Bright Eyes Read Free Page A

than dirt when he looked at her.
    He bit back a smile, no offense intended, and returned his attention to Natalie, who was still trying to soothe her grandfather. She wasn’t his type, either. Nice to look at, though. He preferred naturally beautiful women who didn’t need heavy makeup, stiletto heels, and slinky black dresses to catch a man’s eye.
    Natalie glanced at her watch again. Patting her grandfather’s shoulder, she said, “I want you to go back in the house now, Gramps.” She turned to her son. “You, too. And to your bedroom, young man. No television, no computer games, no music, no Harry Potter. I want you to stare at the ceiling and think about what you’ve done. In the morning, we’ll discuss this further and decide on a punishment.”
    In Zeke’s day, the punishment would have been meted out with a wide leather belt. As a kid, he’d detested those trips to the barn with his dad, but the sting had stayed with him for hours and made him think twice before he messed up again. Watching Chad slouch away, struggling to preserve his tough-guy image, Zeke couldn’t help but think that an old-fashioned march to the barn might be just what he needed.
    Zeke heard the screen door slap open again. Why am I not surprised? He was one of six kids and had family members oozing out from under the baseboards. As he focused on the newest character in the Westfield clan, a younger version of Gramps with salt-and-pepper hair, a few less wrinkles, and patched overalls with holes at the knees, Zeke decided that his relatives were downright normal by comparison.
    “Dad, what’re you doing out here?” the younger gramps asked as he gimped across the patchy lawn, one hand pressed to his lower back. “Sounds to me like Natalie is telling you to shut up, and you aren’t listening.”
    Natalie sent the new arrival an imploring look. “Pop, would you make Gramps go back inside? He isn’t helping this situation any.”
    Pop scratched his head, which, to his credit, didn’t look as if it needed shampooing. “Dad, you need to come back in the house. Nattie can handle this.”
    “She can’t, either. She needs a man to stand up for her and the boy. That no-account husband of hers is too durned busy with that blond harlot to take care of his family. That leaves you and me.”
    Pop, whom Zeke guessed to be Natalie’s father, hooked an arm around the older man’s shoulders. “Come on, Dad. You ever heard that joke about the Chihuahua pissin’ on a fire hydrant? Positive thinking can only take you so far.”
    “A what pissin’ on a what? ” Gramps clearly didn’t appreciate the comparison. “The bastard’s big, I’ll grant you that, but I’m not afraid of him. If I hit a man and he don’t fall, I’ll walk around behind to see what’s holdin’ him up!”
    Natalie closed her eyes as her father and grandfather shuffled away. With every step, Gramps muttered under his breath about Court TV and Natalie selling Chad down the river. Natalie’s father just shook his head and continued herding the old man toward the porch.
    Natalie sighed, fixed Zeke with an imploring gaze, and said, “I wish I could say he has Alzheimer’s.”
    Zeke could sympathize. His relatives weren’t quite so colorful, but on occasion, his boisterous brothers had given him cause for embarrassment. He glanced past Natalie to spare a long look at Valerie’s shapely legs as she helped her father and grandfather up the steps, no easy feat with cotton balls between her toes.
    “Valerie just broke up with her boyfriend and lost her job.” Natalie shrugged. “A family trait, I guess. When everything goes wrong, we run home to the farm.” Her smile was tremulous. She drew in a bracing breath. “I’ll happily pay for the repairs to your house and garden,” she assured him. “Chad is having a rough time right now, accepting the divorce—and other things. He’s been acting out and being difficult. I think he’s hoping that he’ll finally do