The Posse Read Online Free PDF Page A

foreboding.
    This is not a date. This is
one of my oldest friends taking me out to dinner so I don’t have to
be alone the day my kids left.
    Jude scanned the menu,
trying to focus her mind on food and not the tumbling feeling in
her stomach. Her eyes caught on one entry in the appetizers column
as she remembered what Matt had told her earlier.
    “Why don’t we get some of
this roasted garlic to start? It looks good.” Ordering garlic
should make it clear that I know this isn’t a real date.
    Matt glanced at her, a
furrow between his brows. He nodded and turned to the waitress who
appeared tableside.
    “We’ll start with the
roasted garlic, and Jude, what do you want to drink?”
    “Ahhh...” She looked at the
wine list. “Just a glass of the house white, please.”
    Matt ordered a whiskey sour,
and the waitress left them alone again.
    Jude glanced around, taking
in the ambience and trying to avoid seeing the other couples
nearby, who were holding hands or murmuring softly to each other.
There was no denying the romance of the place, and it made her all
the more uneasy that Matt had brought her here.
    He was watching her, she
realized. Shifting in her chair, she clutched for something to say,
some safe topic of conversation.
    “The bed and breakfast is
really coming along.”  There, that was a good start, bringing
up their mutual interest in the business of Crystal Cove and the
project spearheaded by her late husband.
    “Yeah, I saw Logan out there
today. I guess he was checking up on stuff.”
    Jude frowned. “Logan was at
the site today? That’s strange, he almost always comes by after
he’s been there, to catch me up on how it’s going.”
    Matt shrugged. “Maybe he was
running behind today.”
    “Maybe.”
    The waitress returned with
their drinks and appetizer. The head of garlic sat in the middle of
a round red plate. The ends had been cut off before it was roasted,
and the aroma made Jude’s mouth water. She pulled off a slice of
the crisp wheat bread, captured a clove of garlic and spread it. It
was still hot and felt like heaven in her mouth.
    Matt helped himself to a
piece, too, and swirled his drink before taking a swig. Jude
watched his hands, so different from Daniel’s. Matt had a perpetual
tan, and that included his hands. In the dim light, she could
barely make out the dusting of blond hairs on the backs of his
fingers.
    All in all, she had to
concede, Matt was a good-looking guy. She caught a few other women
in the dining room sneaking peeks at him. He looked a good ten
years younger than he was. His athletic lifestyle and frenetic pace
kept him in shape. But Jude thought the real attraction was the
kindness in his soft blue eyes.
    The black shirt set off his
blond hair. The sleeves were snug enough that Jude could see the
muscles in his arms ripple as he reached for another slice of
bread.
    “I think it’s going to bring
a lot more business to the Cove, even to Beach Street.”
    Jude, absorbed in her study
of him, was just briefly lost by what Matt said. Then she
remembered and picked up the thread of conversation, grateful for
something to do.
    “Without a doubt. That’s why
Daniel and Logan decided to go that route. At first they were
thinking restaurant. Not anything to compete with the Tide, of
course. I’d have wiped the floor with them, anyway, if they had
gone that way. More upscale, more a fancy-dinner night place.” She
waved her hand, indicating the room. “Kind of like this, I
guess.”
    “The B-and-B will attract
more business. More people staying right there in town and spending
their money there, rather than taking a room at the chain hotel off
the highway. It’s going to be good. I had the organizer of a
surfing event call that woman who’s managing for you guys. She
booked rooms for a week next February.”
    Jude smiled. “Thanks, Matt.
I don’t know what Crystal Cove would do without you. You’re like
our business rep these days. I hope people appreciate