Waterfront Weddings by Annalisa Daughety Page A

wasn’t how he’d wanted to do it. He’d expected to have more time to plan. But he’d learned a long time ago to roll with the punches.
    Twenty minutes later he slowed down and pulled into a parking lot.
    “The marina?” Summer looked at him with narrowed eyes. “What are we doing here?”
    He couldn’t hide his smile. “You never were very good at patience, were you?”
    “Might not be my best virtue, but I’m good at other stuff.”
    Luke chuckled and brought the truck to a stop. He walked around and opened the passenger door and held out a hand.
    Summer accepted it and stepped daintily to the ground. “This had better be good. Because I haven’t forgotten about you and that
woman.”
    Luke shut his eyes. If he were still in the habit of praying, he would’ve prayed that the Lord would give him strength to tolerate her barbs without snapping. But instead, he’d just wish for it. “I have a surprise for you, actually. And that’s what my meeting with Sherry was about.” He reached over and grabbed her hand, hoping she wouldn’t jerk away.
    She didn’t.
    “Honestly. I wasn’t having some covert affair with Jimmy’s cousin.” He shook his head. “I would hope you know me better than that by now.”
    Summer gripped his hand. “Sometimes I don’t feel like I know you at all anymore,” she said quietly.
    The words pierced his heart. His only hope was that the anniversary gift he’d gotten her would help bring them closer together. “Sure you do. I’m still the same old Luke.” He pulled her into an embrace. “I’m the same boy you fell in love with. And the same man you married seven years ago.” He’d missed having her in his arms. They fit together perfectly. “I wanted to give you this gift on our actual anniversary, but since you caught me finalizing the deal, I’m going to go ahead and give it to you today.”
    He led her down to the water where a line of boats sat in a row.
    They stopped at the third boat. “See that?”
    She looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Yeah.”
    “Look at the name of the boat.”
    She took a step closer and peered at the side of the boat. “No way,” she said.
    “The
Summer Girl,”
Luke said. “I hope you love it.”
    Summer smiled. “I can’t believe you did this.” She shot him a sideways glance. “We’ve always said we were going to buy one.”
    “And spend our weekends out on the water, just the two of us.” He returned her smile. “I even got a life vest for Milo so he can come, too.” He chuckled. “Although he might have to lose a couple of pounds first.”
    She joined in his laughter. “We’ll have so much fun.”
    Fun. They hadn’t had much fun together over the past year. It seemed like it had been one thing after another. Luke had hoped that purchasing the boat would bring them closer together again. “I’m glad you like it.”
    She threw her arms around his neck then pulled back. “But how does the redhead figure into things?”
    Luke laughed. “She paints names and scenes on boats. It’s part of her business.” He rubbed Summer’s back. “I mentioned to the guys several weeks ago that I’d bought the boat, and Jimmy told me about his cousin.” He shrugged. “She’s had some hard times and could use the business, so I hired her. I didn’t want to have lunch with her at all. I’d just planned to drop off a check. But then she begged me to sit with her, said she hated to eat alone. So I did.” He tipped Summer’s chin. “Nothing more to it.”
    She at least had the decency to look sheepish. “Sorry.” She drew her brows together. “But how did you manage to make a purchase this large without me knowing?” Summer kept the books for their accounts because she loved the satisfaction of seeing all the numbers balance.
    He’d hoped she wouldn’t ask. “Oh. That.” He cleared his throat. “Well, I knew there was one account you wouldn’t monitor.”
    Realization dawned on her, and the color drained from