Page 7 of Housebroke

Damn. She was hoping she wouldn’t have to reveal that part. “Fine. My ex-husband swindled me out of our house and all our money.”

His eyes widened. “What? How did he manage that?”

“Let’s just say I foolishly allowed him to handle our finances, and before I knew it, our bank accounts were empty, the house was double mortgaged, and there was nothing left. And then he filed for divorce and left the state.”

His jaw dropped. “Wow. I’m sorry. That must have sucked.”

“It did. We were a mess before that, but I guess I didn’t pull the divorce trigger fast enough. And I have no one to blame but myself for letting things go south like that. I should have been paying closer attention. It wasn’t like I didn’t see the signs. He’d always been a shady shithead, I just didn’t think he was that shady.”

He stabbed a shrimp with his fork and pointed it at her. “People can hurt you more than you think.”

“I guess so. Anyway, we lost the house to foreclosure, but by then he was long gone anyway and I was out of a place to live. I have a tiny bit of savings that I had in a separate account from money my grandmother left me after she died, so I rented a small house, but when the lease came up, the owners decided to sell, so I was out on the streets again. That’s when Ginger and Greg decided to move and said I could stay here for an interim period. And now here I am.”

“Huh. You sure got screwed, didn’t you, Hazel?”

She shrugged. “I learned a valuable lesson about trust and always keeping my eyes wide open.”

“That’s a very good lesson to learn.” He picked up the plates and dumped them in the trash, then started to take the skillet to the sink.

She slid off the barstool. “Oh no. Part of the cooking is the cleanup. I’m sure you have some unpacking to do.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely. Go on.”

“Okay. Thanks again for dinner. It was amazing.”

Her lips curved, and she couldn’t help the warmth in her cheeks over his compliment. “You’re welcome.”

After he left, the dogs came over to sniff the area where they had eaten.

“There isn’t a crumb in the vicinity, kids. Sorry. We ate it all.”

She heard the door open and close a few times while she finished washing the dishes. Deciding to just let him do his thing, she took the dogs out back, enjoying the not-quite-cool breeze. But, hey, at least there was a breeze.

Linc came outside and sat in the chair next to hers. “Great backyard.”

“Isn’t it? The pool is amazing. The dogs love it. And before you ask, I always sweep out any dog hair in the pool and the filter basket.”

“Noted. Though I wasn’t going to ask.”

“I also vacuum the floors every day. Or the robot does. And I pick up the poop out here every day so the neighbors don’t complain.”

“You’re very conscientious.”

“I try to be. Not everyone loves dogs.” She studied him. “How do you feel about dogs?”

“I like them just fine. I had two Labs growing up.”

She judged people harshly who didn’t like animals, so she was relieved to hear that Linc wasn’t one of those. “I love Labradors. I placed a beautiful chocolate Lab mix with the best family about six months back. They have two kids under ten who adore him. And he’s just so happy now. They send me pictures all the time.”

“Sounds like it was a good fit.”

“It was.”

Lilith came over and sniffed at Linc’s tennis shoe, raised her head, gave him a growl, and sauntered away.

“That’s Lilith. She’s queen of the pack and she doesn’t warm up to people easily. Especially men. I think some dude might have been mean to her before.”

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