I wanted to ask Mrs. Guzman who he was, but she’d already gone inside and shut the door. Who was this slice of cake in man form? Was he related to Mr. Daire? A son? A grandson? Or did he work for him? An assistant? A doctor? A nurse? I had to know.

Not that I was interested in him as anything other than a curiosity, I told myself. I mean for all I knew, he could be a lawyer, and given Mr. Daire’s annoyance with me, the handsome man might come knocking on my door for a little legal chitchat. Okay, that should not have thrilled me as much as it did. Maybe I needed to reconsider Sophie’s advice and get back out there.

Much to my relief—read: disappointment—the handsome man did not come knocking. Instead, I spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday attempting to make my new house look more like a home on the cheap. Plants were critical and some color. The austere interior of the house needed softening, so I bought pillows and throws in vibrant ruby reds, and some vintage ceramic canisters for the kitchen counter, also in red.

One of the plants I purchased was actually a small tree, a dracaena, that I found at Berridge Nurseries, and of course, I had to buy a deep red pot to put it in. The pot was more expensive than the plant. It weighed a ton, but I moved it in front of the largest window on the back of the house. My goal was to fill the back-facing windows with plants, thus giving me privacy without having to pull my drapes.

Now, while there had been no mention in “the rules” of whether I could decorate my place or not, I wondered if anyone from the big house would notice my plant and feel the need to comment upon it. Maybe the handsome guy would deliver the next note from Mr. Daire. Not that I was hoping for that or anything. Really.

Despite my attempts to get a glimpse at the man in the window again during the next two days, there was no sign of him. He had snapped the drapes shut as soon as our gazes met, leaving me dizzy and breathless and wondering if I had imagined the whole thing. No note came from the big house in response to mine, so I gathered that was that as far as Mr. Daire was concerned.