Page 48

“Really, he didn’t mention that? You sound concerned, baby.”

She loved the way he called her baby. She smiled as he took a step closer to her.

“He’s a good man. Your sister will be safe on a date with him. Speaking of dates, how about the four of us go on another one? If it’s not too short of a notice, how about tonight?” he asked as he gently tugged on her ponytail. She giggled at the gesture and he smiled.

“I kind of said I would keep an eye on Ben with my parents.”

“We could go for ice cream after dinner and take Ben with us.”

“That sounds good, Charlie, then you can drop him back off to me and the four of you could go out alone,” Diana said as she stood by the porch door. Both Charlie and Lori hadn’t even heard her approach. They were so caught up in each other.

“Well there’s your answer.” Lori looked at him then back toward the empty porch doorway where her mother stood only moments ago. Now she was gone.

“I’ll call you later.” He kissed her on the cheek and went back toward the barn.

* * * *

Charlie, Dante, Trevor, and Matt headed home after work, and on their way past their parents’ house they saw their father waving them down.

“Hey, Dad, what’s going on?” Charlie asked from the passenger side of Matt’s pickup truck.

“Your mom wants to know if you guys are coming to dinner or not. Andrew, Michelle, and the kids are coming, too.”

“Yeah that sounds good,” Matt said. “I don’t know about these guys though. I think they have another date tonight.”

Charlie shot him a look.

“Oh really?” Phil asked, sounding curious.

“Yeah but not until later. We’ll be there,” Charlie said and Matt headed over to Charlie’s place to drop them off.

An hour later Charlie, Dante, and Trevor arrived at their parents’ house where Andrew, Matt, and the others were sitting on the front porch enjoying some cold beers.

“There they are,” Andrew said as Trevor, Dante, and Charlie walked onto the porch to join everyone.

“You guys are working hard at Lou’s place. Can’t wait to see it.” Phil handed his sons a beer each.

“Yeah it’s coming along nicely. Lou’s daughter should be pleased with it,” Charlie said as he leaned against the porch railing and peeked out toward the yard where his niece and nephew were playing.

“Lou’s daughter? You mean Lori, don’t you? There’s no need to hide it, brother. Everyone here knows you three went out on a date with her last night,” Matt said and the others started laughing.

“What do you mean everyone knows?” Charlie asked kind of on the defensive.

“The whole town basically. I told Lori earlier today that hearts were breaking,” Andrew added.

“You’re not kidding,” Jasper said as he approached the entrance to the porch. Everyone started whistling and hollering at how good he looked all cleaned up for his date with Maggie.

“You look fantastic, Jasper,” Michelle said as she held Andrew’s arm.

“Thanks, what do you think about the flowers? Too much?” he asked very seriously.

“She’ll love them, son,” Phil told his nephew as he patted him on the shoulder. Jasper said good-bye and off he went to pick up Maggie.

Michelle and Terry started setting the table on the enclosed screened porch.

“So I guess it’s sa

fe to assume that things went well with Lori the other night?” Andrew asked as he stood next to Charlie, Dante, and Trevor.