Lake of Tears by Mary Logue Read Free Book Online

lifted his head and shook it as if trying to keep an irritant away. “But I do have some sad news.”
    Claire was struck by the fact that he said “sad” rather than “bad,” showing his compassion for this victim. “What?”
    “I’m not sure she was dead when she was put in the boat.”

CHAPTER 6
    What Meg wouldn’t have given for a shower. Work at the Harbor View had been hot and heavy that day, although making salads was her favorite station. If she had the time, each salad would be little works of art, but with this nice weather, the leaves at their absolute peak of color, it had been a mob scene at the restaurant, and the salads had looked instead like fallen leaves.
    After shrugging out of her apron, she went into the bathroom and wiped herself down as well as she could, then undid her hair, grown long over the summer, and let it fall way below her shoulders. She imagined Andrew’s hands in her hair and shivered.
    Calm down, she told herself. You might not even like him. He might be a total jerk. After all, he was a soldier, and you don’t even believe in war. Maybe that subject would come up right away, and whatever romance could have been possible would blow up in their faces.
    With this thought, she promised herself she wouldn’t bring up the war. At least, not tonight. She would watch herself and be on good behavior. Curt had been gone almost two months, and she was missing some male attention. Maybe she and Andrew could just have some fun, nothing serious.
    Meg leaned in and put on some eye shadow. She didn’t wear much makeup, but she thought a touch of shadow brought out her eyes, made them seem bigger and more mysterious or something.
    She pinched her cheeks, fluffed her hair, wiped her mouth, smoothed her eyebrows and declared herself ready.
    When she walked out the door, Andrew was waiting by his car. A slow smile came onto his open face when he saw her. He was even more attractive than she remembered.
    She felt like she was seeing him for the first time. At the Burning Boat, it had been dark and she hadn’t seen him face on. Here he stood in the sunlight, skinnier than she thought, leaning against a Jeep. She was amazed to see he was driving a real car, not a truck. All the guys in Pepin drove trucks. His vehicle was a Jeep Cherokee. Old, but it looked like a decent car. Clean. A point for him.
    Andrew was wearing a black T-shirt and jeans. No tattoos showed. His hair looked wet, as if he had just showered. Wheat blond hair, wide blue eyes, a baseball cap in his hands he was playing with, nervously.
    As soon as Meg walked down the steps, he pushed off the Jeep with his butt and smiled, tossing his hat in the air.
    “Hey,” he shouted, then added, “Meg,” as if he was testing the taste of her name.
    When she was standing in front of him, he crowned her with his hat, but courteously, almost royally.
    “Hey, Andrew, you’re right on time.”
    “The service drills that into you.” He laughed as he opened the door for her. Meg slid in and noticed it didn’t smell like he smoked. Another point in his favor. He was racking them up.
    “You mentioned a hike,” he said. “You still up for it?”
    “Sure.”
    “Not too tired after work?” He pulled away from the curb and headed out to the highway.
    “Not at all,” she lied. The back of her legs always ached after seven hours standing on her feet, but she knew that a walk would make them feel better. “What do you think?”
    “Yeah, sounds good. Haven’t been to the Maiden Rock since high school. Then let’s come back here for burgers at Ralph and Mary’s. I haven’t had one of theirs since I got back home.”
    “Perfect.”
    She looked down at his feet and noticed the big boots he was wearing. “Those your army boots?” she asked.
    “Yup. I’ve walked a million miles in them. I’m so used to wearing them it feels funny if they’re not on my feet.”
    “They look like they weigh a ton.”
    “Everything we wore in Afghanistan