On Lavender Lane Read Online Free PDF Page A

summer we spent together before he and Mom split up. He was probably, in many ways, more of a father figure than my own.”
    “He always thought of you as a daughter. I think losing you was the hardest thing about your mom’s and his divorce.…Ready?”
    “I suppose so.” She didn’t sound any happier about thereason for this reunion than Lucas was. Together, hands entwined, they lowered the small, woven basket into the ocean Duncan had taught them both to love.
    As it sank, flowers floated gently to the surface.
    While Cole circled the boat twice around the floating flowers, allowing the others to toss their own blossoms into the water in a final good-bye, Sax, the musician of the group, played taps. The melancholy yet peaceful tones of the song lingered in Lucas’ heart even after they’d ceased to vibrate in the sea air.
    As the boat chugged through the waves back toward Shelter Bay, Sofia came over to Lucas.
    “That was a very moving service,” the older woman said. “I know your father’s so proud of you.”
    “Thanks.”
    “That was Maddy, wasn’t it? The girl you were afraid to ask out.”
    “Yeah.” He managed a slight smile at the terrified twenty-year-old he’d once been. Then, because he was solely responsible for it having ended so badly, he said, “I’m sorry.”
    It was the truth.
    “Oh, that’s all water under the bridge.” She waved his words away. “You were both young. Life moves on.”
    Madeline certainly had moved on. Just as he’d intended. And although heating up a military MRE was the height of his culinary skills, since arriving Stateside, Lucas had taken to watching her cooking shows. She was, impossibly, more beautiful than ever. And, he continually reminded himself, married.
    “So,” Sofia said, and then asked him the question he’d heard innumerable times in the last week. “What are your plans?”
    “I’m not sure,” he responded the same way he had innumerable times.
    “I have a suggestion about that. And a favor to ask.”
    Although her smile was warm, Lucas could tell, from a life that had often depended upon his ability to read people’s expressions, that Sofia De Luca was holding back a secret.
    His curiosity piqued, as he suspected she’d intended, he merely arched a brow. And waited.
    “I don’t want to intrude on your thoughts right now,” she said, avoiding answering his unspoken question. “We can talk after the supper.”
    “She’s up to something,” Lucas mused as he and Charity watched the older woman walk over to talk with Sax and Kara.
    “Absolutely,” Charity agreed. She went up on her toes and brushed a kiss against his cheek. “And if whatever it is will keep you in Shelter Bay longer, I’m all for it.”

3
     
    Somehow, although she couldn’t quite get the image of her husband with another woman out of her mind, Madeline made it through the rest of the demonstration. And although she could tell that her audience was equally distracted, the short ribs proved to be a huge success. Afterward, not only did people line up to have her autograph her book, but there were more than a few sales of the pans she’d used to cook the ribs, which made the store manager, who’d come to watch the demonstration, happy.
    Blessedly, not a single person mentioned the video she suspected they’d all seen by the time she plated the dish.
    Although the original plan had been for her to stay in Omaha overnight, Madeline wanted to get back home. Especially after the operator at the Las Vegas hotel told her that Maxime had already checked out. This was not a conversation to be held over a cell phone. Madeline needed a face-to-face confrontation.
    It was too soon to even begin to think about what she was going to do. Ever since viewing the video, her thoughts had been whirling like fresh basil leaves in a Cuisinart. She needed a clear head.
    And a sharp fillet knife,
a voice in some cold, angry corner of her mind suggested.
    Not that she’d ever resort to