Sweet On Peggy. Stella MacLean

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      They both ordered a steak. He was pleased to discover a woman who liked steak. Most of the women he’d dated didn’t eat steak because it was too fattening, or too something. To him it was the perfect food. To each his own, he mused as he watched her sip her wine.

      “You like to ride horses,” he said.

      “I do. When I came here, I was lucky enough to find a small farm property with a barn. I found two horses I love, and I’m now looking at offering riding lessons. On a very small scale, of course, since I work full-time. What about you? What brought you to Eden Harbor?”

      “My mother passed away a couple of months ago. I inherited her house in Bangor, sold it and couldn’t decide what to do after. Then one day it came to me.”

      Her eyes popped open, the corner of her lips tipped up in a smile. “What came to you?”

      “The answer to where I’d move once all the paperwork around my mom’s death was finished. Mom summered in Eden Harbor, out on Cranberry Point, when she was a kid. She loved it. Coming here was an easy decision. I just put some of my things in storage, the rest I put in the back of my truck and I hit the road.” He felt her interested gaze on him and wanted to share more with her. “It just felt right to come here, where my mom had been so happy.” He played with the tines of his fork. “She hadn’t been very happy the last couple of years.”

      “I’m sorry,” she said quickly.

      “I am, too. She developed cancer...” He was sorry he’d brought up this particular heavy topic. It had been a very difficult time for him. His mother’s death and what he’d experienced in Haiti had left him desolate and uncertain for the first time in his life.

      “Why did you choose to be a carpenter?”

      “It’s more like carpentry chose me. My dad liked to build things. When he passed away a few years ago, he left me all his tools. I found myself wanting to learn everything I could about working with wood. I found a program at the tech school in Bangor and decided to try my hand at it.”

      She smiled at him over her glass. He felt ridiculously pleased and happy. The best he’d felt since he’d gotten home from Haiti. As they ate they talked about so many things, and he found himself thinking that it would be nice to do this every day...with Peggy. He loved the way she listened to him, made intelligent comments about his work, offered her ideas and generally made him feel that she understood why he’d chosen carpentry.

      For the first time since he’d returned home, he wanted to share his feelings about his work in the past two years. What it meant to him. Yet somehow he couldn’t bring himself to do it. To talk about it would make the agony of those months even more acute.

      When the waiter brought the dessert menu, they both chose the chocolate cake. “You and I have a lot in common,” he said, enjoying the evening more than he’d imagined.

      “At least when it comes to food,” she said.

      “A great place to start, don’t you think?” he asked, delighted that her gaze never left his face.

      “Why don’t you tell me about your job? You’re good at it, that much I know from my experience.”

      “I love it most of all because of the contact with people, and especially children.”

      So they shared a love of children, as well. He wondered why a woman as attractive and interesting as Peggy wasn’t already married or engaged. “Yeah, you put that little boy at ease.”

      “I aim to please,” she said, color rising in her cheeks. He liked a woman who blushed when complimented.

      * * *

      PEGGY HADN’T SPENT such a pleasant evening with anyone in a long time. Rory was so interesting to talk to, so sexy, so sweet, so everything she wanted in a man. For him to be this perfect meant he had to have a huge flaw buried somewhere. No man was this easy to talk to, this much fun to be around and not have a female attached to him. Women loved men like Rory.

      She needed time to think about this, to seek Gayle Sawyer’s advice on what had to be going on. If her feelings around him were any indication, she’d just found the man of her dreams, and the search hadn’t been easy. She’d dated a lot of men with potential, but somehow the relationship always hit a snag. Either she lost interest, or she learned something about them that turned her off completely.

      Of course, she didn’t have to overcome a huge secret like Gayle did, or deal with a teenage son, but still she needed to talk to someone about this. Good advice was essential before she got in too deep with what seemed like just the right man. “Will you excuse me?” she asked as the desserts arrived.

      “I’ll order coffee while you’re gone,” he said. “What would you like?”

      “Cream. No sugar.”

      “Hey. That’s weird. Me, too,” he said, a smile on his face, the one that made her want to smile back at him until her face cracked along the smile lines.

      Definitely time to take a break from this enticing man.

      Once in the ladies’ room, she glanced at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were positively rosy. Her eyes were shining. She looked like a very happy woman. Yet it felt so strange, mostly because it had happened so easily, as if they were meant to be together.

      She needed some helpful advice. She dialed Gayle’s number and was so relieved when her friend picked up the phone. “Gayle, it’s me, Peggy.”

      “How’s your date? Don’t tell me. You’re home already because it turned out to be a bad night. I’m sorry.”

      “No! Not that at all. He seems perfect...too perfect.”

      “Is there such a thing?”

      She propped one hip against the restroom counter. “See. That’s it. There is no such thing as a perfect man.”

      “I don’t know about that. I’ve got one sitting across the table from me.”

      Her friend had gotten engaged to Nate Garrison two weeks ago and was so happy it almost hurt to watch her. “You’re biased.”

      “I am. So tell me more,” Gayle said.

      “Like I said, he’s perfect. So perfect I’m afraid.”

      “Of what?”

      “Of what has to be going on beneath his gorgeous exterior. With my luck, he’s been through a horrible divorce and is looking for a shoulder to cry on.”

      “Maybe...”

      A woman came into the restroom and approached the sink next to Peggy. “Can you meet me for coffee tomorrow morning?”

      “Sure. I’ll come in a little early and have coffee with you. Can’t wait to hear all about him.”

      “I’ll tell you when I see you.” She hung up quickly, applied more lipstick, checked that her dress was fitting right over her breasts. As she adjusted her bra, she felt a sharp pinprick of pain on the side of her right breast. She loosened the bra a little and the pain eased. СКАЧАТЬ