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Cilla spent the bulk of her afternoon looking at toilets And choosing sinks She debated the advantages of travertine tile and granite, li houses, budget had been king She’d learned to stick to one, to select the best value and look at the neighborhood as well as the house itself Too much over, too much under, and profit would be sucked away like dust bunnies in a Dyson

But this tinored, she waschoices for home, not for resale If she intended to live on the Little Farm, to build a life and a career there, she’d be the one living with those choices for a long tiaood eye for potential, for color, texture, balance And she discovered she was fussy A slight difference in tone, shape or size in bathroo on the right drawer pull

And she’d discovered doing so, and finding the right drawer pull, made her absurdly happy

On her return to the now erinned at the new planks of her veranda She’d done that, just as she’d build the rail, the pickets, then paint it a fresh farmhouse white Probably white, she corrected Maybe crea down on those planks struck her like ht with her up to the bathroo in her vision Waruest room bath

The oil-rubbed bronze fixtures she’d already bought and had planned this room around would be wonderfully complemented by the subtle tones in the tile and old-fashioned vessel sink

Buddy, she thought, would eat his words when this was done

She left the samples where they were-she wanted to take another careful look at theht-then all but danced to the shower to wash off the day’s work

She sang, letting her voice boom and echo off the cracked, pitiful and soon to be demolished tiles of her own bathrooe had ever pleased her more

WHEN FORD OPENED THE DOOR, Cilla held out the traveling bottle of cabernet He took it, held it up and estimated there was nearly half a bottle left

"You lush"

"I know It’s a probleym?"

"Sure"

She’d left her hair down, he noted, so that it spilled, ruler straight, inches past her shoulders Her scent brought a quick, vivid sensory randood I bought three toilets today"

"Well, that certainly deserves a drink"

"I picked out bathroom tile," she continued as she followed hiht fixtures and a tub A really wonderful classic slipper-style claw-foot tub This is a big day And I’ Deco in the master bath"

"Deco?"

"I saw this fabulous sink today, and I thought, yeah, that’s it I could do a lot of chrolass in there Black-and-white tiles- or maybe black and silver A little ent You’d be tempted to wear a silk robe with marabou feathers"

"I always am As I’ve alondered what is a marabou, and why does it have feathers?"

"I don’t know, but Iin there and finish it off It’s going to rock"

"All this frolass of wine

"That’s how it usually works for , so I can see how the rest of the roolass in toast "I had a good day How about you?"

She sparkled, he thought A trip to Home Depot, or wherever she’d been, and she sparkled like sunlight "Well, I didn’t buy any toilets, but I can’t coood handle on the book, the story line, and ed to put a lot of it on paper" He studied her as he sipped "I guess I understand your sink, after all I saw you, you gave a tug And the rest works around you"

"Can I read it?"

"Sure Once I get it smoothed out some"

"That’s awfully normal and untemperamental Most of the writers I’ve known fall into two camps The ones who plead for you to read every word as it’s written, and the ones who’d put out your eyes with a shrie of unpolished work"

"I bet most of the writers you’ve known are in Hollywood"

She considered a , script pages could co the scene I actually liked it that way More spontaneous, keeps the energy up But I used to think, how hard can it be? You just put the idea down in words on paper I found out how hard it can be when I started to write a screenplay"

"You wrote a screenplay?"

"Started to write About a worows up in the business-an insider’s view-the rise and the fall, the scra, the triuht, and boy, did I know I only got about ten pages in"

"Why did you stop?"

"I failed to factor in one little elehed, shook back her hair "Reading a million scripts doesn’t mean you can write one Even a bad one And since of that million scripts I’ve read, I’ve read about nine hundred thousand bad ones, I knew a stinker With acting, I had to believe-not make believe, but believe Janet Hardy’s Nu And I couldn’t write so I could believe You do"

"How do you know?"

"I could see it when you started telling me about this new idea, about this new character And it shows in your work, the words and the art"

He pointed at her "You read the book"

"I did I confess I intended to flip through it, get the gist so I wouldn’t fail the quiz if and when you asked ht up Your Seeker is flawed and dark and human Even when he’s in superhero uess that’s the point"

"You’d guess right You just earned yourself another drink"

"Better not" She put a hand over her glass when he reached for the wine "Maybe later, over dinner After you show ym You said it was close"

"Yeah, it is Coestured, then opened a flat-panel cherry door she’d ad houses always appealed, started doith hiain," she commented "Whoever built this place really Oh Man"

Struck with admiration and not a little envy, she stopped at the base The slope of the hill opened the lower level to the rear of the house through wide glass doors and s, and a s currently sprawled on his back, feet straight up, sleeping

But inside, on safety mats over the wide-planked oak floor, stood thethe elliptical trainer, the weight bench, the rack of weights, the recu machine

Serious stuff, she mused

An enormous flat-panel TV covered one wall She noted the coe holding bottles of water And in the corner where the wood lossy black

"Matt’s work?"

"Yeah Mostly"

"I’m more and more pleased with my instinct to hire him You never have to leave here"

"That was sort of the idea I like to hole up for long stretches It was designed as a faured why haul ym toable to ogle toned and sweaty feot to make some sacrifices"

"I have a baseround base it off eventually, but "

"Until then, you’re welco, she turned to look at him "Why?"

"Why not?"

"Don’t evade Why?"

"That wasn’t an evasion" And wasn’t she an odd coht "But if you need more specifics, I only use it a few hours a week So you’re welcome to use it a few hours a week, too Call it Southern hospitality"

"When do you generally work out?"

"No set time, really More when the mood strikes I try to make sure the mood strikes five or six days a week anyway, otherwise I can start to resemble Skeletor"

"Who?"

"You know, Skeletor Masters of the Universe? Archeneet you a book It doesn’t fit anyway, because despite the name, Skeletor’s ripped Anyway, you can use those doors there, when your ht get lucky, have le a toned, sweaty female after all"

She narrowed her eyes "Pull up your shirt"

"I thought you’d never ask"

"Keep your pants on Just the shirt, Ford I want to check out the abs"

"You’re a strange woer into his stomach "Okay I just wanted to be sure you actually use this equip is a side benefit rather than a purpose"

"I’ve got a purpose when it coet, and which is fine But I’d really like to take you up on your offer and do that without strings or expectations I appreciate the hospitality, Ford I really do Plus you have Matt’s seal of approval, and I like hi because I pay him five hundred a year for that seal"

"He loves you It came across when I subtly and cleverly pue "You pumped him about me?"

"Subtly," she repeated "And cleverly And he’s a nice guy, so" She scanned the roo "How about we barter? I’ll happily take advantage of your equip around the house that needs fixing or dealing with, I’ll take care of it"

"You’re going to be my handyman?"

"I’m pretty damn handy"

"Will you wear your tool belt, and a really short skirt?"

"Tool belt, yes Skirt, no"

"Dauys over Maybe one of them ear a really short skirt"

"I can always hope"

"Deal?"

"Deal"

"Great" S to take advantage first thing tomorrow Why don’t I take you out to dinner to seal the deal?"

"I’ll rain-check that as I’ve got theto cook"

"My specialty" He took her arm to turn her toward the steps "I only have the one that doesn’t involve nuking It involves tossing a couple steaks on the grill, stabbing a bunch of peppers on a skewer and baking a couple of potatoes How do you like your steak?"

"So I can hear it faintly whisper moo"

"Cilla, you’re a woman afterbut the pursuit of her own goals, and the satisfaction of finding theed herit on alert It was, Cilla thought, a clever skill She enjoyed his coether wise, particularly since she’d planned to spendover a srill

They ate on his back veranda, with the well-fed Spock snoring in table-scrap bliss And she found the down-to-basics ht "God, it’s so beautiful here Peaceful"

"No urges for club crawls or a quick foray down Rodeo Drive?"

"I had o Seeoes sour fast if it’s not really your place It wasn’t mine What about you? You lived in New York for a while, didn’t you? No urges to take another bite out of the Big Apple?"

"It was exciting, and I like going back now and then, soaking up that energy The thing was, I thought I was supposed to live there, given what I wanted to do After a while, I realized I was doing more hen I ca with friends, than I was in the saured out there were just too ht And I thought better down here"

"That’s funny," she replied

"What is?"

"In an interview once, a reporter asked inia She said she could hear her own thoughts here, and that they tended to get drowned out with everyone else’s when she was in LA"

"I know exactly what she meant Have you read many of her interviews? "

"Read, reread, listened to, watched I can’t reht, this tragic icon, who I came from I couldn’t escape her, so I needed to know her I resented her when I was a kid Being co short"

"Coned to make someone fall short"

"They really are By the time I elve or thirteen, they actively pissedfor the trick, the secret What I found was a woman as stupendously and naturally talented Anyone co that, I didn’t resent her any"

"I grew up hearing about her, because she had the place here Died here My mother would play her records a lot She went to a couple of parties at the farm," he added "MyJanet Hardy’s son, that would be your uncle A little odd, isn’t it, you andout here like this, and back years, my mother and your uncle ht be odder still when I tell you my mama did some of the sahter, Cilla picked up her wine, took a quick drink "You’re notthat up?"

"Pure truth This would be, of course, before she settled on my father, and your father went out to Hollywood after your mother Complicated business, now that I think about it"

"I’ll say"