Welcome Back to Apple Grove by C.H. Admirand Page A

“Guns have kids?”
    Grace ate the last bite of toast and watched them—two broad-shouldered, good-looking men standing side by side. The way Dan and Patrick were smiling down at her nephews tugged at her heart. She had a soft spot for a man who paid attention to kids—especially her hooligan nephews. Her ex—no, she wouldn’t go there.
    Patrick laughed at something Danny said, and the sound made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.
    Lyrics to one of her dad’s favorite Grateful Dead songs started playing in her head— trouble ahead…trouble behind . When Patrick looked up, she felt the air snap and sizzle. His amber eyes deepened in hue. Oh yeah…definitely trouble.

Chapter 5
     
    The game was on and her nephews were running around, screaming like little heathens. “Watch out!” she warned as Danny nearly collided with the back of Patrick’s knees, but the man seemed to have a sixth sense where little people were concerned and stepped to the side at the last minute.
    Her nephew tumbled to the grass but got up like a shot, sporting a grass stain that she knew her sister wouldn’t be able to remove without a fight. Two minutes later, Joey tried the same move on their honorary Uncle Pat and ended up sprawled on the grass. Their delighted laughter lightened her heart, but the added depth of the men’s laughter was music to her ears.
    Grace thrived here, and maybe that had been the biggest motivator to her looking for a job in the city. Deep down, she’d been afraid she couldn’t exist anywhere else, afraid she’d lose the tie to her family—like the one she’d already lost when her mother died tragically.
    Grace was Irish to the bone and had been raised to believe in fate, destiny, karma, and the all-important Murphy’s Law. She needed to be the one to sever the chord in order to find out if Apple Grove was her destiny…or if it lay somewhere farther west in the big city.
    Wisps of her childhood dream teased at the edge of her memory; she remembered dreaming of a tall and handsome man smiling at children, playing with them. Her brain struggled to pull the rest of the details from that long ago dream but got sidetracked when questions filled her heart.
    Why had Patrick been here today?
    Was it the Universe or someone a lot closer to Earth who arranged their meeting again this way?
    Had the long and winding road brought her back to Apple Grove because of her dream?
    Was she meant to stay?
    Her thoughts circled around and around until she had no way of sorting them out.
    “Hey?” A strong, callused hand had a hold of her elbow. “Are you all right?” The warmth of that hand snapped her out of it and down off the proverbial hamster’s wheel.
    The concern in Patrick’s gaze added to the warmth his touch ignited. He cared. The trick would be figuring out whether it was caring about her as a person…or if it was the something a lot more basic that he’d hinted at when he’d gotten into her personal space earlier.
    Grace finally found her voice. “Yes. Fine. Why?” Was I staring at you like an idiot? She sure as hell wouldn’t be asking him that.
    “You got quiet all of a sudden,” he said. “When one of my sisters does that, it usually means she’s solving the world’s problems or worried about something.”
    She smiled. “How many sisters do you have again?”
    He grinned. “Three younger sisters.”
    “Do they have adorable freckles across the bridge of their noses like you do?” As soon as the words left her lips, her hands flew to her mouth and her eyes opened wide. Dork!
    Patrick’s cheeks turned an interesting shade of pink. She’d embarrassed herself and him! Way to go making a great impression on the first guy who set off sparks inside you in more than a year.
    “I’ll uh…take that as a compliment?”
    She blew out a breath. “I’m sorry, sometimes the words in my head sort of slip out of my mouth.”
    “So you didn’t mean to bring up the fact that I’ve got freckles?” His