“My current net worth isn’t enough to cover one of your tips at McDonald’s.”

“I’ve never met anybody so obsessed with money.” He shoved his glasses back on. “Get over it, Blue. You’re giving money way too much power in your life.”

“Yeah, well, as soon as I’m a multimillionaire jock, I’ll stop doing that.”

He yanked out his wallet, peeled off a roll of bills, and stuffed them in the side pockets of her jeans. “Your net worth just took a turn for the better. Now where’s the bike? We have things to do.”

She withdrew the money. A stack of fifties. Her jaundiced face stared back at her from his yellow lenses. “What exactly is this for?”

“What do you mean, what’s it for? It’s for you.”

“I gathered that, but what did I do to earn it?”

He knew exactly where she was headed, but he was an expert at throwing touchdown passes off the wrong foot, and he let one fly. “You spent all weekend in Knoxville picking out my furniture.”

“I helped April pick out your furniture. And I was more than adequately compensated with great meals, a first-class hotel, and a massage. Thanks for that, by the way. It felt terrific.”

“You’re my cook.”

“So far, you’ve eaten three pancakes and some miscellaneous leftovers.”

“And you painted my kitchen!”

“I painted part of your kitchen and your dining room ceiling.”

“There you go.”

“You’ve fed, housed, and transported me for more than a week,” she said. “That makes us almost even.”

“Are you keeping a ledger? What about that mural you’re painting in my dining room? The murals. I want four of them, one for each wall. And I’m having Heath draw up a damned contract today.”

She pushed the bills into his front pocket. “Stop trying to manipulate me. You don’t care anything about murals. That was April’s idea.”

“I do care. I liked the idea from the beginning, and I like it even more now. It’s also a perfect solution to this problem you’ve created. But for some reason, you’re afraid to go ahead with it. Explain that to me. Explain why you’re upset by the idea of painting some murals for a man you’re indebted to.”

“Because I don’t want to.”

“I’m offering you a legitimate job. It’s got to beat working for that crazy old bat.”

“Save your breath, okay? So far, the only real service I’ve provided happened last night, and even a dumb-ass like you has to see I can’t take your money after that.”