by Stacy Finz
“Wives. Plural. I’m into that.”
She tried not to roll her eyes. “I’ll go. When are you thinking this is going to happen?”
“I’ll call him now.” Win started to go for his phone but Darcy tugged on his arm.
“It’s getting late, Win. Call him tomorrow.”
“All right. You’ll go tomorrow?” He quirked one brow. It was a challenge to keep her from working for Lewis. She couldn’t figure out why Win would even care.
“Sure. But I’m planning to work at GA tomorrow and take Thursday and Friday off.” That way she’d get a four-day weekend, though Lord knew what she’d do with herself all that time. “So make the appointment for after work. Oh wait, I’m going to book club at Hannah’s. She invited me.” Duh. Why she’d needed to add that, she didn’t know.
“Oh yeah? That’s nice, although I’ve been to one of her book shindigs and no one talks about the book. It’s mostly a drunken gossip session.”
“Really? You go?” She couldn’t see Win at a book club gathering. It didn’t seem like he could sit still that long.
“Not for the book club but to hang out with Josh and play video games. How about lunchtime if Reggie is okay with that?”
“Sounds good but I can’t be away from the phones too long.”
“Right.” Win pulled a face. “TJ will take you around back and shoot you.”
He wouldn’t even look askance at her taking a little extra time for lunch. That’s not the way TJ rolled, though he expected everyone to do their jobs. But she had a work ethic to uphold. No one could ever accuse her of slacking off. It was the one thing she prided herself on. It was the reason people liked her.
“Well, I better get home.” She stood up and Win walked her out to her car.
She started getting in the driver’s seat when he took her by the arm. “Call me if you need someone to talk to … or if you just want to have phone sex.”
He walked back to his apartment in his bare feet, snatched the cat off the sill, and took it inside.
Chapter Thirteen
Win finished with his group, five semi-intermediate-level climbers, at eleven. It had been an awesome morning, just cool enough to keep from melting in the sun. He parked his Jeep in GA’s lot and came in the back door with a plan to call Reggie and then shower.
That’s when he met with the long arm of the law.
“You look like shit,” Colt said.
“Right back at ya.”
Colt tilted Win’s face to the side to get a better look at his eye. “If I were you I’d have that looked at.”
“Good thing you’re not me,” he said, and Colt socked him in the arm. “We hear anything from FlashTag yet?”
“Not that I’m aware of but I just popped in a few minutes ago. I had to get out of the station because Carrie Jo and Jack are driving me nuts.” Colt’s receptionist and the assistant police chief were having a passionate affair without the sex. As a result, they fought incessantly.
“Why don’t those two just do it already? Jeez, they’re both single and clearly have the hots for each other.”
“Don’t ask me. In the beginning, I was against an office romance but if it’ll shut them up they have my bloody blessing.” Colt eyed Win’s gear. “You’ve been climbing?”
Win held up his harness. “What gave it away, Sherlock?”
Colt tried to punch him again but he moved out of the way. “Wanna have lunch?”
“No can do. I’m trying to get inside Reggie Brown’s log cabin. Boden says he’s getting ready to sell it and I might be interested.”
“In what?” TJ joined them in the hallway.
“In Reggie Brown’s log cabin,” Win said.
“You’re really serious about buying a house, huh?” Colt cocked a hip against the wall and peered at Win dubiously.
Hell yeah, he was serious. His studio apartment had started closing in on him, making him feel like an overgrown frat boy. “Everyone else in this family owns a house, why shouldn’t I?”
“No reason you shouldn’t,” Colt said. “I just never saw you as a homeowner. You thinking of trading the Jeep in for a station wagon?”
Win flipped him the bird.
“Reggie Brown is selling his log cabin?” For once, TJ didn’t join Colt in “let’s razz Win.” He was too busy sniffing a deal.
“That’s what Boden says. I’m taking Darcy to look at it if Reggie will let us in.”
“Darcy? Why aren’t you taking me?” TJ asked.
“I don’t want you to scare Reggie off. Anyway, this is premature until I get my bonus.” He pointedly looked at his brother. “Right, TJ.”
Colt folded his arms over his chest and watched with interest. If it had been Josh he would’ve bitched and moaned that he wasn’t getting a bonus. Mostly, it was just to mess with Win. The four of them definitely had their sibling rivalries but it was never over money.
“You better hope we get the FlashTag account, then,” TJ said.
“No word yet, huh?”
“I doubt we’ll hear anything until after their weekend with that Mammoth operation.” TJ glanced down at his always-present phone as they were talking. “I’ve gotta roll. We going to Old Glory tonight for hump day?”
“I’m in,” Win said. “Hannah’s having her book deal tonight so Josh will want in too.”
Colt pushed himself off the wall. “I’ve got to check with Delaney but probably.”
Win stopped in his office on the way to the locker room, called Reggie, who said they could swing by at noon. After a quick shower, he went to fetch Darcy.
“You ready to go?”
She looked up from her computer monitor, gave the one-minute sign, and pointed to her headset. To kill time, he sat on the sectional and thumbed through a GA pamphlet listing their fall tours.
“Okay,” she said. “Did he say you can see it?”
“Yup. He wants to give us the grand tour.”
They got in his Jeep and Win took a moment to admire Darcy’s legs in her sundress.
“What are you doing?” she snapped.
“Nothing. Jeez, why’s your mind always in the gutter?” He winked and she kicked him. “And you’re violent, too.”
She gave him a cursory once-over. “Your eye looks worse than it did yesterday and I didn’t think that was possible. Perhaps you should see a doctor.”
He started the car, turned on the music, and put on his shades. “That better?” Before she could answer he stepped on the gas and the Jeep lurched, knocking her forward. He would’ve burned rubber but that was just juvenile.
“I think you missed the turn,” she said a mile out of town.
“I’ve lived here all my life, Darcy, I think I know where River View is.” Two miles later he turned around. Shit, she was right, he had missed the turn.
They took the long, narrow road, rutted from the winter’s snow, until it dead-ended at two driveways. Neither of which had a house number.
“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe …” He took the one on the right and was greeted by a chainsaw bear, holding a large sign that read THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH, which clearly the owner had stolen from Disneyland.
“You think this is the right place?” Darcy craned her neck out of the passenger window.
It was a log cabin, though they were plentiful in these parts. A dog came running out of nowhere, barking its crazy fat head off. A grizzled dude with dreadlocks, a beard, and a tie-dyed shirt trailed the hound.
“Yep. We’re in the right place.” Win hung out the window. “Hey, Reggie.”
“Don’t mind Oscar. His bark is bigger than his bite.”
They got out of the Jeep and Oscar stuck his snout in Win’s crotch.
“Oscar,” Reggie called, and the dog trotted to the side of its owner.
Win introduced Darcy, then glanced around, trying to get his bearings. The property was off the hook with an amazing view of the river. A copse of tall pines offered plenty of shade and the grounds boasted every
kind of plant under the sun. Reggie must be a gardener. You could drop a fishing line right into the water from the wraparound porch.
“Wow,” Darcy whispered.
So far, Win was impressed and also thinking he couldn’t afford a place like this. But it didn’t hurt to look.
“You find it okay?” Reggie asked. “We’re a little off the grid back here.”
“Not a problem,” Win said, and Darcy smirked. “You’ve got quite a spread. How big is this parcel?” Up here in cattle country that was considered a rude question, sort of like asking someone how much money he had in the bank. But Win figured they weren’t talking ranch size and if he was going to make an offer on the place he needed to know what he was looking at.
“It’s just under two acres.” Reggie shielded his eyes with his hands and turned to the house. “Elsie and I built the cabin with our own two hands.”
It was a large two-story and as far as Win knew Reggie didn’t have any kids. “It’s amazing.”
“Let me give you the tour.” Reggie started with the property, including a huge vegetable garden near the road where the property got the most sun. There was a nice shed where he kept supplies and an elaborate sprinkler system. Win would kill every plant sure as shit. His thumb was as green as his bank account.
“You take care of all of this?” Win asked.
“I do.” Reggie bent over to pull a blade of grass from a row of leafy greens. Lettuce or cabbage, Win couldn’t be sure.
He took off his sunglasses and hooked them in the collar of his T-shirt to get a better look. Reggie did a double take.
“Ooh-wee, that’s some shiner.” He motioned at Win’s black eye. “This the young lady you were fighting over?”
Win let out a chuckle because the story had taken on a life of its own. “Nah. Don’t believe everything you hear in town, Reggie. This”—he pointed at his eye—“was just a small misunderstanding.”
“If you say so.” Reggie winked at Darcy and continued the tour, which ended at a dock with a gazebo.
Some of the wood looked rotted and a few of the boards were warped but it wasn’t anything a hammer and nails and elbow grease couldn’t fix. Win liked the feel of it and could visualize himself sitting out here in the evening, skipping rocks and watching the end of the day go by. He’d build a rack to store inner tubes and a boat, maybe put in a rope swing for jumping into the water.
“I’ll warn you now that the house is on the messy side,” Reggie said. “I didn’t have time to tidy up.”
Messy was an understatement. It turned out that Reggie was a bit of a hoarder. Stacks of newspapers, books, and magazines were piled everywhere Win looked. The house had plenty of space but Reggie had managed to fill every nook and cranny with stuff.
“You have a lot of books,” Darcy said, staring at the rows and rows of shelves crammed full of hardbound tomes that reminded Win of a reference library. “Are you a botanist?”
It took Win reading a few of the book titles to figure out why Darcy would ask such a question. Most of them were about plant life and science, which explained Reggie’s extensive gardens.
“I’m a plant geneticist,” he said. “My claim to fame is discovering how to make a tomato taste good again. Not mushy and bland, like most of the supermarket varieties.”
“Seriously?” Darcy seemed impressed. “Do people know about this discovery?”
Reggie grinned. “The entire world of biochemists, botanists, and academia. Exciting stuff.”
“My grandmother, Hilde Wallace, would find it very exciting.”
“I know Hilde,” Reggie said. “We’re in the Glory Junction Master Gardeners Club together.”
While the two of them chatted, Win poked around. The kitchen was just as cluttered as the rest of the house but it had one of those big, stainless-steel professional stoves and a refrigerator as large as a restaurant’s. The cabinets were a honey-colored pine that looked top of the line and the countertops—at least what Win could see of them between the piled-up periodicals—were soapstone. There were so many windows that despite all the trees, the room was bright and the views endless. And the vaulted ceilings made everything feel airy.
There was also a lot of disrepair.
Wood floors that needed to be refinished. Windows that needed to be sealed. Bathroom fixtures that needed to be replaced because they leaked. And from what Win had seen of the roof, the house needed a new one. These were all things he found from a brief walk-through. Who knew what a bona fide inspector would discover?
All these fixes would cost money. Lots of it. But the good news was Win, with the help of his dad and brothers, could handle the labor.
“Hey, Reggie,” Win called downstairs. “What happens with the road in winter? Who plows?”
“River View is a county-maintained road. They cover it.”
That was at least something. Darcy climbed the stairs and checked out the rooms. He couldn’t get a read on what she thought of the place but he supposed it didn’t matter. He’d be the one living here.
“You see the kitchen?” she asked.
“Yup. You?”
“I did.” That was it? That was all she was going to say? Really?
“What do you think?” Reggie called up.
“I think it’s amazing. I can’t believe you built this place.”
“We hired out some of the work but for the most part it was Elsie and me. We did it with our own two hands.”
Win suspected it would be tough for Reggie to part with the place, given all the memories it held of his late wife. It needed a good steward, someone who would preserve the place. Keep it happy. Win jogged down the mammoth pine staircase. He could’ve spent all day here but he knew Darcy had to get back to GA.
“What kind of price are you thinking, Reggie?” Win probably should’ve done some research before coming but it had all been pretty spur of the moment. If the deal with FlashTag didn’t happen this could be pie in the sky.
“Well”—Reggie rubbed his hands down the legs of his jeans—“I don’t really know. I guess I need to sit down with someone and find that out. Why don’t I get back to you with a number?”
“Sounds good.” Win took another visual spin around the great room, took in the big stone fireplace that reminded him of the one at GA, and got a business card out of his wallet. “My cell’s on that.”
Reggie walked them to the door and called Oscar inside.
“Thanks for letting us see it. You’ve got a hell of place here.” Win put his hand at the small of Darcy’s back and they got in the Jeep.
“Tell Hilde I said hi,” Reggie called.
They drove up the long driveway, past the chainsaw bear. Upon reaching River View, he said, “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“You’re killing me here, Darcy. Jeez, why do you think I brought you? So, what did you think of it?”
“It’s nice. I was trying to be noncommittal … you know, in case you want to dicker with him.”
“But you liked it, right?” Win got onto the main road and headed back to downtown Glory Junction.
“It needs a lot of work but yeah.”
“Wow, I wouldn’t want you to go out on a limb or anything.”
“Oh, for God’s sake, I loved it. If I could afford it I’d buy it myself. I just don’t want to get your hopes up because even I know that place is worth a mint. Watch out for that guy in front of you. He keeps braking.”
Win shot her a look. “Did you used to side-seat drive with Lewis?”
“Why do you have to bring him into the picture?”
“Because I like bugging you.” He put his Ray-Bans back on because the glare from the sun was making it hard to see, especially out of one eye. “You talk to Geneva today?”
“Not yet. I don’t want to do it at work.”
“You didn’t call me,” he said.
“Was I supposed to?” She tilted her head, confused.
“For phone sex, remember?” He couldn’t h
elp himself.
“What I remember is you kicking me out of your bed.” She feigned interest in the highway, which wasn’t the least bit interesting.
“That’s because I’m saving myself for marriage. But phone sex is fine. You and I”—he waved his hand between them—“could do that.” This was payback for her not saying anything about his house. Christ, he was already calling it his house.
She twisted in the passenger seat to face him. “What do you think would’ve happened if we’d been alone the other night when you and I … you know?”
“Who can say? We got pretty carried away. I may have made a promise to God and country to keep it in my pants but a man can only take so much.”
“Are you ever serious?” she snapped.
“Are you ever not serious?”
“Let me ask you something.” She paused, taking time to consider her question. “Do you find me attractive?”
He answered without hesitation. “Yes. But only when you’re not side-seat driving.”
“I mean physically attractive.”
He didn’t know what other kind there was but no one could ever accuse him of not being shallow. “Yes.”
She huffed out a breath. “But you find every woman attractive.”
“Hell no, I don’t. Rita Tucker, not attractive. That chick at the Shell station … what’s her name? … the one with the mustache. Not attractive. I can list some more but I’d rather get lunch.”
“I don’t have time to eat.”
“Yes, you do.”
He told Siri or whatever her name was to call TJ on the Bluetooth and got voice mail. “Why aren’t you eating at your desk? The house was freaking awesome. Darcy’s with me, we’re getting lunch. See ya later.”
“You can’t do that.” Darcy pointed at his phone.
“I just did.” He pulled into a diagonal parking space in front of the Morning Glory. “This okay?”
“Since when do I get a say?”
“You’re right,” he said. “Never.”
He started to get out of the Jeep when she said, “You don’t think I’m fat?”
Where was all this shit coming from? Frankly, the women he consorted with didn’t ask bizarre questions like this.
