Dancing in the Moonlight - Harlequin.com

126 DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT
preparing to share a meal with the woman who had
haunted him for so long?
He arranged the place settings at right angles on the
rectangular table. When he finished he tried to help her
with the rest of the meal, but she waved him off.
“I’ve got this. Sit down,” she insisted.
Though it pained him like a bad abscess to watch her
work while he did nothing, he obeyed, settling into the
sturdy oak chair. He watched, uncomfortably helpless
as she bustled around the warm kitchen.
She carried the casserole to the table with care, using
only one crutch and carrying the dish in her other hand,
and he had to admit he let out a sigh of relief when she
set it carefully on the table. He didn’t feel like treating
any burns tonight.
“I know you think I’ve got some kind of chip on my
shoulder about having to do everything without help but
it’s important for me to do things on my own,” she said
on her way back to the table with a tossed salad. “Mama
wants to do everything for me, too, and every day I
have to tell her to back off.”
“That’s just a mother thing, isn’t it? Mine still thinks
I should be dropping off my laundry at her house.”
She smiled and he thought his heart would burst
with delight.
“I tell her that it might take me longer to figure out
how to do things now,” she said. “But just because
things might take a little longer, that doesn’t mean I
can’t do it.”
“That’s certainly true.”
“I’m going to be confronting challenges the rest of