He shook his head ruefully. He hadn’t exactly been a monk since their divorce. He’d just never thought about Sherri’s being with somebody else. He’d never contemplated the thought of her breathing her sweet sighs of passion into the hollow of another man’s neck. He’d never considered that another man’s hands might stroke the smoothness of her shapely legs, caress the satiny texture of her breasts. He now realized it had been the height of conceit to assume that Sherri would never love another…never make love to another man.
He looked at her again, this time studying her in her vulnerable state of sleep. She’d done something different to her hair. Although she still wore it long, below her shoulders, the rich darkness was now shot through with strands of lighter shades. He liked it, he decided. It gave her a softer, more stylish look.
He could smell her, a curious mingling of floral perfume and that indefinable scent that had always belonged to her alone. He’d often boasted that in a roomful of women, blindfolded he would be able to pick out Sherri by her scent. It had always turned him on. He was shocked to realize it was having that same kind of effect on him now.
With an edge of irritation, he cracked open the window, allowing in the cold December air, needing it to banish the heat that suddenly flooded through his veins.
He jumped as Danny touched him on the shoulder. “Hi, sport, have a good nap?” he asked, relieved for the distraction from his crazy thoughts.
Danny nodded. “How long has Mom been asleep?” he asked.
“Not long,” Luke answered, then grinned. “I see she still sleeps with her mouth open.”
Danny laughed. “Yeah, last Easter Sunday I woke her up by dropping a black jelly bean between her lips. Boy, did she get mad.”
“I can imagine,” Luke replied. “She always did hate black licorice,” he added, making Danny laugh again.
“Where are we?” Danny asked, peering out the side window.
“About an hour from our first campsite. According to your mother’s schedule, we’re stopping at a place just outside Akron, Ohio, for tonight.”
“Cool, I’ve never been to Ohio before,” Danny observed.
“You’ve never been out of Connecticut before,” Luke reminded his son. “Are you getting hungry?”
“Not really. What about you?”
“Yes, I’m starting to get hungry,” Luke replied.
“Mom made out menus for each night. Hang on and I’ll tell you what she’s cooking tonight.” Danny scurried out of his seat and rummaged around in one of the drawers.
Menus. Of course, Sherri would make menus, Luke thought. And lists. There was probably a list detailing all the lists she had made for the trip.
“Steaks and baked potatoes. Sounds good, huh,” Danny exclaimed, sitting back down behind Luke.
“Sounds terrific,” Luke agreed.
“You think we’ll be able to have a camp fire and cook the steaks outside?” Danny asked.
“We’ll have to wait and see what sort of campsite we stop at,” Luke explained. “If it’s too cold out and we can’t have a fire, then we’ll be eating in.”
“Okay,” Danny agreed easily.
Luke’s heart swelled with pride, and the peculiar kind of dread that was always there when he thought of his son. The latest prognosis was that Danny had six months to a year to live. There had been a time when Luke had been unable to imagine a life with a son. Now he couldn’t imagine life without Danny.
“Hey, Dad?”
“Yeah, sport?” Luke shoved his dark thoughts away.
“I told Mom I wanted to sleep on the top bunk, but she said we’d have to see. So what do you think? Can I have the top bunk and you and Mom can share the bottom one?”
Amusement rippled through Luke at the very thought. He tried to imagine he and Sherri in the small confines of the lower bunk. It was an interesting image.
Of course, it would be only natural that they’d inadvertently touch each other. A rubbing of shoulders, a brush of a thigh…it could be quite stimulating. But it was a stimulation neither of them needed, or wanted, he reminded himself firmly. Besides, if Sherri got cranky when she was tired, he’d hate to see her if she realized she would be sharing a bed with him once again.
“How about us men take the top one?” he countered. “If we can share my futon on weekends, surely we can share the upper bunk for the duration of this trip.”
“Okay,” Danny replied. Luke expelled a sigh. One crisis averted. He wondered how many more lay in wait for him.
Sherri awoke as the motor home pulled to a halt. “Where are we?” she asked, sitting up and looking out the window for orientation.
“At the Happy Camper’s Park just outside of Akron.” Luke shut off the engine and opened his door. “Just sit tight and I’ll get us a parking space for the night.”
“I’ll come with you, okay, big man?” Danny asked, scrambling after him.
“Okay, little man,” Luke replied.
“Danny, your coat!” Sherri called, holding the winter jacket out to him. She didn’t care if Luke caught a cold, but she didn’t want Danny getting ill. He shrugged on the jacket and together he and Luke left the R.V.
Sherri watched as the two of them approached the office. Her heart constricted as Luke threw an arm around Danny’s shoulders. They walked so much alike, with a sort of jaunty, rambling roll of natural arrogance. In Luke it was incredibly sexy, in Danny it was just plain cute.
As they disappeared into the office, she got up out of her seat and began putting together the items for their dinner. One thing she couldn’t take away from Luke: he was a terrific father. Even when he’d been traveling and was out of the country, a week didn’t pass that Danny didn’t receive several letters from wherever Luke was working.
It had surprised her over the years, the commitment that Luke had made to his son. She’d always believed the only thing Luke could be committed to was his work and his need for excitement. That had certainly always come before his commitment to her. She shoved the bitterness aside, knowing it would ruin the taste of the steaks.
Besides, it was the past, and there was no way to change it, no way to go back and reclaim it. She didn’t need Luke anymore. The only thing she needed was to make sure this was the best three weeks of Danny’s life.
“We’re all set,” Luke said as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “We’ll have electrical and water hookups.” He restarted the motor home.
“And the man says we can have a camp fire so we can cook our steaks outside,” Danny said with excitement. “We can toast marshmallows, then tell ghost stories and stuff.”
“Sounds like a winner to me,” Sherri replied.
It took them nearly an hour to hook up and get a fire burning. By the time they cooked the steaks and ate, darkness had fallen and the air held a sharper nip of winter. The fire provided a welcoming light and warmth against the night. Again, Sherri was thankful that the weather was cooperating by remaining unusually mild for December. Now, if it would just hold.
She settled back against the fallen tree limb that provided her a seat in front of the fire. A quiet contentment swept through her as she listened to Luke and Danny talk about sports.
The dinner conversation had been pleasant. They had talked about the weather, their travel plans for the next day, the campsite…they’d managed to find things to talk about