Read Online Luke's #1 Rule by Cynthia Harrison - Free Book Online Page A

said.
    “Yep.”
    “Including you?”
    “Yep.”
    “Canada’s a whole ’nother country,” Josh said.
    Eventually, they even watched the game. Both boys wanted to sit next to Luke, and when they claimed their seats, Chloe realized she’d been expecting him to sit next to her. Amid the cacophony of vendors calling “Peanuts! Popcorn! Ice Cream!” fans cheering a run batted in, and the boys peppering Luke with questions, a secret unfolded itself inside Chloe. She could really be serious about Luke. She could see a future with him, all of them as a family. Everything she wanted in the whole wide world was right here in the ball park. The Tigers’ victory swept the crowd into a roaring final wave, and soon they were on their way home.
    “What a great day,” Luke said.
    “The best day ever,” Tommy agreed.
    “I love baseball,” Josh enthused.
    And I am falling in love with Luke, Chloe thought, before she could stop the progress of emotion rising up in her.
    ****
    Later that night, after the boys had their bath and a snack before bed, after she’d read half a story before Tommy sagged and softly snored on her shoulder, after Josh closed his eyes and curled into his favorite sleeping position, she wandered into the kitchen to fix herself a sandwich and noticed Luke in the garage, trying to catch up, no doubt, on work he’d let slide today. She tried to talk herself out of the crazy idea that she’d fallen in love with him. How could she love him? She hardly knew him!
    As soon as she opened the fridge, Luke came in from the garage. She admired how hard he worked.
    “Want a sandwich?” she asked.
    “Sure.” He reached for a beer from the back of the bottom shelf of the fridge while she had the door open.
    “Mustard or mayo?”
    “Can I have both?”
    “Of course. You were great with the boys today. Thanks.” She tried to keep her voice as casual as possible when his fingers brushed hers as she handed him the beer he’d been reaching for.
    “I love it. They made me feel a like a kid again.”
    “Especially in that baseball-shaped Ferris wheel.”
    He rolled his eyes. “You hid your boredom pretty well.” If he only knew. She slid bologna onto bread, then slapped the sandwiches together, finally setting them on the table with a flourish worthy of bologna on squishy white bread.
    “I don’t really get bored when I’m with them. If they’re having fun, it’s enough for me. It’s what I want. It’s why I go camping and fishing and, now, to a baseball game.”
    “You fish?”
    She nodded. “I bait the hooks. And then unhook the poor guys and throw them back in.”
    “You never cook your catch?”
    “I draw the line at gutting and skinning.” She took a bite of her sandwich. “Spence used to do that, but now, if the boys catch anything, which is not all that often, we throw it back.”
    “That’s no fun.”
    “It’s some fun. Maybe not to you, but they seem to like it okay.” Wow. She must be tired. He hadn’t called her no fun, just the way she fished. She mentally shook her head. She was an idiot.
    They didn’t say anything as they finished their sandwiches. Hanging out with Luke, being “friends” was not easy. Especially when his hungry eyes said she was dessert. “I’m gonna hit the sack,” she said.
    “Don’t get lonely,” he said.
    It took every bit of her courage to keep walking, to not turn around and sit herself down on his lap and kiss him dizzy.

Chapter Seven
    Bettina always loved having the boys over, and she felt bad about dropping them off at their mom’s in such a hurry again, but Spence had some kind of reaction to his new medication. She wanted to take him to the emergency room, but he refused to go in.
    “I just need to sleep,” he slurred.
    She was so tired, too, that she finally turned the car around and they headed home to bed. In the middle of the afternoon.
    The next morning, Bettina’s first morning of maternity leave, did not go well. She’d slept