Page 11 of Whatever You Want

“I’m surprised the church didn’t burn down the second you walked in.” He smirked while adding a little cream and sugar to his cup.

I laughed. “When is the last time you went into a church?”

The waitress dropped off a few napkins as she passed our table. “I go every Sunday. I started going when I got out of the hospital.”

My brows furrowed. “How did I not know that?”

He shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal. When, in fact, it was huge. “Didn’t feel the need to advertise it.”

Our waitress came over to take our orders. “I’ll have the Denver omelet with a side of wheat toast.” I folded the menu while Luke looked over his.

“I’ll have the number two and a side of corned beef hash.”

I raised my eyebrow. “That’s a lot of sodium.”

“I just ran four miles, so I think I’m good.”

Luke was born with a genetic heart issue and had a heart transplant a little over a year ago. I considered challenging him on that fact, but I knew when to shut my mouth. He was a grown adult, but that didn’t stop me from worrying about him. Since his surgery, my family has been extra cautious about what he did and the things he ate. While he was doing great physically, you were never fully cured. It was like trading one medical condition for another.

“All right, big man, how did your date go last night?” I asked, pushing the condiments aside to make room on the table for when my food arrived.

“I’ve had better.”

“What was wrong with her?”

“Well, first of all, she was a little on the young side.”

“Define, young?”

“Easy there, Detective.” He laughed. “She was legal, just a little immature. She spent most of the date on her phone taking selfies and posting pics of our food.”

I chuckled and stretched my legs out under the table. “Maybe you should try dating someone your own age.”

“It’s not easy trying to find someone when you’re over thirty.”

I set my coffee down. “You’re only two years older than me,” I pointed out. My brother was a good man. He wasn’t ugly either, thanks to good genetics. He had so much to offer, and I hated when he went out on these bullshit dates. If only he would find the courage and tell his friend Heather how he really felt about her. He’s been in love with her for years. And if I were to guess, the feelings were mutual. But he waited too long, and now she’s engaged. Every time I would bring the subject up, he would get pissed off, so I stayed silent.

Our server came by and set our plates down in front of us. He took a bite of his bacon. “So, how about you? Have you been swiping lately?”

Slicing off a piece of my omelet with the fork, I brought it to my mouth. “I don’t need to go on Tinder to score a date.”

“Oh yeah? I haven’t heard you bragging about ‘doing the nasty’ lately. Are you performing solo now?”

I choked on my eggs and took a sip of my coffee. “What the fuck? What are we, fifteen?”

“Tell me again what you’ve been doing in your free time? Because normally, you don’t shut up about your hookups.”

Sitting back, I glared at him. “Maybe I’m trying to set a good example for my young daughter.”

His eyes mocked me. “Or maybe you’re just having one hell of a dry spell.”

“You’re a dick.”

A grin pulled at his mouth. “At least I have one that works now.”

When Luke was going through his heart issues, he had to take medicine that had the worst side-effects known to mankind—erectile disfunction. He didn’t talk about it much, but then again, why would he? Now that he had his new heart, those medications were no longer needed. It was as if he was making up for the lost time.

“Just be careful where you dip that thing,” I said, picking up my fork to swallow a mouthful of eggs. “The last thing you need is to pick up a disease. Who knows what it would do to your new heart?”

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