The Surprise of His Life Read Online Free PDF Page A

he added,
"Is Walker there?"
    "Yeah,
we just got home."
    "Well,
look, I won't keep you, sweetheart," Dean said. "And I promise to see
you tomorrow. Okay?"
    "Sure,"
Lindsey answered. Her mother hadn't looked up. She was still wiping the
countertop and arranging the cream pitcher just so on the paper doily.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
    "Tell
Walker that I'll—" Dean began, but never got to finish.
    "Let
me talk to him," Walker said, covering the distance to the phone and
reaching for it.
    "Walker
wants to talk to you," Lindsey said, and handed over the receiver.
    "Hey,
what's going on?" Walker asked, one hand splayed at his waist.
    "Oh,
hey there," Dean said, hastily tacking on, "Look, I'm still out at
Rig Three."
    "Is
there a problem?"
    "No.
I mean, yes and no."
    "What's
wrong? I thought all you had to do was fly in a replacement for the defective
part."
    "Yeah,
well... I thought I'd just hang around to see if the part works. You know how
much trouble we've had with this drill. I just want to make certain everything's
okay before I fly back in. With our luck, I'd just have to turn around and fly
right back out."
    The
silence that followed suggested that Walker was having trouble making sense out
of his partner and friend's reasoning. For one thing, they weren't accustomed
to baby-sitting a part. For another, if the part didn't work, if it, too, had
to be replaced, Dean would have to fly in for another replacement.
    Dean
was obviously hearing the same lack of logic, for he rushed ahead with,
"I'll, uh, I'll see you guys tomorrow."
    "Right,"
Walker said. "Tomorrow." Stretching, he replaced the receiver on the
wall phone.
    "Problem,
huh?" Lindsey said.
    "Yeah.
Rig Three."
    Lindsey
looked at Walker; Walker looked at Lindsey.
    "I
didn't know what to do about dinner," Bunny said, overbrightly and with
the words tumbling over themselves, "so I thawed a chicken. I mean, I
didn't know whether you'd be going out with your father or what, so I thawed a
chicken just in case. We could have fried chicken or chicken and dumplings or I
could make that chicken casserole you like."
    "Anything's
fine, Mom, but don't go to any trouble—"
    "It's
no trouble. We've got to eat," Bunny said, opening the refrigerator and
seizing the chicken as though it were a lifeline to her sanity. Her back to
Walker, she said, "And why don't you join us, Walker?"
    Lindsey's
eyes found Walker's. "Why don't you? That is, if you don't already have
plans." Lindsey held her breath, wondering if Walker did, indeed, have
plans for a Saturday night. If the women of Galveston had any sense, he was
booked through the weekend, through the rest of his life.
    "Why
don't I take you two out?" Walker asked, unaware of Lindsey's relief.
    "Nonsense,"
Bunny said. "You're tired, Lindsey's tired. We'll eat in." As she
said this, she pulled open a drawer and extracted a knife. She began to cut up
the chicken with what could only be called exuberance. "Hand me a bowl,
would you, Lindsey?"
    Lindsey
did as bade.
    "Is
seven o'clock okay with you, Walker?" Bunny asked.
    "That's
fine. See ya'll then."
    "You
two have to decide how you want this chicken cooked," Bunny called out,
her fingers still going a mile a minute. "We could have chicken spaghetti
or lemon chicken or—"
    "What
if you just fry it, Mom?" Lindsey asked, knowing that was how Walker
preferred his fowl.
    A
lazy grin spread across Walker's mouth as his gaze meshed with Lindsey's.
"Now you're talking chicken."
    Lindsey's
gaze lowered to his lips, lips that had haunted her night and day for the past
year and a half. She thought on a suppressed sigh, Now you're talking a
first-class reason to cross the Atlantic.
    "You
need another piece of chicken," Bunny proclaimed that evening over dinner
as she reached with trembling fingers for the platter in the middle of the
table.
    Walker,
who had arrived precisely at seven, newly showered and shaved and wearing
crisply creased khaki pants, held up his hand. "Un-uh. I've already had
three