and she’d move on, find her own home and her own life.
“Do you prefer a house or a condo?” Rory Sue asked. “Something brand new or older?”
“A house,” he said at once, wanting something that would feel at least marginally like a home, rather than a bachelor pad. “And older, with full-grown trees and a lawn, not a patch of bare ground with no shade.”
She nodded. “Got it. When are you free? Can you give me an hour tomorrow?”
Walter was startled by the hint of efficiency. He’d labeled her more of a scatterbrain, which just proved his instincts about women were no better than they use to be. Heaven knew, he’d misjudged Sarah often enough.
“That soon?” he asked.
She shrugged. “You said you wanted to move in now. Why mess around? I’ll go through my listings tonight and be ready to show you three or four things tomorrow. You tell me when.”
“Five o’clock?” he suggested.
“Works for me,” she said, then gave him a look that was more impish than come-hither. “And if I’ve found the perfect place, you can buy me dinner to celebrate. How’s that for a deal?”
Regarding her with bemusement, Walter nodded. “I can’t recall a better one.”
She slid out of the booth. “Then I’d better get busy, if I’m going to prove that I’m as good as my mom in this real estate gig. Thanks for the pizza, Walter. We’ll chalk this up as our first date.” She winked. “Just so you know, with me things usually start to get really interesting by the end of the second date.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. “Just one thing.”
“Yes?”
“In my world, for them to count as dates, I need to do the asking, so let’s think of tonight and tomorrow as all business, okay?”
For a moment, she looked startled, but then she tossed her mane of chestnut hair and laughed. “An old-fashioned guy! Who’d have thought it? Okay, Walter, we’ll play this your way. I’ll see you tomorrow at five. And since dinner’s business, I’ll buy.”
“Do you always have to have the last word?”
“I don’t have to,” she told him, “but it usually works out that way.”
She sashayed off before he could respond, giving him an excellent view of a backside that would make most men weep. She left Walter wondering just what in heaven’s name Raylene had been thinking.
He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and punched in the number at Sarah’s. Raylene picked up.
“I’ve just had a very interesting, supposedly chance encounter with Rory Sue Lewis,” he told her. “What do you know about that?”
“I might have mentioned your real estate needs to her,” she said, a barely contained hint of laughter threading through her voice. “Does she think she can find you a house?”
“That’s the least of what she thinks she can do for me,” he said.
“I thought the two of you might hit it off.”
“Hit it off? She scares me to death.”
Raylene did laugh then. “Walter Price, you did not just say that.”
“I mean it. She’s pushy and blatantly sexual.”
“Isn’t that every man’s dream?”
“I suppose some men fantasize about women chasing them, but personally I prefer a more demure, traditional type.”
“Because your marriage to a woman like that worked out so well?” Raylene taunted.
Walter faltered at that. When he remained silent, Raylene added, “You need a woman who’ll stand up to you and give you a run for your money, Walter. Admit it, once Sarah left you and started doing that, you found her a lot more fascinating.”
“True, but there’s no comparison between Sarah, even now with her newfound self-confidence, and Rory Sue. Sarah would kill you if she heard you trying to make one. Rory Sue’s like some kind of barracuda-in-training.”
“An apt description,” Raylene agreed. “You don’t have to date Rory Sue, you know. Just let her find you someplace to live and enjoy the sparks along the way. There were sparks at least, right?”
“Oh, there were sparks,” he conceded reluctantly. “The kind that could burn a man if he’s not careful.”
“Then be careful.”
“Oh, I will be,” he assured her. “And next time you get any crazy ideas about matchmaking, my friend, see if you can’t find someone who’ll put some roses in your cheeks and leave me alone.”
Raylene didn’t respond. Walter pounced on her silence.
“Raylene Hammond, have you already found that someone?”
“Don’t be silly. Where would I find someone?” she asked. “Men don’t just appear magically outside my door. Isn’t that what you’re always telling me?”
“But one has. I can hear it in your voice.”
“You’re imagining things,” she said.
Walter let it drop. If there was something going on in her life, God bless her, he’d find out about it soon enough. Tommy, for example, was a little blabbermouth when it came to anything going on at home.
“Tell me how things went with Dr. McDaniels,” he said instead.
As she filled him in, Walter heard a familiar note of defeat in her voice.
“You didn’t expect to run out of the first session and go skipping down the block, did you?”
“Not really, but it’s clearly going to be hard work. She managed to drag out a lot of bad memories and insisted on dissecting them. I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
“You’re not scared of hard work, are you?”
“No,” she said with a hint of indignation, but then her bravado failed her. “I’m scared of failing.”
“You are not going to fail,” he said adamantly. “There’s too much at stake—your entire future, in case you need reminding. Besides, you have this huge support system in place. We’ll all be right beside you every step of the way.”
His words were greeted by silence and then she asked, “Walter, back when I was on your case every ten seconds for the way you were treating Sarah, did you ever think we’d wind up being friends?”
“To be honest, I never thought much about being friends with any woman,” he said.
She laughed. “Exactly as I thought, which is why Rory Sue is perfect for you. You can thank me later.
