course. And none of them had gotten an order for apricot roses in months. Did you call the police?”
“And say what? Someone sent me flowers? Left a note on my windshield? Had a box of chocolates delivered to my office? It’s a little creepy, Robbie, but the guy hasn’t crossed the line.”
“Yet.”
“Gee, thanks. That makes me feel better.”
“Jamie—”
She pulled the file from her bag. “I’ve got to be in Augusta in a few hours. We should work while we eat.”
He looked as if he wanted to protest, but after a moment his mouth flattened. “Okay. But next thing that happens, if you don’t call the police, I do. Agreed?”
Jamie knew he wasn’t kidding. His best bud was a detective with the Copper Lake Police Department, Rick worked for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Mitch worked for the state BI in Mississippi.
“Agreed.”
Not that anything else was going to happen. Her admirer was shy but harmless. She wanted to believe that. Needed to, for her own peace of mind.
When his cell phone rang, Russ Calloway seriously considered not answering. He received about fifty calls a day, and at least forty-nine of them were complaints. He wasn’t betting that this one would be the exception.
Still, he fished the phone from his pocket and flipped it open. “This is Calloway.”
“Hey, so is this.” Robbie, kid brother, company lawyer and eternal pain in the butt.
“What’s up?” Russ asked absently, phone braced between his ear and shoulder while he examined the framing around a third-floor door.
“The price of gas. The price of a good time.”
“You’ve been talking to Mitch.” Those were their older brother’s stock answers to the question. “How is he?”
“Anxious for this kid to be born.”
“Jessica still turning on a dime?”
“If she’s not puking, she’s bitching. Mitch is pretty much afraid to be around her. Seems like the morning sickness and the hormones are all his fault.”
“The joys of impending fatherhood,” Russ said dryly. The segment of trim was nearly five feet long and looked in good enough shape to survive the prying experience, once he got the nails loosened. “Hang on,” he muttered, then sorted through the tools on the worktable until he found a hammer, a screwdriver and pry bars of varying sizes.
“Jeez, you can’t even stop for two minutes for a phone call?” Robbie complained.
See? Russ had known this call wasn’t going to be the exception. “Some of us work for a living.”
“Yeah, but you overdo it. I bet you haven’t even taken a break for lunch, have you?”
Russ glanced at his watch. It was nearly two. “Not yet. And I bet you have. A couple of hours. With a pretty woman.”
“It was a working lunch, and it didn’t come close to two hours. But you’re right about the woman. She’s gorgeous.”
Hearing about the women in his brothers’ lives was about as close to a relationship as Russ got these days. Considering that Rick and Mitch were both married, that left only Robbie for any real variety. Good thing he didn’t limit himself to a type. “Who is this living, breathing goddess?”
“Jamie.”
Robbie said more—he always did—but Russ quit listening. His gut clenched, and his jaw tightened until he felt real pain. Jamie Munroe was the one sore point between him and his brother. Robbie thought she was the perfect woman, and Russ wouldn’t piss on her if she was on fire. He’d spent a lot of time wishing she would disappear off the face of the earth.
But she’d made herself at home in his hometown and showed no signs of leaving, so he’d learned to ignore her. It worked pretty well until he caught a glimpse of her on the sidewalk or going into the courthouse or browsing through the fruit at the farmer’s market. When he wasn’t prepared to see her, it was always a surprise. Recognition, an instant of normalcy, remembering old friends, law school, getting married. Then came the scorn.
Pry bar resting two inches under the molding, Russ realized Robbie was waiting for him to say something. His fingers throbbed from holding the tool so tightly, never a good sign when working with two-hundred-year-old wood, so he set it aside. Holding the phone in one hand, he tilted his head the other way to rub the ache in his neck. “What’d you say?”
“I said even you can’t argue the fact that she’s pretty.”
Jamie? Pretty? Brown hair, light gold skin, a few freckles, blue eyes. Yeah, he supposed she was pretty, if a man liked the backstabbing viper type.
“Of course I can argue,” he replied. “Don’t forget, I’ve seen her with her fangs and cape.”
“Aw, come on, bubba. It’s been three years. Quit holding a grudge because the better lawyer won.”
Correction: There was more than one sore point between them. Robbie thought the divorce was something Russ should have put behind him the day it was over. He thought Russ should acknowledge that he’d been an idiot to represent himself, that Jamie was better and get on with life.
Hell, he knew she was a better lawyer than him. He’d gone through school with the knowledge that he wasn’t ever going to practice; once he’d taken and passed the bar, that was the end of it for him. She damn well should be better.
And he knew he’d been an idiot to represent himself, law degree or no. Robbie had wanted to take over, had all but bounced in the air, shouting, “Let me, let me!” And his brother wouldn’t have let anything get in the way of getting the best deal for his client. Melinda might have been his sister-in-law and Jamie his best friend, but he would have trampled them both into the dirt to win.
Russ’s marriage had been the most important thing in his life. Facing a divorce had been bad enough. Finding out about Melinda’s affairs, her scorn for him and her lies had been damn near unbearable. Add to that, Jamie, once his own friend, allowing—encouraging?—Melinda’s deceit…He’d gone from love for one and friendship with the other to despising them both.
He was over the divorce. He’d gotten on with his life. But he wasn’t the forgive-and-forget type. His motto was: live and learn, and never give ’em a chance to screw you twice.
“Did you call for a reason?” he asked testily. “Because I’ve got about four more hours of work before I get out of here, and shooting the breeze with you isn’t getting it done.”
“Man, you need to get laid. You’re getting pissier every day. I did call for a reason. Mom’s been trying to get hold of you, but she keeps getting your voice mail. Rick and Amanda are coming over Saturday, and she wants you there for dinner. Seven o’clock, no grubby work clothes, and if you want to bring a date, she wouldn’t object.”
“Yeah, Saturday at seven. I’ll be there.” Before Robbie could say anything else, Russ hung up.
If he wanted to bring a date…He hadn’t been out on a date in more than six years, since he’d married Melinda, and hadn’t had sex in about three years, since she’d thrown him out. His brothers could understand his not dating—they’d all gotten screwed over at some point—but no sex…Hell, even his mother would wonder about that.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested. It was the intimacy he didn’t want, and he’d forgotten how to separate the two. He’d once known—in high school, in college and law school. He’d always had a girlfriend or two, and while the sex had been fun, it had never really meant anything.
Finding out that sex meant nothing to the wife he’d loved had somehow made it mean too much to him. Was that twisted