Laura sat down with a contented sigh and took a small sip of her hot coffee. A male cardinal was singing from the tree branch above the feeders. Soon, a female joined him and she watched as they flitted between the branches. Their patio faced west so there was never a view of the sunrise. Of course, there was never a view of a true sunset either. There were too many trees for that. Which reminded her that she still hadn’t explored Cassidy’s woods. She would make it a point to go out there one day next week and see if she could find the leaning tree. She wouldn’t mind taking in a sunset from there. If she could still climb the tree. She wasn’t a teenager anymore, she reminded herself.
“Hey…you out there?”
Laura smiled at the sound of Cassidy’s voice. “Yes.”
“Can I come over?”
“Sure.”
She automatically ran a hand over her hair, wondering how bad it looked this morning. Again, she shouldn’t care. Bedhead or not, this was her time. If Cassidy chose to come over, she would have to take her as she was.
Cassidy came walking through the grass in flip-flops and even from here, she could see the steam coming from her coffee cup. She matched Cassidy’s smile and remembered her manners this time, motioning to the chair beside her.
“Thanks. Beautiful morning, isn’t it?”
“It is. You’re up early.”
“So are you.”
“I’m always up early.”
“So am I.”
“Yeah…but you have company and I don’t. And where did you find the model?”
“The model? Ashly?” Cassidy nodded. “Yeah, she does kinda look like a model, doesn’t she?” Cassidy took a sip of her coffee. “She’s a friend of a friend.”
“Blind date?”
“No, no. Not really a date. Well, I did go out with her a few months ago, but there was nothing there. No, I had dinner with friends this week—Macie and Karon—and Ashly was there. They’re coming out this afternoon to spend the night, but Ashly was free on Friday so she came out early with me.”
“So you just have what? An unlimited list of women to choose from?”
“She’s young. And she’s going to have a hell of a hangover this morning. She drank an entire pitcher of margaritas by herself.”
Laura made a face. “I like margaritas, but two is my limit. I’d rather have a cocktail with bourbon.”
“Yeah, me too. So how was the steak?”
Laura stared at her. “How did you know I had a steak?”
“It smelled divine.”
Laura nodded. “It was. Medium rare. My mother likes hers like shoe leather, but I refused to ruin the steak. She complained the entire time she ate it, although not one bite remained.”
“I love a good steak.”
“How was your chicken?”
Cassidy laughed. “So we smelled each other’s dinner, huh?”
“It had an unusual aroma, though.”
“Green jerk chicken.”
“Ah. An old girlfriend made that for me once. I’ve never tried it myself. You’ll have to share your recipe.”
“Gladly. Ashly wasn’t too impressed. A little too spicy for her.”
“Is there such a thing?”
“I know, right?” Cassidy’s gaze was drawn to the bird feeders. “The flowers out by the pool look great, by the way.”
“Good. I think there’s room for two more, if you’re game.”
“Sure. Would you have time this week?”
“Maybe. It depends how long the front beds take. I still have to go get flowers for those too.”
“Oh, which reminds me. I put an envelope with money in the closet out back.”
“Where you keep your pool stuff?” she asked without thinking.
Cassidy laughed. “I see you found the floats, huh?”
Laura did have the good grace to blush. “Sorry. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not. Make yourself at home. But yeah, I put it on the top shelf. I put a thousand dollars in there. Is that enough?”
“Good God! You have no idea how much flowers cost, do you?”
“Not a clue.”
“I told you last week that little flowerbed only cost thirty bucks.”
“Yeah, but I want to pay you for your time and labor.”
“You already are.”
“That’s just for mowing. That didn’t include hauling stone and bags of dirt and stuff.”
“You don’t have to pay me extra, Cassidy. We had a deal, remember? I get to use your pool in exchange for manual labor.”
“No. I feel like I’m taking advantage of you. Let me pay you something. Just a one-time thing for the flowerbeds.”
Laura tilted her head, studying her. “What is it that you do for a living, anyway? You said you were the boss.”
“Anderson Heating and Air Conditioning…at your service,” she said with a smile.
“Oh, God. That’s you?”
“What?”
“All those obnoxious ads and billboards?”
Cassidy laughed. “Obnoxious? But hey, if your AC goes out and it’s a hundred and one, who are you going to call?”
“I’m going to call Anderson and if your butt’s not there in twenty minutes, my service call is free.”
Cassidy smiled. “See?”
“I never imagined a woman owned that company.” Laura stood up. “You want another cup of coffee?”
“Please. Black with just a pinch of sugar.”
Laura went into the kitchen. What was a pinch of sugar? She poured coffee into the two cups and added a full teaspoon to hers and about a half of one to Cassidy’s. She didn’t see the point, but whatever.
Cassidy sipped it immediately and nodded. “Perfect.”
“So? The company?”
“Oh. Family-owned. My grandfather started it. My father and brother followed. I went to college—business and marketing—and made a few changes.”
“Like?”
“Well, expanded it quite a bit, for one. We’ve now got ten hubs around the Metroplex. My brother manages the crews, hires and fires. I manage the corporate office downtown. That’s where everything is coordinated. We keep the servers there still. I haven’t outsourced that yet.” At Laura’s blank stare, she continued. “We’ve got a pretty extensive online system for making appointments.”
“Are there that many people who have AC problems?”
“Not just that, but yearly maintenance scheduling. And new homes. We have contracts with several of the major builders in the city to install new units.” Cassidy held her hand up. “Boring stuff, really. What about you? You said you were taking a break.”
“Yeah,” she said slowly. “I…well, I quit my real job a few years ago. I hated the whole office atmosphere, dressing up, all that crap,” she said, remembering the suits she used to have to wear. “Investment firm,” she said by way of explanation. “But really, I’m a writer.”
“A writer?”
“Yes. And I’m taking a break.”
“What does that mean? You’re in between books?”
“Yes. I’m in between my first one and my second one.”
“I see. So you’re published.”
“Yes.” Laura shifted uneasily in her chair, debating whether to tell Cassidy the whole truth. She decided there was no need to confess her eight-year drought. “It’s been a few years, but I’m taking my time with the second one.”
“I’ve never met an author before. I don’t actually read much, though. Would I have heard of your book?”
“It was a murder mystery type thing. My heroine was a medical examiner. The intent was to have a series, like Patricia Cornwell.” It was Cassidy’s turn for a blank stare. “You know…Kay Scarpetta.”
Cassidy shook her head.
“Well, anyway, my heroine didn’t quite have the personality to compete with those kinds of books. I haven’t been able to come up with a second book for her.”
“What’s the name of the book?”
“Murder by Day. Day was the man’s last name. The murderer,” she explained.
“Hmm. Don’t think I’ve heard of it. Was it successful?”
“Mildly. I cracked the Top Twenty for one week.”
“So you’ve got like…writer’s block then?”
“I guess you could say that.” Laura sighed. “Okay. So it’s been eight years.”
“Eight years? Good Lord! Eight years of writer’s block?”
“Yes.”
“What is that, anyway? Is that like something that writers made up? Like, you know, as an excuse for not writing?”
“What are you talking about?”
Cassidy shrugged and Laura wondered at the smile playing on her lips. “Writer’s block. If you’re a writer, you write. If you’re a painter, you paint. Do they have painter’s block?”
Laura narrowed her eyes at her. “Really?”
“If you’re a car mechanic, you fix cars. Do you think they come into work one day and say, you know what, I just can’t fix this car today. I’m totally blocked.”
“Are you serious? Really?”
Cassidy laughed. “No. Teasing, of course. I can’t imagine writing a book. Good for you.”
“A car mechanic,” she muttered disgustedly, causing Cassidy to laugh again.
“Well, I guess I’ve taken up enough of your time this morning. I need to go see if Ashly made it through the night.”
“You don’t know?”
“No. I didn’t look in on her this morning.”
“Oh. She wasn’t—”
“In my bed? No.” Cassidy smiled. “She wanted to be.”
“Well, who could blame her?” Their eyes met and Laura felt a blush from head to toe. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded,” she said quickly with a shake of her head.
Cassidy laughed. “You’re blushing.”
“I know I am,” she snapped.
“Don’t forget to pay yourself,” Cassidy called as she walked off. “Don’t worry about receipts. I trust you.”
Laura watched her until she rounded the corner of the fence, then sunk down in her chair with a groan. “I’m such an idiot.”