Summer Breeze Read Online Free PDF

chew the fat.”
    “Patsy doesn’t serve fat,” Cody spoke up. “She serves chocolate cake. It comes in squares, just the way I like it.”
    “You mean no one can sit down to eat?” Patsy asked. “So this little restaurant is going to serve fast food?”
    Brenda nodded. “Basically you’re right—only it won’t taste like fast food. That’s what the owner assured us. Bitty got the idea from a little beachfront restaurant in California. It’ll be omelets-to-go and sandwiches-to-go. She wraps everything in parchment paper, warm and easy to hold. Real cute, too, and reasonable prices. She’s got a simple menu that one or two cooks can handle—with no need for waitresses or busboys.”
    Steve slipped his arm around his wife. “Brenda is going to do the interior design for the place. She has some great ideas for a color scheme and decorations.”
    “Now there’s a good idea,” Patsy said. “I don’t think any house at the lake is as pretty as yours.”
    “Hey, you haven’t seen mine,” Pete protested.
    “You’re my friend, Pete, but I shudder to think what your place looks like.”
    “Shudder all you want. I’ll have you know I’m as neat as a pin, handy with tools, and a fanatic about my yard. I built all those planter boxes for the shops, didn’t I? You’ve never seen flowers as happy as the ones in my garden at home. And how about that soundproof wall I put up between your salon and my store? I can do carpentry with the best of ’em. Not to mention my cooking, which I must say is pretty up-and-walkin’ good. I make the tastiest chili anybody ever ate. When I fry up a mess of fish and hush puppies, there’s not a soul around that can stay away.”
    “You’re mighty skilled at bragging, too,” Patsy added. “Well, one of these days maybe Cody and I will come over and inspect this house and yard you’re so proud of, Pete. Meanwhile, I’m glad Brenda is going to put her artistic skills to work on the new shop. If you have any ideas about improving the looks of my salon, honey, I’d be happy to hear them.”
    “I’ll give it some thought,” Brenda said. “Well, we’d better head out in the boat if I’m going to begin teaching Cody to swim before sunset.”
    “I don’t want to swim,” Cody said. “My daddy always told me that swimming is for fish.”
    As Brenda and Steve started toward their boat, Cody dawdled behind. When the couple was safely out of earshot, he leaned over and spoke in Patsy’s ear.
    “I … am … not … a … fish ,” he emphatically enunciated.
    “I know you’re not a fish,” she whispered back. “People swim too. Now go get on the boat.”
    “Okay,” Cody said forlornly.
    Pete was chuckling as he cast his line out across the water again. “That Cody’s got more brains than folks think. He knows he’s not a fish, and that’s just exactly what I’ve been trying to tell you. Jesus missed the mark when He told His friends to be fishers of men. That idea is plumb loco, and don’t try to explain to me about being born again, Patsy Pringle. I got born once, and that was plenty.”
    Patsy pinched her lips shut and reeled in her line. Pete sure thought he knew a lot about everything. But he had no idea that the woman on the bench next to him was fishing for more than crappie and bass. She was fishing for him , and if she had her way, Pete Roberts would be born again before the summer was out.

    As Kim Finley and her twins approached the lakeshore, she waved at the couple on the end of the dock. It was nice to see Pete Roberts and Patsy Pringle sitting so comfortably together, she thought. They made a perfect couple. Though Patsy was reluctant to admit it, everyone else knew Pete had fixed his eye on her the moment he opened his bait shop next to her salon. She enjoyed his company too, even though she complained about him. Kim wondered how long it would take for Patsy to come to her senses. It hadn’t taken Derek long to win Kim’s heart, she recalled as