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"Well" She waited just a ain, but was one she appreciated a great deal "As for Kevin, I loved hi him cut me in two, the part that just wanted to lie down and die, and the part that had to go through the grief and the anger and the e to live"

Her eyes stung, and she took one very careful breath "Thank you I had to put ether For the kids, for myself I&039;ll never feel for another man exactly what I felt for him I don&039;t think I should But that doesn&039;t mean I can&039;t be interested in and attracted to someone else It doesn&039;t mean I&039;m fated to live my life alone"

He sat for a moment "How can such a sensible woman have an emotional attachment to forms and invoices?"

"How can such a talented ined, she enjoyed her salad "I drove by the Dawson job again"

"Oh, yeah?"

"I realize you still have a few finishing touches that have to wait until all danger of frost is over, but I wanted to tell you it&039;s good work No, that&039;s wrong It&039;s not It&039;s exceptional work"

"Thanks You takeso section of the Web site I&039;"

"No shit"

"None whatsoever I&039;an She enerate uarantee it"

"It&039;s hard to find a downside on that one"

"You knohat I envy youpersonality"

"No, you don&039;t sparkle in the least Your muscle"

"You envy ood on you, Red"

"Whenever I&039;d start a project at home - back home - I couldn&039;t do it all myself I have vision - not as creative as yours, ot considerable skill But when it comes to the heavy,because with some of it, I&039;d really like to do it all myself And I can&039;t So I envy you the ine whether you&039;re doing it or directing it, it&039;s done the way you want"

She s I&039;ve heard you&039;ve got a place not far from Roz&039;s"

"About two an cut a chunk off his catfish, laid it on her plate

Stella stared at it "Well Hmmm"

"I bet you tell your kids they don&039;t know if they like so or not until they&039;ve tried it"

"One of the advantages of being a grown-up is being able to say things like that without applying theeared herself up for the worst, and ate it "Interestingly," she said after alike cat Or like what one assuood"

"You et back sorits next"

"I don&039;t think so Those I have tried Anyway, are you doing the work yourself? On your house"

"Most of it Land&039;s got soe Some fine old trees on the north side A couple of pretty sycamores and some hickory, with some wild azalea and mountain laurel scattered around Soe, and a se"

"What about the house?"

"What?"

"The house What kind of house is it?"

"Oh Two-story frame It&039;s probably too much space for me, but it came with the land"

"It sounds like the sort of thing I&039;ll be looking for in a fewon the market you could letall right at Roz&039;s?"

"They&039;re doing great But at some point we&039;ll need to have our own place It&039;s i elaborate - couldn&039;t afford it, anyway And I don&039;tup I&039;m fairly handy And I&039;d really prefer it wasn&039;t haunted"

She stopped herself when he sent her a questioning look Then shook her head "Must be the wine because I didn&039;t know that was in my head"

"Why is it?"

"I saw - thought I saw," she corrected, "this ghost reputed to haunt the Harper house In the mirror, in my bedroom, just before you picked me up It wasn&039;t Hayley She came in an instant later, and I tried to convince myself it had been her But it wasn&039;t And at the same time, it could hardly have been anyone else becauseit&039;s just not possible"

"Sounds like you&039;re still trying to convince yourself"

"Sensible woer on the side of her head "Sensible wo lullabies Or feel them"

"Feel theave a quick shudder and tried to offset it with a quick laugh "I can&039;t explain it because it&039;s not rational And tonight, that feeling was very intense Brief, but intense And hostile No, that&039;s not right &039;Hostile&039; is too strong a word Disapproving"

"Why don&039;t you talk to Roz about it? She could give you the history, as far as she knows it"

"Maybe You said you&039;ve never seen it?"

"Nope"

"Or felt it?"

"Can&039;t say I have But so so You plant so in the soil Why shouldn&039;t a person leave so to think about, later, when her ht now she had to think about the fact that she was enjoying his company And there was the basic animal attraction to consider If she continued to enjoy his cooing to end up in bed

Then there were all the ramifications and complications that would entail In addition, their universe was finite They worked for the same person in the same business It wasn&039;t the sort of atmosphere where two people could have an adult affair without everyone around the it

So she&039;d have to think about that, and just how uncoht be to have her private life as public knowledge

After dinner, they walked over to Beale Street to join the nightly carnival Tourists, Me people wandered the street lit by neon signs Music trickled out of doorways, and people flooded in and out of shops

"Used to be a club along here called the Monarch Those shoes going to give you any trouble with this?"

"No"

"Good Great legs, by the way"

"Thanks I&039;ve had them for years"

"So, the Monarch," he continued "Happened it shared a back alley with an undertaker Made it easy for the owners to dispose of gunshot victims"

"That&039;s a pretty piece of Beale Street trivia"

"Oh, there&039;s plenty a whiskey, pickpockets, and murder"

Music pumped out of a club as he talked, and struck Stella as southern-fried in the best possible way

"It&039;s all been right here," he continued "But you oughta just enjoy the carnival the way it is now"

They joined a crowd lining the sidewalk to watch three boys do running flips and gymnastics up and down the center of the street

"I can do that" She nodded toward one of the boys as he walked on his hands back to their tip box

"Uh-huh"

"I can I&039; to deymnastic lessons I can bend my body like a pretzel Well, half a pretzel now, but at one tiet hed "No"

"Just a side effect, then What does half a pretzel look like?"

"Maybe I&039;ll show you sometime when I&039; to ain and watched the perforan droppedthe sidewalk "Who&039;s Betty Paige and why is her face on these shirts?"

He stopped dead "You&039;ve got to be kidding"

"I&039;uess you didn&039;t just live up north, you lived up north in a cave Betty Paige, legendary fifties pinup and general sex goddess"

"How do you know? You weren&039;t even born in the fifties"

"I make it a point to learn eous woirl next door with the body of Venus"

"She probably couldn&039;t walk on her hands," Stella said, and casually strolled ahen he laughed

They walked off the wine, and thedown one side of the street and back up the other He tempted her with a blues club, but after a brief, internal debate she shook her head

"I really can&039;t It&039;s already later than I&039;d planned I&039;ve got a full day toht"

"We&039;ll rain-check it"

"And a blues club will go on ht Beale Street and catfish I&039; you know you&039;ll be frying up the cat and putting peanuts in your Coke"

"Why in the world would I put peanuts in my Coke? Never mind" She waved hi How about if I just say I had a good tiht?"

"That&039;ll work"

It hadn&039;t been co, or stressful At least not after the first few otten, or nearly, what it could be like to be both stimulated and relaxed around a man

Or to wonfler, and there was no point pretending she wasn&039;t wondering, what it would be like to have those hands - those big, work-hardened hands - on her

Roz had left lights on for her Front porch, foyer, her own bedroolea to do Or big sisterly, Stella supposed, as Roz wasn&039;t nearly old enough to be her mother

Her mother had been too busy with her own life and interests to think about little details like front porch lights Maybe, Stella thought, that was one of the reasons she herself was so compulsive about them

"Such a beautiful house," Stella said "The way it sort of gliht It&039;s no wonder she loves it"

"No place else quite like it Spring coht to hold a house and garden tour"

"She used to, once a year Hasn&039;t done it since she peeled off that asshole Clerk I wouldn&039;t bring it up," he said before Stella spoke "If she wants to do that kind of thing again, she will"

Knowing his style now, Stella waited for hi forward to seeing the gardens in their full glory And I&039;rateful for the chance to live here a while and have the kids exposed to this kind of tradition"

"There&039;s another tradition Kiss the girl good night"

He ave her a chance to anticipate Those sexy nerves were just beginning to dance over her skin when hispath to belly, to throat as his tongue skih her hair, over her shoulders, and down her body to her hips to take a good, strong hold

Muscles, she thought di pressed against warm, smooth steel Then he moved in so she swayed back and was trapped between the wall of hi as he devastated her iddy, and alive with need

"Wait a ed "Wait"

"Just want to finish this out first"

He wanted a great deal more than that, but already knew -he&039;d have to hold hih it Her ht tre her dohole, with violence, with greed Or savoring her nibble by torturous nibble until he was half ged, dreamy look in her eyes told him he could do either Some other ti we&039;re going to stop things here?"

"I can&039;t - "

"I don&039;t lanced back at the door

"Then, no, there&039;d be no point in that"

"Good"

"But I can&039;t just ju like this I need to - "

"Plan," he finished "Organize"

"I&039;ood at spontaneity, and spontaneity - this sort - is nearly impossible when you have two children"

"Then plan Organize And let ain until she felt her knees dissolve froot my numbers Give me a call" He stepped back "Go on inside, Stella Traditionally, you don&039;t just kiss the girl good night, you wait until she&039;s inside before you walk off wondering when you&039;ll have the chance to do it again"

"Good night then" She went inside, drifted up the stairs, and forgot to turn off the lights

She was still floating as she started down the hall so the singing didn&039;t register until she o paces away from her sons&039; bedroom

She closed the distance in one leap And she saw, she saw the silhouette, the glint of blond hair in the nightlight, the gleam of eyes that stared into hers

The cold hit her like a slap, angry and sharp Then, it, and she, were gone

On unsteady legs, she rushed between the beds, stroked Gavin&039;s hair, Luke&039;s Laid her hands on their cheeks, then their backs as she&039;d done when they were infants A nervous mother&039;s way to assure herself that her child breathed

Parker rolled lazily over, gave a little greeting growl, a single thump of his tail, then went back to sleep

He senses me, smells me, knows me Is it the same with her? Why doesn&039;t he bark at her?

Or a my mind?

She readied for bed, then took a blanket and pillow into their room She laid down between her sons and passed the rest of the night between theainst the impossible