Read Online Porch Lights by Dorothea Benton Frank - Free Book Online Page A

know they have sharks there. How many times have you been to the aquarium?”
    “Not since I was a baby.”
    “Really?”
    “Yep. I still have that stuffed turtle in my room at home, though. It’s a baby toy covered in crusty baby slobber. Smells like sour milk.”
    “What?” I said with a grimace. “Nasty!”
    “Your nose is growing, boy,” Jackie said. “I’ve washed that thing a hundred times. At least.”
    “Well, that was from the last time I went. Hey! Look at the dogs!” Charlie said, squealing in excitement.
    Stella and Stanley, Steve Plofker’s chocolate-colored Boykin spaniels, ran across our dunes and right up to the edge of our deck. They were sniffing around his horseshoe crab shell. Charlie ran down the steps to ward them off, and moments later Dr. Love appeared to retrieve his pets. From where we stood up on the porch we could hear him call out to Charlie.
    “They won’t bite,” Steve said. “Go ahead, you can pet them. Who are you?”
    “I’m not allowed to talk to strangers,” Charlie said, acting nervous. He looked up to the porch. “Glam? Mom?”
    “It’s okay, Charlie. Well, hello, Dr. Plofker! Got the day off?” I called out. “Come say hello to my daughter, and that’s my grandson, Charlie.”
    He was all sweaty, and it was obvious he’d been running, getting his daily exercise. He was wearing shorts. Nice legs.
    “Hi, Charlie. Watch my dogs for a minute?”
    Charlie was already on his knees on the ground, scratching them behind the ears. “You bet!”
    “Great! Thanks!”
    Steve ran up the steps, opened the screen door, and said, “It’s Sunday. That’s why I’m not working.”
    “Merciful Mother of God! In all this excitement, I forgot to go to Mass!”
    “It’s okay, Mom. We all forgot.”
    “Well, we’ll just have to go twice next Sunday,” I said. “Would you like a glass of iced tea?”
    “Sure . . . actually, just water would be great. Thanks.”
    “San Pellegrino, Evian, or island eau naturel ?” I said, thinking there was no end to my cleverness and that suddenly I had as much energy as a young woman. “Say hello to Jackie. Jackie, say hello to Steve.”
    “Anything’s fine, Annie. It’s nice to meet you, Jackie. I’ve heard a lot about you and Charlie, and well, I’m so sorry for your loss. I’d shake your hand, but I’m pretty sweaty.”
    Yeah, you’re sweaty, I thought, and you smell like something irresistible out of tenth-century Scotland.
    I left them on the porch, and, as fast as it was humanly possible, I poured some Evian over ice in a glass and rushed back. Steve was leaning against the banisters, and they were talking about Afghanistan. It was probably prudent for him to be made aware that my daughter was handy with a gun and that she knew her way around an operating room too. Might as well get all that unfeminine but necessary weapons expertise business out in the open, right? I handed him the glass, leaned in discreetly, and took a good whiff. Wow.
    “Thanks,” he said.
    “Oh, honey, it’s nothing. Why don’t you stay and enjoy the rest of the afternoon and then have some supper with us?”
    Steve looked at Jackie as if he was waiting for her to second the motion, but she shifted her attention to Charlie and Steve’s dogs.
    “Oh, I probably shouldn’t. I don’t want to impose, I mean . . .”
    “Cute dogs,” Jackie said. “What time are we going to sit down, Mom?”
    “Thanks,” he said.
    Steve cracked a smile. Apparently Jackie liked him well enough to let him come to the table with us. She’d had him worried there for a moment. How did she do that?
    “Oh, I don’t know . . . around six thirty? Or as soon as the sun passes over the yardarm? How does that sound?”
    “Great! That gives me time to make myself presentable. I’ll see you ladies later.”
    “He’s a hottie,” I said, watching him as he crossed our yard. “Isn’t that what they say these days?”
    “I wouldn’t have the first clue what