Honeysuckle Summer (The Sweet Magnolias #7)(88)

“Well, you’ll have to fight that out with Carter,” Helen said, then grinned. “Good luck with that, by the way.”

Raylene grimaced. She knew the conversation wasn’t going to go even half as smoothly as her attempt to break up with him, and that had pretty much been a waste of breath.



Rory Sue flipped her hair back in a gesture that was all female. Usually she did it just to drive Walter wild, but today she was clearly exasperated and probably just trying to get her windblown hair out of her face.

“Please say that again,” she demanded, frowning at Walter. “Surely I can’t have heard you correctly.”

“I’m going to be hanging out at Raylene’s for the next couple of weeks,” he repeated patiently. He’d explained before about the impending release of Raylene’s ex-husband, but only after Raylene had put her foot down about Sarah and the kids moving over to stay with Travis had he decided it was up to him to stay at the house to protect her. Carter had his own family to watch over.

Unfortunately, Rory Sue didn’t seem to be taking the news any better than Raylene had.

“No way,” she said emphatically. “No boyfriend of mine is going to live with another woman.”

“While I suppose I should be flattered by the show of jealousy, you know perfectly well you have nothing to worry about,” Walter said. “Raylene and I are just friends.”

She held his gaze as if trying to decide whether to debate the point, then nodded. “Okay, then neither of you will mind if I move in there with you,” she said decisively.

“Absolutely not,” Walter said. “I can’t be worrying about two of you if that nutcase shows up.”

“You won’t have to worry about me,” Rory Sue said. “I’ll bring along Granddad’s shotgun.”

Walter groaned. “Your grandfather has a shotgun?”

“Well, of course he does. He hunts. He started taking me with him when I was around ten. I was a little freaked by the idea of him killing Bambi, but I can handle a shotgun just about as well as he can.”

Despite her boastful claim, he still thought it was a bad idea. He shook his head.

“Carter will never go for it,” he told her. “He doesn’t want to involve any more civilians than absolutely necessary.”

“Well, if you’re staying there, then my staying there is absolutely necessary,” she said, her chin set defiantly.

“Why?” he asked. He had the feeling it went beyond jealousy.

She looked as if she couldn’t believe he even needed to ask. “Because the thought of losing you to some creep like Raylene’s ex-husband is simply unacceptable.”

He smiled at that. No one had ever worried about him like that. Other than maybe his mother, but she’d been a little overzealous on that score. “Rory Sue, believe it or not, I can take care of myself. Want to go to the gun range so I can prove it? If I win, you give up this crazy idea, okay?”

“You actually think you’re a better shot than I am?” she asked incredulously.

“Honey, I hate to burst your liberated bubble, but I know I am.”

An hour later, he’d proved it.

“Well, damn,” she murmured as she studied his target with several clean shots directly through the heart or close enough to do serious damage.

“Sorry.”

She grinned at him. “Don’t be. I’m still not letting you go to Raylene’s alone, though.”

“Raylene—”

“Sorry. My decision’s final,” she said. “Now, all of this has made me a little hot. Let’s go back to your place.”

“My place still doesn’t have any furniture,” he reminded her. They’d closed on it earlier in the day. He’d originally planned to have furniture delivered on Saturday, but given this business with Raylene, he’d put it off.

“It has a bed,” she told him with a grin. “I had it delivered right after the closing. I went by and put brand-new sheets on it myself.”

Yet again she’d caught him off guard. “Well, now, aren’t you efficient?”

She winked at him as she sashayed past. “I certainly aim to please.”

That, of course, was part of the problem, Walter thought, even as he followed her from the gun range. She pleased him in ways he’d never imagined. Part of it was the fact that she was never predictable. He’d spent so much of his life doing exactly what was expected of him. Discovering that he could be spontaneous had been a revelation to him.

But that cautious side of his nature that still overwhelmed him from time to time warned that it might be hard to live with unpredictability over the long haul.

Still, as he cast an appreciative glance over the woman seated next to him, that was a worry for another day. Tonight, spontaneity held a lot of allure.





20




Because of Sarah, the kids, a babysitter and Travis, the house had always been filled with people coming and going, but even after they’d all moved over to Travis’s, the place was a nonstop circus. Raylene knew exactly what was going on. Everyone she knew was taking shifts—planned or otherwise—to be sure she was never in the house alone. Though she appreciated the gesture, it was getting on her nerves.