“Why would you do that?” she asked as soon as he was in the vehicle.

“Because I want to be near Aunt Tootsie, and truthfully, I want to be closer to you,” he said.

“But right on the same block with both of us? Are you nuts? We’ll drive you crazy,” she protested.

“If you do, I’ll sell it and move somewhere else. Right now, it’ll do for me to start a new business in, and I won’t have to drive so far to date you.” He started the engine and drove out of the parking lot.

“I’m flattered, but I hope you don’t regret it,” she said.

That took a little air out of his balloon but not so much that he wasn’t still floating from getting to spend time with her. They arrived at the church parking lot right at five o’clock and had barely gotten parked and pulled their baskets out of the bags when the first kids showed up.

“Trick or treat,” a little ballerina said timidly.

“What will it be, darlin’?” Luke asked. “Fruit, candy, or a popcorn ball?”

“An apple.” She held out her bag. “And candy, too.”

“Misty!” her mother scolded.

“It’s all right. One big red apple and a little bit of candy to go with it.”

“Thank you.” The little girl twirled for them.

After they’d given out candy to several kids, Luke put his hands on Diana’s waist, picked her up, and set her on the tailgate of the truck. “Might as well give it out sitting rather than standing for the next couple of hours.”

He put a couple of popcorn balls in the next kids’ sacks and turned to Diana. “Having all these children around me, it makes me want to be a father. What do you say we adopt a couple if we make it through the dating stage and into a permanent relationship?”

Diana’s look made him feel like he’d grown an extra eyeball right smack in the middle of his forehead. “You are still young enough to be a father, but I’m too old to start all over.”

“Forty is the new thirty, and you damn sure don’t look or act like you’re a day over twenty-five.” He wished he could take the comment back. It should have been something to be discussed later on down the road instead of before they’d even gone out on their first date. But that night sitting beside her, he’d realized that he did want children and had spit it out before he’d thought it through.

“If you’re serious about wanting to be a dad, maybe we should take a step back here,” she said.

“Trick or treat.” A little ghost held out his bag. “Can I have a banana, please? I’ve got lots of candy.”

“You sure can, sweetheart.” Diana put one in his bag, and he went on down to the next vehicle.

“So you are definite about no children, like in ever, forever and ever, amen?” he said.

“Yes, I definitely am.” Her tone left no wiggle room. “I have one and love her, but I would never start over at this point in my life.”

In true Luke Colbert fashion, he’d just screwed things up big-time. But in all honesty, he’d just realized that moment that he wanted to be a father. He’d never given it much thought before, but something in the way he felt about Diana had him skipping through the preliminary relationship steps and going straight for the goal line. And he’d spoken up way too soon.

He’d killed it for sure. “So does that mean we don’t get to go on date number one?”

“That’s up to you, Luke,” she answered.

“And that means?”

She shrugged. “I like you a lot. But this is where that age difference comes into play. You’re at just the right age to be a father. I’m at just the right age not to want kids anymore. So you know how I feel. That’s why it’s up to you. We can be friends and neighbors if you buy Joanie’s house. Or we can see if we want more. You decide.”

“Fair enough.” He nodded.

Diana had taken her stand, something that she’d never done very well with Gerald. She had a little more backbone than Carmen had had with Eli, but she’d still deferred to Gerald too often. She’d never do that again, not even with Luke, and she really liked him—a lot. Had it been Gerald, the rest of the evening would have been miserable. He’d have gone all cold and distant.

“So tell me, what was your favorite Halloween costume?” Luke’s voice still had warmth in it, and his smile was genuine.

“I wanted to be Princess Leia, but Mama said I wasn’t wearing a gold bra and harem pants, so I went as Dorothy, and Mama sprayed a pair of my shoes with red glitter,” she laughed. “And you?”

“The last year I went trick-or-treating, Mama made me a Superman costume. I slept in it until I outgrew it. Can you imagine me as a superhero? I’d have done better to have gone as the scarecrow from Dorothy’s story.” Luke laughed with her.

They were back on familiar ground, but she could still see a heavy black cloud in the shape of a stork right there in the back of her mind. What if she fell in love with him? What if he regretted not being able to adopt a child?

She tried to shake it off, but it was still there at the end of the evening when they got home. Everyone else was in the living room, watching the tail end of a scary movie. Luke sat down in the empty recliner to finish it with them. She needed to be alone, to analyze things and get them sorted out, to decide whether to nip this attraction she had for Luke in the bud or let it blossom.

“I’m going up to write to Rebecca and tell her all about the kids before I forget. I took pictures with my phone that I’m sending, too. She can share with the other girls. See y’all in the morning,” she said.

“Hey, before you go,” Tootsie yelled over her shoulder, “we made an executive decision while you were gone. We decided to go to Paris and do some Christmas shopping on Saturday. We might even spend a night or two in the motor home. There’s a real nice little park down there, and we can get a driver to take us to town to shop.”

“Sounds great.” Diana started up the steps.

That was just what she needed. Two nights cramped up in the motor home with Luke underfoot while they shopped. Just looking at toys everywhere would remind her of their huge difference in opinion on the issue of children. Maybe she’d offer to stay home and take care of Dolly and the kittens. That would give her lots of time to really settle it forever and for good that she didn’t want another child. She really liked Luke, but if she agreed to adopt a baby, it wouldn’t be for the right reasons, and she wasn’t sure what those might even be.