Bright Eyes by Catherine Anderson Read Free Book Online Page A

he’d said. “I’m sorry. I just find it amazing that a woman who can’t fry eggs would buy a restaurant.”
    “She hires the cooking done. Mostly, that works.”
    “Mostly?”
    “Sometimes the chef gets mad and quits. Then there’s trouble until she can find someone else.”
    “What does she do in the interim?”
    “In the what?”
    “In the meantime—until she can hire a new chef?”
    Chad laid a new board across the sawhorses. “She has to do the cooking until she can find somebody new. That’s why the Blue Parrot’s almost bankrupt.”
    Zeke grabbed the try square. “It must be hard for her to support you kids if the club isn’t doing well.”
    “My dad would send her money if she didn’t harp at him all the time. Every time she sees him, she starts running at the mouth and ticks him off.”
    The way Zeke saw it, no matter how ticked off a father became, he was still morally obligated to support his kids. “Your mom must have reason to harp at him.”
    “She pretends to be mad about all kinds of things, but the truth is, she’s just jealous. Dad has always had girlfriends. For a long time, she didn’t seem to care, and then, all of a sudden, she divorced him. Now she’s, like, a complete witch every time she sees him.” Chad’s brown eyes grew suspiciously bright behind the goggles, and his cheeks turned an angry red. “I don’t know what her deal is. She was fine with it for a long, long time, and then, bang, she went ballistic. Nothing’s the same anymore, and I never get to see my dad.”
    The picture forming in Zeke’s mind of the Pattersons’ marriage wasn’t pretty. “Your father can see you any time he chooses to, Chad. Your mother says he lives right here in town.”
    “What do you know about it?” Chad backed away a step. “He travels all the time on important business, and when he’s in town, he’s got meetings and stuff. He wants to see me. He just can’t! And my mom doesn’t help matters.”
    Zeke held up a hand. “Whoa. I didn’t mean to step on your toes.”
    “Then don’t bad-mouth my dad. You don’t even know him.”
    “That’s true,” Zeke agreed, “and I didn’t intend to bad-mouth him. I’m just trying to point out that things aren’t always the way they appear on the surface. Maybe your mom has other reasons for being mad at your father, reasons she hasn’t shared with you.”
    “My dad is a good dad, and he loves me! He does.”
    “I’m sure you’re right,” Zeke said carefully. “If I had a son like you, I’d be proud as punch.”
    That took the wind out of Chad’s sails. He blinked away tears and bent his head to kick at a sliver of wood. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”
    It was true. Zeke did want to make Chad feel better. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t sincerely meant the compliment. “You’re a good-looking young man, and you’re sharp as a tack.”
    Chad looked up. Tear tracks glistened on his cheeks below the goggle cups. “I’m not smart. All’s I ever get is B’s. My dad got straight A’s in every subject without even studying, and he was good at sports, too.”
    “And you’re not, I take it.”
    “I suck at sports.”
    “Maybe you just haven’t found the right one yet.”
    “I’ve tried everything.” He kicked at the wood again. “I’m not too bad at baseball, but I’m nowhere near as good as my dad was.”
    Zeke was beginning to actively dislike Robert Patterson. “When I was your age, I sucked at sports, too. It wasn’t until I started riding horses and roping competitively that I found my real niche. Don’t cubbyhole yourself. Keep trying new things. Sooner or later, you’ll find where your talents lie, and you’ll excel.”
    Chad made a face. “Who wants to be good at riding and roping? You can’t get a varsity letter for that.”
    “No varsity letters, that’s true,” Zeke agreed. “But if you get good on a horse, there are plenty of buckles and trophies to win. My