always next week, I suppose,” Cassie offered with a hopeful tone. She glanced up at him, her heart beating a quickened beat.
“Yes, there’s always next time I’m in town.” The corner of his mouth edged a little wider, inviting Cassie to return a smile of her own. She felt her mouth widen. She could almost get lost in those summer-sky eyes.
Honestly, if she was imagining this man, or dreaming, she’d hide her head under a pillow from now until next year. She didn’t want to wake.
Lori regained Peter’s attention, and Cassie reluctantly moved away with a hidden sigh, but a lighter heart. Honestly, she had no desire to seem like an aging admirer—although with his looks, she could certainly fall into that slot. Peter could definitely qualify for adoration.
From out of town, was he? She wished she’d asked where he was from and if he was in town often.
Surreptitiously, she glanced over her shoulder. Once again she saw only the back of his head.
“An outdoor Easter sunrise service sounds wonderful to me,” Cassie heard Pam say to the women clearing up. “I’m a morning person anyway, and if we have a sunrise service, then I can take my boys to see both their paternal grandparents and my mother without adding to an already crowded afternoon.”
“What’s this?” Cassie asked, wondering how Pam managed. Pam had both parents and two sons to fill her days. Yet her new friend couldn’t have it all that easy. Pamela had lost her husband a couple of years ago. “Where?”
“Pastor Mike has secured River Bluff Park for Easter Sunday morning,” Pam responded. “Providing the weather cooperates, we’ll gather on the bluff just as the sun comes up. With the river below, that should be quite a sight.”
“How exciting. I’ve never attended a sunrise service.”
At the kitchen sink, Cassie turned on the tap and rinsed out the dripping cloth, thinking about the new prospect. Easter was only two weeks off.
The promise of rejoicing the Lord’s victory over sin in such a wonderful outdoor setting filled Cassie with a sense of awe. In past years she’d been too confined by her father’s dictates to try any church service other than their usual one. He hadn’t liked his routine disturbed, and he didn’t sanction any church but the one they’d attended all her life. Attendance at the usual Easter service held at a decent hour of the morning was all the Lord required of anyone, he would say.
Grumpy as he sometimes was, Cassie missed her father. He was the last of her family. There wasn’t a thing wrong with the church her parents had preferred, but this year she’d make her own choices.
“The only thing we’ll have to watch is the parking,” Pam said. “Since the park is small, there’s only a gravel clearing. We should probably organize a car pool.”
“I haven’t been to the park since I was a kid, so I don’t know what’s there. But I can help with that,” Cassie offered. “What else do we need for it? Do we need to carry folding chairs? My car can carry a few.”
“Each of us should bring our own lawn chairs, I guess,” Pamela replied. “But I can stick an extra one or two in my van for anyone who needs one.”
“Don’t worry too much about chairs, ladies,” Mike said, coming into the kitchen with paper plates to throw away. “I’ll get some of the men to haul chairs. But we’ll need some camp lights to light the drive since people will come in while it’s still dark.”
“Oh, yes. I hadn’t thought of that,” Cassie said, wiping down a counter. “And if I recall rightly, that’s quite a hill up to the bluff from the parking lot, so we may need some strong arms to assist the older church members along the climb.”
“That’s right,” Pastor Mike added.
“I can do that. I don’t mind helping older people,” Cassie said. The idea of the outdoor service sounded more exciting every moment. “Is there anything else to be done in preparation?”
“It’s kind of you to offer, Cassie,” the minister said. “We’ll certainly let you know.”
“Pastor Mike.” Peter stood in the doorway. “I must be off. I appreciate—” he broke off, his expression closing as he realized everyone was listening. “Thanks for your help and I’ll be in touch.”
“Sure, Peter,” Pastor Mike responded. “No problem at all. Hey, I’ll walk you out.”
“Nice meeting you, ladies.” Peter gave a generic nod of goodbye. Then he directed his teasing gaze toward Cassie and did a very bad Bogart imitation. “You still owe me a cup of coffee, sweetheart. With cream.”
Cassie chuckled along with the others while her face went red. She could kick herself. She’d totally forgotten the coffee. “Um, anytime. You just come on along to the sunrise service on Easter Sunday and I’ll buy you coffee and breakfast afterward.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
His smile flashed, sending her heart tumbling, and then he and Pastor Mike were gone.
“Wow, Cassie.” Pam nearly chortled as she spoke. “I think you just made a date with that new guy right under Lori’s nose.”
“I can’t believe I did,” Cassie muttered, staring at the empty doorway. “I never do things like that. I’m usually too shy. Honestly, it just slipped out.”
“Well, there wasn’t anything mousy about that exchange,” Pam insisted.
Cassie spent the next few minutes glowing. Could he be the man of her dreams?
She’d stopped dreaming of such foolish things when she’d entered her thirties, still living at home while taking care of her aging parents.
She sighed. Over the years, when all her women teacher friends talked of their boyfriends or husbands, she’d come to hate their pitying and snide secretive stares. Nearly forty and never been married….
She wasn’t that unattractive. She’d dated a few men, but her problems at home made her less than desirable. She met very few men in her day-to-day job, also. And she just wasn’t the type of woman to meet men in bars.
How likely was it that Peter would come again to New Beginnings?
No, she wouldn’t count on seeing him again. Like Lori, he had a cosmopolitan air about him, as if he ran in far more sophisticated circles than the people that came to New Beginnings.
And she was about as unsophisticated as you could get, even for these parts.
No, she shouldn’t really expect to see Peter again. Most likely, his parting words were only meant to make her feel better about her clumsiness.
Yet she knew, as she later entered her empty, silent house and climbed the stairs to the back bedroom she’d occupied all of her near forty years, that she’d dream of him tonight.
Peter…with the summer-sky eyes…
Chapter Two
Peter Scott Tilford flew out of the Lee’s Summit airport in western Missouri at seven the next morning in his small private jet. The airport was a little small for a jet, but he’d managed. Seated beside him was his pilot, Jackson, a man who could keep his thoughts to himself and who never interfered with Peter’s plans.
He’d contact his office as soon as he crossed the Appalachians, Peter thought. He’d been out of touch with his staff for three days and they’d be half frantic. No one knew where he was except his personal assistant, Tony Swartz, who was sworn to secrecy.
That was the way he’d wanted it. This was a personal matter. Very personal. News coverage and gossip about his current activities was the last thing he needed splashed all over hungry tabloid press.
He felt jubilant. After all these years, he’d hit pay dirt. Now he had to make contact.
The