both hands heavily on her cane. âThink of her as my houseguest and behave yourself.â
He laughed, shoving his shirttail into his pants. âYou donât have to worry that Iâll come on to her,â he said. He went to the breakfast bar to get his wallet and attach his gun to his belt. Alex was a Metro police detective in Las Vegas.
âNo, Iâm worried that youâll try to investigate her and I just want you to know I would consider that extremely rude.â
âI would only do that if I thought there was a reason....â
âAs long as you donât think Doris living in my house is a reason. Am I clear?â
He grinned handsomely. âWhat makes you think you can push me around so much?â
âOld age.â
He put an arm around her. âDonât worryâIâll be nice to your house sitter. Iâll give her a wide berth. Now, letâs get the big suitcase before I leave.â
âDonât you usually work days?â she asked.
âMy hours have been all over the place lately. Weâve had a rash of home invasions in the city and Iâm going to sit a stakeout with our target team. We think we know who it is, itâs just a matter of catching them.â
Louise shuddered. âIâm so glad to be living here,â she said. âNow, you be very careful, young man.â
âAlways, my love.â He kissed the top of her head.
* * *
Jennifer did as much as she could to make herself indispensable to Buzz and Adolfo in the mornings. Then, with most of the chores done by early afternoon, when Hedda came on, the girl had more time to spend on homework.
Buzz and Adolfo had become more like family to her in one month than Nick Noble had in two years, and she was very grateful for them. She cleaned the bathroom, took out the trash, washed up the dishes and pots, swept the walk in front of the diner. She shined the glass, polished the stainless steel, watered the plants and dusted all the old black-and-white photos of Las Vegas celebrities that hung on the walls. This place, the diner and the town, was like a cocoon to her, sheltering her from her past and her future. As long as she was right here, she lived in the moment, and the moment, in all its simplicity, was lovely.
If she werenât so afraid of Nick, sheâd almost like to thank him. For the first time in ten years the pressure to be perfect was off. Her constant grip on control was unnecessaryâshe was loose in this body without all the trimming and constant upkeep. All she had to do was relax into this modest role and enjoy her own feelings for once. There was such amazing freedom in this.
She was beginning to have relationships, shallow though they might be. Still, it was far more than she had indulged in while she was trying to keep some man interested.
From here she could look back over some of her choices. Being the girlfriend of rich older men had seemed like a safe and practical way to spend some time, but suddenly ten years had flown by. Sheâd gone from nineteen to thirty in a flash, hardly feeling the passage of time. The only way in which she acknowledged aging at all was with the clear realization that she wouldnât be young and beautiful forever, and she would have to plan her next career path with no time to spare.
Now it amazed her that she had fooled herself into believing she could be satisfied with that. Catering to someone elseâs needs, leaving her own for later, in order to live a material life and avoid the risk of falling in love and having her heart broken? What was that about? Her idea of security was suddenly skewed, for what good were her savings and investments if her life was in danger?
Yet, danger or not, here she was now, a woman alone with simple needs and experiencing entirely new feelings. It verged on happiness. How, she asked herself, had she managed to get to be thirty years old before figuring that out?
While Louise
Emily Carmichael, PATRICIA POTTER, Maureen McKade, Jodi Thomas