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"Some guy the daughter works with. Love triangle kind of thing is what people are saying."
"Wow. I thought this was a sleepy little town."
"We've got our scandals, believe me," she said, rolling her eyes. "But you could've knocked me over with a feather when I heard about that business with Ms. King. Neither she nor her daughter looks the type."
"What type is that?"
"Man-trouble type. But I guess it goes to show you never know what goes on behind closed doors."
"Isn't that a song?"
She grinned up at him, pleased. "You like country?"
By the time Dodge had finished his first cigarette and lit another, they'd exhausted the subject of country music, at least to the extent that he knew something about it. Trying to steer the topic back to Caroline, he frowned. "I guess this realtor will be too busy to take on any new clients, considering the mess her kid is in."
"I don't know. You can try. Ms. King is a businesswoman right down the line. I heard she made a killing in residential real estate in Houston. She moved to Merritt to retire."
"When was this?"
"Few years ago. Two or three."
"Her retirement didn't take?"
She laughed. "Guess not. She no more had settled in than she linked up with a property developer and--"
"Linked up?" He bobbed his eyebrows. "One of those closed- doors things?"
Grace nudged his arm, and somehow in the process his elbow made contact with her full bosom. "Ms. King is at least twenty years older than the developer."
"That's in fashion, isn't it? Older woman, younger man?"
"Maybe. But he's got a gorgeous wife and three perfect children. His partnership wi
th Ms. King was strictly business. He enlisted her to sell the houses in his development. She sold them all in record time." Grace shrugged and dropped her second cigarette butt to the asphalt. "She decided retirement wasn't for her. Not yet, anyway. She's got even richer off all the development going on around here."
"She must have savvy."
Grace nodded. "And she works at it. She's got my respect and everybody else's. At least, I've never heard a bad word said against her. Of course the gossips will be all over what happened out at her place last night." She glanced at her wristwatch. "They're gonna think you kidnapped me." There was a trace of hopefulness in the smile she cast over her shoulder as she reentered the bar.
Dodge took one final drag on his cigarette, then dropped the butt and followed her inside. She'd been so unwittingly generous with information, he felt obliged to buy one more beer, but he didn't finish it before signaling her to tally up his tab.
"How long will you be in town, Dodge?"
He told her the unvarnished truth. "I don't know."
"Drop back by."
"I will."
"Do you have a wife?"
"Not lately."
She laughed. "Are you lying?"
"No."
She slid a small white card across the bar. "While you're here, if you need anything--directions, restaurant recommendations, a place to smoke--give me a call."
