23. Cohen

The guys and I sat around a table in the bar Saturday morning after the staff had cleaned up from the night before. Yeah, it was a weird time to drink beer and play cards, but Steve's wife did yoga and drank mimosas Sunday mornings, so how weird was it really?

Until my house sold, we decided mornings were best. We had the all-clear to bullshit as loud and as long as we wanted to.

Chris frowned at his cards and said, "Fold."

Steve folded too, leaving it between my accountant and me. Despite making good money and having a lot of high-paying clients, Jonas was down to earth and didn't bid us out of the competition.

He eyed his cards, then me. "I'll raise you ten."

Jonas didn't know I had a flush in my hands. "I'll take your ten and raise you twenty more."

Jonas swore. "Fuck, I'm in." He shoved a big portion of his chips to the middle of the table and said, "Let's see what you have."

Everyone leaned in as I flipped my cards over, revealing the set of spades.

The other two laughed, but Jonas let another swear fly as he showed me his hand with three tens, an ace and a two.

"Lucky son of a bitch," Steve said, laughing.

As I swept the chips toward me, I replied, "We'll find out whether or not I'm lucky today. But so far, it's not looking great."

Chris raised his gray eyebrows. "Seriously? You just won."

"And last night, I got shut down by Birdie yet again."

"That blond?" Steve asked.

"Wait, wait, which blond?" Jonas asked, which led to an explanation of Birdie and why she didn't want to date me. They were all good reasons.

"I don't know," I said. "I should just back off. Try again in a couple years."

Steve snorted. "A girl like that's not going to be free in a couple years."

He had a point. But I gave him a look and said, "I thought you didn't see anything since you were married."

"Bingo," Chris said.

Steve ignored me.

Jonas was a little quieter than the rest of us, but he said, "Maybe she just doesn't understand how much it matters to you."

All of our heads swiveled toward him.

Looking a little hesitant, he explained, "Well, you met her at a bar. She probably doesn't want to risk anything on a fling."

"How do I show her that? If I ask her to be my girlfriend, she'll run," I said.

Jonas shrugged. "Hell if I know. I'm not the one with a ring. Or a divorce for that matter."

I turned to Chris and Steve.

Chris leaned forward. "Do something special for the girl. Show her you've been paying attention to more than her body."

I thought for a second, then took the deck and shuffled. "I'll figure something out."

I didn't want to lose a chance with Birdie Melrose.

* * *

Linda had called in a favor with an inspector who worked on the weekends, so I cut myself off after one beer and grabbed lunch after poker. I kept hoping that the inspection went well. Despite Ollie's reaction to the house, I had to believe he was reacting that way because of whatever was going on in his personal life. At least, I hoped so.

On my drive from the bar to the house, I imagined what my commute would be like. Now I was pretty close—just fifteen minutes, so it would be adding time. But I found I didn't mind. When I had a million things to think about, it seemed to fly by.

The grass and weeds had been mowed since the last time I was here, and the sight made me grin. Growing up without much and then having a house practically bought by my ex's parents made the idea of owning something that was really, truly mine even better. Sure, I owned the bar, but tons of us had come together to make it work. This would be something all my own.

Linda pulled in behind me and got out of her purple car. "How's it going, honey? Did you and Ollie work things out?"

I shrugged, turning away from the house and the yard. "He's not talking to me much lately."

"Ah, the teenage years." She winced and shook her head. "Can't say I miss that."

"Your kids behaved like that?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. If we went a day in my house without a yelling match, it was a miracle."

"I'd take that over the silent treatment," I replied. "I have no idea what's going on with him."

She patted my back. "It'll be over before you know it and he'll be inviting you to his first crappy apartment, wondering why he ever complained about a good home."

As the inspector's truck pulled in, I couldn't help but hope she was right.

The guy—he introduced himself as Bill—got straight to work, walking the perimeter of the house and pointing out things like guttering that wasn't quite connected right or areas that needed to be caulked. Linda gave me a thumbs up as we went to the front door.

Everything he brought up, I'd expected, but I wouldn't be able to breathe right until I knew there wasn't anything structurally wrong. She brought the key out of the lockbox and then unlocked the front door.

The work was slow, testing outlets and plugging in each appliance. I paced back and forth, praying nothing was wrong, and Linda touched my arm. I must have been making her nervous too.

Bill got up from the sink, cringing. "I'm going to need to see the crawl space."

My brows drew together. "Everything okay?"

"The water pressure's awfully low. I'm worried there might be a leak somewhere."

A million cuss words flew through my mind, but I tried to take deep breaths. Tried to keep the disappointment from hijacking my heartbeats.

We went back outside and found a false window on the back side of the house. He pushed it open, and my heart sank. I could hear the hiss of water. It was running, and that was never good.

There was no way to describe the next hour as anything other than a clusterfuck of epic fucking shitastic proportions.

Not only were the pipes under the house original to when it was built and completely fucking rusted out, but the foundation had shifted so severely the house would probably have to be mud jacked to correct it. The wiring wasn't up to code inside, and climbing onto the roof revealed it would need to be replaced as well.

I could have bought another fucking house with two extra rooms for all it would have cost.

With a sympathetic look lining her face, Linda said, "Don't worry, honey. I'll come back to the owners and see what they can get fixed—or what discounts and credits they can offer."

I left the inspection dejected as hell and hoping with all I had that I could make at least one thing go right.