Starting Over On Blackberry Lane. Sheila Roberts

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СКАЧАТЬ every morning,” Gerhardt bragged as he checked Grant in. “And my alpenhorn serenades.”

      Grant had heard about Gerhardt’s famous alpenhorn serenades. One time he’d had too much of his German beer and serenaded himself right off the B and B’s dining room balcony and broken his arm. The guy was a character.

      Grant thanked him and towed his oversize suitcase to the room. It had everything he owned in the world—a couple of changes of good clothes, his favorite old work shirt and jeans, his tool belt, toiletries and his share of the photo albums his wife had so carefully kept over the years. Everything else from his life in America he’d given to the boys or sold before he went south, and what he’d accumulated in Mexico, he’d left behind. Except for his trophy marlin, which was being shipped up to him, care of Gerhardt. He’d hang that over the fireplace once he got a house.

      After he was settled in, he walked to Zelda’s Restaurant, which was owned and run by his daughter-in-law Charley. There was a bite in the air. The sun was still out but starting to cast shadows on the town before its evening slide behind the mountains. The shop owners had already welcomed spring, filling their window boxes with plants and putting up hanging flower baskets.

      Icicle Falls was set up to look like a German village, with Bavarian-style architecture and murals painted on the buildings. The closest Grant had ever gotten to Germany was pictures he’d seen in magazines or glimpses of the country in movies. This place sure seemed like a dead ringer to him.

      Charley’s face lit up when he walked in. “Dad! You made it.” She hurried over and hugged him and, darn, it felt good to be hugged, good to be back with family.

      “How you doing, gorgeous?” he said and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

      “Doing great,” she said.

      She looked like she was doing great. At least one son and his wife were enjoying married bliss. Charley practically glowed with happiness.

      “Dan should be here in about ten minutes,” she said. “We’ve got a table reserved for you.”

      He followed her to a booth toward the back of the restaurant. The retired set was already there, enjoying drinks and meals from the senior menu.

      “Would you like a beer while you wait?” she asked.

      “You know it,” he said, and she went to put in an order for him.

      A few minutes later, a cute little gal was setting an icy cold one in front of him. “On the house, Mr. Masters,” she said with a grin. “I’m Melody and I’m new here.”

      “Thanks, Melody,” he said. “And it’s Grant. May as well get on a first-name basis, since I plan on being a regular.”

      “Grant,” she repeated, smiling, and hurried off to deliver some kind of fancy drinks to two women seated at a table in the middle of the room. One of them, he noticed, was a real looker, with beautiful green eyes and chestnut curls. She glanced his way, blinked, blushed, then turned her head.

      No, I’m not him. Thank God no one had come up to ask for his autograph so far. It often took a while to convince people that he wasn’t George Clooney. Once he did, they were embarrassed, and so was he. He wouldn’t mind if the redhead came over, though.

      Charley was back now and saw him watching. “That’s Muriel Sterling-Wittman, and yes, she’s single.”

      He smiled and shook his head. “Just lookin’. Not in the market.”

      “You never know,” Charley said. “I sure wasn’t in the market when I met your son, who, by the way, is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

      Speaking of his son, there he was, obviously just out of the shower with his hair still damp, and wearing clean jeans and a shirt. “Dad, you made it,” he said and hugged Grant. Then he slid into the booth, and Charley sat down and joined him. “How was Seattle?”

      “Crowded.”

      “Matt’s pissed you don’t want to live there.”

      “Matt needs to move up here.”

      “That’s what I keep telling him,” Dan said. “He could come work for Charley.” Charley seemed a little uncomfortable at that, so he added, “Well, if her chef ever quits.”

      “He’s a good one,” she told Grant. “And he’s been with me for several years.”

      “Loyalty’s important,” Grant said diplomatically.

      “But so is family,” Dan said.

      Grant shrugged. “Then why don’t you guys open a second restaurant and let Matt run it?”

      “Not a bad idea,” Dan said, “but we’re gonna be busy for a while.”

      “Oh?” The minute he saw Dan and his wife exchange smiles he knew, but he played dumb. “With what?”

      “With a baby,” Charley said, beaming.

      “Well, now, that’s terrific news,” Grant said. “Congratulations, you two. When’s the stork coming?”

      “November,” Charley replied.

      That explained why his daughter-in-law looked so happy. There was something about a pregnant woman. She glowed like a candle in the dark.

      As for his son, Grant sure recognized that goofy grin. If there was anything as exciting as learning you were going to have a kid, Grant didn’t know what it was. “You got names picked out?”

      “We’re thinking Amanda Louise if it’s a girl.”

      To honor both Charley’s mom and Lou. Lou would have been out of her mind over all this. Damned heart attack. That should have happened to him, not her.

      “And Ethan Grant if it’s a boy,” said Dan.

      “A nod to Dan’s neglected first name,” Charley teased, nudging him.

      “Sorry you get second billing, Dad.”

      “At least I’m on the bill. That’s real nice of you. You two will be great parents.”

      “I hope so,” Charley said. “I never thought I’d end up being a mom.”

      “It’s happening, babe.” Dan slipped an arm around his wife. “So, Dad, you’re gonna be a grandpa.”

      “Works for me,” Grant said.

      And now he was really glad he’d decided to come back stateside. A new kid in the family and a new business. What else could a man want?

      He caught a glimpse of the pretty woman at the other table and suddenly remembered what else.

      * * *

      Stef normally had Tuesdays and Thursdays off. Once upon a time, BD (Before Destruction), she’d enjoyed staying home on her days off, watching HGTV or puttering in the garden, doing craft projects or playing with Petey. These days, home wasn’t exactly where the heart was, so on СКАЧАТЬ