“You want to have dinner with me?” he said.
She found his shocked tone annoying. “I’m not going to jump your bones, for goodness’ sake.”
He laughed. “Never thought you were. Okay, I can have dinner on Tuesday if you want. Name the time and I’ll be there.”
“Seven okay? I have to show a client a house at six.”
“Which means it’ll be seven-thirty,” he responded dryly. “But I’ll be there at seven on the dot, just the same.”
“If it won’t put you out too much,” she snapped, losing patience.
What ever made her think that she and Sonny could cooperate long enough to have dinner, much less an entire holiday season of peace and good will for the sake of their daughter?
As exasperated as she was with Sonny, it was nothing compared to the way she felt when she happened to glance out the window and spotted Tom and Jeanette coming up the walk toward the house she was showing.
She hadn’t believed it even after three different people had told her that they’d seen the two of them in a lip-lock at last night’s football game. Now here they were, Saturday afternoon, looking at houses together. No wonder Jeanette had been so quiet when Mary Vaughn had suggested Tom might be gay. She knew otherwise. She’d apparently been seeing him on the sly, which just proved that even a woman as savvy as she was couldn’t always predict who might turn out to be a backstabbing little witch.
* * *
Jeanette recognized Mary Vaughn’s car outside the little bungalow that was on Tom’s list of available properties. The front door was ajar and there were colorful balloons tied to the Open House sign in the front yard. Every attempt had been made to give the house curb appeal. Fall flowers in yellow and gold bloomed in pots beside the steps, the grass was thick and green and the shutters had been recently painted a glossy white that contrasted nicely with the gray vinyl siding.
As attractive as the house was, though, it didn’t stop her from feeling a knot of dread form in her stomach.
“This is Mary Vaughn’s listing,” she told Tom. “She’s inside.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Not for me, but you and I both know she has a thing for you. She may not handle it well seeing the two of us together.” Especially if she’d heard about their kiss at last night’s game.
He grinned. “You worried, sugar?”
“No, but you probably should be. She doesn’t take rejection well.”
As if to prove her wrong, Mary Vaughn appeared just then, a smile plastered on her face. “Well, look who’s here!” she chirped. “I certainly wasn’t expecting to see the two of you together, especially at one of my open houses.”
“Spur of the moment,” Tom said, which wasn’t exactly true. “Jeanette agreed to come along with me while I looked at a few properties.”
Right in front of their eyes, Mary Vaughn transformed herself into full real-estate-agent mode, whipping out a spec sheet on the house and handing it to Tom. “I think you’re going to love this house. It’s perfect for a single man,” she said briskly, then added with a pointed look at Jeanette, “or for a young couple anticipating starting a family. The rooms are cozy and inviting.”
Her spiel remained bright and cheery as she took them through the downstairs rooms—two bedrooms, a bath and a large kitchen, plus a living room that had been crammed with too much furniture. It was currently decorated with enough chintz to make Tom cringe, but Jeanette saw something else—the potential for something every bit as cozy and warm as Mary Vaughn had suggested.
“There’s another bedroom and bath upstairs. Right now it’s not much, but with a little work it could become a lovely master suite,” she said, leading the way up a narrow staircase.
Jeanette trailed along behind. Clearly, she thought, Mary Vaughn had concluded that if she couldn’t have Tom, then at least she might come away from the awkward encounter with a sale.
“It’s not bad,” Tom said, after giving the upstairs bedroom suite little more than a cursory glance around. “The price seems a little steep to me. Is it negotiable?”
Mary Vaughn gave him a conspiratorial look. “You know I work for the seller, Tom, but just between you and me, this house is a steal at that price.”
“Maybe so,” Jeanette said. “But I know Nancy Yates and she’s anxious to sell and make a permanent move to Florida to be near her kids. I’ll bet she’d accept a reasonable offer.”
Mary Vaughn shot an annoyed look at her.
Jeanette shrugged. “Sorry. I just happen to know that.”
Mary Vaughn rallied quickly. “Well, of course Tom wants to get the best possible deal, but I need to look out for Nancy, too.”
After they’d seen the bedroom upstairs, she led them downstairs and into a backyard that was filled with flowers and even had a small waterfall in one corner. That was when Jeanette fell in love with the house. The peace and serenity of that garden called to her in a way that she’d never dreamed possible. If Tom wanted this house, he was going to have to fight her for it.
“Nancy was into gardening,” Mary Vaughn explained. “She spent a lot of her time out here after she retired. You won’t find a lovelier space anywhere in Serenity.” She beamed at Tom. “I’ll bet you’re a barbecue man, though, aren’t you?”
“On occasion,” he said. “But I like the atmosphere out here. It’s really peaceful.” He glanced at Jeanette. “What do you think?”
She hesitated. The last thing she wanted to do was say something that would sell him on having this particular house. Still, she couldn’t lie. “I love it. It reminds me of the patio area at the spa.”
“I’m not sure I have enough of a green thumb to keep it up,” Tom said.
“That’s why people hire gardeners,” Mary Vaughn told him. “I have several I can recommend. You won’t have to lift a
