Gotcha! Hannah thought and started to smile. She’d suspected from the beginning that Mike was calling because he was jealous of the time she was spending with Ross, and now she knew it for a fact. “Ever since you saw it?”

“Yeah. Uh

it’s like this, Hannah. I had to take a run out your way earlier. Somebody thought they spotted a guy on one of those Most Wanted programs. And since I was so close anyway, I decided to drop by to see if you were home. That’s when I noticed the gate.”

“I see,” Hannah said, seeing much more than Mike had hoped she would. “Well, you don’t have to bother. Everything’s perfectly all right out here. Thanks for being concerned, though. I appreciate it. See you tomorrow, Mike.”

“So Mike’s jealous?” Ross asked the moment Hannah hung up the phone.

“You could say that. I might not say it because it wouldn’t be nice, but you could.”

Ross laughed. “He’s jealous, all right. It’s probably because you turned him down.”

“How do you know about that?”

“Michelle told me. I asked if you were dating anyone, and she gave me the lowdown.”

“It seems that everybody knows my business,” Hannah said, trying not to sound churlish.

“Life’s like that a lot. I’ll give him five minutes. How about you?”

“Who?”

“Norman. Mike’s bound to touch base with him. They’re probably in each other’s back pockets, now that you rejected them both. There’s nothing that unites two former rivals more than a third guy coming on the scene.”

“And the third guy would be you?” Hannah asked, noticing his wicked grin and smiling in spite of herself.

“Oh, yes. That would be me. So, do you want to bet, or

” The phone rang again, interrupting Ross’s sentence and he laughed. “There he is.”

“It’s not him.”

“How can you tell?”

“Look at Moishe,” Hannah said, gesturing toward the feline between them.

“What’s wrong with him? He’s all puffed up and his hair is standing on end.”

“Cats do that instinctually when they’re angry or frightened. It’s a defense mechanism to make them look bigger. Moishe gets like this when Mother calls. He’s not infallible, but he gets it right more times than he gets it wrong.” She plucked the receiver from the cradle and brought it up to her ear. “Hello, Mother.”

“I wish you wouldn’t answer the phone like that, Hannah,” Delores complained, but Hannah could tell from her tone of voice that her heart wasn’t it it. “Carrie just called. She said Norman told her that Ross was still out at your place. Don’t you think it’s time you went to bed?”

“What a marvelous idea!” Hannah turned to grin at Ross. “I’ll tell him you suggested it. I really had no idea you were so liberal minded.”