She snorted. “He did not.”
“I came up for lunch and caught him doing the dance moves while using the nail gun in rhythm to the bass.”
She bit back a smile. “Why not tell him to keep it down?”
“Because the guy is built like a tank, and he clearly doesn’t like to be told what to do.”
Panic made her forget the ice cream. “Please tell me that you didn’t allow him to stray any more from the plans.”
Rhett spooned off a bite and, around a mouthful of ice cream, he said, “He was more interested in making plans with you. In fact, he stayed an extra hour, waiting for you to walk through that door.”
Elsie groaned. Her recent dating experience merely confirmed what she’d believed—the last thing she needed was to go on another date. No matter how good looking the guy.
She snatched the spoon back and took a heaping mouthful.
“Don’t worry, Red, I told him you were on a dick-free diet.”
She choked on the ice cream. “You did not.” He looked so proud of himself. “How do you know I don’t want to go out with him?”
“The look on your face right now.” He moved closer until his thigh brushed hers and she wondered if he could tell what she was thinking right then. If so, she’d be in trouble. “We might not have seen a lot of each other recently, but a gym rat who bench presses pianos for a living isn’t your cup of tea.”
“What is my cup of tea?”You,her hormones said.
“I don’t know, you tell me since you’ve been staring at my lips for the past few minutes.”
What was wrong with her?
Her sex-free diet, that’s what. Maybe her grandma was right, maybe she needed to put herself out there. Not with Rhett, or Big Pete, but with some good-looking nine-to-fiver searching for nothing more than a single night of fun. Then again, look at where the last one-night stand had ended.
Heartbroken and left to wonder if maybe she’d done something wrong, that’s where. Rhett ghosting her had left its mark and, while she didn’t like to think that she was still affected by it, being around him like this reminded her of the reason she’d taken him up on that offer all those years back. It also reminded her how easily someone can walk into and out of her life.
Good thing that she was no longer that naive, pie-in-the-sky, trusting girl looking for validation from men. She was a smart, worldly, grown-ass woman who knew better than to trust her hormones when it came to something as important as the opposite sex.
Didn’t mean her heart didn’t flutter when Rhett flashed that playboy grin her way. The double-barreled dimpled grin that somehow made her panties want to drop to the floor. She’d spent exactly three nights alone with Rhett and all three times they’d wound up in bed together. A fact that didn’t bode well for their current living arrangements.
She picked up the carton and held it possessively to her chest. “You do know that you’re on my side of the house.”
“As long as my easement allows me to view the fashion show.”
Before she could say another word, not that she knew what to say to that, her phone rang. She glanced at her screen and it was her grandma, who was supposed to be at bingo. Harriet never gave in to distraction when she was on a winning streak.
Her heart pounded as she answered. “Grandma, are you okay?”
“Just fleeced Clifford in double down bingo. Played ten cards, that’s the trick. Increase the cards, increase the winnings. Play big to win big. Although watching that sourpuss spurt out cheating accusations, then being removed from the premises was the highlight. Although I was removed too.”
Clifford was Harriet’s neighbor and nemesis. After cutting down an apple tree, which split their property line, Harriet launched an all-out war. Reporting him to the community board, even calling the cops when he snatched one of Harriet’s heirloom tomatoes. In turn, he reported her hand-painted Mother Earth mobile as visual vandalism and tried to have it towed away.
“Did you move around his chips again?” Harriet remained tightlipped on the subject. “I take that as a yes.”
“He tried to get me arrested for indecent exposure for gardening in my own back yard. So I told the cops he was a voyeur. He wouldn’t have seen the goods had he not been peeking over his fence.”
Elsie didn’t bother to remind her grandmother that her yard was in direct view of Clifford’s porch. In the background, an auctioneer started calling off numbers. “I thought you were removed from the premises?”
“Changed my wig and snuck back in just like when you were little and I got busted for using phony cards. I used to put you in that stroller and wheel you to bingo.” Nostalgia grew thick in her grandma’s voice as if this were a normal grandmother/granddaughter memory. “People were so busy cooing you up, they missed important turning points in the game.”
Some of Elsie’s earliest memories were at the bingo house or casino with her grandma. She’d sit on Harriet’s lap and Harriet would let her punch the stamp or pull the lever. It was a miracle Elsie didn’t have a gambling habit. “Why are you calling?”
“Oh, I nearly forgot. A gift will be on your doorstep any minute,” she said.
