to a different church, but all of us army wives went together. The girls were all pretty involved with the youth group. This is our first Sunday without them.” She started with the gravy first.
“Can I ask you something kind of personal?” Luke’s brows drew down in a serious frown.
“Sure.” She nodded.
He’d made breakfast, so she owed him at least one question. She just hoped that it didn’t have anything to do with the divorce. For the first time since Wednesday, she was really hungry.
“Is Diana seeing someone? She said she’d been divorced five years, so I was just wondering if she’s in a relationship.”
“She hasn’t had time for a boyfriend, or so she says,” Carmen answered. “We’ve tried to set her up with guys, but she’s refused us every time. She’s devoted herself to Rebecca, pretty much like Joanie and I did with our girls. Except both of us have a husband some of the time, and she didn’t.”
“Thank you.” Luke’s smile turned brighter than the sun rising over the horizon.
Carmen bit off the end of a crisp piece of bacon. She realized why he was asking and wanted to slap herself on the forehead. Eli said that she’d had pregnancy brain when she was expecting Natalie. Maybe now she had divorce-brain syndrome—DBS—that would excuse a lot in the next few weeks.
“If I can ever get up the courage, I’m going to ask her out to dinner while we’re at the old house,” he answered. “But can this stay between us? I don’t want things to get weird while we’re all cramped up in the motor home.”
“Won’t we be just as crowded in the house?” Carmen asked.
“No, because y’all are staying in the house, and Aunt Tootsie says I’ll take over the motor home when we get to Scrap,” Luke explained.
“I can keep your secret,” Carmen agreed. She wasn’t jealous—well, maybe a little bit. Her marriage was falling apart at the seams, and Diana could have a fresh start if she was willing.
“Thank you,” he said.
“But you do realize that she’ll be thirty-nine next month.” She couldn’t ask if Luke was just looking for a good time, but she couldn’t bear to see Diana in pain again.
“And I’ll be thirty-two. I’m attracted to her like I’ve never been drawn to another woman—not that there’s been that many in my life. I’ve been too busy for even friendships. Maybe it’s a wake-up call that it’s time to get serious about settling down. Maybe it’s Uncle Smokey trying to see that I have a loving partner, like he did. Whatever it is, I want to explore it further,” he said.
There was no way in God’s great green earth that Diana would ever go out with Luke, Carmen thought. He was so totally different from Gerald, who’d been the love of her life. Gerald was six feet, four inches of pure muscle, dark haired and dark eyed—“sex on a stick” is what Diana had called him. The girls all privately agreed. But Carmen would keep Luke’s secret, even if he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.
“Good morning.” Tootsie came out of the motor home with a full plate in her hands. This morning she was wearing a red sweat suit, and her blonde hair looked like she’d just stepped out of a beauty salon.
Carmen patted her own brunette ponytail. “How do you do that, Tootsie?”
“What?”
“Wake up looking all put together,” Carmen said.
“Honey, I learned years ago to do my own hair. Smokey liked big hair, so I’ve always kept it blonde and piled up high on my head. I’d take it down, and he’d brush it for me every night before bed, and in the morning I’d get it all fixed while he made breakfast,” Tootsie said.
“That is so sweet,” Joanie said as she joined them. She was wearing gray sweatpants and a matching top. She poured a cup of coffee and took a seat beside Tootsie. “And to whomsoever made this food, thank you.”
“That would be Luke.” Carmen nodded toward him.
Diana appeared in jeans and a zipped-up hoodie with a biscuit stuffed with bacon and eggs in her hands. “Coffee out here?”
Luke poured a cup and scooted down on the bench to make room for her. “Is that all you’re eating?”
“I have to have coffee before I eat anything. This little biscuit is just the appetizer. I plan on eating more after this.” Diana picked up the cup and took her first sip. “Good and strong. So where are we