Ned stared at her, dumbfounded. Why did he want to go out with her? Because from the minute he met her, he’d never wanted to go out with anyone else. That’s why. But he couldn’t exactly tell her that, could he? “Because.”

“Because why?”

“Look, do ya wanna go or not? Won’t hurt my feelings if ya say no.”

“It won’t?”

He let out a growl of frustration that seemed to amuse her. “Were ya always this difficult and I just don’t remember?”

“Perhaps.” She studied him for a long, long time during which he had no earthly idea what she was thinking. He’d begun to sweat when she finally took a deep breath. “Do you know about my troubles?”

“I know about yer troubles.” Who on the island didn’t know that writing bad checks had put her in jail for three months last year? How he wished she’d come to him when she’d fallen on hard times. He’d have taken care of her and her kids. They wouldn’t have wanted for anything. But she hadn’t come to him. Someday maybe she’d tell him why. For now, he was just hoping for dinner.

“And you still want to go out with me?”

“Ya’ve just about talked me out of it,” he said in a teasing tone.

That drew an honest, genuine smile that nearly stopped his fragile heart. There was the Francine he’d once known, before life and circumstances had stolen her joy. Maybe together they could somehow get it back.

“I’d be honored to go to dinner with the nicest boy I’ve ever known.”

Shocked to his very soul by the compliment, he wondered if that was regret he saw in her expression. Clearing his throat, he said, “Uh, ya wanna go now?”

“But it’s only five o’clock.”

“I ain’t doin’ nothing. Are you?”

“No,” Francine said, still smiling. “I’m not doing anything at all.”

Chapter 15

Sydney arrived at Luke’s and was relieved to see his truck parked outside the house. She’d wondered if he had gone to work. Donning the backpack, she stuck her head inside the house and called for him. When she received no reply, she walked across the lawn to see if he was down at the beach but didn’t see him there either. Had he taken the rowboat out on the pond?

She turned to look back at the house, and her eyes settled on the barn-shaped garage that had been added to the place since she first knew him. At the garage, she went around to the front. The double doors were open, and Luke was applying a coat of varnish to a staggeringly beautiful vintage powerboat.

“Wow,” she said. “That’s gorgeous.”