Honeysuckle Summer (5 page)

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with your body,” she said, giving him a frank survey. “I did mention you’re hot, didn’t I?”

Walter had been hearing some variation of that since high school. It no longer had the power to seduce him. He’d realized how little looks mattered. He’d prefer it these days if someone told him he was living his life with integrity.

“Is that part of your sales spiel?” he asked Rory Sue.

“Nope, just an observation. I pretty much say what’s on my mind.”

“I imagine that gets you into trouble from time to time.”

“Not so much with men,” she said candidly. “They seem to appreciate knowing where they stand with me. I don’t have a lot of women friends, though.”

“Not even Raylene?”

“Not really. She, Annie and Sarah are tight, but I’m a couple of years younger.” She gave him a chagrined look. “And then there was a bit of a misunderstanding when Sarah thought I was after Travis.”

Walter was finding the conversation more intriguing by the minute. “Were you?”

“Sure,” she said with a shrug. “What woman with a libido wouldn’t have been, but he only had eyes for Sarah.” She winced, then added, “Sorry. See what I mean? I say whatever comes into my head. I didn’t think about the fact that Sarah’s your ex-wife. Does it bother you that she and Travis are together?”

Walter didn’t think the situation called for an in-depth discussion of his very complicated feelings on that subject. “My marriage was over a long time ago,” he said, and left it at that.

She regarded him skeptically. “There’s an edge in your voice that tells me you’re not as happy about that as you’d like everyone to believe.”

Surprised that she was that astute, he decided he shouldn’t sell her short again. “The situation is what it is. I thought we were going to talk about real estate.”

Rory Sue immediately sat up straighter, displaying an intriguing amount of cleavage, especially when she leaned forward and reached for a piece of paper from his notepad. “You mind?” she asked, also borrowing his pen. “Okay, let’s get started. Describe the perfect house.”

Walter thought of the large colonial he and Sarah had lived in back in Alabama. It had been chosen by his mother, mostly because it was the largest house in the most impressive neighborhood in town. He’d never felt comfortable there. Nor had Sarah, though she’d done her best to make the echoing, too-large rooms seem cozy and inviting.

“Something small,” he said at once. “Three bedrooms, a couple of baths, maybe a patio out back. A nice yard for the kids. Nothing fancy.”

“You need a gourmet kitchen?”

“I need a functioning kitchen.”

“You know the house you just described, don’t you? The one Sarah’s living in right now. Maybe you could buy it when she and Travis get married.”

Walter shook his head. “Right style, but I want something I can move into now. Besides, I think Raylene’s planning to buy it.” They’d talked about that on several occasions. He’d tried telling her it would be a mistake, that she was getting entirely too comfortable in her hideout. Maybe, though, Dr. McDaniels would get through to her 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. Good night.”

“Good night.”

“Oh, Walter, wait,” she said, a teasing note in her voice. “Pleasant dreams!”

He bit off the retort that came to mind. With an image of Rory Sue’s scantily clad body firmly implanted in his head, he doubted there was much sleep in his immediate future, anyway.

C
arter had no idea why Raylene got to him the way she did. She was obviously going through a tough time and it was just as plain her problems were more than he had any idea how to handle. He was barely coping with his own life these days. Trying to keep two strong-willed teenagers on the straight and narrow had turned out to be a challenge beyond his wildest expectations.

Still, despite all of his own worries, he couldn’t seem to shake that nostalgic, tearful expression on Raylene’s face when she’d mentioned gardening. That hint of vulnerability from a woman who was otherwise strong enough to accept her own limitations—self-imposed though they might be—nagged at him for several days.

On Saturday morning, done with fretting and ready to take action, he dragged the girls out of bed at what they considered the unholy hour of ten, and told them to be dressed and in the car in thirty minutes.

“Why?” Carrie asked with a moan. “It’s Saturday.”

“And you don’t want to waste a minute of it,” he said cheerfully.

Unimpressed by his good mood, she scowled back at him. “What’s the big hurry?”

“We have places to go, things to do, people to see,” he declared, using something their mother had frequently cited when she wanted them to get moving. She’d also said that getting everyone into the car was a little like herding cats, something he was just beginning to understand as his sisters grew increasingly stubborn and independent.

Carrie eyed him suspiciously. “What places? What things? What people?”

“You’ll see,” he told her. “Now, hustle.”

Mandy was marginally more upbeat and cooperative. Always eager for something new, she was downstairs shoveling Cheerios into her mouth in ten minutes.

“Can we drive over to McDonald’s for lunch?” she asked, even as she consumed enough cereal for five normal kids.

“We’ll see,” he told her.

“I don’t want fast food,” Carrie said, overhearing the end of the conversation as she wandered into the kitchen, still in her pj’s. “It’s too fattening.”

This was a recent refrain, he’d noticed. It had started when she turned fifteen and gotten worse as she approached her sixteenth birthday. He found it worrisome, since she weighed next to nothing as it was. “You don’t need to worry about that,” he told her emphatically. “Now, eat something, and let’s hit the road.”

Carrie rolled her eyes. “Unlike
some
people, I don’t have to eat my weight in cereal first thing in the morning.”

Carter frowned at her. “And unlike
some
people, you don’t have nearly as much energy. Eat! Do I need to remind you—”

“That breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” she said sourly. “Okay, fine.”

He stood there until she’d finished at least a token serving of cereal, then rinsed the dishes and put them into the dishwasher.

As soon as the girls were buckled into the car, he pulled out of the driveway and turned toward the nursery he’d spotted outside of town.

“Where are we going?” Carrie asked again. “There’s nothing out here. Why can’t we go to Columbia? At least there, we lived in civilization. There were actually movies in town, and stores. You promised when we moved here we could go back to visit, but you hardly ever take us.”

Carter had heard it all before. “I took you two weeks ago,” he reminded her. “We went to the mall, where you spent an hour calling your friends from your cell phone, instead of doing the shopping you’d told me was so vital to your very existence. Today we’re doing something different.”

“I know,” Mandy said excitedly. “We’re going to get plants for the garden, aren’t we? There’s a nursery out here.”

“You got it, kid,” he confirmed, only to see Carrie roll her eyes in disgust.

“I want tomatoes and squash and corn and maybe even watermelon, okay?” Mandy said. “I think there’s enough room in the backyard. And it’s really sunny back there, so everything should grow great.”

“We’ll ask at the nursery,” Carter said. “How about you, Carrie? What do you want in the garden this year?”

She was silent until he sent a warning look in her direction.

“Some lettuce and yellow peppers, I guess,” she said without much enthusiasm. “At least I can make a salad.”

“Good idea. I think we’ll get some flowers, too,” Carter said, his tone deliberately nonchalant. “They’d look nice out front, don’t you think?”

Next to him, Carrie made a face. “Who’s going to plant them and take care of them? Not me.”

“I will,” Mandy offered. “Flowers will look pretty by the front door.” She frowned. “But we’ve never grown them before. Mom always took care of the flowers. What if they die?”

An idea had been blossoming in Carter’s mind for a few days now. “I know someone who might be able to give us some advice,” he said.

“Who?” Carrie asked, instantly suspicious.

“A woman I met the other day.”

His sister gave him a knowing look. “So what? You’re using us and the whole flower thing to get a date or something?”

He shook his head at once. “It’s not like that,” he insisted, then fell silent, because the truth was, it might be exactly like that. If this worked out the way he hoped, he might be spending a whole lot more time with Raylene.

When an unfamiliar truck turned into the driveway at Sarah’s, Raylene checked to make sure the kids were still watching a video in the den with Laurie. They’d both fallen asleep on the sofa, and Laurie was looking through a teen magazine of some kind. Raylene left them and went to the door.

When Carter Rollins emerged from the truck, wearing a pair of faded jeans and a T-shirt rather than his deputy uniform, she felt a little
zing
of anticipation. The sensation stunned her. Because of her marriage, she’d assumed there’d never be another man in her life she’d
trust, much less be happy to see. That it happened to be this particular man was even more of a surprise.

Of course, she reminded herself, sexual attraction didn’t necessarily go hand in hand with trust. Carter might appeal to her on some purely sensual level, but that didn’t mean she intended to let him into her life. In a way, though, it was nice to know she could still appreciate a fine specimen of manhood when one happened to cross her path.

She opened the door, but remained safely inside. “You must be off duty,” she said as he approached. “What brings you by?”

“I came by to ask a favor,” he said, regarding her with a sheepish expression. “And I’ll do something for you in return, if you agree.”

She regarded him warily. When strong men got that helpless look, they were usually up to something. When they started talking about mysterious favors, alarm bells went off.

“Oh?” she said. “What exactly is this favor?”

“You mentioned something the other day about gardening, and I was hoping you could give me some tips.”

She frowned. “I’m not an expert. You could talk to Doug at the nursery just west of town and get better advice. His family’s owned it forever. I think they’re all master gardeners.”

He shook his head sorrowfully. “You must not know much about men. We hate admitting to other men that there are things we don’t know.”

She regarded him doubtfully. “But it’s okay to admit it to me?”

“Sure. You’ll just think I’m charmingly inept. Don’t all women love feeling superior to the men in their lives?”

“To be honest, I’ve never had that experience,” she said. “That certainly wasn’t the way the balance of power worked in my marriage.”

He gave her a questioning look, but didn’t pry. She gave him points for that.

“Will you at least think about giving me some advice?” he asked.

“And what do I get in return?”

“I bought a lot more plants than we’ll ever find room for in my yard. I thought you might want some for here.”

A tiny spark of forgotten excitement stirred to life inside her, and then reality hit. “I can’t accept them,” she said, unable to hide her disappointment.

“Why?”

She scrambled for an excuse, rather than admitting that it would be impossible for her to plant the garden, no matter how badly she might want to. “This isn’t my house. I’m not sure Sarah would appreciate it if I suddenly started landscaping around here.” The excuse sounded hollow to her ears, especially since she knew that as soon as Sarah and Travis set their wedding date, this house was likely to become hers. Hopefully Carter knew nothing of that plan.

His gaze met hers and he waited, clearly anticipating more.

Raylene sighed. “I thought you understood. I can’t leave the house, and I can’t expect Sarah to plant a garden to indulge some whim of mine.”

“But I could do it,” he said. “You could tell me what to do and I’ll provide the labor. You’d probably enjoy bossing me around. My sisters certainly do.”

She considered the possibility. Even if she let him do all the planting, who would care for the garden? In
this heat, it would need frequent watering, to say nothing of weeding.

“It’s a lovely offer, but I don’t think so,” she said with real regret.

He studied her intently, then muttered what sounded like a curse under his breath. “It’s about the upkeep, too, isn’t it? Don’t worry about that. I’ll come by. So will my sisters. Let us do this for you.”

Pleased by his determination and too delighted with the idea to keep coming up with excuses, valid or otherwise, Raylene slowly nodded. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I weren’t. Do we have a deal?”

She couldn’t help the rush of excitement that stirred when she imagined having a garden again. If she closed her eyes, she could even imagine a time when she’d be able to sit outside and enjoy it.

“I would love it,” she admitted eventually, “if you’re sure you don’t mind doing all the work.”

“I don’t mind,” he confirmed. “You can pay me back with advice and lemonade. Shall we give it a try? I have the plants in the truck.”

She regarded him with amusement. “You were awfully confident you could talk me into this, weren’t you?”

He grinned. “Pretty much. Something told me you’d be a pushover if I dangled the promise of a few flowers in front of you.”

“Don’t get the idea I’m a pushover, Deputy Rollins,” she said with mock severity. “You’d be wrong.”

“Every women has a few weaknesses,” he commented with a wink. “I just happened to figure out one of yours.”

He walked toward the truck and left her wondering why he’d even given the matter so much thought. Most men, knowing her circumstances and the unlikelihood of anything approaching a normal relationship, wouldn’t have bothered. Rather than worrying about his motives, though, she told herself to be grateful for this impulsive, sweet gesture of his.

While Carter unloaded the plants and carried them around back, she woke the kids and brought them into the kitchen. “You want to help Deputy Rollins with the garden?” she asked, knowing they’d be safe with him and would enjoy the freedom of being outside. It would also give Laurie time to run to the store to look for the dress she wanted for her date tonight.

Tommy immediately raced for the kitchen door, but Libby hung back. Rebuffed once too often by her own father, whose entire focus seemed to be on her big brother, she’d only recently begun to feel more comfortable around men. Thankfully, Walter himself was responsible for the change. He’d finally realized what a treasure she was and started giving her a fair share of his attention. That, plus undisguised adoration from Travis, had been a huge boost to Libby’s confidence, but she still hung back around other men until she was sure of her welcome.

Raylene pulled a chair over to the doorway and lifted Libby into her lap. “You and I get to supervise,” she told her, loudly enough to be overheard by Carter. He cast a grin in her direction.

“Oh, great! Now I have two women bossing me around,” he grumbled with mock dismay. “Tommy, you’re going to have to help me stand up to them.”

“Okay,” Tommy agreed at once, eager to please. “What do we do?”

Carter shrugged. “Beats me.” He turned to Raylene. “Any ideas?”

For the next two hours, he and Tommy dug where she told them to and trimmed the yard with tall sunflowers and vibrant hollyhocks, patches of bright impatiens in partially shaded areas and even two fragrant rosebushes for either side of the kitchen doorway. The result was a far cry from the carefully tended garden at her home in Charleston, but it was bright and cheery and brought a smile to her face. Looking at the results, she had to blink back tears.

Standing in front of her, Carter seemed shaken by her display of emotion. “This was supposed to be a good thing.”

“It’s a wonderful thing,” she said, impulsively reaching out to give his hand a squeeze. “Thank you. It was wonderful of you to think of doing this. Even if I can’t take a single step outside, I’ll be able to smell the roses from right here.”

“No big deal,” he insisted, looking uncomfortable with her gratitude.

“Now, what can I do in return? Of course, I want to pay you for the plants.”

“Absolutely not,” he said indignantly. “I told you I bought too many.”

“I can believe you bought too many flats of annuals, but extra rosebushes? I doubt that.”

“Really, no. I can’t take your money. It was my pleasure.”

“It was more like a backbreaking couple of hours.”

“I enjoyed every minute,” he said, meeting her gaze with a steady look. “Really.”

Raylene shuddered under the intensity of that
gaze. “Okay, then, what advice do you need for your garden?”

“Actually, you’ve already helped out. I’ll just try to re-create what we’ve done here.” He frowned. “Of course, we don’t have much shade.”

“Then you’re really going to have to keep an eye on the impatiens. They need a lot of water if they’re in bright sunlight. Otherwise they’ll wilt. And the sunflowers and hollyhocks will do best either against a fence or with stakes. Once they’re in full bloom, they’ll tend to fall over without some kind of support.”

“Got it,” he said. He gave her an appealing look. “Maybe one of these days, when you know me better and feel safe with me, you’ll come over and take a look and see if there’s any other advice I need to follow.”