right into her soul. He let go of her hand and draped his arm around her shoulders. Then, ever so slowly, he leaned toward her. His eyelashes closed and rested on his cheekbones. The tip of her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. She wanted him to kiss her, wanted to see what the attraction was all about, but just before their lips met, that pesky squirrel dropped a pecan from a low branch and hit her right on top of her head. Even though it was only about half the size of her thumb, it felt like a boulder.
She jerked back and grabbed her head. “Ouch!”
“What?” Luke’s eyes flew open.
“Blame it on that squirrel sitting up there.” She pointed up. “He doesn’t appreciate PDAs during a funeral dinner. He’s throwing pecans.”
Luke’s chuckle turned into a laugh.
His laughter was so infectious that she giggled. “I guess Madam Fate is telling us that even though there’s an attraction here, we should think long and hard about this age difference.”
“You’re attracted to me?” He sounded shocked.
“Yes, I am.” She nodded. “But you’ve got to remember I’ve been divorced for five years, and I can count on the fingers of one hand how many dates I’ve been on. So it could be that I’m just ready to—”
Before she could say another word, he tipped up her chin and kissed her. It started out sweet but then deepened into something longer and more passionate. No one had ever sent shivers down her spine with a first kiss, not even Gerald, but she shouldn’t compare the two. With Gerald, it had been the first time for both of them, and they hadn’t been quite sure how to position their noses.
“Hello!” Carmen’s voice floated through the air. “Tootsie says that it’s time for us to leave.”
“We’ll talk later,” Luke said as he stood up.
Diana handed him his coat, and together they took a few steps toward the house.
“There you are. It’s a little chilly out here, isn’t it?” Carmen shivered.
Depending on whether you’re making out like sophomores in high school, Diana thought, or just sitting like a bump on a log, watching a squirrel bury pecans.
“Little bit,” she said, “but I had to get away from that heavy feeling in the house.”
Luke lengthened his stride and went on ahead of them. “I’ll see y’all in the house.”
“I hid on the front porch swing,” Carmen admitted. “Sissy has a quilt out there, so I wrapped up in it. I wish I could say that I found all the answers to this divorce thing, but I didn’t. It was peaceful, though.”
“Let’s hope this is the end of cold weather and that all we have is sunny days for the next few weeks.”
“You need to get out of the forest so you can see the sky,” Carmen said. “The reason we’re leaving is because there’s a storm brewing off to the southwest. Tootsie’s afraid if it starts to rain, we’ll get that big motor home stuck in the mud on the way back to Scrap.”
“What’s the weatherman saying?” Diana slowed down so that Carmen didn’t have to run on the way back to Sissy’s house.
“That we’ve got a solid week of rain and possible thunderstorms. Sissy said she’s so glad that God gave us a sunny day for the graveside services. Even though it’s nippy and there’s a wind, at least we didn’t have to shiver under umbrellas today.”
“Amen to that.” Diana caught her first glimpse of the storm clouds rolling in from somewhere down around Paris. A bolt of lightning flashed, and thunder followed it in a few seconds.
Tootsie leaned out the door of the motor home and motioned them to hurry. “We’ve got to get home,” she yelled when they were close. “That thing’s coming on fast. Sissy just heard that there’s a tornado on the ground in Paris, and we’re right in line for it. I don’t want to be in this tin can or stuck on the road, either, when it gets here.”
Diana and Carmen jogged the rest of the way and had just gotten inside when the first big drops of rain hit the windshield. The twenty-minute drive to the house took twice that long, but the rain had slackened off slightly when they arrived. The four ladies dashed inside, leaving Luke to get things leveled and the extension cord plugged in to the electrical outlet on the side of the house.
Was this an omen? Diana wondered as she climbed the stairs to