Page 50 of Recipe for Rivals

“Pretty hungry, yeah.”

“It can wait a bit.” I turned to the gray-haired homeowner. She had a young face for silver hair, but was probably old enough to be my mother. “Good afternoon, ma’am. Is that couch for sale?”

She gave a pained smile. “My husband wants it to be. I’m having a hard time parting with it.”

Ah, so it had sentimental value. “You have any kids?”

“Four,” the woman said. “All out of the house now.”

I wondered briefly if I’d played any of them in school. Beeler was our rival, but I wouldn’t mention that now. “It’s hard when family moves away.” I nodded to Nova and Alice, who stood beside her mother, gripping the pink monkey under one arm and the jewelry box under the other. “These two just moved to Arcadia Creek from New York, along with her little boy.”

“Did you leave family behind?” the woman asked.

“My brother and his family,” Nova said. “My parents live there too, but they’re missionaries in the Philippines right now.”

Great. Her father was a copanda saint. No wonder Ben wanted to be the man when he grew up.

“Oh, bless their hearts,” the woman said. “It must be hard to be so far away.”

“My aunt lives in Arcadia Creek, so we aren’t totally alone,” Nova said. “She’s letting us use her apartment for a while.”

It was left unsaid that her situation wasn’t ideal, and even a stranger could pick up on the fact that Nova had run away from something. The woman looked down at Nova’s hand, where the wedding ring was absent, and her eyes softened. Then she looked at me. “You two been together long?”

Nova and I tried to set her straight at the same time.

“Oh, we aren’t?—”

“We’re just friends,” I told her. “I’m the guy with the truck, and we’re fixin’ to get some basic furniture for their apartment.”

“Well, if you want the couch, it’s yours.”

Nova’s face brightened. “How much?”

The woman shook her head. “Free.”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly?—”

“It’s the sofa we had in our loft, and my kids spent many years on it with their friends. There were a lot of movie nights and morning cartoons on this thing.” She glanced at it with affection. “It’s old but in decent condition, and I just wanted to see it go to a good home.”

Nova’s eyes looked suspiciously bright. “I’m happy to pay for it.”

The woman squeezed Nova’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, darlin’.”

“I’m parked over on Manning, but we’ll fetch the truck and be back in a minute.”

“Take your time. We aren’t going anywhere.”

Nova practically bounced beside me, holding Alice’s jewelry box in one arm and her hand in the other. “Can you believe that?”

I could. “Welcome to Texas, where good people live. I don’t know if it’s your smile or the fact that your parents are missionaries, but something you said won that lady over.”

Nova scowled at me. “I wasn’t trying to win over anyone.”

How did she not see it herself?

“That’s the point. You don’t have to try.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

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