Shaking his head, Joe said, “I won’t be seeing her anymore.”
“She’s that upset about the bees?”
“It’s not the bees. It’s me. She’s not interested in me like that.”
“That’s not what I saw.”
Joe frowned. “What?”
“I pay attention to things around here.” Claude smiled, revealing a gold bottom tooth. “My friend, she couldn’t keep her eyes off you.”
“She was probably looking at the bee stings.” He gestured to his arm.
“Trust me, she wasn’t lookin’ at that part of your arm.”
Joe stilled, remembering how he had caught her looking at him shortly after she arrived at the range. He’d kept in good shape since he’d stopped playing football, and he liked to lift.Still, the feeling he’d gotten when he saw she had noticed his biceps—
“Earth to Joe.” Claude clucked his tongue. “When was the last time you were on a date? Not counting tonight.”
“Tonight wasn’t a date—”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” He looked at the nozzle on the can. “The time before that?”
Joe paused. “Jenna. My ex-wife.”
Claude’s head snapped up. “You were married?”
“Don’t look so shocked.” Man, his ego was taking some hits tonight.
“I don’t mean it like that. I just never pegged you for being divorced.”
It’s not like Joe had wanted to be. Over the years he’d realized that even though it hurt and he’d been humiliated, Jenna’s divorcing him had been for the best. The marriage would have been miserable because he never would have been able to please her. He knew that now, thanks to hindsight.
“Let’s get back to the date thing. So, you haven’t been on a date since your divorce, which was...”
“A long time ago,” Joe muttered.
“Okay. Makes sense.” Claude gestured toward the clubhouse with a nod. “Let’s get the rest of that spray. I think I got them all, but I want to be sure.”
“You didn’t call an exterminator?”
“Oh I did, and she’s coming out in the morning. But I want those thingsdeaddead.”
Joe couldn’t argue with that. He followed him, unsure about Claude’s earlier point. “What do you mean it makes sense?”
“That you wouldn’t see that—what’s her name?”
“Sophie.”
“Ah, Sophie. Lovely name for a lovely girl.” He gave Joe a side-look. “There it is.”
“What?”
“A little jealous spark.”
Joe laughed as they walked into the storeroom behind the clubhouse. “Me, jealous? Of you, old man?”
“Hey, at least I can see what’s right in front of my nose.” He opened the door. “Now where’s that bug spray?”
