Jeannie Watt Read Free Page A

vinyl booths, cupping a tall glass of iced tea in both hands and passing time with a buxom waitress. The waitress smiled at Matt and shook back her blond curls. Matt gave her a nod as he slid into the booth.
    “How’d it go?” Luke asked.
    “I think the work’s going to take longer than she wants it to.”
    “But you’ll be able to get it done.”
    “No problem,” Matt said as he reached for a glass of ice water.
    Luke glanced up at the waitress, who was watching Matt with unabashed interest. “Becky, this is Matt. He took my place at Tara’s today. I was supposed to work on that porch of hers, but my shoulder’s acting up so bad I couldn’t hammer.”
    Becky squinted her eyes. “You’re working for Tara?”
    He nodded.
    “I’ll bet you’re earning that pay,” she said with a snort before turning to Luke. “Now, what can I get you guys? The special’s good tonight.”
    Matt gave his order after Luke, following the waitress with his eyes as she sauntered back to the kitchen, her hips swinging under the short pink skirt. When he glanced back, he saw that the old man was smiling.
    “Not what you’re thinking,” Matt said dryly. “‘I’ll bet you’re earning that pay’?”
    “Yeah. Well, Tara tends to say what she thinks and do what she wants.”
    “She pisses people off,” Matt translated with a half smile.
    “That she does,” Luke agreed before taking a swallow of tea. He grimaced.
    “I can see it,” Matt replied, as Luke regarded the tall glass in front of him with disgust.
    “What I wouldn’t give for a beer,” Luke muttered. He took another swallow of tea, and grimaced again. “Reacts with my medication, you know. And even if I wanted to live dangerously, Becky there—” he nodded at the waitress as she emerged from the kitchen with their prefab salads “—knows I’m taking it and won’t serve me.”
    “Rough life,” Matt said. “Having somebody look out for you…whether you want them to or not.”
    “Isn’t it?” Luke asked with equal irony. His expression became more serious. “This isn’t a bad town to hang out in for a while, Matt. Think things through.”
    “The small-town cure for what ails you,” Matt said, a corner of his mouth twitching. “I’m not sure it’ll work on a big-city boy. Besides, I thought I was here to help you.”
    Luke’s eyebrows went up. “You are,” he said innocently.
    Yeah, he was. The old guy could barely move his arms. But he knew there was more to the situation than that. They both knew it. Since the incident—well, both incidents, the emotional one and the physical one— Matt’s life hadn’t been the same. If he’d owned a dog, it probably would have run away.
    “I’m doing okay, Luke,” Matt said softly, intently, trying to mean it.
    Luke’s gray eyes held an expression of deep understanding. “Yeah. I know, kid.”
    Matt wondered if he did, and then felt ashamed of himself. Luke had spent thirty years in construction before retiring to Night Sky, his hometown, and he’d seen two tours of duty in Vietnam. He was also a good man—the kind of man Matt always thought his late father had been up until a few months ago when the staggering truth had come to light.
    After dropping the salads on the table, Becky leaned over Matt, brushing cozily against him as she pulled the condiments closer. She smiled as she straightened and ran her hands down the sides of her skirt. The invitation was obvious. Matt smiled back noncommittally and picked up his fork.
    “Not a lot of fresh blood in this town,” Luke murmured after she had reluctantly left.
    “Tell me about Tara Sullivan.”
    “What about her?” Luke asked.
    “She just seems like an unusual person. Easy on the eyes, but all business.”
    “She is all business. And sometimes her bite is as bad as her bark.” Luke speared a giant chunk of iceberg lettuce, then picked up the steak knife and sawed it into edible pieces.
    “Why do you work for her?”
    “I like