to face him. “I’m tall and gangly. I have red hair and freckles. I’m old enough to have a daughter in the army . . .”
He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, not in a bathroom mirror. I think you are gorgeous.”
“Well, thank you again. It’s been a long time since anyone said something that nice about me.” Diana blushed.
He removed his hand, and they continued on, but the silence wasn’t nearly as awkward as it had been before.
Chapter Six
Chocolate-chip pancakes with bacon on the side had been the traditional Sunday-morning breakfast since Natalie was a toddler. Carmen awoke with that on her mind and had already slung her legs off the top bunk before she remembered where she was. All the events since Wednesday flashed through her mind like she’d pushed the fast-forward button on the remote control.
She pulled her legs back up and covered her head with the blanket. She wanted to just stay in bed all day. Everyone had been so good to support her that she couldn’t be the drama queen and ruin the trip for everyone. Why didn’t Eli just come home? If she could talk to him in person for only a week, maybe they could get all this sorted out. He’d taken emergency leave when his mother had her appendix removed, and that was just day surgery.
She threw the covers back and glared at the ceiling. Her imagination took control. The only reason why Eli wouldn’t want to face her was if he’d been cheating on her. What did the woman look like? Was she smarter than Carmen? Was she younger? Did his mother like her?
Sitting up and taking a deep breath, she tried to put the negative thoughts out of her mind. She crawled down the ladder at the side of the bed and peeked around the kitchen area to see Luke at the stove. She was fully covered in her pajamas, but it just didn’t seem right to parade around in front of another man in her night clothing. She grabbed up the clothes she’d laid out on the foot of her bed the night before and dashed into the bathroom, where she dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, brushed her teeth, and pulled her dark hair back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She dropped her folded pajamas on the bed, and in half a dozen steps she was in the kitchen area.
“Good mornin’, Carmen. Coffee is made. Biscuits are about done, and sausage gravy is ready. I’ll have this bacon fried in a few minutes. How do you like your eggs?” Luke asked.
“Scrambled,” she answered.
“Me, too, so I’ll go ahead and make enough for everyone. They’ll all be up pretty soon.” He cracked a dozen eggs in a bowl and whisked them until they were frothy. “Maybe we’ll just take our breakfast out to the picnic table. It’s a beautiful morning, but it’s a little nippy. You might need a jacket.”
“I’ll get my sweater.” She moved back to the lower bunk bed and pulled a cardigan from her suitcase.
When she returned, he handed her a plate. “You can go ahead and get your food ready. I’ll bring out the coffee and juice.”
Carmen tore open a couple of biscuits and covered them with gravy, added four pieces of bacon on the side, and then dipped into the eggs to finish filling up her plate. She carried it out to the wooden picnic bench that was provided at each campsite, took one look at the full plate, and wondered what she was thinking. She never ate this much breakfast, not even when she’d skipped supper the night before.
Luke brought out a tray with coffee mugs, small glasses, and carafes of coffee and orange juice. Then he went back inside and returned with his plate piled even higher than Carmen’s. “I hardly ever make a big breakfast just for me, but this morning I was thinking about Uncle Smokey and the way he always made this kind of food up at the old house.”
Carmen took a deep breath. “Being out here is nice.”
Luke poured coffee and juice for both of them. “I love being outdoors, especially in the morning.”
“Natalie would love this. We had a Sunday tradition of pancakes and bacon before we went to church, and sometimes we’d eat on the patio.”
“Did all y’all go to services together? Did Aunt Tootsie go with you?” Luke asked.
“No, she and Smokey went