Maybe he was in on this deal. Bobby Joe hadn’t mentioned it if so.

A bare lightbulb in a ceiling fixture snapped on, breaking her reverie.

Bobby Joe caught up to her and slid his hand through her arm, gesturing with the other one. “Imagine this when it’s all fixed up. No more cracked plaster, fresh paint. Mahogany desk there. Maroon leather sofa here.”

“I assume you’re not buying anything secondhand. So where are you getting all this money?”

They were engaged. She was entitled to ask, even though they hadn’t gotten to the planning stage of meshing their personal lives.

“What?” There was a trace of indignation in his voice. “You sound like we’re already married.”

Mary Beth just looked at him expectantly.

“Baby, if you really have to know, I cleared fifty grand on that house I just flipped.”

“There’s taxes. There’s expenses. Wouldn’t it be easier to do business online like you are now?”

“Look, I started out on the Web,” he conceded. “And I’m not giving that up. But I want an office too. When your name is on a door in gold letters, you’re somebody.”

She acknowledged that with no more than a nod.

“Iminga is coming back. I want to be part of that.” Mary Beth hoped so. It was her hometown, after all. But she still had questions about exactly what Bobby Joe was up to. “So . . . how much is the rent?”

“Reasonable. Very reasonable.” He had dodged the question. Before Mary Beth could point that out, he dropped a bomb. “Actually, I, uh, made an offer to buy. Still waiting to hear.”

Her eyebrows went up. The revelation had the potential to turn into an argument she wasn’t in the mood for. But she couldn’t let it pass without comment. “Oh. So . . . I guess we’ll be living with our folks for a while longer.”

“It’s worked out so far.” Bobby Joe pulled her into a close embrace. “Come on, baby. I’m on the verge of making serious money. Don’t fuss and fight. I did this for you. For us.”

“That’s nice. But it doesn’t explain why you never told me one thing about it.” She stiffened in his hold and he relaxed his grip on her.

“I thought it would be fun to surprise you, that’s all.” He took her hand and led her into the hallway. “Here we are. That photo is the first thing I put up. My real estate license will be the second.”

A framed photo of her and Bobby Joe hung on a wall that needed painting. It had been taken weeks before the engagement party. Mary Beth was laughing with him, as if she didn’t have a care in the world, gazing up adoringly into his handsome face.

Things changed awfully fast sometimes.

“My mother e-mailed it to me last night,” he said.