“That’s fair. Thanks for not yelling at me.”
“Oh pooh. I’m not exactly a drill sergeant.”
“Which is why I keep coming back to you, sweetie.” Gladys rubbed her thumb across Keely’s engagement ring. “This is new. Pretty and shiny, like new love. What is your young man like?”
A pain in the ass.
Not a response poor Gladys would understand since she’d lost her husband of fifty years just last fall.
“Jack? He’s…smart.”
Gladys harrumphed. “Details, girlie. What does he look like?”
Keely rattled off, “Tall, dark and handsome doesn’t even begin to describe him. He’s gorgeous, outrageously sexy, with this killer smile and these intense green eyes that just seem to bore into my soul.”
She froze. Good Lord. Had she really regurgitated that out loud? She actually sounded like a lovesick fool.
Maybe you are.
“Men like that are always good between the sheets too.”
Lifting her gaze to Gladys’s, she said, “No comment.”
“Which tells me everything I need to know.” Gladys winked and pushed to her feet.
Keely followed Gladys into the waiting room. Her PT sessions were “open door policy” meaning family members could pop in and observe the session. Her eyes narrowed on the man lounging outside the therapy room. “Jack? What are you doin’ here?”
“I thought I’d surprise you. Take you out for dinner.” He pressed his mouth to hers while her jaw hung half-open in shock. His lips moved to her ear. “Do you really consider me outrageously sexy, cowgirl?”
“In your dreams,” she whispered back. Not that she wanted to revisit the explicit sexual dreams she’d been having damn near every night since Jack had moved in.
“Now isn’t that sweet,” Gladys said dreamily.
Sweet as snake oil.
“Since my intended doesn’t intend to introduce us, I’ll introduce myself.” Jack clasped both Gladys’s hands in his. “Jack Donohue.”
“Gladys Johansson. You can call me Gladys. Actually, you can call me anytime.”
“Need help out to your car?” Keely asked, trying to sidestep Jack.
“No, sweetie. You go on and get ready for your young man.”
Jack grinned. “I’d be happy to walk you out while Keely is gussying herself up for me, Miz Gladys.”
Keely snorted.
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Lorelei James
“I’d like that.” Gladys waggled her fingers at Keely. “Toodles until next week.”
When Jack sauntered back in, still smirking, Keely bit her tongue against lashing out at him for his presumptive behavior, not only with her, but also with her client.
“She is a sweetheart. Reminds me of a lady back home who used to serve me cookies and lemonade after I mowed her lawn. I always ended up staying and chatting with her for an hour or two.”
Okay. That showed her a different side of Jack. Which seemed ironic, since earlier she’d been reflecting on those different, unknown, sides of herself.
“I’m starved. Where can we eat around here besides Dewey’s?”
“I’m sure you’re used to finer dining establishments than what’s available in the Sundance-Moorcroft metro area.”
“Glad you think so highly of me,” he muttered.
“If the tasseled loafer fits…”
“Nice dig. Only took you thirty seconds. You’re slacking, buttercup.”
Keely shrugged. “I’m tired. My brain is sluggish. How about pizza?”
“No.”
“Subway?”
“No.”
“There’s bar food at the Rusty Spur and the Golden Boot.”
Impatiently, he said, “Just ride with me and we’ll find someplace, okay?”
“I’ll save you time and gas. If you’re hungry there are two options. Dewey’s or the Twin Pines.”
“Let’s go there.”
“I can’t. I can’t step foot in the place, actually.”
“Why not?”
“Umm. I’ve been banned from Twin Pines. For life. I think.”
Jack’s too-handsome face registered shock. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Nope.”
“What did you do to get banned for life?”
“I was in a bar fight.”
“You started a bar fight?”
“No, but I sure as hell didn’t back down from one when someone else did. Stuff got broken. Bottles, tables, noses.” She waved him off. “Old news.”
“Not to me, but disturbing news nonetheless.” Jack scowled. “Dewey’s it is.”
“I’ll meet you. I have to close up and file my paperwork.”