He had the nerve to sneer. “Were we in the same bed? Because, the way I remember, I was the one providing the damn service. You want to reduce everything to commerce? Fine. Then you should pay me. As a matter of fact, I’m sending you a bill. For a thousand dollars! That’s right. You owe me a grand. For services provided.”

“A thousand dollars? As if. I had to fantasize about my old boyfriends just to get excited.”

It wasn’t quite the discussion-ending blow she’d hoped to deliver because he laughed. Not a mean laugh, which would have lifted her spirits, but a highly amused laugh.

“Girl!”

Blue winced as Nita chose that moment to emerge from Barb’s Tresses and Day Spa, her freshly painted crimson talons curling around her cane. “Girl! Come help me across the street.”

Dean gave Nita an obnoxiously cheerful smile. “Good morning, Mrs. Garrison.”

“Good morning, Deke.”

“It’s Dean, ma’am.”

“I don’t think so.” She thrust her purse toward Blue. “Carry this, girl. It’s heavy. And watch my nails. You’d better not have been wasting my gas while I was inside.”

Dean hooked his thumb in his jeans pocket. “I feel a whole lot better now that I see how well the two of you are getting along.”

Blue grabbed Nita by the elbow and steered her into the street. “Your car’s parked over here.”

“I have eyes.”

“I’ll swing by the house and pick up the bike on my way back to the farm,” Dean called out. “You all have a nice day now.”

Blue pretended not to hear.

“Take me home,” Nita said as she resettled in the passenger seat.

“What about the bank?”

“I’m tired. I’ll write you a check.”

Only three days, Blue told herself as she sneaked a look back toward the truck.

Dean stood with a foot propped on the fire hydrant and one of the local beauties hanging off his arm.

When they got back to the house, Nita insisted Blue take Tango for a walk so they could get acquainted. Since Tango was lame and a thousand years old, Blue let him snooze under a hydrangea while she sat on the curb out of sight of the house and tried not to think about the future.

Nita maneuvered her into making lunch, but first Blue had to clean up the kitchen. As she dried off the last of the pans, a silver Ram truck pulled up in the alley behind the house. She watched Dean get out and retrieve the bike she’d left by the back door. He threw it in the rear of the truck, then turned to the window where she was standing and tipped his cowboy hat.