“Cody,” Sherry called after him, hurrying out the door and onto the top step. When he turned back to her, she wrapped her arms around her middle and said, “Now that was romantic.”

“It was? That’s the kind of thing you want me to say?”

“Yes,” she said.

“But that was simple.”

She smiled. “It came from the heart.”

He seemed to stiffen. “The heart,” he repeated, placing his hand on his chest. He opened the door of his truck, then looked back at her. “Do you want me to say things like ‘God robbed heaven of one of its loveliest angels the day you were born’ and stuff like that?”

“That’s very sweet, Cody, but it sounds like a line that’s been used before.”

“It has been,” he admitted, his eyes warming with silent laughter. “But I figured it couldn’t hurt, especially since it’s true.”

“Now that was nice.”

With an easy grace he climbed into the pickup and closed the door. Propping his elbow against the open window, he looked at her once more, grinning. “Plan on staying for dinner the night you bring Heather home.”

“All right, I will. Thanks for the invitation.”

Sherry watched him drive away. The dust had settled long before she realized she wasn’t alone.

“He’s coming around,” Ellie commented. “I don’t think he knows it himself yet, but he’s falling in love with you hook, line and sinker.”

That was exactly what Sherry wanted to hear. Hope blossomed within her and she sighed in contentment.

* * *

Monday evening, Sherry was sitting on the porch swing again, contemplating the events of the weekend. She’d sent a long e-mail to her parents, telling them all about Cody and their rocky relationship.

When she saw his Cadillac turn the corner and pull to a stop in front of the clinic, she wasn’t sure what to think. Heather leaped out of the passenger side and dashed up the walkway.

“Dad needs you!”

The girl’s voice was high and excited, but her smile indicated that there was no real emergency.

“It’s nothing,” Cody said, walking toward her. He held a box of chocolates in one hand and a bouquet of wildflowers—bluebonnets and daisies—in the other.

“The flowers are for you,” Heather explained. “Dad picked them himself.”

“If you don’t mind, I prefer to do my own talking,” Cody growled. “Here,” he said, thrusting the flowers and candy at Sherry. Then he jerked up the sleeve of his shirt and started scratching his forearm.

“Both his arms are a real mess,” Heather whispered.

“Heather!”

“He’s in one of his moods, too.”

Sherry was too flabbergasted to respond right away. “Well, thank you for the flowers. And the candy.”

“That’s romantic, isn’t it?” his daughter prompted. “Dad asked me what I thought was romantic, and I said flowers and chocolate-covered cherries. They’re my favorite, and I bet you like them, too.”

“I do.” She returned her gaze to Cody.

“What did you get into? Why are you so itchy?”