“Nothing is free. Everything comes with a price,” said Zona, the newly minted cynic.
And she suspected that if she got to know Alec James any better she’d wind up paying for it. Her best bet was to stay away.
Gambling metaphor. Aack!
Chapter19
ZONA HADN’T SEEN MUCH OF BREEsince her last visit. She’d texted when they’d found Darling but had omitted what Darling had brought home. Bree didn’t need to hear about her grandmother’s encounter with the neighbor or the fact that Zona had baked him cookies, even if the cookie baking had been nothing more than a gesture to smooth over troubled waters.
Bree had texted back and added a smiley emoticon, which Zona took as a good sign. By the end of summer, Zona would have a nice-sized check to give her daughter, which would allow her to start school in the new year and, hopefully, that would produce real smiles.
She clung to the hope that someday, they’d all find their way to a happier place, with their current challenges far behind them. Meanwhile she had enough to do working her day job, selling secondhand treasures online, and cooking for her mother and herself, and making sure there were always treats on hand for when visitors stopped by.
“It’s too bad she broke up with that nice boy,” Louise said after Bree’s latest visit with her. “I think she regrets it but doesn’t want to admit it.”
“She wants love to come with a guarantee,” said Zona. Good luck with that.
“We both know nothing in life comes with a guarantee,” pointed out Louise.
“I know. But sometimes it’s better not to take a risk.”
“You sound like your daughter,” Louise accused.
“Well, it’s past time I got in touch with my inner Bree,” said Zona.
She made the mistake of saying as much when Louise’s friends came over to play Mahjong.
“You shouldn’t give up,” said Susan, who was breaking in her third man. “You never know when the perfect man might come into your life.”
“There is no such thing,” Zona said.
“True, but there can be someone perfect for you,” Susan said.
Zona pushed the words out of her mind when she returned from walking Darling that same evening and found Alec James pulling his truck into his driveway.
“Ready for some dog training?” he called as he got out.
“No time,” she called back. Meanwhile, Darling was straining at the leash, anxious to say hi to his neighbor.
“You can always make time for what you really want to do,” Alec James argued.
He leaned against the truck, one ankle casually crossed over the other, arms folded across his chest, which made his biceps look massive. It was a great hot-guy calendar pose. The only thing missing was a tool belt.
“You afraid something might happen to you?” he taunted.
Not in the way he was insinuating. Between the sudden neighborly gestures and that smile he was showing off, Alec James was an emotional threat. She reminded herself that they were going to have nothing more to do with him. She also reminded herself that her daughter would have a panic attack if she did.
“What is that, a double-dog dare?” she shot back, ignoring the reminder.
“Good pun.”
Darling did need to learn manners and with Louise busy with her friends there was nothing waiting for Zona butKnow Yourself, Know Your Money, the latest book by finance guru Angel Ram. Well, andThe Psychology of Dangerous People. She made a snap decision to forget about dangerous people and get to know herself later, and let Darling pull her over to where Alec James stood.
Darling immediately wanted to jump on him and he stopped it by walking forward, forcing Darling down and back.
“What’s that called, the bulldozer move?” Zona said. It smacked of bullying to her. Alec James displaying his true colors.
He had an equally smart-mouth answer. “It’s called the keep your dirty paws off me move.”
