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Kai’s eyebrow lifted and he looked amused. “Let me guess—he offered to pay for the total installation.”

I nodded.

“There was flirting going on.”

I blushed as I took a long sip of my iced tea.

Should I say it? Before I could talk myself out of it, I blurted, “Not like with you and me.”

Kai stared at me so hard, it was as if he thought I was going to vanish.

He only looked away long enough to signal to Lettie for the check.

10

I couldn’t get her out of the diner fast enough. Not after that comment. And not after watching her play with her straw. The way her lips wrapped around it and her fingers played. We went back to her house.

No. Not her house. Beau’s house. The house that I’d lived a different life in, one I couldn’t remember but that haunted my dreams.

“Do you want to come inside?” she asked me, that same look in her eyes she’d given me at the diner.

I stood on the porch with the red swing, and I was sweating. I wish I could say it was because of the heat and the look in her eyes, but I knew better. It was being here. This place. If I went inside, it would make it all real. That this had once been my home. That Mom and Grady were real. That I’d lost them, all because of Ronald.

It was getting even hotter. Ants were crawling under every inch of my skin.

Stinging.

Biting.

I jumped.

“God I’m sorry.” Marlowe jerked her hand away from my shoulder. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” I hadn’t even noticed her hand move to touch me.

I planted my boots down, shoulder width apart, and took a deep breath. “It’s not you, sweetheart. It’s this place. I only remember these stairs we just walked up, and that swing. It’s what’s inside that has me tangled up. It’s loss, tragedy and an oppressive feeling of malevolence all hidden behind the face of an evil clown.”

“Clown?”

I shrugged. “I hate clowns.”

“Okay, an evil, malevolent clown. Is the swing a good memory or a bad memory?”

I closed my eyes. I remembered Grady sitting in the swing and smiled. “Good, definitely good.”

Marlowe grabbed my big hand in her dainty one and tugged me toward the swing.

“I’m glad you like the swing, because this is my favorite part of the house. Chaos loves it out here too, especially in the evenings, after it has cooled off.”

She arranged it so that I sat down first, then she sat down almost twelve inches away from me. I wasn’t having any of that. I pulled her closer. As soon as I did, all feeling of ants faded.

“You feeling better?” Marlowe asked.

“How could I not be?” And wasn’t that the truth? Not only were the ants gone, but a feeling of calmness enfolded me. Then she turned. Her breast brushed against my chest. I could see down the front of her dress and got a view of the prettiest breasts I’d ever seen in my whole life. Now I wasn’t calm, now I was aroused. Again.

“One night you should sit here with Chaos and me,” Marlowe said as she smiled up at me.

I hummed in agreement. I looked down the street. This time the dogwood trees weren’t bothering me at all; as a matter of fact, I liked them. Even the one here in Marlowe’s yard.

Marlowe’s yard. That’s how I was going to think of this place from now on.