“Nora, it’s me, Patty Shreves. Patty Thomas now.”
“Patty from high school?” Nora asked.
Patty laughed. “Yes. Mom and Dad still live in Crossroads, but I’m in Amarillo now. I had dinner with them the othernight and found out that your daddy had passed, and you’d come home to ‘deal with the house.’ Sorry. That was how Mama put it. My deepest sympathies for your loss. You were a good daughter, caring for him for so long.”
“His passing was his blessing. He suffered a long time without knowing who he was, or why stuff was happening. I’ve been here a while, but I’m going to have to get back to Fort Worth soon. It’s where I live and work.”
“If you decide to rent or sell, I’d be happy to list it for you. I know it’s hard to be a long-distance landlord. I handle a lot of rentals.”
“I have decided to sell, but I have a houseful of furniture to get rid of first, and I now have stitches in my hand, so work has come to a halt.”
“I’m so sorry. When it rains, it pours, right? I won’t pressure you, but I wanted to touch base just in case.”
“No, no, actually, this is a timely call,” Nora said. “Why don’t you come and evaluate the property, tell me what to list it for, and get it up for sale?”
“That would be wonderful!” Patty said. “I can come tomorrow morning…around ten? I’ll bring my photographer with me. Good pictures for the website sell houses faster, and since the furniture is still there, I’ll do a little tweaking for staging, get the photos, and sign the contract. I’ll bring comps for the area, and help you decide on a good sale price.”
“That would be great. I’ll see you then,” and the moment Nora disconnected, she felt even more of her burden lifting. One last thing to mark off her to-do list and she’d be leaving.
But leaving Asher up to his neck with bad guys, and Jacob still in the hospital, felt like an act of abandonment. All she could do was hope the sheriff and the media would cooperate with him, and the Brandts would take the bait.
But now that this was happening, she needed to pack upthe last of her keepsakes so they’d be out of sight when Patty came tomorrow, and then make one last sweep through the rooms to make sure all the family pictures either had been taken down or were already boxed up for her to take with her.
The business of living began with a birth certificate, kind of like a proof-of-purchase receipt. Death was far more complicated. Letting the world know you were gone required the distribution of multiple death certificates, cancelling policies, ending memberships, and paying taxes even after the last breath had been taken, and Nora was weary of it all.
* * *
Asher Kingston didn’t thrive in disorder. He needed to know what was happening, what his part in it was, and what needed to happen next, and he hadn’t had one solid day of order since the phone call from his dad, telling him about Nora. At that moment, every carefully planned aspect of his life blew up in his face.
It was Brenda’s fault. She’d disrupted all of their lives when she ended hers. But it was also the wakeup call that he’d needed, and now he couldn’t imagine any aspect of his life without Nora in it.
Finding out about her stalker had been a shock. Learning how she’d saved herself, then found a retreat in her ivory tower that gave her the safety and space to continue her work without giving up what she loved, turned on every protective instinct he had.
He knew she wasn’t helpless. Far from it, but he wanted to be there for her when she needed it. To make that happen, they first had to put the Brandt brothers in prison, and that was uppermost in his mind as he came out of Belker’s with a bouquet of flowers.
Three minutes later, he was pulling up into Nora’sdriveway.
He loved her. He wanted her. Every part of him ached to take her to bed. He was saying it with flowers, but if she was slow to get the message, he was willing to strip naked and let her see it for herself.
He traded his Stetson for the flowers and left it in the front seat. Then he was out the door and running up the steps with the wind at his back.
He knocked, waiting for the sound of her footsteps, then all of sudden, the door swung inward and there she stood. A vision in pink wearing fuzzy socks and slippers. The smile on her face was all it took to pull him over the threshold. He shut the door and laid the flowers in her arms.
“Asher! I love them. I never get flowers. They’re beautiful.”
“Like you,” he said. “Go put them in water so I can kiss you.”
She laughed. “Come help. I’m still making messes with this one,” she said, waving the hand with the stitches.
He shed his coat on the sofa and followed, got a vase from the etagere, filled it half full of water for her, then watched her put them in the water and arrange them.
“The fall colors in this are just perfect. I love them, and they’ll make a nice focal point on the dining table. I’m signing a contract with a realtor tomorrow and she’s using the existing furniture for staging.”
As soon as she finished the arrangement, he carried it to the dining table for her, and as he turned, he caught a wistful expression on her face.
“Are you sad, darlin’… About selling the house, I mean?”
She shrugged. “A little, but realistic about it, too. It’s not the same with them gone, you know? I keep thinking about the us we resurrected. That’s where my hopes are. They’re already with you.”
