He lifted his head with a chuckle. “Since we had another disagreement, maybe we need to make up again.”

“You’ll be late. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

A grin lit up his face. “I fell into trouble the first time you showed up on my front porch.”

Laughing, I patted his chest. “Well, I have to go to work today and I suspect Suzanne will have my hide if I’m late.”

His eyebrows rose in surprise. “What about jury duty?”

“Marjorie Grace just called and said the judge has postponed the trial until tomorrow because half the jury is still out with food poisoning.”

“Thank goodness you didn’t eat that crazy cat lady’s casserole.”

“I can’t believe the others did.”

“See? You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for.” He picked up his bag from the table. “Walk me to my car?”

I nodded.

We went outside with Muffy and Joe wrapped his arm around my back, pulling me close to his side. Each time he left was harder and harder, the pain almost unbearable.

Joe stood next to his car door. We stood face to face and he picked up my hand. “You still comin’ up to see me this weekend?”

“Yeah,” I whispered, feeling the familiar lump in my throat. “As soon as I get out of jury duty tomorrow and pick up Muffy, I’ll hit the road.”

“I’ll text you directions since you don’t have a GPS.” He cast a disgusted look at my Nova. “I’ll be honest. I’m worried about you driving that thing so far. Maybe I should just come back here.”

“No,” I protested. “That’s not fair. You always come to see me, and besides,” I gave him my best wicked look, “I want to see your place.”

“Then maybe you should think about getting another car.”

“Maybe…” The Nova had been my dad’s. It was hard to consider giving it up.

“You think about it and if you decide to get a new one, I’ll help you if you want, okay?”

I reached up on my tiptoes and kissed him. “I’m a lucky woman, Joe Simmons.”

“I could say I’m a lucky man, so let’s split the difference and say we’re damned lucky to have each other.”

“Works for me. You better get goin’.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, opening his car door. “I’ll call you tonight. I promise. And I’ll do some digging.”

“Thanks.” I gave him one long last goodbye kiss before he left. I stood in the driveway and watched his car get smaller and smaller as he drove away. My house was so empty without him. I couldn’t understand how that was possible. How had he gotten so deeply embedded in my life in such a short time?

“Rose Gardner! Have you no shame?” Miss Mildred shouted from across the street.

“Good morning, Miss Mildred.” Here I was, standing in my driveway in a spaghetti-strapped, slinky lavender nightie. The one I’d bought at Walmart over a month ago.

She stood on her front porch, her plastic watering container held over a pot of geraniums. She was so intent on scolding me, she’d ignored the water pouring over the edge of the pot. “There’s nothing good about it when you find a—”

“—porno show in my front yard.” I grumbled. “I’ve got it.”

I was in a foul mood and poor Muffy hid under my bed to avoid my wrath, even though she had nothing to fear. I’d never take it out on her. But I couldn’t help thinking she’d rather be playing with Andy Jr. and Keith instead of spending the morning with me. Not that I blamed her. I’d rather spend the morning with the boys than me too.

It was a good thing I wasn’t in a good mood when I got to the DMV, because Suzanne would have snatched it right out from under me.

My boss sat at the break room table. She held a breakfast sandwich to her mouth, but when she saw me, she threw it down in front of her. It bounced and landed on the floor, rolling until it stopped at my feet.

“You!”

I took a step back toward the exit, unsure that work was such a good idea after all.

She strode over, blocking my path as she put her hand on her hip and tilted her head with a sneer. “Well, looky who bothered to show up to her job.”

A couple of months ago, Suzanne intimidated me. Okay, she still did, but not as much. It was hard to be frightened of her when I saw her so differently. Or maybe it was that I was different. But either way, Suzanne no longer had the power to scare me, other than she was my boss.

I really did feel sorry for her. It was obvious from her teased, bleached-blonde hair and sallow skin that she’d had a difficult life. She couldn’t be past her mid-thirties, but the chain cigarette smoking had carved lines around her eyes. Lines I knew she’d wasted a small fortune on creams trying to fill in.

I pushed past her. “I haven’t been on vacation, Suzanne. I’ve been at jury duty.”

“You got a letter or card to prove it?”

Crappy doodles. I knew I’d forgotten something. I stopped and turned around to face her. “Uh…”

She pinched her mouth into a smug line. “That’s what I thought.”

“Wait!” I opened my purse and dug until I found my letter from Fenton County Courthouse at the bottom. “Here! This is my jury summons letter.”

Suzanne snatched it out of my fingers and scanned the document. “This says you were supposed to report for jury duty, but it don’t say nothing about you stayin’.”