“If you’re sure you aren’t too tired, I’d love to,” Sully said.

“I’m not too tired for you,” she said.

They got out together, went up the walk side by side, and then into the house. The cool interior was such a reflection of Melissa—peace personified. It felt welcoming. And it was beginning to feel like a place he could call home.

“Make yourself comfortable. Bathroom is just down that hall if you want to wash up. I’m going to take my things upstairs. I’ll be right back,” she said, and then gave Sully a quick kiss before running up the stairs.

He took her up on the offer to wash up. After he came out, he began wandering through the first floor, looking in all the rooms, marveling at the rich wood features, the wide-plank hardwood flooring in some rooms and white marble tile in others that went well with the elegance of the draperies and furnishings. He couldn’t imagine how it must have felt for her to go from that little box of a house where she was living to this place. It must have felt like moving into a palace.

He was in the kitchen, looking out at the rock walls surrounding the perimeter of the back property. The trees were huge, and the shrubs were tall, bushy, and looked like they’d been there since the house was built.

He recognized the crepe myrtles and the rose of Sharon bushes, but there were others he didn’t know. He wondered if she did any gardening herself, or if someone did it for her. Then he heard her coming through the hall and turned around just as she entered the kitchen.

“Well, what do you think of the place?” Melissa asked.

“It suits you. It’s beautiful, elegant, even graceful, like you.”

Melissa stammered, a little taken aback by the unexpected compliment as she went to the counter to start the coffee.

“I can’t take credit for any of it except the clean part. I cleaned this house once a week for Elmer for the past fifteen years. He wanted it just like his sweet Cora left it, and so that’s what we did.”

“Cora was his wife?” Sully asked.

Melissa nodded. “But she’d already passed before I knew him.” She measured coffee into the filter, filled the carafe with water, then poured it into the tank and started it to brew. “What sounds best to you? Cheesecake, pecan pie, or a slice of apple praline bread?”

“Oh wow, that’s a hard decision to make,” Sully said.

“Then I guess I’d better get out all three and let you sample all of them.”

He grinned. “I won’t say no.”

She smiled. “You still have that sweet tooth, don’t you?”

“Yes. The way I like sweets, I think I must have a whole mouthful of sweet teeth,” Sully said.

Melissa pointed to the cabinet. “Dessert plates are in the first cabinet on the right on the second shelf. Forks in the drawer below.”