A Doctor in His House by Lilian Darcy

Author:Lilian Darcy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

“I bought steaks,” Daniel said as they neared the steps going up to the deck. “They’re still in the trunk of the car, along with some other stuff for a barbecue. I saw you turn into the yard and forgot all about them.”

“Steak sounds good.”

He opened up the trunk and she helped him carry four or five shopping bags up the steps. “Enough for a week, Daniel.”

“The thing is, I may have a guest staying some nights.” He smiled at her sideways, a little sheepish and teasing at the same time. “I wasn’t sure what she liked, so I got everything.”

Everything included potatoes and sour cream and salad fixings, breakfast cereal, two brands of coffee, two kinds of milk, three kinds of bread, paper towel and ice cream and fruit and soap that smelled of lavender… The list went on, and she loved what it said about his thoughtfulness. He’d shopped for her last week, too, and on the weekend. He’d helped her set up her apartment.

She loved what these actions said about him, on top of the flow of words he’d unleashed just now.

He set up the homemade barbecue on the back deck, opened out some folding chairs. He uncorked the bottle of red wine she’d brought, and wrapped potatoes in foil to place in the heap of coals he made in the depths of the half drum of the barbecue. Meanwhile, Scarlett made the salad and found dressing for it in the refrigerator, as well as plates and glasses and silverware.

All action. Not much talk at all. It felt peaceful and unhurried and nice, and she decided not to question it, but to trust it instead. Maybe she tied herself up too much with questioning and logic, didn’t go enough with her gut, didn’t find the right things to trust.

When the potatoes were done, Daniel used tongs to pull them from the coals, and set them on the grill to keep warm, while he tossed on the steaks, poured a splash of wine on them for flavor and stood back as they sizzled and hissed. The smell almost made Scarlett’s tongue sting, it was so good.

She went inside to bring out the salad and paused for a while to take in the details of the house. The rooms were cozy in size and paneled in a warm, syrupy pine. The furniture was plain and basic, two matching couches with squishy upholstery and blue fabric. There were family photos and several handmade quilts on the walls, with fabric colors and patterns that suggested they’d been handed down through the family for two or three generations.

Daniel found her studying them and told her, “My great-grandmother and my grandmother made those. Mom was never as good with a needle, but she repaired the seams when they split. They used to be folded away in a closet, but then we decided it was crazy not to have them out to look at, so we put them up.

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