“Okay, I hear you,” Tucker said as he pulled his phone from his hip pocket and dialed Belinda’s number.

“What’s he askin’?” he said when she answered.

“Hello to you, too,” Belinda said. “There’s a house in Jefferson about that size that’s up for two hundred and fifty thousand. But it’s in pristine condition, so I’ve already told him there’s no way he’ll get but maybe a quarter of that amount for the Magnolia, since it needs a complete overhaul. You seen the inside yet?”

“Nope. Tell him I’ll go seventy-five thousand for half of it,” Tucker said. “Cash, so we can make it happen sooner than if I had to go through the bank for a loan.”

“He’s pretty anxious to sell.” Belinda drew out the words.

“Then tell him sixty-five,” Tucker laughed.

“I’ll relay your message. Should have a counteroffer within an hour or two. You should go inside to get a look at what all it needs before you make a second offer,” Belinda said.

“I’m looking at it right now from where I turned down the lane. I don’t need to see any more than this right now.” Tucker hit the “End” button on the phone, laid it aside, and ran a hand over Sassy’s fur. “So you didn’t want to leave Dallas, yet you want to move here. Whoever said that you own a dog but feed a cat sure knew what they were talking about.”

He gazed down the lane at the two-story house with its wide front porch. He envisioned guests sitting on the porch in the summertime. They’d have glasses of lemonade or iced tea, and maybe there would be a little cart on wheels with cookies on it. In the spring, there would be tulips or maybe even rosebushes. Sure, he was eager to see the inside, but he really didn’t care how much work it would take to renovate the place. That was irrelevant. The feeling in his heart of doing the right thing was what he’d been looking for, and it was definitely there.

“So what do you think, Sassy? We can pull our trailer back behind the house and live in it while we do the remodeling. Maybe I should go in and take a tour of the place.” He removed his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s pretty damned impulsive to buy a place without even looking at it, isn’t it?”

The cat cold nosed his chin. He hadn’t laughed so much in weeks. “Okay, I get the message. Buy it. From the outside, it doesn’t look so bad, and they were renting rooms up until a few weeks ago, so it can’t be completely falling in. And besides, the Big Cypress Bayou runs behind it, so I can fish every evening.”

He grabbed his phone from the passenger seat and called Belinda. She answered on the second ring. “Dixie Realty.”

“Call the woman in the house and make her the same offer. Maybe she doesn’t realize how much her half is worth. Hell, offer her a hundred thousand and see if she’ll go for it,” he said.

“I don’t think she will, but I’ll give it a shot,” Belinda said. “Be in touch in a little while.”

He drove back to his trailer with Sassy sitting like a queen in the passenger seat. If this Jolene woman was willing to take his offer, he would restore and flip the place and make a nice profit. Once inside, he shed his coat and cowboy boots and began to pace. Sassy turned around three or four times in the middle of his bed before she settled down and went to sleep.

“So you’ve done your duty and now you aren’t going to worry with me?” Tucker asked. “Now that I’ve seen it again, I want it really bad. You could at least stay awake and keep me company.”

Sassy’s whiskers didn’t even twitch in reply.

He wished he had a job to keep his mind off the two offers he’d made. He’d even be willing to remodel a bathroom to keep his hands busy, and Tucker hated working in the tight spaces. They reminded him of all the times he’d had to crawl under houses in search of things he’d rather not think about anymore. He slouched on the sofa and leaned his head back, shutting his eyes, and second-guessing himself about what he’d just done.

He fell asleep, and in his dream, Melanie was sitting on the swing on the front porch of that big house. She ran out to meet him as he drove up, slung her arms around his neck, and kissed him. He awoke to the sound of the phone ringing, and before he answered it, he just knew that it was good news.

“Hello, Belinda. That was quick,” he said.

“Got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”

“Give me the bad.” He raked his fingers through his dark hair and realized he really needed to visit the barber.

“Jolene says no way in hell, and that if she had the money, she’d buy Reuben out. Good news is that Reuben didn’t even want to counteroffer. He took the sixty-five thousand and said to tell you to consider it yours. I’ll have the papers ready for both of you to sign on Friday morning, but as of now, you can sell that trailer and move into the house if you want.”

“I ain’t sellin’ my trailer. I might drag it out there and park it behind the house by the bayou, but a million bucks couldn’t take it from me,” he said. “I’ll see you Friday. What time?”

“Nine o’clock,” she said.

“I’ll be there.”

“Bring your checkbook.”

Jolene had taken stock of what was left in the pantry, and there was plenty to last a couple of weeks. By then she’d have money from the bar to pay the utility bills. She paced the floor, wondering if the guy who’d offered would really buy Reuben’s half of the inn. She went from the foyer up the wide staircase, checked each bedroom, and finally sat down on the top step.