breakfast, lunch, or dinner with you.”
“You would?” Judge’s eyes rounded, and he got to his feet. He couldn’t have this conversation sitting down, and he paced over to the window and looked out. He couldn’t see farther than two feet, and only a whooshing grayness stared back at him.
He faced the room as she said, “Don’t sound so surprised.”
“I am a little surprised.”
“I am too,” she said with a light laugh. “I don’t know, Judge. There’s just…something about you.”
“Something good, I hope,” he said.
“Something good,” she confirmed.
“So we’ll keep in touch,” he said, basically his way of asking her if he could text her between now and when they went out.
“Yeah,” she said slowly. “We’ll keep in touch.”
“Who are you talking to?” someone on her end of the line asked, and it was definitely her daughter.
June obviously moved the phone away from her mouth, because when she said, “Judge, now hush,” it came through quieter.
“Oooh, Judge Glover,” Lucy Mae teased. “Did he ask you out? Did you say yes?” Her voice grew louder with every word she said. “Judge, ask her out! She told me she’d say yes if you’d ask her again!”
“Oh, my word,” June said. “Judge, I have to go find a way to mute my daughter.”
Judge started laughing, but he managed to say, “Talk to you later, June,” before she ended the call. He let his hand fall to his side and he stared at the open doorway that led into the hall.
He quieted as warmth spread through him. June had been thinking about him. June had been talking about him.
“With Lucy Mae,” he said under his breath. She’d been talking about him with her daughter.
A whoop came from his mouth, and he darted out the doorway and into the kitchen, where Mister whisked eggs in a bowl.
“What are you cheering about?” he asked.
Preacher entered the kitchen too, only one arm in his shirt. “What’s going on? I heard someone yell.”
Judge looked at his brothers, who both stared steadily back at him. He almost didn’t want to tell them. He’d let Preacher have his privacy while he’d dated Charlie for months and months.
He didn’t want to hold things too close to his heart. He might need their help. So he said, “I just called June and asked her out, and she said yes.”
“She said yes?” Preacher asked, his eyebrows shooting toward the ceiling.
“You’re kidding,” Mister said, the whisk coming to a stop.
“I’m not kidding,” Judge said, his face stretching with a wide grin. “She said yes.” He felt like he was floating on a cloud, and it didn’t matter that they couldn’t get together for lunch at Ace’s house that day. It didn’t matter that the perfect gift for Ward sat at the homestead, unopened. It didn’t even matter that he’d come in third for the Christmas light display show again.
He’d asked, and Juniper Nichols had said yes.
Chapter Eleven
Ward stared at the assortment of food in the fridge, trying to find something diabetic-friendly he could make for Christmas Day breakfast.
Pancakes, waffles, and French toast were out.
Dot didn’t like eggs or yogurt.
He really liked oatmeal, but that was carbs with plenty of sugar, and both of those could send her into a diabetic coma.
He had avocadoes, and according to the research he’d done last night, they were a diabetic-friendly food. If she’d eat eggs, he could make a killer omelet with smoked salmon, broccoli, and an avocado crema.
He closed the fridge and glanced over to the couch, where Dot slept. He’d seen her there when he’d finally finished soothing himself with online research and a few newly written bars of the song he was working on with his guitar. He’d expected her to rise before him, but she’d been snoozing when he’d arrived back in the living room.
She continued to sleep even though he’d already made coffee and the scent of it was starting to fill the house.
George came padding into the kitchen, and Ward reached down to pat the dog. “What does she eat for breakfast, bud? Do you know?” The hound probably needed to eat too, and Ward reopened the fridge and took out the eggs. He bought them in crates of five dozen, because he and Mister could eat them for every meal.
It was Christmas, and while Ward didn’t normally spend it alone in Bull House, the day still held some magic to it. He cut open the two avocadoes he had and started to mash them together with garlic, salt and pepper, and a