“Let’s see. A front seat at the Milan fashion show, standing underneath a waterfall in Hawaii, and . . .” She was about to say another one of the frivolous activities she had on a list she’d started when she was sixteen. Instead, she said, “And of course opening my Maple Falls office.”
“Hopefully that will happen sooner than later,” he said.
She smiled at his encouraging words, even though he was dead wrong. Not while she was bleeding clients, and when she might have to dig deep into her savings to purchase a new vehicle. Ausednew vehicle. No way she could afford one off the showroom floor. “Okay. Give me the bad news.”
“Bad news?” He sounded bewildered.
“One chai latte,” Anita said as she appeared next to Rusty and set the mug in front of him. “Would you like a pastry or some biscotti to go with that?”
He shook his head. “The latte is fine, thanks.”
“All right.” Anita turned to Harper and gave her a questioning look. “I guess I’ll leave you twoalone.”
Seeing that her friend might get the wrong idea, Harper quickly said, “Rusty was just telling me that my car is DOA.”
“Oh,” Anita said, understanding dawning. “That’s too bad. I know you love that car.”
Rusty held up his hand, looking slightly confused. “I can fix the Merc. The part is coming in tomorrow or the next day. Once I install it, she should be good to go.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” Harper slumped with relief in her chair.
“Anita,” one of the customers across the café called out.
“Be right there.” She gave Harper and Rusty a little wave, then went to attend to the customer.
“You okay?” Rusty said to Harper, leaning forward slightly.
“More than okay.” She sat up and touched the handle of the latte mug. “I was so sure you were going to tell me my car was kaput.”
“Naw. It’ll be fine once I get the part in. I’m sorry if I gave you the idea that there was somethin’ really wrong with her.”
“It’s not your fault.” She took a sip of the latte and set down her mug. “The way things have been going lately... I guess I just assumed you wanted to talk in person to give me the bad news.”
“Actually,” he said, “I might have some good news for ya.” Picking up his mug, he took a drink and made a face. “This tastes kinda weird.”
“But good, right?”
He took another sip. “Fair to middlin’. I’ll finish it.”
“So what did you want to tell me?” She could use something else positive right now. The good news about her Mercedes would only go so far.
“I need to buy a new house.”
Harper stilled. That was the last thing she’d expected him to say. “Are you serious?”
“Yep.” He pulled out several folded sheets of paper from the back pocket of his jeans and handed them to her. “I did some lookin’ around on the internet after I left you a message yesterday,” he said.
But she barely heard his words. Rusty wanted to buy a house. Unbelievable. She’d been working her dialing fingers to the bone making cold calls to find new clients, only tocome up empty. Then there were the late nights she’d spent on the computer, studying the market, familiarizing herself with every single property in a fifty-mile radius so that when someone did call her—and no one had—she’d be ready. And here was Rusty, dropping a potential sale in her lap. She tempered the giddiness that threatened to take over and shifted into business mode.
“You want to buy a house,” she repeated, making sure she’d heard him right.
He nodded. “It’s a long story.”
She listened as he explained that his sister was possibly moving to Colorado, and if that happened, Senior was likely moving back to Maple Falls. “Which means he’s moving back in with me,” he finished.
“Are you okay with that?”
“Of course. I’ve missed him while he’s been in Little Rock, even though livin’ with Amber was the best thing for him.”
