For her part, Sheila glanced up at him only occasionally as she talked away, making sure that he understood everything, looking for all the world as if she were totally unaware that she was having an effect of any kind on him. Someone observing the pair, however, would most likely have perceived otherwise.

“And that’s all there is to it,” said Sheila when she was finally finished. “Got it?”

“Yeah,” nodded Carter. “It doesn’t sound like it’s as big of a hassle as I was afraid it was going to be.”

“Nope,” said Sheila, handing him the papers. “But like I said, don’t wait too long.” Then she frowned and nodded toward his house. “Now go home,” she told him, “and take a shower, because you really reek right now.”

“Sorry about that,” laughed Carter, getting to his feet. He walked down the steps off the porch and turned to her. “I promise I will, but first I have to go the gym, so there’s no point in doing it right now.”

“In that case I’m not coming over to watch that movie with you tonight,” she said, batting her eyes once more for him.

This remark caught him off guard, for he could not recall having invited her to watch it with him.

“Maybe some other time,” he found himself saying just the same.

“Maybe,” she said.

“Anyway, thanks for this,” said Carter, holding up the papers she had given him.

“De rien,” she replied.

Carter smiled, nodded a goodbye, and started back across the yard. When he reached his driveway, he stopped and looked back to her. She was still sitting there on the porch steps, her elbows resting on her knees.

“Lei è una brava ragazza!” he said with a flourish.

Sheila smiled at him.

“I don’t know what that means,” she said, “but I like the sound of it.”

With that she nodded a goodbye of her own, got to her feet, and went inside.

Carter watched until she had gone in before turning to go about his own business. Then he hurried into the house to get changed for his workout, surprised to discover that suddenly his head did not hurt anymore.

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 11