Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
“North side. Apartment complex over on Barnyard Avenue—at least last I knew.”
“Maybe I’ll reach out. I don’t know much about my mother’s family or her family’s history.”
“If you want. Though sometimes the past is better off left right where it is.”
I don’t know why, but I got the feeling he wasn’t just giving me advice, but speaking from personal experience. A few minutes later, the automatic sprinklers on Fox’s lawn went on. Every time a spray hit the bush behind me, poor Daisy jumped.
“I guess I should put the baby to bed,” I said. “What do you think I should set up for her to sleep on?”
“How about grass or a lake.”
“Ha ha. You know what I meant.”
“I don’t know. Hay?”
“I don’t have any. Do you?”
“Nope.”
“There’s a bunch of old bedding in the garage. I was going to toss it, but I forgot when the dumpster was here.”
“That’ll work. Unless of course it’s down. Might’ve been one of her friends.”
I chuckled and stood. “Thank you again for letting me plant with you. And for the beer.”
Fox stood. It wasn’t the first time he’d done that—stood when I did. He had old-school manners, which I liked. “Good luck with Donald.”
“It’s Daisy.”
“No, it’s not.”
I’d made it halfway across the grass to my house when Fox yelled. “Hey Doc?”
I turned. “Yeah?”
“You look more than pretty good.”
My heart went pitter-patter like a schoolgirl’s. “Thanks.”
“Goodnight.”
“Sweet dreams, Fox.”
CHAPTER 15
* * *
Slippery When Wet
Fox
“Have you seen your neighbor around lately?” Porter asked.
I leaned against the pillar, fiddling with my phone, waiting for the building inspector to arrive. My employee was supposed to be inside laying tile in the last of the building’s bathrooms. I wasn’t sure what annoyed me more, the fact that he was slacking off at work or that he was sniffing around about Josie.
I didn’t look up from typing into my cell. “I think Mr. Hanson goes up to visit his daughter for a few weeks in the summer.”
“I meant your neighbor on the other side.”
Of course I knew that. And I’d also seen Josie two days ago when she’d spent the afternoon testing my self-control—down on all fours in those cut-off denim shorts helping me plant. Yet I shrugged. “Not her keeper.”
Porter lifted his baseball cap and spun it around backward. “I called her and asked if she wanted to have dinner this Friday night. She said she’d get back to me. Texted yesterday to check in but didn’t get a response.”
“Maybe you should take a hint.”
Porter’s forehead wrinkled. “You think she’s not interested?”
The kid got rejected so infrequently that he wasn’t even sure what it looked like. “You called her. She blew you off. You texted because you didn’t take the hint the first time, and yet again she gave you the silent treatment. What part of that seems like she’s interested?”
“I figured she was just busy or something.”
“If a woman is interested, she’s never too busy to respond.”
“Ouch.”
I went back to my phone. “It is what it is.”
“Maybe I should send flowers.”
I shook my head. “Damn, he still doesn’t get it.”
“I thought I felt something between us when we talked,” Porter mused. “You know, like a spark.”
This conversation was grating on my nerves. I lifted my chin toward the entrance to the building. “Don’t you have tiling to do?”
“I finished everything I can. They shorted me on the border pieces, so I’m going to have to go over to Ludsville to pick some up.”
“Ludsville? Didn’t we get all the tile from Abbotts in town?”
“Yeah, but I called and Abbotts doesn’t have the border tiles in stock. They’d have to order, and it would take a week to ten days. Tile Emporium has ’em now. It’ll take me about an hour to get there and back, but I’ll still be able to finish the bathroom today.”
I scratched my chin. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll take the ride to Ludsville after Ernie from the building department comes and does his inspection. Why don’t you get started installing the baseboard heating covers? They were delivered this morning.”
Porter shrugged. “Sure. Whatever you want, boss.” He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a tile. “This is the border, so you can make sure it matches up.”
“Thanks.”
Ninety minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot of Tile Emporium. The store was dark. The sign on the front said they opened at ten, so I checked my phone. Nine forty-five. My cell also had a notification from my alarm company. Ninety percent of the time, it was a package being delivered or some random animal that set it off, but I had time to kill so I swiped to open and signed in to watch the video replay.
This time was no different than the usual, except the random animal the motion sensor picked up had a playmate today—and that playmate looked like a damn Playmate of the Month. Josie wore a white bikini, and she was running around my yard chasing a limping duck. I lifted the phone to my nose for a better look. What the hell was on the duck’s head? I pinched the screen to zoom in. The video blurred as it got closer, but it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t make out a blue-and-white polka-dot bow clipped to the feathers on the top of the duck’s head.