Читать книгу The Maverick's Midnight Proposal - Brenda Harlen, Brenda Harlen - Страница 12

Chapter Four

Eva had just hung up her apron when the bell above the door jingled. She glanced at Karen, a single mother who worked part-time at the doughnut shop while her kids were in school. “I have to take off,” she told her coworker. “I’ve got my final exam tonight and I want to review my notes.”

“Yeah, I just need a sec,” Karen said, not looking up from her phone as her thumbs tapped the keypad. “Sally’s at my mom’s today, home from school with a fever.”

Eva looked longingly toward the promised escape of the back door but, unable to fault the woman’s concern for her child, she returned to the front counter.

Her forced smile widened naturally and her heart gave a happy bump inside her chest when it recognized the customer: Luke Stockton.

“Are you here for food or just coffee today?”

“Coffee,” he said. “And... I was hoping to see you.”

Her heart bumped against her ribs again. “You wanted to see me?”

“Hudson and Bella are both at work today, leaving me alone with my thoughts for the past few hours, and they’re really not the best company.”

“What were you thinking about?” she asked, filling a ceramic mug from the pot.

“Everything. And nothing.” He picked up the mug she set on the counter. “Any chance you can take a break and have a cup of coffee with me?”

“Since I just finished my shift, there’s a very good chance,” she told him, reaching for a second mug.

Luke carried their beverages to a booth near the window.

Eva slid into the seat across from him. “Do you want to talk about the everything or the nothing?”

He smiled, just a little. “The one very big thing.”

“Which is?” she prompted.

“My sister—and my brother, Danny—have asked me to stay in town until his wedding,” he confided.

Eva knew—because there were very few secrets in Rust Creek Falls and because the bride had asked her to make the wedding cake—that Danny Stockton and Annie Lattimore were getting married on December 24. “It makes sense that he’d want his family to share the occasion,” she noted.

“But Christmas Eve is still three weeks away.”

“And you have to be back in Wyoming before then?” she guessed.

He shook his head. “No. For the past couple of years, I’ve been working on a huge spread outside Cheyenne—there are plenty of hands to cover the work, especially this time of year.”

“So you could stay...but you don’t want to?” she asked, seeking clarification.

“I’m not sure what I want,” he admitted. “Bella and Hudson have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome, but it still feels strange to be back after so many years. And I haven’t even seen my brother Jamie yet.”

Eva remained silent. Though she had a thousand questions she wanted to ask, it was obvious that he needed someone to listen—and not judge.

“He was only fifteen when I left,” Luke continued. “Now he’s married—for the second time—and the father of three toddlers.”

“Henry, Jared and Katie.” She opened a packet of sugar and dumped it into her cup, stirred. “They’re adorable.”

“I guess I’ll see for myself this weekend. The invitation to their house came to me through Bella, from Jamie’s wife. I’m not even sure if my brother knows that I’ve been invited.”