Finding The Way Back To Love (Lakeside Porches 3) by Katie O'Boyle

asked her, “Dance?”
    “There’s supposed to be a moon tonight.” Gwen stroked his arm. “How about a walk down to the garden where Joel and Manda were married a few months ago?”
    Peter touched his warm lips to her cool cheek. “Let’s.”
    Haley opened the oven and slid out a ceramic baking dish. The aroma of tomatoes, basil, and oregano swirled around her as she carried it to the island and set it on a trivet.
    “Lasagna.” Rick’s eyes devoured the steaming pasta. “I’m saved from starvation!”
    “You always know how to make me happy,” Haley told him, and her bubbling laugh filled the kitchen.
    “How can I help get the meal on the table?”
    “Placemats are in that middle drawer.” She pointed. “Dishes and glasses in the cabinets above. Silverware in the bins on the counter.”
    Rick set their places, then stood studying the wall of cabinets. “They really knew how to build storage a hundred fifty years ago.”
    “Gwen said that was part of the pantry. She knocked down the other walls to open the space, put in the island, and made the kitchen her favorite room. I love the marble countertops and gray paint colors. I’m always relaxed in this room.”
    A wireless router blinked over Rick’s head. He spotted a roll-top desk with a padded stool tucked in a nook. “Does she have a laptop in the old desk?”
    “She does. Her office—she’s a psychologist—is down the hall, but she does her personal business here.”
    He added blue cloth napkins beside the plates. “She’s cool with you being here?”
    Haley set the basket of Italian bread next to the salad.
    “Haley?” Rick waited a beat before he asked, “You okay?”
    She nodded and licked her lips. “We need to talk seriously, but I need to eat first.” Tight lines had appeared around her mouth, and her hands shook.
    “Agreed. You sit down, and I’ll do whatever.”
    Haley let him pour their iced teas while she made herself comfortable on a stool across from him.
    “While we eat,” he said with an easy smile, “I’ll tell you about my summer, if you’ll tell me about yours.”
    “Deal. You go first.” She blew on a forkful of lasagna.
    Rick got her laughing about his hot, tedious research job on the beaches and wetlands of the Florida Panhandle, while the carbs and crisp salads restored their energy.
    Haley regaled him with the foibles of the wealthy patrons at her summer job in Saratoga.
    “Good tippers?”
    “Very good tippers. And plenty of opportunity to steer them to my prints and posters in the gift shops around town.”
    “Your bottom line for May through July was higher than I’ve ever seen. Are you sure you want a career in botany? You’re a fantastic graphic artist, Haley, and you know how to please your clientele.”
    “Thank you for saying that,” Haley said with a proud smile. “I do want to finish my degree in botany, but I don’t know where I’m going with it.”
    When both of them were full, Rick slid off his stool and gathered their dishes. “I’m cleaning up, and I want you to sit still and keep talking.”
    Haley swiveled so she could watch him at the sink. “You can just put those in the dishwasher, you know.”
    He flashed a grin back at her. “I could, but I need to do something with my hands while we talk.” He scraped the plates and bowls, put leftovers into the refrigerator, and listened to her talk about everything except her pregnancy.
    The garbage disposal interrupted her for a minute. When it finished, he reminded her, “You were going to tell me how Gwen feels about you being here.”
    “Okay, I guess it’s time.”
    He nodded and began drying the plates and bowls with a watchful eye on her.
    She opened with, “Did you know that Ursula got pregnant with me when she was eighteen, and her father made my dad marry her?”
    Rick’s lost his grip on a bowl. Haley gasped. He grabbed it before it hit the floor. He set the bowl and the dishtowel on the counter and walked a few paces