Thirty-Two and a Half Complications
Page 29

His eyes were hooded with desire. “I hope you continue aiming to please when we get home.”
My face burned and I was amazed he could still make me blush after everything we’d done together. “I better go. I’m hoping Bruce Wayne and I can finish that wall before my appointment with Jonah.”
“Okay, but if you see a truck parked in front of the house when you get home, don’t get worried. I hired a guy to replace the window in the backdoor.”
“Mason!”
He grinned. “I knew you’d tell me no, so I hired him this morning, hoping to have it done before you got home, but he called and said he’s running late.”
I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. “Well, thank you.”
His smiled brightened. “You’re welcome.”
When I got back to the job site, Bruce Wayne was laying out the landscaping stones for the low wall we were putting on the side of the house.
“Did you even take your thirty minutes for lunch, Bruce Wayne?” I asked as I surveyed the progress he’d made. “You know you can even take a little longer than that if you’d like. We both know that I do.”
“I eat my lunch in my car, Miss Rose. You know that.” He shrugged as he leaned over and picked up a landscaping stone. “Plus, you also know I love doin’ this work.”
It still didn’t feel right. I’d have to invite him to lunch with me and Neely Kate one day next week.
We worked in a comfortable silence for several minutes before I decided to blurt out my question. No use skirting around it. “Bruce Wayne, do you still have any connections to Weston’s Garage that you can use? Or did you give it all up after Crocker tried to use you to find me? I know you said half the guys have it out for you, but what about the other half?”
His jaw stretched and his mouth worked before he answered. “Why are you askin’?”
“I’m curious.”
His eyes lifted to mine. “What are you really up to?”
I gasped. “Who says I’m up to something?”
He chuckled and set a stone on the wall.
I sat back on my heels. “If I tell you the truth, will you be more likely to answer?”
He continued to study me, making me squirm. “Yes,” he finally said.
I turned my gaze on the stones. “I didn’t tell you that I saw the face of one of the robbers.”
“I thought they were wearing ski masks.” For a one-time stoner who usually missed a lot of social cues, Bruce Wayne wasn’t letting anything get by him today.
“They were.” I hedged. “It was an inadvertent sighting.”
“So what does that have to do with you asking if I still have anything to do with the garage?”
“As you know, Joe’s working for the sheriff’s department. He finagled his way into showing me some mug shots, but I couldn’t find the guy and the robbers still have all my money.” I looked up at him. “I figured if I could find them—”
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I’m asking!”
“You’re not messing with those people, Miss Rose.”
“Which ones?”
His eyes widened in exasperation. “Any of them.” He turned away from me. “Daniel Crocker wanted to kill you, and there’s still guys at that garage who are ticked about what happened.”
“So I’m supposed to let those robbers take my money?”
“I thought insurance was gonna pay for it.”
“Violet’s working on it, but Mason’s insurance company is still giving him fits about his condo burning down and his claim is indisputable. We need the money by next Wednesday for that big Christmas tree delivery.” Not to mention his paycheck, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.
“What does Mr. Deveraux say?”
“He doesn’t know.”
His mouth dropped open. “Why haven’t you told him?”
I grimaced. “Because he’ll want to help me financially, and he doesn’t have any money right now. You know Mason, it will kill him. The less he knows about the direness of the situation, the better.”
“He’s a pretty smart guy. He might be able to figure something out. You should tell him.”
The world was spinning on its head if Bruce Wayne was giving me advice…not to mention advice that made so much sense. But I still couldn’t bring myself to follow it. Not yet anyway.
We wrapped things up at three-thirty and I was on my way to Jonah’s church for our weekly counseling session when Violet called.
“Thanks for helping with the kids,” she said, sounding nervous. I wondered if she was about to ask me to pick them up again today.
“You know I love them.” I suspected it wasn’t the response she was looking for, but it was all I could give. “Joe was on your front porch yesterday when I brought them home. It was like he was expecting me.”
“He probably was. He called to ask if you were at the store. I told him no, but that you were picking up the kids and taking them to my house. What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is that he’s my ex-boyfriend, Violet. We broke up. You should have at least warned me.”
“He said it was official business, Rose. About the robbery. It never occurred to me to tell him no. He’s the chief deputy sheriff now.”
“And is the fact that he’s been spending so much time with the kids lately due to official business?” I knew my tone was hateful, but I didn’t care.