With a Little Luck by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online Page A

laughing up at him as she pulled him to their bed. Her features were soft, like a fading edge of a dream, her likeness no longer bringing him the sharp stabbing pain. Time had reduced it to a beautiful memory that came back to haunt him at odd times.
    Although he still possessed a man’s sexual appetite, emotional desire seemed to have left him. Except for Toby, it seemed that all the good things in life were behind him. Tomorrow seemed empty, without promise.
    A squeal of female laughter from the lakeshore pulled his gaze to the beach and the cavorting blonde. Her bold bid for his attention had left him cold, even though he had liked what he had seen. He found the subtle approach much sexier — like the time Eve had licked the chocolate from her lips. Strange that he had thought of her instead of the way his wife, Lisa, used to run her finger around the rim of a glass.
    A hand sprayed water on his face. Luck blinked and wiped the droplets from his eyes as Toby laughed and struck out, swimming away from him. The moment of curious reflection was gone as he took up the challenge of his son.
     
    THUNDER CRASHED AND ROLLED across the sky, unleashing a torrent of rain to hammer on the roof of the cottage. A rain-cool breeze rushed in through a window above the kitchen sink, stirring the brown silk of Eve’s hair as she washed the luncheon dishes,
    Lightning cracked outside the window. “My, that looked close,” her mother murmured, always a little nervous about violent storms.
    “The baseball game in Milwaukee has just been postponed because of the rain,” her father sighed in disappointment and switched off the radio atop the refrigerator. “And they always have doubleheaders on Saturday, too.” If her father had one passion besides fishing, it was baseball. “Maybe it will clear off later this afternoon and — ” He was interrupted by the ring of the telephone in the front room. “I’ll get it.”
    “If it’s Mabel and Frank, tell them to come over,” her mother called. “It’s a good day to play cards.”
    On the third ring, he answered it. “It’s for you, Eve.” He had to raise his voice to make himself heard above the storm.
    Grabbing a towel, Eve wiped the dishwater from her hands as she walked to the phone. “Hello?”
    “Hello, Eve. This is Toby. Toby McClure.”
    A vague surprise widened her eyes. “Hello, Toby.” Warm pleasure ran through her voice and expression.
    “I’m trying to make some chocolate-chip cookies,” he said, and she smiled when she remembered this was the first rainy day since he and Luck had been over. “But I can’t figure out how to get cream from shortening and sugar.”
    “What?” A puzzled frown creased her forehead as she tried to fathom his problem.
    “The directions say to ‘cream’ the sugar and shortening,” Toby explained patiently.
    Eve swallowed the laugh that bubbled in her throat. The directions probably didn’t make sense to him. “That means you should blend them together until they make a thick ‘creamy’ mixture.”
    A heavy sigh came over the phone. “I thought this was going to be easy, but it isn’t.” There was a pause, followed by a reluctant request, “Eve, I don’t suppose you could maybe come over and show me how to make them?” There was so much pride in his voice, and a grudging admission of defeat.
    “Where’s your father? He should be able to help you,” she suggested.
    “He didn’t get home until real late last night, so he’s lying down, taking a nap,” Toby explained. “Can you come?”
    It was impossible to turn him down, especially when she didn’t want to. “Yes, I’ll come. Where exactly do you live?” Eve knew it was somewhere close from other comments that had been made. Toby gave her precise directions. After she had promised to be there within a few minutes, she hung up the phone. “Dad, were you or mom planning to use the car this afternoon?”
    “No. Did you want to use it?” He was already