The Last Husband Read Online Free PDF Page A

burger. I had stood there waiting patiently, trying not to tap my foot
and sigh, and he had given me a special look while his date had taken her sweet
time thinking about what to order. I can still remember the special feeling
that had caressed me and I laughed now as I had then: uncontrollably and
hysterically. I was laughing so hard that I had to bend over to catch my
breath. “You okay, Lucky?”
    “Yes,”
I gasped. “Just don’t make that look again.” I hiccupped and Zane wiggled his
eyebrows at me. “Or do that,” I glared at him and he contorted his face.
    “Would
you rather me look like a scary monster?”
    “You’re
still a handsome scary monster.”
    “She
thinks I’m handsome, she thinks I’m handsome.” He jumped up and ran around the
garden, pumping his fist in the air, and I laughed again. This time I was able
to control it and I watched him running around like a man with no worries or
concerns. For that brief moment, everything was all right and was going to be
fine. There was nothing that was weighing our minds down.
    “Zane,
are you done yet? I’m hungry.” I jumped up and looked at the flowers still in
my hand. “And what flowers are these? I love them.”
    He
walked over to me, still smiling, and looked down at the stems in my hand. He
picked up the flower with the huge white petals and a green center and smiled.
“This is my favorite; it’s a Pom Daisy.”
    “A
Pom Daisy? Like a pom-pom?” I questioned, secretly happy that his favorite
flower was my favorite of all the flowers in his garden as well.
    “Well,
you can’t do a cheer with it, but yes,” he laughed.
    “I
bet you dated all the cheerleaders in high school, didn’t you?” A flash of
jealousy hit me as I asked the question and I surveyed his face intently. I
wanted to ask him what sort of girls he usually dated, but I knew that would be
opening Pandora’s Box and I didn’t really want to go there.
    “Not
all.” He stared back at me. “Just some.”
    “Oh,
sounds like me, I only dated some of the football players,” I retorted
instinctively. I groaned inside at my words. How immature was I?
    “I’m
sure they all wanted to date you,” he said lightly, his eyes piercing into
mine. “Now, this flower here,” he continued and picked up another flower from
my hand. “This flower is an Amaryllis. It’s a native plant of South America. Do
you see how the petals are red on the outside and white on the inside? Well, I
always call these petals blood-soaked.”
    “Blood-soaked?”
My voice rose. “Well, that’s morbid.”
    “I
know.” He grinned and handed the two flowers back to me. “I wish I had some
roses to give you, then I could recite Shakespeare or make up my own ditty:
Lucky, let me count the ways that …”
    “You
want to eat me,” I interrupted laughing.
    “Well,
among other things.”
    “Zane!”
I grabbed his hand and pulled him inside with me. “Let’s go out. And no more
sexual innuendos for the rest of the day.”
    “That
I can’t promise.”

 
    ***

 
    I
licked the last drops of syrup from the corners of my mouth and grinned at
Zane. “I can’t believe I’ve never noticed the way you eat before.” I watched as
he put his cutlery down on the plate. “You’re so prim and proper, Miss Emily
would be so proud.”
    “Who’s
Miss Emily?” He looked at me in confusion.
    “The
etiquette queen, duh.”
    “Oh
you mean Emily Post?”
    “Yes!”
    “I’ve
never heard her called Miss Emily before. It must be a southern thing.”
    “I’m
not southern,” I growled.
    “You’re
from the South.”
    “I’m
from Florida.”
    “Florida’s
in the south.” He grinned. “Or do you need a geography lesson?”
    “I
know it’s in the south, but it’s not the South like South Carolina and Arkansas. Now they are the South.”
    “What
about Alabama and Mississippi?”
    “Well,
they are as well.” I rolled my eyes at him as if to say, duh .
    “So
all the states in the south are the