Deserving of Luke by Tracy Wolff

think what would happen when the kid got a little older. She was going to have to invest in a good air horn to keep the girls away.
    â€œI’ll tell you what. Why don’t you help me finish planting this tree and then we’ll both go inside and get cleaned up? We can try to talk Aunt Penny into going into town for dinner. If you eat all your vegetables, I’ll take you for ice cream.”
    â€œSure. No problem.”
    She narrowed her eyes at the easy acquiescence. “French fries do not count as a vegetable.”
    â€œAw, Mom.”
    â€œYou can aw, Mom me all you want. That’s thedeal. Vegetables—preferably green—in exchange for ice cream. Take it or leave it.”
    Luke paused, considering. “Two scoops?’
    â€œOf vegetables? Absolutely.”
    â€œ Moooooooom. I meant ice cream.”
    â€œOh. You did? I thought you were anxious for a full plate of asparagus.”
    He made a gagging noise. “Broccoli in exchange for two scoops of ice cream—strawberry and cookies-and-cream. That’s my final offer.”
    â€œYour final offer, huh?”
    â€œYep. Take it or leave it.”
    She reached out and tweaked his nose. “I guess I’ll take it, then.”
    â€œWoo-hoo!” he exclaimed, going up on tiptoes to brush a kiss across her cheek. “Thanks, Mom! You’re the best.”
    Paige pretended to buff her nails against her shirt. “I try.”
    â€œYou succeed! Now come on.” He yanked at her. “Let’s get the tree.”
    â€œWe need to finish the hole first. It’s not deep enough for the root ball.”
    â€œSo what?”
    â€œSo what? It won’t do us any good to plant the tree if we don’t make sure it’s going to survive.”
    Luke rolled his eyes. “All right, all right.” He reachedfor the shovel and began digging enthusiastically, a huge grin on his face.
    When they were finally finished, she herded him to the house for a shower. With an almost nine-year-old’s typical aversion to any water he couldn’t swim in, Luke mumbled and grumbled about that part of their bargain all the way to the house. But once they got inside, he made a beeline—whooping and hollering—for the only working shower in the place.
    â€œWhat’s that all about?” Penny asked as she—and her do-it-yourself plumbing manual—came out of the downstairs bathroom.
    Paige shook her head at the sight of her beautiful sister dressed in painter’s overalls, and covered in something she’d rather not know the identity of. Penny—and her stubborn determination to do almost all the work at the inn by herself—was the primary reason they only had one working bathroom at the moment.
    â€œI promised him we’d all have dinner and ice cream in town, provided it was okay with you.”
    â€œAre you kidding me? I’m all about ice cream.”
    â€œAnd germy pancakes.”
    â€œOf course— Wait. What kind of pancakes?”
    Paige explained Luke’s take on wheat germ and they both laughed. “I guess I still need to work on that recipe before I serve it to the guests,” Penny said, crossing to the kitchen to wash her hands.
    â€œI like them.”
    â€œYeah, but you like almost anything. You’ve got an industrial-strength stomach.”
    â€œHey. My stomach has served me well through the years.”
    â€œI know. Remember that time we climbed the trees in Old Man Witherspoon’s orchard and gorged on cherries? You were the only one who didn’t get sick.”
    â€œI do remember. And it was a good thing, since I had to get all of you home.”
    â€œI thought Mom was going to kill you for letting me get so sick.”
    â€œNot that that was anything unusual. Mom always wanted to kill me.”
    An awkward silence descended and Paige waited for all the platitudes Penny had voiced through the years. Waited for her sister to