New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Sherryl Woods explores the healing power of a love strong enough to join two wounded families

Single mom Lynn Morrow is determined to put food on the table for her son and daughter. Her soon-to-be-ex-husband has failed to meet his obligations time and again—but it turns out that Ed is struggling with his own demons.

Enter contractor Mitch Franklin, an unlikely knight in shining armor. A widower with two grieving sons, Mitch once admired Lynn from afar. Now he sees in her not only the sweet girl who got away, but a woman desperately in need of support. While rushing to the rescue of Lynn and her children comes naturally, he’s also wise enough to encourage Lynn to find her own way…hopefully straight into his arms.

Praise for the novels of Sherryl Woods

“Woods…is noted for appealing, character-driven stories that are often infused with the flavor and fragrance of the South.”

—Library Journal

“Woods always thrills with her wonderful characters, witty dialogue and warm and loving family interactions.”

—RT Book Reviews

“Charming characters combine to create the interfering yet lovable O’Brien family…a satisfying, heartwarming conclusion to the Chesapeake Shores series.”

—RT Book Reviews on The Summer Garden

“Infused with the warmth and magic of the season, Woods’s fourth addition to her popular, small-town series once again unites the unruly, outspoken, endearing O’Brien clan in a touching, triumphant tale of forgiveness and love reclaimed.”

—Library Journal on A Chesapeake Shores Christmas

“A whimsical, sweet scenario…the digressions have their own charm, and Woods never fails to come back to the romantic point.”

—Publishers Weekly on Sweet Tea at Sunrise

“Woods’ readers will eagerly anticipate her trademark small-town setting, loyal friendships and honorable mentors as they meet new characters and reconnect with familiar ones in this heartwarming tale.”

—Booklist on Home in Carolina

“Redolent with Southern small-town atmosphere, this emotionally rich story deals with some serious issues and delivers on a number of levels.”

—Library Journal on A Slice of Heaven

Where Azaleas Bloom
Sherryl Woods

www.mirabooks.co.uk

Dear Friends,

So many people have been hit by hard economic times in recent years, but I’ve been particularly touched by women whose dire financial situation has been tied to a divorce. I wanted to write about one woman’s determination to get her family back on solid ground…and the hero who’s just as determined to stand by her. That theme, I thought, made a perfect Sweet Magnolia story, an example of the difficult periods in life when good friends can make all the difference.

Where Azaleas Bloom focuses on Lynn Morrow, neighbor to Carter and Raylene. So many of you have asked to read more about them and how they’re doing since their marriage. It was a great way to put them front and center again, too. As books often do for me, this one took a surprising twist at the end, a twist that only adds to the complications faced by this struggling single mom.

I hope you’ll be rooting for Lynn and her kids and that you’ll fall just a little bit in love with Mitch Franklin, a man wise enough to let her find her own way, but strong enough to be there if she falters. Observant readers will remember that Mitch appeared in the very first Sweet Magnolia book, Stealing Home. He’s the contractor who built The Corner Spa.

I hope you enjoy this wrap-up to the latest trilogy and that you’ll also be looking for The Sweet Magnolias Cookbook, in stores now, too.

All best,

Sherryl

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Epilogue

Questions for Discussion

1

Lynn Morrow was at her wit’s end. Her tiny desk tucked into a corner of the kitchen was piled high with bills and her checkbook balance was a stunningly low $24.35. Not since college had she seen such a scary balance.

The refrigerator held a half-empty carton of milk, five eggs and some rapidly wilting lettuce. There was a can of diced tomatoes in the cupboard, along with a box of spaghetti, a few spoonfuls of peanut butter left in a jar and maybe a bowlful of Cheerios in the bottom of the box. That, too, reminded her of college. But it was one thing to scrape by at nineteen, and quite another to try to do it in her forties with kids to care for.

“Mom, I’m starving,” Jeremy announced when he walked in the door from school. It was the standard cry of her ten-year-old. “What can I have for a snack?”

Lexie, who was right on his heels, took one look at her mother, apparently interpreted her dire expression for the near-panic Lynn was feeling, and turned on her brother. “You don’t need food. You need sensitivity training.”

Tears sprang to Lynn’s eyes as Jeremy bolted from the room. Lately, Alexis, who was only fourteen, had spent way too much time trying to protect her mother. Ever since the divorce proceedings had been initiated, Lynn had been struggling to make ends meet. She and Ed were still in court wrangling over everything from custody of the kids to support. The temporary order in place barely kept her and the kids above water and, by the end of the month, she was scraping bottom financially, even with the part-time job she’d managed to find at her neighbor Raylene’s boutique on Serenity’s Main Street.

One of these days she supposed she’d thank Ed for providing this unexpected life challenge, but she really, really wasn’t there yet. She was spitting mad, not because he’d left, but because of the upheaval he’d left in his wake.

She’d worked hard to keep her worries from spilling over onto the kids, but Lexie was a smart girl. She’d quickly figured out what was going on. Sometimes her overnight transformation from carefree teen into world-weary adult nearly broke Lynn’s heart. Lexie should be paying attention to her grades, maybe having her first crush on a boy, not trying to be her mother’s savior.

Now, with her brother gone in an indignant huff, Lexie came over to give Lynn a hug. She seemed to know instinctively just when Lynn was in desperate need of one.

“Dad’s late with the check again, isn’t he? How bad is it?” Lexie asked.

Lynn tried to reassure her. “We’re going to be fine, sweetie. I don’t want you to worry about this.”

“We’re not going to be fine,” Lexie retorted angrily. “How did Dad turn out to be such a huge jerk?”

Lynn wondered about the same thing, but somehow Ed had turned into a man she didn’t even recognize any longer. He’d taken his midlife crisis to new heights. He was self-absorbed, self-indulgent and thoughtless.

His family might not have enough money to put food on the table, but she’d overheard a conversation two days ago when it was mentioned that he was off on some expensive golf vacation, his third in the past six months. The wife of one of his business associates apparently hadn’t realized Lynn was nearby when she’d made her remarks about Ed’s latest spending spree. Or perhaps she had, Lynn thought cynically.

“Don’t talk about your father that way,” she admonished Lexie now, albeit halfheartedly. She didn’t want her children to start hating their father, but she wasn’t quite prepared to sing his praises, either. Every single day felt like a balancing act between her own ragged emotions and her children’s needs. No matter how upbeat she pretended to be, lately it seemed she wasn’t fooling anyone.

Lexie’s eyes filled with tears, though it was impossible to tell if she was reacting to Lynn’s stern admonition or to her own panic. “It’s really bad, isn’t it?”

“Bad enough,” Lynn admitted carefully. She gave Lexie’s hand a squeeze. “But this is a temporary blip, sweetheart. It will get sorted out. I promise.”

“Are we going to have to move?” Lexie asked, giving voice to what was obviously her greatest fear.

Lynn wasn’t one to sugarcoat bad news, though she’d hoped to have a plan in place before revealing the sad truth. “More than likely,” she said quietly.

Though she’d been counting on Helen Decatur-Whitney, who was fierce when it came to getting the best possible settlement for her clients, she also knew that even Helen couldn’t work miracles. Still, she tried to reassure her daughter. “Hopefully, Helen will be able to work this out in court before it comes to that, but I won’t lie to you—giving up the house is a real possibility.”

“But I love it here,” Lexie protested with a sniff. “It’s a great house and my best friend lives right next door.” Then, apparently seeing something in Lynn’s face, she squared her shoulders. “But it’ll be okay.” She gave her mother a plaintive look that nearly shredded what was left of Lynn’s heart. “Won’t it?”

“As long as you, Jeremy and I are together, it will be okay,” she vowed.

She would do everything in her power to see that it was. Right now, though, with unpaid bills and little money, she was feeling pretty darn powerless. For a woman who’d always felt confident and in control, that was a new sensation, one she didn’t much like. Just one more thing to lay at Ed’s feet when she was doling out blame.

* * *

Contractor Mitch Franklin had been working on a new addition for Raylene and Carter Rollins for a few weeks now. He’d started in late fall, taken only a brief break during the holidays, and was hoping to have every interior detail finished for them in time for the annual Memorial Day party the couple hosted for all their friends. Normally, winters in Serenity tended to be mild with only a few days when the weather was too bad for construction, but this year had been a nasty exception with bitter cold and more snow and ice storms than he could remember in a lifetime here in South Carolina. While the snow and ice seldom lasted, he was still further behind schedule than he liked.

With various other jobs he was finishing up—mostly interior work—Mitch was proud that he’d kept his crew working enough to put paychecks in their pockets. Now, though, the crunch was on to get this addition built. To keep costs in check he had his men working the usual number of hours, but he’d gotten into the habit of putting in a lot of overtime. He had a reputation for bringing his jobs in on time and he didn’t want this to be an exception.

Of course, there were other things motivating him, as well. For one thing, Raylene was an amazing cook, who usually invited him to join the family for a meal if he was still hanging around at dinnertime. For another, his home felt way too empty without his wife, who’d been killed by a drunk driver a year ago. It had been bad enough with his two boys away at school, but with Amy gone, too, he could barely stand to be in his house even to sleep. The bed he’d shared with his wife for twenty-two years was way too cold and lonely.

His sons were exactly where they needed to be, in college and living their lives, but he was at loose ends way more than he liked. Raylene, Carter and Carter’s younger sisters were filling a huge, gaping hole in Mitch’s life. He suspected that Raylene understood that.

He looked up when Raylene wandered into the midst of what would eventually be a new family room with soaring windows and a spectacular stonework fireplace.

“Thought I told you not to come in here without a hard hat,” he scolded pointlessly. To his everlasting dismay, she did whatever she liked. She’d been that way as far back as he could remember, though it seemed she’d gone a little crazy now that she’d recovered from her agoraphobia and was getting out of the house and around town again. Seemed to him that she’d gotten a little reckless.

“I can’t help sneaking in every chance I get,” she said, looking around, her expression filled with delight. “You’re making such incredible progress, Mitch, and it really is going to be amazing. I usually don’t like to rush the seasons, but I can hardly wait for Memorial Day to have everyone over.”

Mitch wasn’t used to people who threw parties at the drop of a hat, but he’d noticed that Raylene and her husband, Police Chief Carter Rollins, and their friends looked for any excuse to get together.

“You talking about that Sweet Magnolia crew you hang out with?” he asked. “Didn’t you have them all poking around in here right before the holidays, some kind of celebration when that bullying situation at the high school was resolved?”

“What can I say? That seems like eons ago and we’re a curious bunch. Maybe it’s time I invite them over for another sneak peek. They couldn’t really tell what was happening back then. Mostly it was a demolition mess with the new building materials piled everywhere. Just look at it now! You can already tell how fantastic it’s going to be.”

He frowned at her. “Promise me you won’t have them poking around in here until I give the word that it’s safe,” he insisted, knowing he was probably wasting his breath. “Even if my guys are off the job, there are things people can trip over or send crashing down on someone’s head. And the electrician still has some work left to do.”

She laughed. “I was just teasing you. I know how you hate people tramping all over your work site, myself included.”

“Then why do you do it? Just to annoy me?”

“Nope. I figure it’s really my work site, so I get special privileges.”

He shook his head. “Know who you sound like? Maddie Maddox. I swear that woman almost gave me a heart attack when we were doing the renovations for The Corner Spa.” He glanced at Raylene. “You knew we did those, right?”

“Of course. Maddie recommended you.”

“Well, she insisted on sitting right there, practically in the middle of the chaos, the whole time we were working. Said she had things to get done. I have no idea how she could think, much less work with all that hammering and whatnot going on. It makes me a little crazy, and I’m used to it.”

“When Maddie’s motivated, I suspect there’s not much that can deter her,” Raylene said.

“She’s a real pistol, all right,” Mitch said, a grudging note of respect in his voice. “Truth is, I thought working for the three of them—her, Helen and Dana Sue—would be a nightmare. Whoever heard of three women agreeing on anything? Boy, was I wrong! Maddie knew what she wanted, and the other two left her to it. Never before knew Helen to let someone else take charge like that.”

“They’re a great team,” Raylene agreed. “They inspire me, and they’re the best friends in the world.”

“Friends are important, all right,” Mitch said. “I should have done a better job of keeping in touch with mine. With Amy gone and the boys away, I really regret that. I don’t much like hanging out with my crew. It blurs the lines, if you know what I mean. Still, they’ve been there to back me up since Amy was killed. There are good people in this town.”

“There are,” Raylene agreed. “And it’s never too late to restore old friendships or to make new ones. I cut Annie Townsend and Sarah McDonald out of my life for way too long, but look at us now. We’re thick as thieves again. That’s one of the best things about moving back home to Serenity.” She grinned. “That and marrying Carter, of course.”

“Of course,” he said dryly, knowing perfectly well that those two couldn’t seem to keep their hands to themselves.

She gave him a sly look. “You’d be a great catch for some woman, you know.”

“Don’t go getting any ideas about matchmaking, you hear? Enough of that goes on in this town. Grace Wharton has made my social life her personal mission. I can’t walk in the door at Wharton’s without her dragging one woman or another over to meet me.”

“And not a one of them has interested you?”

“Not so far,” he declared. “Can’t see that changing, either.” Unable to keep a nostalgic note from his voice, he added, “Once a man has a woman like Amy in his life, he’s not likely to get that lucky again.”

Clearly undeterred, Raylene said, “Well, I’m just saying you’re a good-looking man. You have a few other appealing traits I’ve noticed, as well.” Grinning impudently, she gave him a thoroughly disconcerting once-over.

Mitch felt his cheeks heat at the compliment and the blatant survey. He’d been happily married every one of the twenty-two years he’d had with Amy. Before they’d met, he’d had quite a roving eye, but he could honestly say that once he’d said I do, that had been it for him. She’d been his whole world.

At forty-three now, he knew there was every chance some woman would eventually come along, but right now he wasn’t interested. The way he saw it, people grieved in their own ways, and his had been to bury himself in work even more so than he always had.

Raylene regarded him with amusement. “Okay, if I promise to stop bugging you about dating, will you stay for dinner? The girls asked for lasagna today. There’s plenty.”

Tempted as he was, Mitch asked worriedly, “What does Carter think about having me at his dinner table just about every night?”

“He thinks it means you’ll finish this addition that much faster,” she said. “Please, stay. You’re part of the family now. And you know perfectly well that I love cooking for a crowd.”

“And you know that I can’t say no to your lasagna,” he said, giving in a little too easily. “Thanks, Raylene.”

When they eventually sat down at the large dining room table, he noticed that he wasn’t the only guest. Lexie Morrow from next door seemed to be almost as much of a fixture at the table as he was. Tonight she, her brother and her mother were there.

Mitch couldn’t help taking a frank survey of Lynn. Her complexion was even paler than usual, and there was no mistaking the worry in her eyes. He’d known her practically since grade school, had a brief, though intense, unrequited crush on her in seventh grade, but it had been all about Ed for her, even back then. Over the years they’d both moved on, and rarely saw each other except in passing.

“Everything okay, Lynn?” he asked quietly, leaning in close so the others at the table wouldn’t overhear.

She smiled, but it looked forced to him. He remembered how her carefree laughter had once reminded him of the joyous sound of church bells pealing. He hadn’t heard that sound in a long time. Looked to him as if she didn’t have much to laugh about these days, not with the divorce he’d heard about still pending.

“Everything’s fine,” she said, but despite her effort, the lie didn’t sound convincing.

Mitch glanced around the table and noted that both Lexie and Jeremy were eating as if they hadn’t had a meal in days. Thinking again about the toll divorce could take, he wondered just how tough times were for Lynn. He’d heard plenty of rumors about her husband taking off every few weeks on various trips and wondered if that was having an impact on Lynn’s finances. Just the thought of the man gallivanting around while his family suffered was enough to twist Mitch’s stomach into knots. He told himself he’d have felt the same way even if he didn’t have a few fond memories of the woman.

Then, again, maybe just because of those memories, he was seeing trouble where there was none. Wouldn’t be the first time his imagination had run wild. He seemed to be the kind of man who was always looking for someone to help.

After dinner he lingered until the Morrows were ready to head home, then walked out with them. It was pitch-dark outside and there was no light burning at home.

“Why don’t I walk up the path with you?” he suggested. “It’s pretty dark out here.”

“Oh, I just forgot to leave on the outside light,” Lynn said, but the embarrassed nervousness in her voice suggested otherwise. “I think it’s burned out anyway.”

“Let me check it for you,” Mitch offered.

“That’s okay. I know I’m out of spare bulbs. They’re on the shopping list, but I keep forgetting them.”

He heard the claim for what it was, another face-saving lie.

“No problem. I always have extras in the truck.” He walked over and grabbed one out of the back before she could object, then crossed the yard. “If you’re going to be out at night, you’ll need this,” he said as he quickly removed the old bulb and screwed in the replacement. “Even in Serenity, it’s important to take safety precautions.”

“I know,” Lynn said. Then, as if it were costing her considerable pride, she managed to mutter, “Thanks.”

“Not a problem. If you ever need anything done around here, let me know. For the next couple of months or so, I’ll be at Raylene’s every day. I’d be happy to help out. No charge, of course. Just a neighborly gesture between old friends.”

Lynn gave him a wan smile. “I appreciate that, but we’re managing okay.”

Mitch understood pride all too well. He merely nodded. “Well, the offer’s on the table, if anything comes up. Don’t hesitate, okay?”

“Thanks. Good night, Mitch.” She hesitated, then added, “I know I should have let you know when the accident happened, but I was real sorry to hear about Amy. Losing her must have been hard for you and your sons.”

He nodded. “She was a good woman. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss her. It’s been a year now, and I still walk in the house some nights and call out to her.” He shrugged. “They say that will pass.”

She touched his arm briefly. “They, whoever they are, say a lot of things, but I think it’s mostly because they don’t want to say that loss of any kind really sucks.”

“Yeah,” he admitted, “it really does. Good night, Lynn.”

The kids had gone inside right away and now she hurried after them. Mitch stood where he was, staring after her.

Something wasn’t right here. Anyone could see that. But he understood the need to reclaim independence after a blow. He also knew that it was a woman’s natural tendency to protect her kids at all costs. If Lynn needed help badly enough for their sake, she’d turn to anyone who offered a helping hand. And if she ever asked, he’d be right there. Somebody needed to fix the unmistakable sorrow and fear that never seemed to leave her eyes.

And he, more than he’d realized, needed a project. Maybe, he thought, they might actually need each other.

* * *

“Raylene’s lasagna is the best,” Jeremy murmured sleepily when Lynn went to check on him before bed. “How come you don’t cook like that anymore?”

“There’s not enough time in the day,” Lynn told him.

“But Raylene works, too, and she does it,” he persisted.

She knew her ten-year-old couldn’t possibly understand how uncomfortable this entire conversation was making her, but it was hard to resist the desire to snap. “Tell me what you miss most and I’ll make it for you soon,” she promised.

“Steak and baked potatoes,” he said at once. “That was Dad’s favorite, too.”

And way beyond their current budget, Lynn thought wearily. Somehow, though, she would make it happen.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Tomorrow?” he pressed excitedly.

“Not tomorrow, but soon,” she said firmly, sighing at the unmistakable disappointment in his eyes. “Now go to sleep. You have school in the morning. Did you study for your history test?”

He gave her a shrug. “Enough.”

Which meant, she feared, not at all. Why hadn’t she sat down with him immediately after dinner and gone over the information with him the way she used to?

Because she’d been trying to figure out how to make that paltry $24.35 last another week, she thought angrily, while her soon-to-be-ex was off dining on steak himself, no doubt.

“I’m getting you up a half hour early,” she told Jeremy. “We’ll go over the material together.”

“Mom!” he muttered with a dramatic groan.

“And don’t even think about faking a stomachache or a sore throat or an earache, you hear me?” She leaned down and gave him a noisy kiss that had him giggling, despite the required protest that he was too old for such displays of affection.

Leaving her son, she tapped on Lexie’s door. “Still studying?”

To her dismay, Lexie looked up from the book she’d apparently been pretending to read, her cheeks streaked with tears. “I miss Daddy,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, but I do.”

Lynn sat down beside her on the bed and gathered her into her arms. “You don’t ever have to be sorry about missing your father,” she assured her.

“But it must make you sad when I say that,” Lexie said knowingly. “I know how hard you’re trying to make everything seem normal.”

Lynn managed a smile for her daughter. She sometimes wondered if faking a smile would get easier with practice, but so far it hadn’t.

“I think it’s obvious that things aren’t normal and no amount of pretending is going to change that.” She tucked a finger under Lexie’s chin. “Now look at me. You love your dad and, despite what’s happened between the two of us, I know he loves you. I will never stand in the way of that.”

“Then how come he hasn’t been around for so long?”

Lynn sighed. “I wish I could explain your father’s actions, but I can’t. Maybe he’s been extra busy at work.”

“I tried his cell phone, but it went to voice mail, and Noelle in his office said he’s away,” Lexie said, proving that she’d gone as close to the source as she could get for answers. “She sounded kinda funny when I called, so I don’t think it’s on business. Do you know where he went?”

Lynn didn’t want to explain about the golf trip to Lexie. Lexie was feeling unimportant enough as it was. Besides, Lynn didn’t know for sure. Rumors were always rampant in Serenity. Only some of them proved to be true.

“Not really,” she told her daughter, whose tears were finally drying up, though the stricken expression on her face was still there. “Why don’t I see what I can find out tomorrow, so you’ll know when he’s due home. Will that help?”

Lexie nodded. “You know what I don’t get? How can I still miss him so much, when I’m so mad at him?”

Lynn allowed herself a small and this time genuine smile at the very complex question. Hadn’t she wondered the exact same thing herself more than once? As furious as she was at Ed most of the time these days, there were moments when the thought of never having his arms around her again made her want to weep.

“Relationships are complicated, sweetie. Love doesn’t go away just because someone’s done something to disappoint you. You know how mad I get when Jeremy drinks milk right out of the carton or when you leave damp towels all over the bathroom floor?” She tickled Lexie. “I still love you.”

“Or what about when you tell me ten times to clean up my room?” Lexie asked, getting into the spirit of the teasing. “I get annoyed, but I still love you.”

“Or when you deliberately disobey me no matter how many times I tell you you’re not allowed to have a snack right before dinner?” Lynn said.

Unfortunately, that one caused Lexie’s grin to fade. “Like there’s anything here to have for a snack these days.”

Once again, Lynn felt the weight of every bit of unanticipated fallout from the divorce. There were the huge things, like Ed not being around when the kids needed him or the mortgage payments being late again and again. And there were the seemingly trivial ones like this, no after-school snacks. Added together she felt as if she’d failed her kids. No matter how much she wanted to lay all the blame squarely at Ed’s feet, she couldn’t. She was their mom. She should be finding a way to provide for her children. Going to work for Raylene had been a start, but it obviously wasn’t enough, not when Ed wasn’t holding up his end of the bargain.

She vowed right then to take on a second job, even if it meant frying burgers at one of the new fast-food restaurants outside of town, anything to put an end to the dismay of seeing her children suffer because of decisions she and Ed had made.

“I’m sorry,” Lexie whispered. “I shouldn’t have said that. It was mean.”

“It was the truth,” Lynn said, then added with determination, “but not for long.”

Lexie regarded her hopefully. “What are you going to do?”

“I’ll find a better job, one with more hours. Or another part-time job,” Lynn said.

“Maybe I could get some babysitting jobs,” Lexie offered eagerly.

“I appreciate your wanting to do that, but I’d like you to be a little older before you take on that kind of responsibility,” Lynn said. “Right now your job is to get great grades so you can get into whatever college you’d like to go to. I want you and Jeremy to have the most amazing futures you can possibly have, and you’ll need college degrees for that.”

“You always say that,” Lexie protested, as yet unconcerned about the importance of winning a scholarship if she expected to get into a terrific school. She was focused on the here and now. “Lots of kids my age babysit. You let me stay with Jeremy.”

“He’s ten and he’s your brother,” Lynn reminded her. “It’s not quite the same thing as taking care of a baby or a toddler.”

“What if I took the babysitting certification class at the community center? Then could I?” She gave Lynn a pleading look. “Please. I want to help out.”

“If you do that and pass the course, then we’ll see. But this will be for your savings and your spending money, okay? It’s not up to you to chip in for expenses around here.”

Lexie threw her arms around Lynn. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ll sign up tomorrow. I already know lots of people who need babysitters. The minute I pass the class, I’m going to hand out flyers.”

Lynn smiled at her enthusiasm, wishing she could muster up that same level of excitement for her own job hunt. “Okay, my little entrepreneur. For now get some sleep. Love you.”

“Love you, Mom.”

Lynn turned out the light on her way out the door, but the second she was gone, Lexie flipped it back on. Lynn smiled, knowing exactly what she was up to. She was texting Mandy the big news about taking that babysitting course. She was probably hoping to get her best friend to sign up, too.

Which Mandy would likely do, Lynn thought. Those two never did anything without the other one tagging along. It was just one more reason she intended to do everything she possibly could to stay right here in this house, so her daughter wouldn’t be ripped away from the friend who’d provided the best support system a girl Lexie’s age could possibly have.

2

Mitch had gotten into the habit of stopping in at Wharton’s for breakfast, something he’d never have considered when Amy was alive. She’d always made sure he left the house with a hearty meal to sustain him through the morning. Now Grace Wharton looked over him just as protectively, but her efforts always came with a heavy dose of meddling.

“You’re working too much,” she declared as she set a steaming cup of coffee down in front of him.

“And how would you know that?”

“You’re in here practically before I can get the coffee brewed in the morning and I know for a fact you’re over there hammering away at Raylene and Carter’s till they kick you out at night. Now, since I know you wouldn’t be looking twice at a married woman, what’s the attraction? You wouldn’t be thinking of trying to rekindle something with Lynn Morrow, now that she and Ed are divorcing, would you?”

Mitch blinked at the way she’d cut right to the heart of the matter before he’d even had a chance to consider such a thing himself. “What’s to rekindle?” he asked, hoping to throw her off stride. Not that a full-speed train heading in her direction would cause Grace to falter once she was on a mission. “Lynn and I were never an item.”

Since Wharton’s wasn’t yet busy because, as she’d noted, it was barely past dawn, Grace settled down opposite him in the booth and gave him one of her don’t-fool-with-me looks. “You must think my memory’s bad, Mitch. I can recall perfectly well the way you trailed around after her back in middle school with that lovesick expression written all over your face. If she came in here for a soda or a milk shake with her friends, you were never far behind with that adoring look about you.”

He winced at the probably accurate description. “Was I that pitiful?”

“Not pitiful,” she soothed. “Just a boy suffering from his first unrequited love, as near as I could tell.”

“Well, if you knew it was unrequited, then you also know there’s nothing to be rekindled. Besides, I rarely catch a glimpse of Lynn while I’m working over at Raylene’s.”

“Sometimes it doesn’t take more than a glimpse to know when a possibility’s intriguing,” she said. “Seems to me she could use a steady man like you in her life. Ed Morrow wasn’t exactly a prize, and if I didn’t think much of him before, I think even less of him now.” There was a weight behind her words that suggested she’d heard things that maybe others didn’t know. There were, despite what everyone in town thought, things not even Grace would share with the world, not if she felt somebody stood to be hurt by the talk.

She looked Mitch directly in the eye. “And you already know what I think about it being time for you to move on.”

He laughed. “Grace, you probably know a lot more about romance than I ever did, but it seems to me that being steady almost never sends a woman’s pulse scrambling.”

“It does when she’s been dealing with a man like Ed. And you know exactly what I mean, a man with a broken moral compass,” Grace replied firmly. “Trust me on that. I hear things.”

Mitch nodded. “More than you need to, I suspect,” he said wryly. “And I’ll keep your advice in mind should something change. Now, do you suppose I could get my eggs, ham and grits?”

“You’ll get oatmeal on a chilly morning like this,” she countered, then gave him a wink. “Then we’ll see about the rest.”

“How on earth do you keep customers coming in here if you boss ’em around like this?”

“What can I say? I have a charming personality,” she said. “And I always have the best gossip in town.”

That, to his dismay, was all too true. “Just as long as I’m not your hot topic for today, I’ll put up with the oatmeal,” he called after her.

“Why would I talk about you? So far, you haven’t done a single outrageous thing,” she called back, then added, “more’s the pity.”

Trying to imagine what would happen if he did break any of the hard and fast rules he’d lived by since Amy’s death, Mitch prayed for the fortitude to keep it that way. As much as he loved Grace’s sass and vinegar, he wasn’t quite ready to be on the menu right along with the tuna melt.

* * *

Satisfied that she’d grilled Jeremy sufficiently to eke out a passing grade on his history test, Lynn sent him off to school, then walked into town. Outside Wharton’s, she grabbed the local weekly, then went in for a cup of coffee she intended to nurse as long as possible. Grace gave frequent refills, so it was usually enough caffeine to get Lynn through the day.

“Well, well, look who’s here,” Grace said loudly as she entered.

Only then did Lynn notice Mitch sitting by himself in a booth just inside the door. He gave her what looked like a nervous smile, then gestured to the table. “Join me?” he asked with apparent sincerity.

“Are you sure? You look as if you’ve finished. Don’t you need to be over at Raylene’s soon?”

“The crew knows what to do if they get there before I do,” he assured her. “Coffee?”

“Yes,” she said eagerly even as Grace arrived with a cup and filled it to the brim, then refilled Mitch’s, a smirk on her face.

Lynn watched her walk away. “Was she smirking?”

Mitch sighed. “She was. Trust me, you don’t want to know why. How about something to eat? My treat.”

“No, thanks,” she said, though she couldn’t help gazing longingly at a plate of French toast as Grace carried it by.

“When was the last time you had Grace’s French toast?” Mitch asked with a knowing grin.

“A while,” she admitted. “But seriously, I’m not hungry.”

“Nobody looks at food the way you just did unless it’s a real temptation,” Mitch said, then called out to Grace. “An order of French toast, Grace, and put it on my tab.”

“Done,” she called back.

Lynn regarded him with dismay. “You really didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to. Having someone besides Grace to talk to while I finish my second cup of coffee is a real treat.”

“I heard that,” Grace said as she passed by. She gave Lynn a wink. “The man has the hots for me, and don’t think I don’t know it. So does Neville, but my husband claims he’s past caring what I do as long as I quit bothering him.”

Lynn laughed, noting the pained expression on Mitch’s face. “You know she wouldn’t tease you like that if she didn’t adore you.”

“I know.” He leaned across the table and confided, “The woman scares the daylights out of me. If she has her way, she’ll marry me off before the summer’s over. You probably want to run for your life.”

Once again, Lynn couldn’t control a chuckle. “I think you’re tougher than that.”

He gave her a look then that she couldn’t quite interpret.

“I used to think so, too,” he said, his voice suddenly sober.

Before she could try to figure out what he’d meant by that, Grace put a plate of thick, golden French toast in front of her, along with a pitcher of warm maple syrup, butter and a shaker of cinnamon and sugar.

“I wasn’t sure which way you liked it,” Grace said. “Me, I like the syrup, but a lot of folks prefer the cinnamon.”

“I like it drowning in butter and syrup,” Lynn admitted. She spread butter over the slices, doused them in syrup, then tried the first mouthful. “Oh, my God,” she murmured, drawing a smile from Mitch. “What?”

“I remember that look,” he said. “You used to get the same expression on your face at Rosalina’s when you’d take your first bite of pizza.”

“As if I’d died and gone to heaven?” she said. “No doubt about it. When it comes to certain foods, it’s as if they speak to some part of my soul.”

“So, pizza and French toast do that?” he asked, clearly amused. “What else?”

“Chocolate decadence cake,” she said readily. “Almost better than sex.” The second the words left her mouth, she felt herself blushing furiously. “Sorry. I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

He laughed. “I don’t see why not, if it’s true. I’ll have to remember your very high opinion of those things. Now tell me what you’re doing in here so early.”

She tapped the newspaper she’d set on the table. “Looking for another job.”

Mitch frowned. “I thought you were working for Raylene.”

“Only part-time. I need more hours.”

“But what about the kids?” he asked, then waved off the question. “Sorry, none of my business. I guess I just assumed Ed would be paying support.”

“He is,” she said quickly.

Mitch held her gaze. “But? I know I heard a but in your voice just then.”

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

“Is he late with a check or something?”

Lynn squirmed. “Mitch, I’m really not comfortable talking about this.” She didn’t want everyone in town speculating about Ed and the way he was behaving. Not that they weren’t already, but she didn’t want to confirm or add to the talk.

Mitch clearly wasn’t going to back down, though. His expression filled with concern, he pressed, “I thought we were old friends. If there’s a problem, maybe I can help.”

“It’s sweet of you to offer, it really is, but this will work out,” she insisted. “And it’s not going to kill me to work a few more hours every week. It won’t hurt the kids, either,” she added defensively.

“I know you’re a great mother, Lynn,” he replied patiently. “I wasn’t suggesting otherwise. I see enough of Jeremy and Lexie over at Raylene’s to see how well they’re turning out, and I know they have you to thank for that.”

She drank in his praise. She’d heard far too little of it from her soon-to-be-ex-husband. “Thank you for saying that. They’re great kids. I worry myself sick sometimes about how the divorce is affecting them. Lexie’s growing up too fast, that’s for sure. She’s a sensitive girl and no matter how hard I try to keep my problems from her, she picks up on everything.”

“She looks just fine to me,” Mitch consoled her. “You should hear her and Mandy over at Raylene’s. I can hear them giggling over the sound of all the hammering and, even more impressive, over that music they play. She sounds like a happy, healthy teenager to me.”

“I wish I’d heard that,” Lynn said wistfully. “She and Mandy don’t hang out at our house much these days.”

“Could be she feels guilty about having fun when she knows you’re sad,” Mitch said, surprising her with his insightfulness. “Kids are like that. Those first months after Amy died, mine did plenty of tiptoeing around whenever they came home on visits. Surprised the heck out of me. I didn’t think either one of those boys had a sensitive bone in their bodies, but they were raised by Amy, so of course they did.”

She saw the faraway look in his eyes and responded to that. “There’s no mistaking how much you loved her, Mitch,” she said gently. As hard as the divorce proceedings were, she knew it was nothing like losing someone you loved so deeply with such finality.

“Always will, I imagine,” he said. “But every day does get a little easier.”

He seemed to snap himself back to the moment. “Now I’d better get over to Raylene’s or she’ll be wondering what happened to me. She always has some kind of checklist for me before she goes off to work.” He leaned closer and confided, “Don’t tell her, but I stuff ’em in my pocket and never look at ’em again.”

“Is that because you really don’t give a hoot about what she wants or because you have a photographic memory?” Lynn asked.

He shrugged. “Maybe a little of both. I know I’ll get to all of it eventually. I haven’t been in this business my entire life without knowing what needs to be done and when. See you around, Lynn. Thanks for the company.”

“Thanks for the breakfast,” she said, then watched as he walked away. She was still following him with her gaze when Grace appeared just as he was climbing into his shiny new four-by-four parked out front. She couldn’t help wondering if a man who took such good care of his truck would be equally thoughtful when it came to caring for a woman.

“That man does look good in a pair of jeans,” Grace said with a dramatic sigh. She pinned Lynn with a look. “Just in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Hard not to notice,” Lynn replied, then gave Grace a chiding look. “But don’t go getting any ideas in your head, you hear me? I’m not looking for a man, and he says he’s not looking for anyone, either.”

“And sometimes people lie to themselves because it feels safer,” Grace retorted.

She sashayed off, leaving Lynn alone with the discouragingly paltry list of classified ads. Contemplating Mitch’s sexy butt in a pair of jeans was a whole lot more fascinating than the few menial jobs available in Serenity.

But, she told herself staunchly as she forced her gaze back to the paper, ogling a man wouldn’t put food on the table. And that was what she needed today, not the fleeting and dangerous satisfaction of feeling her pulse race for the first time in a very long time.

* * *

Lynn was down to her last possibility, a cashier’s job at a mini-mart in a dicey section of town. Even in a tranquil community like Serenity, there were places to be avoided. Unfortunately, she was too desperate to take that into consideration.

To her chagrin, she was being interviewed by a girl half her age. She’d probably barely met the twenty-one-year-old age requirement specified in the ad.

“You willing to work nights?” Karena asked, snapping gum as she spoke, her expression bored.

“What are the hours exactly?” Lynn asked, inwardly cringing at the thought of leaving the kids at home alone in the evening.

“Eleven at night to seven in the morning,” Karena replied.

Dismayed, Lynn shook her head at once. That was out of the question. “Sorry. I have kids at home. I can’t do that.”

“Well, that’s all we have.” Karena stood up, ending the interview.

“Thanks, anyway,” Lynn managed to say. “Sorry to have wasted your time, but the ad didn’t mention that it was a night job.”

When she got back to her car, she rested her head against the steering wheel and fought the tears that were never far away these days. She tried hard not to give in to them, but sometimes she simply couldn’t hold back all the pain and frustration. A few minutes later, a tap on her window had her sitting upright, her heart racing.

“Mitch!” she exclaimed. “You scared me half to death.”

He gestured for her to roll down the window. When she’d complied, he regarded her with what looked like real distress. “Please tell me you were not even thinking about applying for a job here,” he said, heat in his voice.

She frowned at his tone. “I did apply, but the only thing available is overnight. Obviously, I can’t do that.”

“You shouldn’t be working here at any hour. It’s dangerous.”

“If the clientele’s so rough, what are you doing here?”

“I was on my way to my plumbing supplier’s and saw the HELP WANTED sign in the window and your car in the parking lot. After our conversation earlier, I stopped to check it out, make sure you weren’t about to do anything crazy.”

“There’s nothing crazy about needing a job.”

“Of course not, but not here, Lynn,” he said flatly.

Annoyed by his attitude, she retorted, “I already told you I couldn’t take it because of the hours. What business is this of yours, anyway?”

“Just one friend looking out for another,” he said, clearly not fazed by her attitude. “Do you know the reason they need a new night clerk? The last one was shot a week ago during a robbery.”

Lynn started trembling uncontrollably. “Good God,” she murmured. “I had no idea.”

“It was in the paper, the same one you were reading this morning.”

“I just checked out the ads.”

“Well, I imagine if I hadn’t come along to tell you, Carter would have stepped in. He has more problems around this area than anywhere else in town.” He hesitated, clearly waging some sort of internal debate with himself. “If you’re this desperate for a job, work for me,” he said with unmistakable reluctance.

She almost laughed, but the expression on his face said he was serious. Not happy, but definitely serious. “You? Doing what? The last do-it-yourself job I tried to tackle at the house was such a disaster, it had to be redone by a professional.”

He had the audacity to smile at that. “I wasn’t suggesting putting you on one of my construction crews. I could use the help with paperwork.”

She studied him skeptically. “Don’t you already have someone?”

“Nah. In the winter I can usually keep up with the billing and payroll myself, but with spring coming on and more jobs, it’s harder for me to manage all that and the paperwork, too.”

“I doubt I’d be much better at that than I was at wallpapering the kitchen,” she told him candidly.

“It’s an easy system,” he assured her. “I can teach you in an hour.”

“You have an office?”

“No, that’s the beauty of it. You can work at home. I’ll just bring my laptop and a printer to your place and leave ’em. How about we give it a trial run, see how it goes? If you’re comfortable with it, we’ll take it from there.”

Lynn felt a faint frisson of hope. “And you swear you’re not making up work just to give me a job?”

“Cross my heart,” he said with a grin, sketching an exaggerated cross on his chest. “You can start tomorrow. I’ll bring the laptop by in the morning and show you the basics. There are half a dozen bills that need to go out, and maybe you’ll be up to speed to do payroll by the end of the week.”

“If all this is as simple as you make it sound, how many hours are you thinking?”

“Just part-time, maybe twenty. You’d be able to keep the job at Raylene’s, too. Would that be enough to help?”

“It would be a godsend,” she told him, especially the part about working at home. “But only if you’re sure. You didn’t look all that certain when you first mentioned it. Were you already having second thoughts before the words were even out of your mouth?”

“Not at all,” he said, sounding more convincing. “I’m sure about this, Lynn.”

“And you’ll fire me if I’m lousy?”

“I don’t think you’re going to be lousy, but if you are, something tells me I won’t have to do a thing. You’ll quit, either out of frustration or mind-numbing boredom.”

She looked into his eyes, a gray-blue shade she’d never noticed before and filled with kindness. “I seem to spend a lot of time thanking you lately, but I have to say it again.”

“Don’t,” he said. “You’ll be solving a problem for me.”

She smiled. “I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?”

“I’ll be over first thing in the morning, then, as soon as the kids have left for school. Is that okay?”

She nodded. “That’ll be perfect. I don’t have to be at Raylene’s shop until ten. I’ll be home just after two and can jump right back into whatever you need me to do.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” he said. “And I’ll stop by before I head home at the end of the day, in case you have any questions. Or you can just run next door if something crops up that you don’t understand.”

“This really is a blessing, Mitch. Thank you.”

“No more thanks, understood? This is a business arrangement, okay? I need help. You’re looking for a job. It works out well for both of us.”

She shook her head. “Sorry. I can’t promise you I won’t keep thanking you. I have the funniest feeling you’re my guardian angel.”

The remark seemed to fluster him. “Sweetheart, I can assure you I’m no angel. You can ask anyone in town about that.”

Lynn shook her head, not buying it. “I think you’re wrong about that, Mitch. I’ve never heard a single bad word ever said about you.”

“Then you never spoke to Nettie Rogers, who swears I trampled her azaleas when I was rebuilding her screened-in porch. And then there’s Sissy Adams, who accused me of changing the sunny shade of yellow paint she chose to mustard just to annoy her, never mind that the woman is flat-out color blind. I could have painted her walls bright orange and I swear she wouldn’t have been able to tell that from neon pink.”

Lynn laughed. “You’re exaggerating, but those aren’t exactly the sort of sins I was thinking about.”

He grinned at her, a surprising twinkle in his eyes. “Now sins are an entirely different kettle of fish,” he said. “I think we’d best save those for another day, or you’ll quit this job before you’ve even started. Now head on out of here. I want to see you safely on the road before I drive away.”

“See you in the morning, then,” Lynn said, turning on the engine and putting the car in gear. She was about to open her mouth to utter another thank-you, but the expression on Mitch’s face stopped her. He looked as if he were just daring her to say the forbidden words again.

Lynn waited until she was out of sight before murmuring one more time, “Thank you, Mitch. You are my guardian angel, no matter what you say.”

Who knew that a guardian angel could come in the guise of a guy in blue jeans with red hair, twinkling gray-blue eyes and one very sexy butt?

3

Despite the relief she felt at having a job lined up, Lynn’s stomach remained tied up in knots as she drove toward the center of town. She hadn’t forgotten her promise to Lexie to find out where Ed was and when he was due back. She had her own valid reasons for wanting to know those things, as well. She knew that trying to wrangle information out of the very loyal and discreet Noelle over the phone would be a waste of time, but face-to-face, Ed’s secretary would have a lot more trouble holding out.

The success of Ed’s insurance business was ostentatiously showcased in the large brick building he’d built just off Main Street. Personally, Lynn had always thought it was pretentious, but he’d insisted it was good for business, especially the insurance business, to look impressive and solid.

Lynn parked in the large lot out back and went in through the closest entrance, drawing startled glances from several of Ed’s colleagues who hadn’t laid eyes on her since she and Ed had split up. Assuming they’d taken his side and not wanting to put any of them on the spot, she nodded politely and kept right on walking to his large suite of offices in the front.

“Hi, Noelle,” she said.

Ed’s secretary uttered a small gasp, but recovered quickly. “Mrs. Morrow, how are you?”

“Just fine, Noelle. And you?”

“Doing all right. What can I do for you? Ed’s not here.”

“So I’ve gathered. Any idea where I can reach him or when he’ll be back?”

“As I told Lexie when she called, I’m not entirely sure.”

“On either point?” Lynn asked skeptically. “I can’t recall a single time when Ed has ever been out of touch with you.”

“Well, of course, I speak to him if there’s an emergency,” Noelle said, looking increasingly uncomfortable. For all her loyalty to her boss, she was also a sympathetic woman and a single mother herself. Lynn thought she probably understood the situation all too well.

“Then how about sharing with me how you go about contacting him?” Lynn requested. “Please, Noelle. You spoke to Lexie. You know how much she misses her father. And there are things I need to discuss with him that can’t wait.”

“He’ll be back soon,” Noelle said, holding firm.

“How soon?”

“Next week at the latest, maybe sooner.”

Lynn shook her head. “Not good enough. I want to speak to him today.”

Noelle regarded her with what appeared to be genuine sympathy. “I really wish I could help you, but I need this job. I can’t violate his confidence. He’d fire me.” She gave Lynn an earnest look. “You know he would.”

Lynn sighed. Unfortunately, she knew that all too well. Even before she’d walked into the building, she’d known she was going to be putting Noelle in an impossible position. The last thing she wanted to do was to get another single mom fired.

She was struck by a sudden thought. Ed always kept petty cash in his office in a secret compartment at the back of one of his drawers. Since he’d failed to send his support check, she figured she was entitled to get that money however she could.

“Would you mind if I left a note on his desk?” she asked Noelle.

“No problem,” Noelle said, looking relieved that Lynn wasn’t going to keep pressing her.

“Thanks. I’ll just be a minute.” She walked into the office she’d worked so hard to decorate for him, choosing colors that were warm and inviting and furnishings that were tasteful and, at Ed’s insistence, far more expensive than they’d needed to be.

She sat in his ergonomic leather chair behind the oversize mahogany desk and opened the bottom drawer. Reaching into the compartment hidden behind a stack of company stationery, she plucked out two hundred-dollar bills and guiltily stuffed them into her purse.

To make good on the request that had gotten her into the room, she removed a piece of stationery and jotted a quick note asking Ed to call her immediately on his return, folded it and shoved it into an envelope, then tucked it into a corner of the pristine blotter centered on his desk.

“All done,” she told Noelle, exiting quickly. “I left the note on his desk. Please make sure he reads it, okay? As soon as he sees my handwriting he’ll toss it in the trash, otherwise.”

“I’ll do my best,” Noelle promised, then regarded Lynn apologetically. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help.”

“You helped enough,” Lynn assured her.

Back in her car, she found herself trembling for the second time that day. No matter how strongly she felt that she was owed much more than that two hundred dollars, she couldn’t help thinking that she’d turned into a thief. That’s what this divorce was doing to her.

Then she thought of her kids and squared her shoulders. She’d done what she had to do and if anyone should be ashamed of their behavior these days, it was Ed. And she’d tell him exactly that if he had the audacity to make an issue of this.

* * *

Even with the promise of another paycheck soon and the money she’d stolen from petty cash in her purse, Lynn couldn’t bring herself to go on a spending splurge at the grocery store. Who knew what other crises might arise before Ed finally paid up the way he was supposed to?

She left the store with two small sacks of groceries and a heavy heart. This would barely get them through the weekend, and then what? A couple of hundred dollars seemed like a fortune, but it wouldn’t last long. It would barely cover the electric bill, much less make any dent in the overdue mortgage.

After putting the few pitiful purchases into the refrigerator and pantry, she knew she had to do something more to address the situation. Not even another paycheck was going to solve things, not with interest and late fees adding up on their bills. Reluctantly, she picked up the phone and called Helen.

“The support check hasn’t come again,” she told the attorney. “I just spent practically the last dime I have on enough groceries to get us through the next couple of days.” She drew in a deep breath, then confessed, “I actually resorted to taking money from petty cash in Ed’s office. I know it’s theft, but what was I supposed to do, Helen? Let my kids starve?”

Helen uttered an epithet that would have blistered Ed’s ears had she said it in court. “Look, I can’t very well condone stealing, but let’s pretend you never told me about that. Believe me, I get how desperate you must have been to resort to that.”

“It’s not going to make a dent in the bills,” Lynn said in frustration. “But it will cover groceries for a couple of weeks and one or two other things, if I pinch every penny.”

“I’ll stop by with a check before the day’s out,” Helen promised her. “And before you say no, believe me, I will get it back from Ed, even if I have to take it out of his sorry hide!”

Lynn smiled. “I want to be there for that,” she said. “Just anticipating it will be the one huge bright spot in my life.”

“What about those bills you mentioned?” Helen asked. “Are you managing? Is Ed covering what he’s supposed to be covering—the mortgage payment, the utilities?”

Lynn drew in a deep breath, then told her, “I just got a notice from the bank. They haven’t received the last two house payments. They’re threatening to foreclose. The electric company has given me two weeks to pay or they’ll disconnect service.”

“That scum!” Helen said fiercely. “Does he really want to take the roof from over your heads?”

“I don’t think he cares about anything but himself these days,” Lynn said. “I’ve managed to find a part-time job at Raylene’s shop, but in this economy the pay’s terrible. And today, Mitch Franklin hired me part-time to handle his billing and payroll, but even with both jobs, there’s no way I can keep up. And the kids need clothes and supplies for school. I can’t bear the looks in their eyes when I tell them there’s no money for something they need, never mind for a few extras like seeing a movie with their friends. Forget putting gas in the car. Until today when I went looking for a second job, I hadn’t driven anywhere in weeks.”

Once she’d started, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from pouring out all the frustrations and fears she’d kept bottled up. Helen listened without comment, then said with quiet reassurance, “We’re going to fix this, Lynn. I promise you that.”

“Before I’m homeless?” Lynn asked wryly.

“Absolutely,” Helen said. “I’ll speak to the bank. If need be, I’ll get the court to intervene while we straighten this out.”

Lynn breathed a sigh of relief. She could bear just about anything, she thought, except the thought of being on the streets with no place to go. Her parents had died several years ago. Her sisters lived in other states. If they knew how bad things were, they’d try to help, but she simply couldn’t bring herself to endure the humiliation of asking them. She’d been saving that for a truly desperate last resort.

“I’ll be by in an hour or two with that check,” Helen promised her. “You’ll still have time to get to the bank to cash it. In the meantime, I’ll call Jimmy Bob West and put the fear of God into him about his client’s behavior. Once I get to your place, we’ll take a look at those bills and see what we can work out, okay?”

“Thank you, Helen. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you in my corner. If it were just me, I could walk away. Start over, even from the very bottom. But I owe the kids better than that.”

“You’re a strong woman, Lynn. Try to remember that. You’ll do whatever it takes to keep your family healthy and safe. I just wish you’d told me about this sooner. Maybe I could have done something before things deteriorated so badly.”

“I was taught that asking for help was a sign of weakness,” Lynn said. “I kept thinking I could figure things out or that Ed would shape up.”

“Turning to friends, and especially to your attorney, is not a weakness,” Helen replied emphatically. “Remember that. I’ll see you soon.”

“Thanks,” Lynn said, her spirits marginally improved.

But then, as if to mock her, when she went to wash her hands in the downstairs bathroom, the cold-water knob came off in her hand.

“This is just the bloody last straw,” she muttered, sitting down on the toilet and letting the tears come. She wasn’t sure which was flowing harder, her tears or the water leaking in the sink.

“This is not solving anything,” she muttered, making an attempt to find the shut-off valve, only to discover it was stuck. She thought of Mitch. She doubted he’d had any idea what he was letting himself in for by offering to help her out. These days it seemed the disasters in her life were way too plentiful. Still, he had offered and he was right next door.

She splashed water on her swollen eyes, ran a brush through her hair, then hurried to Raylene’s. At her knock, Raylene opened the door at once. She frowned when she saw Lynn.

“Are you okay? You’ve been crying. What can I do to help?”

“Just a frustrating day,” Lynn told her. “Is Mitch here? Do you suppose I could borrow him for a minute? I have an impending plumbing disaster and I’m at a loss. He offered to help out if I ever needed anything.”

“Of course he will,” Raylene said. “I’ll get him and send him right over.”

“Thanks.”

Raylene started away, then came back. “Lynn, if you ever need anything at all, you know Carter and I will be happy to pitch in. Mandy adores Lexie, and we love having her over here anytime she wants to come. You and Jeremy are always welcome, too. I imagine it’s been tough since Ed left. I put that much together when you came to me for a job.”

“We’re managing,” Lynn said tightly, wondering if Helen had filled Raylene in on how bad things were, if Raylene had only given her a job out of pity. She immediately stopped herself from even considering such a possibility. Helen’s ethical standards were too high for her to be blabbing about her clients’ woes.

And after all Raylene had been through—her first husband’s abuse, a bout with agoraphobia and a final confrontation with her ex after his release from jail—Raylene was quick to lend a hand to everyone these days. She said it thrilled her to finally be able to repay some of the kindness extended to her when she’d been psychologically trapped in her own home for so long.

Lynn forced a smile. “Thanks for offering, though. You’ve already done plenty for us.”

“We’re always happy to help. I mean that.”

Lynn nodded. “I know you do.” For the second time that day, she’d been reminded that she did have friends, people who would be there for her if only she asked.

“Okay, then,” Raylene said, then left to get Mitch as Lynn walked back home.

When Mitch appeared at her house and immediately set to work on repairing the knob, she couldn’t help noticing how quietly competent he was. He was also a man of few words. She liked that he didn’t ask a lot of questions about how she’d managed to break the stupid thing in the first place. Ed would have turned the whole incident into a flurry of accusations about her incompetence.

When the job was done, Mitch washed his hands, then smiled at her. “Good as new,” he declared. “Or as good as a twenty-year-old fixture is likely to be. You might think about replacing it one of these days.”

“I’ll put it on the list,” she said.

He gave her a chiding look. “Is this one of those long lists that no one ever gets to?”

“Pretty much.”

“I could get one for you at cost and replace it in no time,” he offered.

Lynn shook her head. “That’s okay. This one will have to hold up a while longer.”

“Okay, then,” he said, not pressing. When they got to the kitchen, he hesitated. “Other than that knob coming off in your hand, has something else happened since I saw you earlier? You look even more stressed.”

“How flattering.”

He winced. “Sorry. I’m not up on polite chitchat. If I want to know something, I figure the best way to find out is to ask. The kids are okay?”

She smiled at his determined attempt to try to pry information out of her. “They’ll be home from school any minute. I’m sure you’ll see Lexie next door and can determine for yourself how she’s doing.”

He looked vaguely chagrined. “Okay. Message received. I didn’t mean to pry. Sorry if I struck a nerve.”

“I’m the one who’s sorry, Mitch. It’s just been a tough day,” she said. “You were right. I am stressed out.”

“Take a break and put your feet up,” he advised. “I’ll be over in the morning.”

“See you then.”

He started to leave, then turned back. “Hey, I don’t suppose you could convince Lexie that it would be politically correct to play the local country station at full volume, rather than that crazy stuff she and Mandy like?”

“I haven’t had any luck around here,” she said. “That would be my preference, too. The country music Travis and Sarah play on the radio station here in town is much more my taste.”

“Mine, too. I think I’ve lived a lot of those lyrics.”

“Haven’t we all?” she agreed. Lately, she had a hunch her experiences could provide lyrics for an entire CD of love-gone-wrong songs. Maybe that should be her new calling.

Mitch stood there awkwardly for a moment longer, then shrugged. “I’d better get back over there. If I’m gone too long, my crew’s liable to put up a wall where no wall was intended to be.”

She laughed. “Something tells me you have them trained better than that. It looks amazing from over here. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.”

“You’ll have to let me give you a tour one of these days. Raylene has a hard hat she can loan you, assuming she can find the thing. Near as I can tell she enjoys making my heart stop by coming into the addition without it.”

“I’d like that,” Lynn said. “We always talked about building an addition to this place, but we never got around to it. Now it will never happen.”

She waved off the revealing comment as soon as it was out of her mouth. “Spilt milk,” she muttered. “Thanks, again, for helping out with the plumbing crisis, Mitch. You’re a lifesaver.”

“Anytime. I told you that.”

She watched him walk away, fascinated yet again by the way his faded, well-worn jeans curved quite nicely over an incredibly sexy posterior. As soon as the outrageous, totally inappropriate thought crossed her mind, she slapped her hand over her mouth as if she’d said it aloud.

What had gotten into her today? She was completely flipping out over finances, she’d stolen money from her husband’s office and she was still thinking about how appealing Mitch looked in a pair of jeans? Crazy. The last thing she needed in her life these days was another complication. And Mitch Franklin, sweet and sexy as he might be, would most definitely be a complication.

Starting tomorrow morning she was going to have to be on full alert to make sure she kept these wayward thoughts of hers in check or working for the man was going to be incredibly awkward. Even as she reminded herself of that, she wondered if just maybe that was why he’d hesitated before offering her the job. Was he as aware of her as she suddenly was of him? Or had he just noticed that she’d developed this insane appreciation for his backside?

Either way, she reminded herself sternly, tomorrow morning needed to be all about business. She would keep her eyes on the computer screen and far, far away from Mitch or any particularly intriguing part of his anatomy.

* * *

When Mitch got back to Raylene’s, his crew had gone for the day and she immediately gave him a speculative look. “You were gone a long time. Problems making the repair?”

He frowned, bothered by what he thought was a hint of censure in her voice. “You don’t mind that I went over there, do you?”

She immediately looked chagrined. “Of course not. I actually meant to tease you. I thought maybe fixing the sink or whatever was broken was the least of what was going on.”

Mitch regarded her with a narrowed gaze. “Don’t you start! I get enough meddling from Grace.”

“So, Grace has seen you with Lynn, too?”

“I am not having this conversation with you,” he said flatly.

“Not even if I tell you that we’re having roasted chicken for dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy?” she taunted. “I made it just for you.”

“Bring me a plate while I work,” he said firmly. “I need to catch up on a few things before I leave.”

Raylene shook her head, a glint of amusement in her eyes. “You eat at the table like a civilized person or you don’t eat. That’s what I tell the girls and it applies to you, too.”

“I could just leave now,” he retorted. “I’m not on the clock.”

“You could, but I know roasted chicken is your favorite. Would you deny yourself that just to avoid a few innocent questions?”

“There is absolutely nothing innocent about any of your questions, Raylene. You could give those 60 Minutes reporters a run for their money.”

“Then you must know it won’t do any good for you to try to dodge me,” she said cheerfully. “See you at the table in a half hour.”

For a man who’d been bemoaning the loss of the most important woman in his life and the ensuing loneliness, he suddenly had a surplus of bossy, know-it-all women around him. Once he was back home tonight, he was going to have to think about exactly how he felt about that.

* * *

“I may have some idea about what’s been happening to that money Ed’s supposed to be paying,” Helen told Lynn when she stopped by with a check.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she glanced around guiltily. “Are the kids here?”

Lynn shook her head. “Lexie’s next door and Jeremy’s down the street playing with friends in the park.”

“Good. I wouldn’t want them to overhear this.”

“What’s happening?”

“Jimmy Bob is supposed to be taking care of those payments, right?”

Lynn nodded. “That’s what Ed told me.”

“Well, Jimmy Bob’s nowhere to be found at the moment.”

Lynn regarded her with surprise. “You mean he’s vanished?”

“Vanished, gone on vacation, who knows? All I know is the office was closed up tight when I stopped by, and there was a sign on the door that said the law practice was closed indefinitely. I called my investigator and asked him to see what he could find out.”

“I know you’re not crazy about the way Jimmy Bob practices law, but isn’t this odd, even for him?” Lynn asked.

Helen nodded. “He’s pulled quite a few stunts over the years, but I’ve never known him to disappear in the middle of a case. We have another court date next week. Unless he gets a postponement, which so far I’ve had no indication that he’s asked for, the judge is going to expect him to appear. Ed, too.”

“Maybe they’ve both run off on this fun-filled golf trip I hear Ed is on.”

Helen shrugged. “Could be, but that doesn’t feel right, either. His secretary should be there fielding calls at least. He doesn’t even have an answering machine turned on.”

“Maybe he just figured if he was on vacation, she might as well be, too,” Lynn speculated. “That happens, doesn’t it? Small offices just shut down and everyone goes on vacation at the same time?”

“Not in my profession, with court dates always changing and emergencies cropping up with clients,” Helen insisted. “Of course, Jimmy Bob doesn’t always operate the way a real professional should.”

She waved off the discussion. “There’s no point in trying to figure out what Jimmy Bob is up to. We’ll know soon enough. In the meantime, the check should tide you over, and I’ve scheduled an appointment with the bank manager tomorrow. I’ll let you know what sort of temporary terms I’m able to negotiate. I don’t think they’ll be unreasonable until we get this mess straightened out.”

“Thank you, Helen. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you. I think I knew when we were still in high school that you were going to be this mega-successful attorney for the underdog. Remember when you defended Jane Thompson before the student court for cheating? Nobody thought you stood a chance of getting her off.”

“She was innocent,” Helen said, smiling.

“Really?” Lynn said skeptically. “She wasn’t caught red-handed passing a note in the middle of an exam?”

“She was caught red-handed with a note,” Helen admitted. “But, in fact, it was Jimmy Bob West who’d shoved it into her hand when he saw the teacher heading their way. He was scum even back then.”

“Didn’t he try to convince you to go into practice with him a few years ago?” Lynn asked. “I’d like to have been there when you gave him an answer.”

Helen chuckled. “I just told him that, regretfully, I’d rather eat dirt than work with him, or words to that effect.”

“I suspect they were a lot more colorful,” Lynn said.

“A lot more,” Helen conceded. “But Jimmy Bob, being the man he is, didn’t take the slightest offense. He still asks from time to time.”

She gave Lynn a hug. “Hang in there, okay? And call me immediately the next time there’s a problem. Meantime, I’ll be in touch about that court date and whatever we find out about Jimmy Bob’s whereabouts.”

“Have a good evening,” Lynn told her. She waved the check in the air. “I’m going to relax for the first time in days.”

At the very least, she was going to be able to sleep tonight.

4

Flo Decatur was sitting on the sofa reading a book to her granddaughter, Sarah Beth, when Helen came in from work looking beat.

“Mommy!” Sarah Beth cried joyfully, running to throw her arms around Helen. “Gramma’s reading my favorite story.”

“Of course she is,” Helen said. “You have Gramma wound around your little finger.”

Sarah Beth’s face puckered up with a frown. “What does that mean?”

“It means I love you,” Flo interpreted. “Even more than chocolate ice cream with hot fudge on top.”

Her granddaughter’s eyes widened. “More than gooey chocolate cake like Daddy makes?”

“Even more than that,” Flo confirmed.

Sarah Beth turned to her mother. “Can we have ice cream and cake for dinner?”

Helen laughed, then gave Flo a feigned frown. “Thanks a lot. Now peas and carrots won’t cut it.”

“Peas and carrots never cut it with you, either,” Flo said realistically, then followed her into the kitchen. “Why don’t you go take a shower and change into something comfortable, while I put whatever Erik sent home from Sullivan’s on the table? I’ll see that Sarah Beth’s fed, too. You look as if you could use a few minutes to relax and unwind.”

She was surprised when Helen gave her an impulsive hug. “You have no idea how wonderful that sounds.” Helen gave her pint-size imp of a daughter a pointed look. “And try to keep Miss Sarah Beth here out of the cake until after she’s eaten dinner.”

“I’ve got it covered,” Flo assured her, then winked at Sarah Beth.

Flo had come to treasure these regular dinners with her daughter and granddaughter. Though she was happily settled into her own apartment now and had an active social life, she missed the time she’d spent in this house while she’d been recovering from a broken hip. She was capturing so many new family memories, the kind that had been few and far between when she’d been struggling to make ends meet as a single mom back when Helen had been Sarah Beth’s age. She liked to think that she and Helen were actually friends now, and not just mother and daughter with a contentious relationship.

She also enjoyed the meals her son-in-law sent home from Sullivan’s. That restaurant of Dana Sue’s where he was the sous-chef had better food than anything Flo had ever put on her table at home, and she’d at one time been considered the best when it came to her church’s potluck suppers.

Tonight Erik had sent home two fried catfish dinners for her and Helen, some chicken tenders and mashed potatoes for Sarah Beth, along with some of that gooey molten chocolate cake that was Sarah Beth’s favorite. Flo’s, too, for that matter.

Flo poured a glass of milk for her granddaughter, then made cocktails for herself and Helen. She sat with Sarah Beth while she ate, then sent her off to her room to play before bedtime. “But give Mommy some peace and quiet, okay?”

“Uh-huh,” Sarah Beth said, then scampered off, dragging a tattered stuffed tiger with her.

By then, Helen was back, looking refreshed, though worry was still etched on her forehead.

“Bad day?” Flo asked, always interested in the legal cases her daughter was involved in. They’d realized a while back that Helen’s interest in law probably went back to all the TV shows like Divorce Court and The People’s Court that Flo used to keep on while she did the baskets of ironing that brought in a few extra dollars each week.

“You have no idea,” Helen said, taking a sip of her drink, then closing her eyes with a sigh of satisfaction. “I needed this.”

“One of these days I’ll make you a batch of margaritas,” Flo said, grinning. “I know they’re a personal favorite of yours. You must have gotten that from me. Made a batch for the first time in years not long ago.”

Helen regarded her with amusement. “Do you really want to remind me of the Senior Magnolias fiasco at Liz’s?”

Flo chuckled. “Yep, that was the night and I refuse to apologize for it. Frances needed a distraction from the diagnosis the doctor had given her.”

“Even so, I hope you learned a lesson when the neighbors called the police,” Helen said with mock sternness.

Her mother just grinned. “Afraid not. Best time we’ve had in years, at least as best we can remember.”

Helen sobered. “How’s Frances really doing these days? She seemed pretty sharp at the bullying rally a couple of weeks ago.”

“She’s fighting this cognitive impairment thing or whatever it is with the same determination she’s faced everything else in her life. I think stirring up a ruckus that day was good for her.” She winked. “So were the margaritas. You should know firsthand the healing effect one of those and a night with friends can have.”

“The operative word being one,” Helen chided, but she was smiling.

“Yes, well, we might have gone a little overboard,” Flo conceded. “We’re old. Allowances should be made.”

Her daughter laughed at that. “I imagine people have been making allowances for the three of you for years. I’ll bet you all created chaos in this town back in the day,” Helen said, regarding her mom with something Flo thought might have been a hint of approval.

“Well, I can’t speak for Frances and Liz, since they have a good ten years or more on me, but I certainly did,” Flo said. “I imagine we have a few more commotions left in us.”

But even as she spoke, she frowned. “Despite what I just said about Frances giving this her best fight, I’m not at all sure she’ll be able to live alone much longer. Maybe it’s not Alzheimer’s yet, maybe it won’t be, but there’s been a worrisome change in her. Liz and I have been nudging her to face that, but she’s not ready to deal with going into assisted living just yet. It’s a hard thing for anyone to think about being dependent on other people, but especially for someone like Frances, who’s always been the one to help others.”

“I’m sorry.”

Flo sighed. “So am I. One thing I hate about getting older is seeing so many of my friends lose their vitality. It seems once we start on that downhill slide, there’s no turning back. That’s why I intend to live every second I’m able to the absolute fullest.”

“Other than your broken hip, you’ve been lucky,” Helen reminded her. “The doctor says you have the heart of a healthy woman twenty years younger.”

“I’ve been blessed, no question about it,” Flo agreed. “And I’m so grateful to be back here in Serenity where I get to spend time with you and Sarah Beth. Florida was nice and I’ll always be grateful to you for setting me up in that nice condo down there, but home is better.”

“I’m glad you’re here, too,” Helen said.

Flo gave her a knowing look. “You didn’t feel that way when I said I wanted to move back from Boca Raton.”

“No,” Helen agreed. “I thought it was a mistake, but I was wrong.”

Flo chuckled at the pained expression on her daughter’s face. “Hurts spitting out an admission like that, doesn’t it?”

“You have no idea,” Helen said, grinning. “Fortunately, thanks to Erik calling me on every single mistake I make, I’m learning to accept that I’m as human as everyone else.”

“You do know your husband is one in a million, don’t you?”

“I do, and I thank God for him every day,” Helen said.

Flo nodded in satisfaction. “That’s good, then. Now, why don’t you tell me what went wrong with your day?”

“Just one of those nasty divorce cases that makes me question why it’s illegal to chase down some of these deadbeat men with a shotgun.”

Flo hesitated. “I know you can’t give me details about your cases, but this wouldn’t have anything to do with Ed and Lynn Morrow, would it?”

Helen regarded her with surprise. “Why would you ask that?” she said in a way that to Flo’s ears was answer enough.

“I know you took her case. I also know that Sarah and Travis are worried sick about Lynn. They used to live next door, you know, in Sarah’s parents’ house. Raylene’s there now, and she mentioned a few things to Sarah. I guess Raylene gave Lynn a part-time job, and she’s been trying to have Lynn and the kids over for dinner a couple of times a week, but they all seem to think things are pretty bad.”

“How did all this information get from Raylene and Sarah to you?” Helen asked curiously.

“Liz, of course. Living in the guest cottage behind Sarah and Travis, she sees them all the time. They’ve become like family. Sarah confides in her.”

“And Liz naturally mentioned it to you,” Helen concluded. “The Serenity grapevine at its best.”

“It’s not always a bad thing,” Flo reminded her. “I know it can hurt being the talk of the town, but sometimes it lets people know when folks need help. I can’t abide idle gossip, but this is different. At least, that’s how it seems to me.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

She regarded her daughter intently. “So, just how bad are things? Is there anything I can do? I’ve been in that position, a single mom with nowhere to turn. If I can help, I’d like to. Liz feels the same way, but we’re at a loss about what we could do without offending Lynn’s pride.”

Helen looked at Flo with amazement.

“Is that incredulous look on your face about your not believing I have a compassionate bone in my body or because you’re stunned by my insight?” Flo asked wryly.

“I guess I’m just surprised that you’d want to get involved when neither of you knows Lynn that well. It’s very thoughtful of both of you, but you’re right. I don’t think Lynn’s open to a lot of outside help right now. Admitting there are problems, even to me, is hard for her.”

“Are you going to be able to fix this for her?”

“I hope so,” Helen said. “I’m just afraid it’s going to take longer than I anticipated.”

“Well, if you need backup, you can count on Liz and me. Frances, too, more than likely, if she’s feeling up to it.” Flo regarded her daughter with a grin. “At our ages, we don’t mind stirring up a little trouble, if need be. Might be fun to land myself in jail for a worthy cause.”

Helen looked vaguely alarmed. “What sort of trouble are you contemplating?”

“Picketing outside of Ed’s office came to mind,” Flo said eagerly. “Folks expect their insurance people to behave responsibly. A little public humiliation might go a long way toward making him shape up and do the right thing by his family.”

Helen’s expression lit up momentarily, but then she shook her head. “Much as I love that idea, I think we’ll stick to a legal approach for now, Mom. But believe me, if I can’t get him to change his ways in a big fat hurry, the three of you are welcome to take him on.”

Flo nodded. “Just say the word. I’m pretty good at making up protest signs, if I do say so myself. They turned out real good for that antibullying rally, and the ones Liz dreamed up in support of Laura Reed at the school were downright inspired. All those civil rights demonstrations Liz carried out years ago taught her a thing or two about effective protests.”

“I can’t deny that the three of you played a big part in rallying public sentiment,” Helen said. “Let’s see how this plays out in court next week before we take the next step, okay?”

“Whatever you want,” Flo said, then stood up. “I hate to leave you with the dishes, but I need to run.”

Helen regarded her with a startled expression. “It’s still early. Don’t you want to stay and help me tuck in Sarah Beth?”

Flo took a deep breath, then blurted, “Actually I have a date.” She held her breath, waiting for Helen’s reaction. It was pretty much what she’d expected—her daughter looked as if Flo had spoken in a foreign language.

“A date? Since when? Who?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you all about him next time I’m over,” Flo said breezily. “I don’t want to keep him waiting. We’re going over to Columbia dancing.”

“At this hour?”

“You just said yourself that it’s still early. And I’m a night owl.”

Helen frowned. “Since when? You didn’t used to be.”

“Because I had to be up and out the door for work at the crack of dawn,” Flo explained patiently. “Now I can stay up as late as I like.” She pressed a kiss to her daughter’s cheek. “Love you. Tell Sarah Beth good-night for me.”

She grabbed her purse and hurried out before Helen could gather enough of her wits to do the kind of cross-examination that Flo knew was coming sooner or later. To Flo’s way of thinking, later was better.

For all her open-mindedness about most things, when it came to her mother’s social life, Helen was downright stuffy. She had been ever since Flo had carelessly mentioned leaving a box of condoms in the nightstand beside her bed as they were driving away from Boca Raton. The poor girl had nearly had a heart attack right there on I-95! Flo hoped to avoid causing that reaction a second time.

* * *

Lynn dressed with extra care in the morning. She told herself it was simply because she always tried to look nice when she was working for Raylene in her upscale boutique. She knew, though, that the pink blush on her cheeks and the mascara she was applying had more to do with Mitch stopping by than it did with impressing Raylene’s customers.

She was in the kitchen with a pot of coffee brewed when Mitch tapped on the back door.

“Come in. It’s open,” she called out.

He walked into the kitchen, frowning. “Do you leave that door unlocked all the time?”

“Only when I’m expecting someone to pop in from right next door,” she said.

“Well, it’s a bad idea,” he grumbled, clearly not placated.

“Duly noted,” she said, amused by just how far his protectiveness seemed to go.

His gaze narrowed suspiciously. “You’re not really paying a bit of attention to me, are you?” he asked.

“Honestly? Not so much.”

“I’m beginning to think you and Raylene are going to be the death of me. She refuses to wear a hard hat in a construction zone. You leave the door open for anyone to just walk in. I was taught to look out for women.”

“And I was taught to look out for myself,” she replied.

“Then do it,” he said with frustration.

She regarded him with a tolerant expression. “Coffee?”

“Are you trying to change the subject?”

“Yes,” she said, already pouring the coffee into a mug. “Otherwise, I fear our working relationship is going to get off to a very bad start. Besides, you seem to be caffeine-deprived. That would explain the cranky mood.”

Mitch shook his head and sighed. “You’re probably right.” He set the laptop on the table. “Is this okay for now?”

“Sure. I’ll make room for it on my desk later.”

“I have the printer in the truck.”

“Looks as if the laptop will work with mine,” she said. “Let’s hold off on that till we know.”

“Okay, but I’m bringing you supplies tomorrow—paper, ink cartridges, whatever you need.”

“Fair enough.”

He took a sip of coffee, then opened the laptop and turned it on. “Pull up a chair and sit here next to me,” he said.

Lynn dragged a chair closer and peered at the screen, trying not to notice the heat radiating from his body or the solid masculine strength suggested by all that muscle. She gave herself a mental shake. She hadn’t spent this much time noticing a man’s body in a long time. Now surely wasn’t the time to start.

“You paying attention?” Mitch asked, amusement suddenly threading through his voice.

She blinked over at him. “Of course. Why?”

“You seemed a little distracted, that’s all.”

She waved a little notebook and pen in his direction. “See. Ready to take notes.”

“Written anything yet?”

“So far you haven’t even opened the program.”

He grinned. “Fair enough. It’s password-protected, okay?” He told her the password, which she wrote down. Then he walked her step by step through the billing system and the payroll program. “Make sense so far?”

Lynn nodded. “So far, but then I haven’t actually had to use it yet.”

He pulled several pieces of paper from his back pocket. “Notes for the billing,” he explained. “You’ll find the customers, their addresses and their account numbers in the system. Mostly people pay about fifty percent upfront, the remainder when the job’s completed. If there’s an interim bill for fixtures, that’s sent out when the expense is incurred. My fee is usually paid once everybody has signed off on the punch list that indicates all the details are done to the customer’s satisfaction.”

“So those notes of yours indicate exactly what sort of bill I’m sending out, right?”

He winced. “Well, in theory they should. Since I usually know what they’re for, I might not have written it down on these pages. Why don’t I do that before you get home this afternoon, make sure you have everything you need?”

“Then I’ll just fiddle around with the system until I leave for Raylene’s this morning, see if I understand how it works.”

“Sounds good to me. Any questions?”

“None so far, but I imagine I’ll have plenty for you by this afternoon.”

“Okay, then. I’ll get out of your hair. See you later, Lynn.”

Suddenly he seemed anxious to leave, which suited her since she didn’t understand why being close to him got to her the way it did.

“See you,” she said, determinedly focusing on the computer screen and not on Mitch.

She knew he hesitated before leaving, but eventually he walked away, closing the back door securely behind him. Locking it, too, if she wasn’t mistaken. Even though the gesture exasperated her just a little, she couldn’t seem to stop smiling.

* * *

The woman was going to be trouble, Mitch thought as he walked back to Raylene’s. Oh, not when it came to the work. He had every confidence she would pick up on that with ease. No, it was this attraction simmering between them. It had always been there, for him, anyway, but thanks to Grace’s interference, he was forced to acknowledge that on some level it had never died the way he’d thought it surely had.

As for Lynn, well, he couldn’t say with certainty what she was feeling beyond gratitude, but there’d been a moment there when he’d had the feeling she was as attuned to him as he was to her.

His cell phone rang just before he headed into the back door at Raylene’s. Caller ID told him it was his older son.

“Hey, Nate. What’s up?”

“Just checking in, Dad. What’s up with you?”

“Working, the same as always.”

“You still building that addition for the police chief and his wife? How’s it going?”

“It’s coming along. Did you really call just to check on my job progress, or do you need money?”

“Dad, you give me and Luke plenty of money. Can’t I just call to see what you’re up to?”

“Always glad to hear from you,” Mitch confirmed. “But you’ll pardon me if experience has just taught me that it’s usually a financial shortfall that earns me a call at this hour of the morning.”

“Well, I’m solvent,” Nate assured him. He hesitated, then said, “Actually, I was thinking of coming home for the weekend. Is that okay?”

“You know it is,” Mitch said eagerly. “You don’t even have to ask.”

“Um,” Nate began, suddenly sounding nervous, “would it be okay if I brought someone with me?”

Mitch stopped in his tracks. “Since you’ve hauled half a dozen friends home with no notice, I’m guessing this is a female sort of someone.”

“Yeah. Her name’s Jo, short for Josephine, if you can believe it. Does anyone name their girls that anymore?”

“Obviously, some parents do,” Mitch said. “I’ll look forward to meeting her.”

“Okay, so here’s the deal. I need to know if you’re gonna freak out if she stays in my room.”

Mitch sucked in a deep breath and lifted his eyes heavenward. “How about a little help here, Amy?” he murmured, trying to think how she would handle this. He knew as well as anyone that a twenty-one-year-old was likely to be sleeping with anyone he was dating seriously. And he had to assume this was serious if Nate wanted to bring the girl home. And yet he wasn’t sure he was quite ready to sanction such behavior under his roof.

“Sorry, pal. Not acceptable.”

“But, Dad,” Nate began.

“Your mom always had firm rules about this sort of thing,” Mitch reminded him. “You knew them when you went away to college. What you do at school is up to you, but in our house guests stay in the guest rooms.”

“It’s not like she’s a guest exactly,” Nate said. “I wanted to tell you this when we got there, but I guess I’d better do it now. We’re engaged.”

Mitch felt the sudden, unexpected sting of tears in his eyes. More than ever, he wished Amy were alive for this moment. She’d know what to say, how to react. He, however, had to force his enthusiasm. Nate was so darn young. His life hadn’t even started yet.

“Engaged, huh?” he said, trying to inject an upbeat note into his voice. “Congratulations, son. I mean that. I wish your mom were here. She’d be so excited for you.”

“I know,” Nate said quietly. “It’s kinda hard knowing she’ll never get to meet Jo, give her a stamp of approval, if you know what I mean.”

Mitch smiled. “I know exactly what you mean.” Amy had always been careful about sharing her opinion of the girls their sons had dated, but they’d known anyway. She’d been terrible about hiding her feelings. And those feelings had clearly influenced both Nate and Luke. The lousy choices had never lasted long, even though she’d kept her mouth clamped firmly shut.

“So, now that you know about the engagement, can she stay in my room?” Nate asked.

Mitch was still struggling with the idea of his son being ready to make such a huge commitment. The sleeping arrangements seemed minor all of a sudden.

“How about we talk about that when you get here?” He wanted to see for himself just how committed the two of them seemed to be. Or maybe he was just trying to postpone the inevitable—admitting that his son had grown up on him.

“Okay, Dad,” Nate said, conceding the point. “See you tomorrow night.”

“Drive carefully.”

“Always,” Nate replied.

There’d been a time when Nate might have rolled his eyes at the admonition. Luke, too. But since Amy’s tragic accident, none of them took anything for granted when it came to driving. Mitch knew one thing with one hundred percent certainty—neither of his sons would ever drive drunk. And even sober, they’d drive responsibly and defensively. He hated the way they’d had to learn that lesson, but he had to admit he was glad they’d taken it to heart.

Now he just had to pray that Nate had taken to heart everything Amy and Mitch had taught him about the responsibility that went along with love and marriage.

5

“I heard she might have to apply for food stamps,” a woman shopper at Raylene’s boutique said. Her entrance set off the bell that would have let Lynn know she was there. Her voice, unfortunately, was plenty loud enough to carry to Lynn in the back room, stopping her in her tracks. Lynn knew she should make her presence known, but instead, flushed with embarrassment, she waited to see what might be said next.

“You’re kidding!” her companion responded. “Isn’t Ed playing golf at Pinehurst or someplace like that this week?”

Lynn felt a chill. There was no doubt at all that they were speculating about her and the financial mess she was in. How was she supposed to go out there now and wait on them? Unfortunately, Raylene had just left for the bank and Adelia was off today. She had no choice.

She drew herself up, plastered a smile on her face and walked out front as if she hadn’t just overheard the two women talking about her. Worse, as soon as she saw them, she recognized them.

“Good morning, Alicia. How are you? And you, too, Kelly Ann?”

Both women, who’d been in school with her and now had kids about the same ages as Lexie and Jeremy, blushed furiously.

Alicia recovered first. “Lynn, I had no idea you were working here,” she said.

“Apparently not,” Lynn said wryly. Unable to stop herself, she felt compelled to add, “Unless, of course, you set out to embarrass me.”

As soon as she’d uttered the bold comment, Lynn formulated an apology, but to her astonishment, Kelly Ann walked over to her and gave her an impulsive and apparently sincere hug.

“Don’t you dare think a thing like that,” Kelly Ann admonished. “If anyone in this town ought to be embarrassed, it’s that no-account husband of yours.” She said it with unmistakable and obviously heartfelt disdain.

Lynn regarded her with gratitude. “I appreciate the sentiment, but please, if you hear people talking about what’s going on with us, try to quiet them down. I don’t want the kids to hear this kind of gossip. The situation is tough enough on them as it is.”

“We’ll put a stop to it,” Alicia promised, obviously eager to make amends for her careless comments. “I just wasn’t thinking. You know me. If I know something, I tend to blab it. I’ll watch it from here on out. I know how I’d feel if it were me people were talking about and my kids overheard it.”

“When did you start working here, hon?” Kelly Ann asked, thankfully changing the subject.

“Just a couple of months ago, part-time. Raylene has Adelia Hernandez working full-time. I fill in on weekends or when either of them is off during the week.”

“Does Raylene have you on commission?” As soon as she’d asked, Kelly Ann turned pale. “Is that too personal? I was only asking because I thought maybe we could make up for being so thoughtless before.”

Lynn nodded. “Salary, plus commission,” she confirmed.

“Well, then, Alicia, we need to whip out our credit cards and get busy,” Kelly Ann said cheerily.

Lynn, who hadn’t bought so much as a cheap T-shirt for herself since the separation, watched in awe as the two women quickly spent more money than she made in a month.

Kelly Ann stood back and surveyed their purchases with satisfaction as Lynn put everything into bags. She gave Lynn a wide grin.

“That ought to make up just a little bit for us coming in here and being so insensitive,” she said.

“I appreciate the sales,” Lynn said. For once it didn’t seem to matter whether the purchases were made out of guilt or pity. She simply focused on what a nice boost they’d be to her paycheck.

“Do you have a regular schedule?” Kelly Ann asked. “If you do, we’ll make sure to come in when you’re working.”

“No. I’m usually here three days a week, but I’m never sure which days those might be. It depends on when Raylene or Adelia need to be off,” Lynn said. Even though she was picking up more hours from Mitch, she added, “And if you happen to hear of anyone else looking for someone part-time or full-time, let me know.”

“We surely will,” Alicia promised.

Kelly Ann gave Lynn another hug before they left. Lynn stared after them. While it grated to recall how the encounter had begun, she felt better about how it had ended. It had been a revelation, in fact.

Maybe people in town really would take her side over Ed’s. She’d wondered about that. He was the son of a beloved insurance executive whose company handled policies for most everyone in town. Ed was now the big shot in charge, a position that commanded a lot of respect. She’d been so intent on running their home and being involved in a few things at school that her own circle of friends had grown smaller.

Just thinking about the possibility that she could have moral support while this awful mess played out buoyed her spirits. It was possible that the deliberate attempts to isolate herself to avoid the judgments she thought people might be making had been unnecessary. It was time to hold her chin up and start facing people.

* * *

When Raylene returned from the bank, she looked at the receipt book and whistled. “Nice sales!”

Lynn chuckled. “Guilt sales,” she said, then explained what had happened.

Raylene shook her head. “I’m glad it turned out okay and you’ll make a nice commission, but I hope those two learned a lesson.”

“I doubt it,” Lynn said with a shrug. “You grew up in this town, same as me. People talk. It’s not going to change.”

Raylene sighed. “I suppose, but I don’t have to like it, especially when I see one of my friends hurt by their thoughtlessness.”

“I’m not hurt, not really,” Lynn said. “In fact, it was eye-opening. I assumed everyone was going to take Ed’s side, so I’ve been avoiding people. He’s the big wheel in town. He prides himself on knowing everybody and taking real good care of them.”

“He’s not taking such good care of you, though, is he?” Raylene said knowingly. “That will matter to people, Lynn. Family counts in this town, and the way a man treats his family says a lot about his own moral character. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit to see him lose business over the way he’s handling this divorce. Carter was saying just last night that once the insurance policy for the police department is up in a few months, he wants to negotiate with another company.”

“You’re kidding,” Lynn said, astounded. “Because of me and the kids?”

“Because a man who screws up his personal life can’t be trusted with other people’s business,” Raylene said. “And that’s just about a direct quote. Of course, Carter is one of those stand-up guys with a strict moral code, which makes him a fantastic police chief but a little tough for those of us with flaws. You remember how we met, the day Sarah’s little boy ran off while I was supposed to be watching him? Carter didn’t think much of me then.”

Lynn recalled the terrifying incident all too well. “Give the man a break. He didn’t understand about the agoraphobia at that point. And he did apologize for his judgmental attitude after Travis filled him in.”

“He did,” Raylene said, smiling, “And proved he had plenty of redeeming qualities.”

“The man adores you,” Lynn said. “Flaws and all, assuming you have any. He certainly stuck right by you while you were fighting the agoraphobia and couldn’t leave the house. I think we all marveled at that.”

“He was a saint, no question about it. And he’s been a rock for his sisters since their parents died, but he has his judgmental moments. Of course, when it comes to dealing with Ed, I happen to agree with his decision. I’m moving all my policies the first chance I get, too.”

Lynn gave her a wry look. “Much as I love the idea of retribution, you do realize that if Ed’s business goes under, my situation will get even worse.”

Raylene stared at her with dismay. “Well, fudge! I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Believe me, I have,” Lynn said. “I have nightmares about it. One second I want the man to wind up a pauper, the next I realize he could drag me and the kids down with him.”

Raylene’s expression turned thoughtful. “Okay, then, we need to find you another job, something better than what I can offer you for now. You’re smart. You’ve been running a household for years, without a lot of help from Ed, I imagine. You have skills that can be used in the workforce. We just have to focus on creating the perfect resume.”

“I did snag another part-time job just yesterday,” Lynn admitted.

Raylene’s eyes lit up. “Really? Tell me.”

“Mitch hired me to handle his billing and payroll. I just started learning his system this morning. We’re going to go over a few more things later this afternoon when I get home from here.”

A grin spread across Raylene’s face. Lynn suspected that the twinkle in her eyes had nothing at all to do with Lynn having found more work.

“Mitch, huh?” Raylene said, clearly fascinated. “How’d that happen?”

Lynn didn’t want to mention her foolish decision to check out a clerk’s job in a dangerous section of town, so she said simply, “He knew I was looking for something part-time and mentioned that he could use some help. The best part is I get to work from home.”

Raylene’s grin spread. “The best part, huh? I’d have thought that would be spending more time with Mitch. The man is a serious hunk.”

“So Grace has mentioned,” Lynn said wryly. “That seems to be the consensus in certain circles.”

“And you hadn’t noticed?”

“I’ve known Mitch since grade school. He’s an old friend, that’s all.”

“Maybe that’s what he was in school, when you were gaga over Ed, but circumstances have changed,” Raylene reminded her. “You could do a lot worse. And don’t forget I’ve seen the way he looks at you when you’re both at the house for dinner.”

“That’s concern, nothing more. He’s worried about the toll the divorce is taking on me and the kids. That’s the kind of man he is.”

“And there’s something wrong with being thoughtful and compassionate?”

“Of course not, but it’s not exactly the basis for some big romance, the way you’re hinting.”

Raylene laughed. “Honey, I’m not even hinting. I’m telling you flat-out you need to take another look at the man before someone else comes along and snaps him up. He’s been immune to most of the passes I know have been directed his way, but you can’t count on that resistance to last forever.”

“Come on, Raylene,” Lynn protested. “How can I even think about him that way? He’s still grieving for Amy, and my divorce isn’t even final. For all I know, we could wind up losing the house and having to move to be closer to one of my sisters. Why start something that doesn’t have a chance?”

Raylene gave her a chiding look. “I am way too familiar with that defeatist attitude. I kept trying to let Carter off the hook. I worked really hard not to fall in love with him, because I thought my situation would never change and I refused to have him tied down to a woman who couldn’t even leave the house. The thing was, he didn’t want to give up. He fought for what we had. I think you and Mitch could have that same kind of staying power.”

“Based on the way he’s looked at me at dinner?” Lynn said skeptically. “You’re still lost in some romantic fog. Not every situation has a fairy-tale ending.”

“I’m just saying you shouldn’t give up without a fight. Assuming you’re even the tiniest bit attracted to him, that is,” she said, regarding Lynn slyly. “Are you?”

Lynn hesitated, then said, “Okay, I am the tiniest bit attracted.” She held two fingers maybe an inch apart. “This much, anyway.”

Raylene laughed. “Couples have started with a lot less. Come to dinner tonight. Mitch usually stays, as you know. Let me get the lay of the land.”

“No way,” Lynn said, shuddering at the thought. “I do not want to sit there with you studying us like we’re specimens under a microscope. It would be too embarrassing.”

“Are you saying that you’ll never join us for dinner again?” Raylene asked with a frown. “The last thing I meant to do was scare you off.”

“You didn’t. Not entirely anyway. I just don’t think I can pretend it’s simply another casual dinner after all this talk of attraction and looks and such. Maybe in a couple of weeks, but not tonight.”

Raylene relented and backed off. “If you change your mind or Mitch talks you into it, the offer’s open. You’re always welcome.”

“What makes you think Mitch will even attempt to talk me into it? When would he do that?”

“You did say he’s coming over when you get home from work, right? I imagine I can plant the idea in his head before then,” Raylene said with confidence. “I promise I’ll be more subtle about it than I was with you.”

“Have you caught some kind of matchmaking fever? I hear it’s been going around in Serenity.”

“What can I say? It’s a community curse,” Raylene said unrepentantly. “Now go on home and freshen up so you’ll be stunning when Mitch drops by. You’ve done more than your share of selling in here this morning. You’ll have a nice fat commission in your check this week.”

“I am not setting out to impress Mitch,” Lynn said with what she hoped sounded like suitable indignation.

“Of course you’re not,” Raylene said innocently. “I’m just thinking a little eyeliner to go with that mascara you put on this morning, a touch of gloss on your lips and maybe another swipe of that blush.”

Lynn groaned. “Was I that obvious?”

Raylene laughed. “Not to Mitch, I’m sure. He probably just noticed you looked more beautiful than ever. Only women pay attention to the little, telltale details like extra makeup.”

“I am so humiliated,” Lynn said. “I feel like a teenager who got caught drawing hearts and initials on the front of her school notebook. And I know exactly how that felt, because it happened way too often when my crush on Ed first developed. I do not want to be that lovesick girl ever again.”

“How about a strong woman going after what she wants?” Raylene asked. “I think that would demonstrate a whole new level of maturity and intelligence.”

“Or make me look more foolish than ever,” Lynn said direly.

Raylene gave her a sympathetic look. “From what I’ve seen when you’re around Mitch, I don’t think you need to worry about that a bit.”

But even her friend’s words of encouragement didn’t quite calm the very bad case of nerves Lynn was suddenly feeling as she headed for home and an unavoidable encounter with the man who’d been at the center of their conversation.

* * *

Mitch had been so distracted all day by his son’s unexpected announcement, even the guys had called him on it. When he was in his truck and heading for home before remembering he was supposed to stop over at Lynn’s, he knew his worry over Nate’s decision ran even deeper than he’d realized.

He considered calling Lynn to postpone till tomorrow, but he didn’t want her worrying that he’d changed his mind about the job. He turned the truck around and headed back to her house, parking in her driveway this time, not Raylene’s.

When Lynn answered the front door and spotted his truck, she studied him with confusion. “Weren’t you just next door working?”

He nodded. “Sorry. I took off, then remembered I was supposed to come over to check on how you were making out with the computer systems. I turned around and came back.”

She frowned at the admission. “Was there someplace else you needed to be? This can wait.”

“To be perfectly honest, I’d be glad for the company,” he told her. “I can’t promise you, though, that my mind’s going to be on work.”

Lynn looked vaguely alarmed by that. “Why?”

“Are you sure you want me laying my problems on you? You seem to have plenty going on in your life these days.”

“Which is why listening to you would be a real break,” she assured him. “Come on in and tell me.”

“I had a call from my son Nate this morning,” Mitch explained as he followed her inside. “He announced that he’s engaged and wants to bring the girl home this weekend. I didn’t even know he was seriously dating anyone.”

“Wow! That must have come as a shock.”

“You have no idea.”

She gestured toward the sofa. “Why don’t you have a seat in here for a minute? Can I get you something to drink? I have iced tea and water. I’m afraid that’s it. There might be a can of frozen lemonade left in the freezer. I could make that.”

“Iced tea would be great.”

“Sweetened or not?”

“Straight’s good,” he said, following her into the kitchen, startling her when she turned suddenly and found him right behind her.

“I thought you were going to wait in the living room.”

He shrugged. “I like the feel of this kitchen. If it’s all right, let’s just stay in here.” Besides, he was less likely to act on impulse and give in to the ridiculous urge he had to kiss her if they were separated by her kitchen table.

“Sure, here’s fine,” she said, putting ice into two large glasses, then adding the tea from an old-fashioned glass pitcher like the ones his mom used to have with fruit painted on the glass. She’d always served orange juice in hers.

“So, you really weren’t expecting Nate’s big news?” she said, when she’d taken a seat opposite him.

He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know what he’s thinking. He’s still a kid.”

“How old?”

“Twenty-one.”

She fought a smile. “And how old were you when you and Amy got married?”

Mitch frowned at the question. “Twenty, but that’s not the point.”

“Really?”

“I was old at twenty. I’d already been working construction for a couple of years. I knew what I wanted out of life. Nate’s changed his major three times. I’m not even a hundred percent sure what his degree will be in. I’m not criticizing him for that. He’s hardly the first kid to get out of college and not be sure he wants to work in the field he majored in, but shouldn’t he figure that out, maybe even be earning some money before he takes a huge step and gets married?”

“Maybe they’re not planning to get married right away,” Lynn suggested. “Did he mention the timetable?”

“No,” Mitch confessed, taking hope for the first time since morning.

“Or how old his fiancée is? Maybe she’s even younger than he is and wants to finish college. They could be planning on a long engagement.”

“Or he could have told me this just so I’d let the girl sleep in his room,” Mitch added dryly, reaching a conclusion he should have formed early on. “I’d just blown that idea out of the water right before he made his big announcement.”

Lynn looked startled. “You don’t think he’d lie just to get your approval for sleeping with her, do you?”

Mitch considered the question, which he thought was fair, but eventually shook his head. “Nah. Nate’s not like that. He’s always been pretty open with us, or at least with his mother. He figured out early on that we appreciated honesty more than evasions.”

“A lesson more kids should learn,” Lynn said. “I constantly tell Jeremy and Lexie that the truth will get them in a lot less trouble than a lie. They’re still working on believing that, since I punish them either way.”

Mitch chuckled. “Yeah, that’s a hard one for kids to figure out. Maybe you need to tell them in advance, here’s what’s going to happen if you tell me the truth and this is the much harsher punishment if I catch you in a lie. Sometimes it takes that kind of clarity to get through to them.”

“Good plan, but they usually don’t think they’re going to get caught in the lie.”

“But they always do, don’t they? They’ll catch on eventually. My boys did.” He met her gaze. “And I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. Nate and Luke are terrific young men. Amy saw to that.”

“I imagine you were a big influence, too,” Lynn told him. “How could you not be? You’re an admirable man.”

Mitch couldn’t help being flattered and a little startled by her open declaration. “You sound as if you mean that.”

“I do. I told you before that I’ve never heard a bad word about you around town, but I’ve seen it for myself recently. You’ve taken me under your wing, given me a job.” She flushed as if she felt she’d said too much. “And speaking of that, we should probably get to work. I’m sure you’re anxious to get home and have dinner. You didn’t plan on staying to have dinner at Raylene’s tonight, did you?”

He shook his head. “Nah, I figured they deserved a night off from having me underfoot. I wasn’t such good company anyway.”

“Your company’s just fine,” Lynn said.

Mitch hesitated. “But I am starving,” he said. “How about I order some food from Rosalina’s? We can eat while we go over these bills.”

She looked as if she were about to refuse, so he held her gaze. “You have anything against pepperoni or jalapeños on your pizza?”

Her eyes widened. “Jalapeños?”

“Trust me. It’s worth staying awake half the night for that combination. You’ll never want a plain old cheese pizza again.”

“If you say so.”

“Is that a yes? I can give Rosalina’s a call?”

“Sure, why not?” she said.

“I’ll order a salad, too. We can pretend we’re being healthy. How about soda? You want a bottle of soda to go with that?” he asked, already hitting speed dial on his cell phone.

“You have their number programmed into your phone?” she teased.

“And the entire menu memorized,” he said unrepentantly. “Now, about that soda?”

“Sure. Diet soda, if that’s okay.”

“Suits me.” He placed the order, then sat back and took a good long look at the woman seated across the table. She looked different somehow.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” she asked, squirming uncomfortably.

“You look different.”

“Different how?”

“More rested, I guess. Did you take a nap this afternoon?”

She shook her head, but there was an odd smile tugging at her lips.

“Well, your eyes are brighter. It looks good.”

To his surprise, she actually laughed the way he’d remembered. “What?” he demanded.

“It’s eye makeup. Raylene swore to me that men never noticed things like that, so I put some on for the first time in ages.”

Mitch could see it, then, the thin stroke of liner on her lids, the hint of pale blue shadow, the darkened lashes.

“Was that for my benefit?” he asked, oddly pleased to think it might be.

She blushed furiously at the question. “Maybe it was just a test. Maybe I was trying to prove her wrong, to show her that some men are observant.”

He grinned at the deliberate evasion. So she wasn’t totally immune, after all. Now he just needed to figure out what he wanted to do with that information.

6

When Lynn saw the enormous amount of food Mitch had ordered, she blinked. “Were you planning on feeding an army?”

“What can I say? I like pizza and salad, and leftovers are always good, right? The kids will gobble this right up.”

She saw the ploy for what it was, a face-saving way to put a little extra food on her table. Before she could call him on it, he frowned at her.

“Do not make a fuss over this, Lynnie,” he said, resorting to the nickname only he had ever dared to use. “It’s pizza. I’m not having steaks and champagne delivered, along with boxes of fresh produce.”

“You should take the leftovers home with you,” she insisted with a touch of defiance. She wasn’t about to tolerate his pity.

“Nate’s coming home this weekend. We’ll be going out to eat, more than likely.”

“But did you ever know a college kid who couldn’t eat his weight in pizza?” she countered just as stubbornly.

“How about we wait and see how many leftovers there are?” he suggested. “I have a big appetite. And the kids might turn up and want their share.”

“The Jolly Green Giant doesn’t have a big enough appetite to go through this much food,” she insisted. “And the kids are eating with friends.”

“You realize while we’re debating this, the pizza’s getting cold,” he said, reaching for a slice.

She started to argue some more, but finally relented. It was clearly futile, at least for now. “Okay,” she said, then warned, “but the discussion’s not over.”

He grinned. “We’ll see about that.”

Regarding him with frustration, she asked, “Do you have to win every argument?”

“Only when I’m right,” he said. “And, just so you know, I’ve never been afraid to admit when I’m wrong, either.”

“Now that I can hardly wait to see,” Lynn told him, taking her first bite of pizza and nearly choking at the heat that burst in her mouth. It was true that the slice had cooled, but the jalapeños hadn’t.

“Come on, wimp. It’s not that hot,” Mitch teased as she began picking off the jalapeños.

“Are you kidding me? I could heat the house from the fire in these things.”

“So, no more jalapeños for you,” he said, looking disappointed.

“No, no, I left one piece on here,” she said, pointing out a tiny sliver. “Just enough for a hint of spice.”

Mitch studied her for a minute. “Is that the way you want to live your life these days, Lynn? Being safe, with barely enough spice to keep things interesting?”

She thought she detected a hint of criticism in there, but it was a legitimate question. “For now, yes,” she told him. “For the kids’ sake I have to be cautious. Things are topsy-turvy enough around here without my rushing into things.”

He nodded. “Fair enough.”

“Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black? I thought you weren’t looking for anything more right now, either,” she said, puzzled by his reaction.

“I wasn’t,” he said, then added more firmly, “I’m not.”

“But?”

“I seem to be a lot more open to the possibilities than I was a few days ago.” He looked into her eyes. “And just so you know, I’m probably no crazier about that than you are.”

Lynn was rattled by his candor. She couldn’t think of a single thing to say in response.

They continued eating in silence. To her surprise, it didn’t feel the least bit strained. It felt…comfortable.

“Maybe we should pretend we never had this conversation,” she suggested eventually. “We could just go on working together, be friends, no complications.”

“A nice theory,” he agreed, still holding her gaze. “I just think maybe it’s too late.”

“It’s not too late,” she said a little urgently. “It can’t be. That’s all I can handle, Mitch. Seriously.”

He smiled at her reaction. “No need to panic. We’re not impulsive kids. We don’t have to rush into anything. I just figured you deserved to know where my head is.”

“Are you sure your head has anything to do with it?”

A grin broke across his face at the question, and then his booming laugh filled the kitchen. “Now that, my friend, is something I imagine I’ll be puzzling over for most of the night.”

Lynn couldn’t bear seeing him out on that limb all by himself for another second. She finally allowed herself to relax and grinned back at him. “Since we’re being honest, me, too.”

Mitch’s expression sobered at once. “Now that is the best news I’ve heard in a very long while.”

He sounded so sure of that, Lynn thought, while she thought maybe it was the scariest bit of news ever.

* * *

When her doorbell rang the next morning a little after nine, Lynn glanced up gratefully from the computer. What had seemed so simple last night with Mitch’s coaxing was proving completely bewildering this morning.

When she opened the front door, though, and found Raylene on her doorstep with a coffee cake and a smug expression, she had second thoughts.

“I thought maybe you’d have time for a cup of coffee before I leave for the store,” Raylene said, then added hurriedly, “The coffee cake stays, even if you want me to leave.”

Since the aroma of the apparently still-warm cinnamon pecan coffee cake was too tempting to ignore, Lynn stepped aside. “Come on in. I just made a fresh pot of coffee. I figure I’m going to need it if I’m going to figure out this billing system of Mitch’s.”

Raylene looked momentarily chagrined. “You were working. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m not on a rigid timetable. I think Mitch finally realized there’s going to be a learning curve with me. I’ll get the bills out today, but his payroll system is going to take a lot longer. He’ll pick up the computer later and deal with that himself this week.”

Raylene joined her in the kitchen. “A knife? Forks? Plates?” she asked, glancing around.

Lynn realized then that this was one of the few times in the years they’d known each other that Raylene had been in her kitchen. She pointed to the drawers and cabinet. “I’ll get napkins.”

“I’ll cut the coffee cake while you pour the coffee.”

As soon as they were settled at the table, Lynn gave her friend—and boss, she reminded herself—an amused look over the rim of her cup. “I assume there’s a price for this neighborly gesture.”

Raylene looked momentarily taken aback, then chuckled. “Okay, I want information. I know Mitch was here till late last night. Lexie called Mandy the second she got home to report that. As if I needed confirmation,” she scoffed. “His truck was right there in the driveway in plain view. I saw Tony from Rosalina’s deliver food, too.”

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