that turned out.”
    “And you two were how old when you met? Hell, at that age everybody’s The One. Until you see somebody else. Then she got pregnant, which only complicated things, right?”
    “I did love