Ihad to leave Friday just as Miss Addie was ending her story—the children came home, then I had to take them to a friend’s birthday party at a skating rink in Hammond. On Saturday morning I had to go to my office in Baton Rouge for a deposition, so I didn’t get a chance to see Hope again until the next afternoon.
I called her on the way back to Wedding Tree, and she met me at her grandmother’s backyard swing while Miss Addie took a nap.
“Where are the girls?”she asked, handing me a glass of iced tea.
“Jillian took them to the Global Wildlife Preserve.” I put my arm around her shoulders and set the swing in motion. “So I’ve been dying to know—what happened with your grandfather after the accident?”
“He could never walk again. My mother and Uncle Eddie grew up with a father in a wheelchair.”
“Wow. That had to be pretty limiting back then.”
“It was, but Gran built a ramp on the back of the house and added the downstairs bedroom. The lumberyard built a ramp, too, and as soon as he was able, Granddad went to the store every day.”
“What about the store in Mississippi?”
“It was sold before it even opened.” Hope took a sip of tea. “When Mom and Uncle Eddie started school, Gran began taking photographs professionally. She started with a friend’s wedding,then her reputation spread. Without really trying, she had more business than she could handle.”
“What about their marriage?” I was wondering if they still had sex. After the accident, could Charlie even get it up? And even if he physically could, would he want to, after finding out she secretly despised him? But those were guy questions, too crass to ask—and none of them were my business anyway. Which didn’t keep me from being curious as hell.
“Mom said they had separate bedrooms.” Hope tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “She said a woman from the next town came in to give Granddad a massage once or twice a week. Mom once said she always suspected something more was going on between Charlie and the masseuse.”
“Oh, wow.”
“Yeah.” The swing creaked in silence for a moment. “Here’s the weird part: Gran hired her.”
“No kidding?”
“That’s what Mom told me. It was someone they’d known in high school.”
I rubbed her arm and pondered that. It was a little shocking, but at the same time, it was actually very kind and compassionate. Loving, even, under the circumstances.
A strand of Hope’s hair blew across my cheek, and the memory of her hair on my face when we were lying in the garden shed hit me straight in the groin.
“How ’bout I giveyoua massage?”
“Now?”
“Jillian texted five minutes ago and they’re still at Global Wildlife. No one will be at my house for at least an hour.”
“And Gran’s sound asleep.” Hope put her feet on the ground, stopping the swing, and gave me a sexy smile. “What are we waiting for?”
47
hope
Ihad an idea where we were going, but it wasn’t until we hit the top of the stairs and he turned left that I knew for sure. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to be in here?” I asked as he pulled me into his bedroom, where soft afternoon light filtered through the windows. “There’s that spare room down the hall, or...”
“This is fine,” he said, closing the door and locking it before drawing me into an embrace.
“You were pretty upset the first time I was in here.”
“I overreacted.”
“To what, exactly?” I’d been thinking and thinking about it, and I’d wondered if he’d been upset that I’d somehow defiled Christine’s memory. He headed to the bed and pulled down the comforter. Was this the bed that he’d shared with Christine? The thought creeped me out a little.
“To the fact I was attracted to you.”
My heart lifted like a butterfly. “You were?”
