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“But did you see me actually eat any meat?”
He rubbed his chin. “Well, now that you mention it—”
“I’m teasing you.” She laughed. “I love a good steak.”
He shook his head, and a small smile kicked up one corner of his mouth. The left corner, to be exact. Well, heck, wasn’t that just adorable in an ornery sort of way?
“Had me worried there for a minute. Not that I have a problem with vegetarians, but I had to do some serious sweet talking to get those reservations.”
She pulled her coa
t on and grabbed her purse. As they headed out the door, his words registered. “You know, now that you mention it, Kane’s is a bit upscale. How’d you get reservations on such short notice?”
He placed his hand at the small of her back, and Julie’s heart skipped a beat. “I know the owner’s daughter. We belong to the same church.”
The church thing wasn’t a surprise. Wanda was always trying to get Julie to go to church with her. So far Julie had managed to hold the woman off with one excuse or another. The truth of it was, she couldn’t get the sight of her grandmom lying in a casket out of her head. That’d been the last time Julie had been inside a church.
After she locked the door, Sam escorted her to his waiting SUV. Once they were both inside, Julie turned to him and asked, “So, what sort of sweet talking did you do with the owner’s daughter?”
His wink before turning away and starting the engine sent a surge of lust through her apparently sex-starved system. “In exchange for a table for two, I’ve agreed to take a look at her car for her. She’s having some trouble with it stalling out.”
An image of Sam wearing a pair of well-worn jeans and covered in grease came to mind. Suddenly her coat felt a little too warm. “You know your way around an engine?”
He turned on the heater and checked his rearview mirror before pulling out of the parking space. “Dad taught all of us how to work on cars. He used to say there was no sense in paying someone to do a job that you could do yourself. It’s how Vance learned construction and how I learned carpentry work. Dad was all hands-on.”
So, the indomitable Sam Jennings was good with his hands. No surprise there. Geez, he just gets more perfect with each passing minute. At this rate, Julie estimated that she’d be salivating over him by the time dessert arrived. “Is that what you do for a living? Carpentry?”
“I do a little bit of everything. Remodeling and roofing for the most part. Some building but not a lot. That’s Vance’s gig.”
“And you live in the area?”
He nodded. “About twenty minutes to the south, near Amanda.”
“I’m surprised I never ran into you at the restaurant, then.”
A muscle in his jaw twitched. “That’s because I’ve been too wrapped up in my own life. I should’ve been checking on things.”
“I don’t know, your mom seems pretty independent. I’m not sure she would’ve welcomed a lot of interference, even coming from her own son.”
“And yet she’s confided in you,” he stated in a quiet voice as he took his gaze off the road for a second. “Let you help her.”
“Ah, I’m sneaky, though.” She bobbed her eyebrows. “I have ways of getting around her.”
“I’ll bet you do.” His somber expression lightened a bit, and he went back to watching the road.
“So, how’s your mom doing?” She’d seen Wanda the night before. After Julie’s shift at the diner had ended, she’d headed up to the hospital. She’d been feeling better, but it’d been a chaotic visit with all the brothers there, so Julie hadn’t caught any details about Wanda’s condition beyond the obvious fact she’d been feeling better.
Sam let out a deep breath, and she noticed his hands clenching the steering wheel in a tight grip. “The doctor ran about a million different tests. Don’t ask me the names of them—that shit confuses me to no end—but they’ve determined that the blockage can be taken care of with a better diet and medication. No surgery. She should be released in the next couple of days.”
“That’s great news! She’ll be glad to get home, I bet. Hospitals have a way of making you feel worse than you are.”
He snorted. “You’re being kind. She’s driving everyone crazy up there, and we both know it.”
Julie attempted to stifle a laugh when she remembered Wanda all but lecturing one of the nurses the previous night about the merits of healthy food that didn’t taste like dust. “The nurse on duty last night did seem a bit harried. River looked ready to bang some heads together.”
“That’s because Mom keeps insisting she be released. We told her not to worry, that we’re all taking turns handling the diner, but the woman never was good at sitting around doing nothing. Even on our family vacations, Mom was always cleaning or cooking something.” He paused, then in a quieter tone, he said, “And River has a hard time seeing Mom upset or in any kind of distress. Always has.”
“I don’t mean to pry, but Wanda told me once that she and your dad adopted the five of you when you were very young. That must have been tough.”
