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“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.”
