“Luke’s getting married?” Stella’s eyes lighted with interest.
Irene shook her head. “As far as I know, he hasn’t popped the question, but the new woman in his life seems to think he might.”
“Don’t keep us hanging,” Stella said. “Who’s the girl?”
“Cassie Lou Carwise.”
“Don’t know her,” Oggie said with a frown. “She’s not from Jester. I know everyone who’s gone through school here.”
“You’re right,” Irene said. “Cassie Lou’s from Pine Run. She works as a paralegal for Hank Durham.”
“Hank Durham?” Jennifer’s heart sank. Luke was seriously involved with someone else, a someone Jennifer would probably have to meet when she went to Durham’s office to sign the papers for her grandfather’s estate. All the more reason for Jennifer to finish her business and get out of town fast. It was bad enough that Luke didn’t love her. She didn’t want to witness his affection for Cassie Lou.
“My source,” Irene said, obviously enjoying the impact her news was having on her fellow boarders, “who made me swear on a stack of Bibles not to reveal her name, says that Luke has dated Cassie Lou several times. So often, in fact, Cassie Lou has started keeping a pile of Bride magazines on her desk. Seems she’s already picking out a dress.”
“Maybe the curse is broken,” Stella commented.
Jennifer felt her face pucker into a questioning frown. “Curse?”
Gwen, who’d been observing Jennifer a bit too closely for comfort, nodded. “For years, women from five counties have been throwing themselves at Luke. He’s established a pattern. Dates someone once or twice, moves on to the next. Frustrates the dickens out of those who’re looking for a good man to lead them to the altar.”
“What’s that got to do with a curse?” Jennifer asked.
Stella folded her plump arms on the table and leaned toward Jennifer, her eyes alight with intrigue. “The skinny is that someone broke Luke’s heart years ago, and that he hasn’t loved another woman since. Folks in Jester were beginning to think he’d be cursed by loneliness the rest of his life.”
“I hope not,” Oggie said emphatically. “Luke McNeil was a good boy and has turned into an exceptional man. Honest, trustworthy, slow to anger. A man you can count on in a pinch. He’s kept a good many people out of serious trouble in this town. He’ll make some woman a fine husband.”
Gwen’s expression grew thoughtful. “I had a terrible crush on Luke when I was in the fourth grade.”
“You did?” Jennifer said with surprise. “I never knew that.” She thought she’d been the only girl in town who’d worshipped the ground he walked on.
“He saved my life,” Gwen said with a grin, “or at least I thought he had at the time.”
Jennifer recalled Luke’s pulling her from the creek. Maybe rescuing young girls had been his specialty. “What happened?”
Gwen, her color now back to normal, shoved her cup and saucer aside. “There was a new kid at school that year. Can’t remember his name. His father was a transient, working a temporary ranch job. Anyway, this kid was big and mean, a year or two older than Luke, who must have been about sixteen then. He outweighed Luke by a good fifty pounds.”
“Ah.” Oggie’s eyes lit with recognition. “I remember that boy.”
“The bully had a racket going,” Gwen said, “shaking down little kids for their lunch money. For a while, I figured I was safe because I brought my lunch to school, packed by my grandmother.”
Jennifer nodded with understanding. “Then he figured out what a great cook your grandmother was.”
“He made my life hell from then on. If I couldn’t get to the lunchroom where Oggie was on duty before the bully stole my lunch, I went hungry for the rest of the day.”
“How did Luke figure in this?” Irene asked.
“Luke caught the boy stealing my lunch one day. He just stepped up to the bully, took it from him and handed it back to me. Told the boy that what he was doing was not only hurtful to little kids, but that it was also against the law, and that if he did it again, Luke would turn him in to the sheriff. The bully never took anyone’s lunch or lunch money again.”
“They didn’t fight?” Stella asked in amazement.
Oggie shook his head. “Bullies are cowards at heart. They almost always back down when confronted. But that’s not the whole story. Luke came to me shortly after that incident.”
“He ratted on the bully?” Gwen asked. “That doesn’t sound like Luke.”
A gentle smile wreathed Oggie’s face. “It wasn’t like that at all. Luke did some investigating on his own. Found out the bully’s father was gambling and drinking away all his pay. The boy was hungry. That’s why he was stealing money and lunches.”
Gwen’s expression turned thoughtful. “I believed he was just a rotten kid. His hunger sure puts a different spin on things.”
“But Luke did more than investigate,” Oggie continued. “He contacted Shelly’s parents at the Brimming Cup and struck a deal with them. If the boy would come in two afternoons a week and on Saturdays to help with chores, he could eat free at the diner every school day and Saturdays.”
“So what happened?” Stella asked. “Sounds like the boy might have been too proud to take charity.”
“That’s what Luke thought, too,” Oggie said. “So he had me make the proposition to the boy as if he’d be doing the Duprees a favor. As if they were desperate for the help. Luke’s always had good people skills, intuition and conflict resolution. That’s what makes him such a good sheriff.”
Jennifer worked to keep her expression neutral. If Luke cared so much about people, why had he treated her so shabbily? Had she been so young and naive she’d misinterpreted his feelings all those years ago? Had she just been a summer fling? Had his talk about their future together been a lie from the beginning? Maybe her own intuition was faulty. After all, she’d never expected Grandpa Henry to disown her, but he had.
“With Luke being such a paragon, looks like Cassie Lou Carwise has grabbed the golden ring, so to speak.” Irene drained the last of her wine. “According to my source.”
“Is your source reliable?” Gwen looked skeptical.
Irene shrugged. “Only time will tell.”
Gwen rose to clear the appetizer plates away, and Jennifer took the opportunity to excuse herself. After bundling up against the cold, she slipped outside for the walk to Vickie’s.
Although snow was still falling, the wind had eased. Jennifer hoped the morning would be clear. She could drive to Pine Run, sign her papers, have her car repaired and list the farm with a real estate agent. Then she’d hit the road. If she was lucky, she’d accomplish all her tasks and get out of Jester without seeing Luke again. His attitude toward her had been clearly chilly, and with Cassie Lou Carwise soon to become Mrs. Luke NcNeil, Jennifer had no desire to hang around to witness the love match.
Trudging through the high drifts, she rounded the corner at the sheriff’s office on Main Street and headed toward the Perkins house, where welcoming light from every window glowed like beacons through the falling snowflakes. The picture-perfect scene of the snug house nestled in the snow filled Jennifer with regret, reminding her of the barren apartment she’d left in Chicago and the fact that she had no place, not even a temporary one, to call home. If things had worked out for her and Luke, she’d be living in a house like Vickie’s now, with children of her own. The thought made her heart and arms ache with emptiness, and she struggled to put on a happy face. If she arrived looking gloomy, Vickie would eventually share that fact with Luke. The last thing Jennifer wanted was for Luke to know he’d broken her heart.
Determined to enjoy herself, Jennifer negotiated the icy front steps and rang the bell.
She didn’t have to wait long in the cold. Vickie answered the door and ushered her quickly into the warmth of the living room. The family scene was just as Jennifer had imagined. Nathan was on his hands and knees in front of the fire, with only
his trim, denim-clad backside visible to Jennifer. A small boy rode the man’s back like a horse, a slightly smaller girl tugged at his hair and baby Caitlyn toddled alongside, gurgling with delight.
Vickie took Jennifer’s coat. “Come out into the kitchen and meet Nathan. Then I’ll introduce you to the kids.”
Confused, Jennifer frowned. “Nathan’s in the kitchen? But I thought—”
A shriek from the boy as he tumbled from his “horse” interrupted her, and the man in front of the fireplace pushed to his feet and turned to face her. Surprise registered on the strong angles of his face and in his midnight-blue eyes.
“Jennifer?” Luke’s gaze flicked accusingly to Vickie. “You didn’t tell me you were having company.”
Jennifer recalled the gleam of mischief she’d spotted on Vickie’s face when she had left her friend earlier that day, and now knew its meaning. Vickie had known all along Luke was coming for supper, too.
Well, if her friend intended playing matchmaker, Jennifer had a surprise for her. No way was she cooperating. Besides, with Luke practically engaged to Cassie Lou Carwise, Vickie had no business interfering in her brother’s life.
Or Jennifer’s.
But keeping her nose out of other people’s business, especially that of her family and friends, had never been Vickie’s strong suit. Luckily Jennifer wouldn’t be in Jester long enough for Vickie’s meddling to matter.
Fighting for composure and to keep her smile from slipping away, she said with a calm she didn’t feel, “Hello again, Luke.”
IF LUKE DIDN’T LOVE his scheming little sister so danged much, he’d wring her pretty conniving neck. He knelt beside six-year-old Ricky to make sure the boy hadn’t hurt himself in the tumble, and was glad for the opportunity to avoid both his sister’s smirk of triumph and Jennifer’s barely concealed surprise.
“You mad, Uncle Luke?” Five-year-old Shannon gazed up at him through tousled curls, her brown eyes round with anxiety.
“Not me, pumpkin.” He hugged her to reassure her. “Why?”
“’Cause your face is all scrunched up, like this.” Shannon contorted her face into a scowl that made him laugh.
At the sound, Caitlyn attached herself to his right leg with a bear hug. “Pick me up, Wuke.”
Luke scooped his younger niece into his arms, glad again for the distraction. Fresh from her bath, Caitlyn emanated that fresh baby smell that always tugged at his heartstrings and made him long for children of his own.
And whenever he thought of having children, he thought of Jennifer.
And her desertion.
The last thing he wanted tonight was to sit at his sister’s table with the woman who’d left him high and dry, and make pleasant, inane conversation. If he wanted inane chatter, he’d have asked Cassie Lou for another date.
Scratch that.
He recalled the gossip that had recently run through town like a flu virus. He’d learned that Cassie Lou was so intent on matrimony, she considered a third date as good as a proposal. But he’d learned that particular piece of critical info too late—after the third date. He had no intention of marrying Cassie Lou, so he would avoid her from now on and cross his fingers that the rumors would die down and some other unsuspecting guy would ask her out for a third time.
No, the only woman he’d ever wanted to marry was Jennifer. Maybe her abandonment had cured him of the marriage bug for good.
He watched her disappear into the kitchen with Vickie. The graceful movements of her long, slender body, the shimmer of her stylish blond hair and the evocative scent of roses that lingered in the room made him ache with longing.
How could he still desire a woman who’d left him in the lurch without the slightest explanation? He’d never thought of himself as a masochist, but if he could still feel attracted to Jenny, he had to be one.
Cradling Caitlyn in his arms, he followed the women into the kitchen.
His brother-in-law, Nathan, stood at the counter with a freshly sliced pot roast on a carving board before him. At five-foot-nine, with hair that had gone prematurely gray, Doc looked older than his thirty-six years, which worked well for him in inspiring confidence in his patients. However, he lacked the softness that some doctors developed from too much desk work. He and Vickie and the kids loved the out of-doors, and their outings of hiking, riding, swimming and skiing kept Doc tan and fit.
Luke suppressed an unexpected jolt of jealousy when he grasped Jennifer’s hand, leaned forward and kissed her cheek.
“Vickie’s told me all about you,” Nathan said.
Jennifer laughed, a pleasant sound like water bubbling over rocks in the creek bed, evoking a hundred memories Luke couldn’t repress.
“Not all, I hope,” she said with an exaggerated look of horror.
“All,” Nathan replied with a nod, his brown eyes twinkling. “You two were a couple of hellions, weren’t you?”
“I don’t know about you, Jennifer, but I haven’t changed.” With a wink, Vickie picked a sliver of roast from the board and popped it into her mouth.
“I always tried to be a good girl,” Jennifer insisted playfully, then turned a solemn look on Vickie. “But I was surrounded by bad influences.”
His sister’s face split into a grin that showed how happy she was to have her old friend with her again.
“Luke?” Vickie turned to him. “Why don’t you introduce Jennifer to Ricky and Shannon while Nathan and I put dinner on the table.”
Vickie’s expression couldn’t have been sweeter or more innocent, but Luke knew exactly what was turning the wheels behind her wide-eyed look. She’d use every opportunity to throw Luke and Jennifer alone together, but her scheming was doomed. He had no intention of setting himself up for disappointment again. Besides, his boisterous nieces and nephew would form the perfect buffer against any personal conversation.
“Sure,” he agreed. “C’mon, Jennifer, and meet the brat pack.”
Ignoring Vickie’s poorly concealed flash of victory, he returned to the living room, all too aware that Jennifer followed close behind.
Ricky was curled in the corner of the sofa, his round little face creased with concentration over the Game Boy in his hands. Shannon lay on her stomach in front of the fire, wielding a red crayon outside the lines of the figure in her coloring book.
“Ricky, Shannon,” Luke said, “this is Jennifer. She’s been your mom’s friend since she was your age, Shannon.”
“Hi.” Displaying the good manners his parents had drilled into him, Ricky set the Game Boy aside and stood to greet their visitor. His resemblance to his father was undeniable—except he was towheaded instead of gray. Ricky had also inherited his father’s sharp intelligence and his outgoing personality.
“Hello.” Jennifer appeared ill at ease, and Luke couldn’t tell whether he or the children were the source of her discomfort.
Shannon sat up and stared at Jennifer with interest. “Is she your friend, too, Uncle Luke?”
Trust Shannon, the bold one, to ask such a question. Luke felt the pinch of loss at her piercing inquiry. Ten years ago, before Dolly Faulkner’s death, he would have answered that Jennifer was his best friend. But a decade was a long time. People could become strangers in that many years.
“We used to be friends,” Jennifer said with a light ness that suggested she didn’t miss the friendship as much as Luke did. “But Luke and I haven’t kept in touch like your mother and I have.”
“Where do you live?” Ricky asked.
“I used to live in Chicago, but right now I’m staying at Gwen Tanner’s boardinghouse.”
“Don’t you have a home?” Shannon asked.
For a second, Luke thought he caught the glint of tears in Jennifer’s eyes, then realized the room’s lighting had caused the illusion when she replied with a bright smile, “Not right now. But I’m looking for one.”
“Here?” Ricky asked. “You could buy this house.
We’re moving as soon as the new one’s finished.
”
Luke settled into a rocker with Caitlyn asleep on his shoulder, and watched his niece and nephew grill Jennifer like pros. Maybe they’d find out what her plans were without his having to seem too interested.
Jennifer shook her head. “I won’t be staying in Jester.”
“Why not?” Shannon asked. “We like it here.”
“It’s a great place,” Jennifer replied quickly, her cheeks bright with a beguiling rose hue that could have arisen from embarrassment or her proximity to the fireplace. “But I don’t have family here. Or a job. Or anything else to keep me in Jester.”
“Where is your family?” Ricky asked.
At that point, Luke took pity on Jennifer. “You ask too many questions, Ricky.”
“I’m practicing,” the boy said.
“For what?” Jennifer asked.
“To be a doctor. Daddy says you can’t find out what’s wrong with people unless you ask the right questions.”
“Don’t be silly,” his sister scolded. “There’s nothing wrong with Jennifer. Is there, Uncle Luke?”
Jennifer’s gaze met his, and for an instant he glimpsed a deep unhappiness, before she forced a smile.
“No, Shannon,” he said softly. “There’s nothing wrong with Jennifer.”
But something was definitely bothering her.
Although they’d been apart for years, he could still read her like a book, and with his affinity for unsolved puzzles, he found himself very curious over what was causing Jennifer’s unhappiness.
CHAPTER FIVE
SEATED ACROSS FROM Luke at the Perkinses’ round dining table, an intimate and snug arrangement without its expansion leaves, Jennifer felt the desire to run.
Literally.
Running had become her passion over the last ten years, a welcome release from the loneliness and insecurity that had haunted her since her grandmother’s death. Whenever the walls of whatever rented space she occupied at the time seemed to close in, Jennifer would don her running clothes, lace her Reeboks and take off, hoping to shake the gloom and depression.
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