thought about it.”
He wasn’t ready to move just yet. He liked where he lived.
Damn—he was in big trouble if he was lying to himself. It wasn’t the place he liked, it was Elissa. Her and that stupid chicken on her uniform. How she’d looked so fierce, standing on his porch with her baseball bat. He wasn’t anyone who needed protecting, but she hadn’t thought of that. She’d just decided he was in trouble and had come to the rescue.
He hadn’t met anyone like her in a long time—maybe ever. Determined and independent with a heart as hard as a marshmallow. She was sexy as hell, too. Especially when she earnestly explained why she wasn’t interested in dating or having sex with him.
But he wasn’t going to act on it. He knew better than to get involved. Things would only end badly for her and he didn’t want that.
“I know some twins,” Reid said into the silence. “Interested?”
Walker rolled his eyes. “Not all problems can be solved with sex.”
Reid grinned. “Most of them can.”
“I’M READY FOR MORE vegetables, dear,” Mrs. Ford said from her place at Elissa’s kitchen table.
Elissa glanced over at the nearly full salad bowl. “You made quick work of everything.”
“It’s all in the right tools.” The older woman held up a unique little gadget that looked like a cross between garden shears and kitchen scissors. “I saw this Toss and Chop on QVC and knew I had to have it.”
Elissa stirred the pasta, making sure it cooked evenly. There was a nice marinara sauce with a whisper of meat—a scant quarter pound she hadn’t put in the chili.
“I felt kind of guilty at the mall today,” she admitted. “Like a fashion spy or something.”
“Why? You went into the store, you saw what was popular and you left. Hardly a crime.”
“I know. If I could afford to buy Zoe’s clothes, I would. But one of the dresses I looked at cost forty-five dollars. It’s not even two yards of fabric.”
Instead, she’d gone into the popular stores and checked out the various hot styles. Once home, she’d sketched out a few things to make herself. She wanted to make sure her daughter felt good about her clothes when she started kindergarten. Elissa still remembered the year she’d turned eleven and had shot up a couple of inches practically overnight. She’d gone to school with jeans that were too short and had been teased mercilessly. To this day, she still remembered crying all the way home.
Growing up was challenging enough. She was going to do her best to make sure Zoe avoided all possible pitfalls.
“Jeans and T-shirts are easy,” Elissa said. “Thank goodness for Wal-Mart. But the rest of it…”
“You’ll do fine. Have you seen Walker recently?”
Elissa stirred the sauce. “Not your smoothest transition.”
“I’m old and therefore allowances are made. Have you?”
“Not really.” Not if one didn’t count his recent visit to the restaurant. She didn’t want to get into the reason why he’d been there and if she left that out, Mrs. Ford was likely to assume things were heating up, which they weren’t.
“You should consider him,” Mrs. Ford said. “You’ve often mentioned that Zoe needs a father figure in her life.”
If Elissa had been swallowing, she would have choked. “You’re suggesting Walker for the job?”
“Why not? He’s an honorable man.”
Elissa could imagine him doing a lot of things, but being a surrogate father to a five-year-old little girl? “There’s more to it than just being honorable. He’s not exactly emotionally accessible.”
“Neither are you, dear.”
“Ouch.”
Mrs. Ford shook her head. “I’m sorry if that sounded harsh, and I apologize in advance for speaking my mind. Elissa, you’re living like a nun. It’s not natural for a woman your age. You have a perfectly attractive, healthy man living less than ten feet over your head. You should do something about that. Use it or lose it, I always say.”
Elissa didn’t know what to think. Parts of her brain actually froze. Was her ninety-something neighbor suggesting she have sex with Walker? Sex?
“Actually, you don’t say that,” Elissa managed at last. “You said I had to be in love first. While I appreciate the advice…” Sort of. “The thing is, I don’t want Zoe hurt. I don’t want her to get attached only to have the guy leave.”
“Not all men leave.”
True. Sometimes you had to kick them out yourself.
Mrs. Ford’s dark eyes narrowed. “It’s important for Zoe to know what a healthy romantic relationship looks like. She needs to understand how a man and woman relate to each other.”
“That’s why we watch television,” Elissa said cheerfully. “There are plenty of perfect families there.”
CHAPTER FOUR
SATURDAY ELISSA ARRIVED home with Zoe only to find Mrs. Ford standing on the front porch. It was warm and the old lady shouldn’t be out in the sun. The fact that she was gave Elissa a bad feeling.
“What’s wrong?” Elissa asked as she got out of the car.
“It’s the plumbing, dear,” Mrs. Ford said with a sigh. “It’s all backed up. I spoke to the answering service. Our landlord is on a cruise and the usual plumber isn’t answering his page. The service is trying to get someone here on an emergency basis, but they keep pointing out that it’s Saturday and it’s very expensive for that kind of call.”
Elissa groaned. Was that their way of only pretending to make the call?
“Let me call them,” she said. “Zoe, honey, stay out here with Mrs. Ford.”
“Why?” her daughter asked.
“Because when the plumbing backs up, it gets really stinky.”
Mrs. Ford smiled. “Stinky is a very good word.”
Seattle’s other name—the Emerald City—came from the abundance of trees and lots of rain. But the rain mostly fell in winter. Summer could be hot and sunny for weeks at a time, like now. Unfortunately, most apartments weren’t air-conditioned—no one thought it was worth the expense for only a few weeks out of the year.
Which meant Elissa’s apartment was not only stinky, it was stifling when she went inside.
The smell was thick and disgusting. She had the feeling it would never wash out of her hair. She quickly went around the apartment and opened all the windows, then did the same in Mrs. Ford’s place. On her tour, she noted that every sink and both tubs were backed
