Flirting with Temptation - By Kelley St. John Page 0,47
This is great sun.”
“I’m protecting my skin from wrinkles, you know, for when I get old.”
Babette and Jonlyn both grinned at that. Then Jonlyn stood, stretched and took the few steps necessary to get to the pool and dive in. Her splash sprayed Rose’s back, and Rose promptly turned and snarled at her. “Jonlyn, if I wanted to get wet, I’d have worn a suit,” she said.
Babette nodded toward Rose’s carefully coordinated ensemble. “You look like you want to get noticed. That’s what you look like. And by the way, your nails look very nice too.” Her fingernails were painted a pale, shimmering pink. It wasn’t anywhere near as flamboyant a color as Granny Gert would wear, but it truly suited Rose.
“Thank you,” she said, holding one hand out and letting the soft pink catch the light.
“Any reason you’re so dressed up?” Babette asked, assuming that’s why Rose had come over for this impromptu visit.
Rose’s bottom lip curled in as she bit back a smile.
“Rose?”
“You remember Otis Payne?”
Babette nodded, clearly picturing the elderly gentleman who always wore a smile and who still played in the ocean every now and then, whenever his knees let him, or so he’d say.
“Well, Otis mentioned that maybe the two of us would take in the movie today. They show one in the rec room every Saturday at two, you know.”
“So you have a date.” Babette nodded her approval.
“I suppose it is a date, and it’s kind of funny that he asked me today.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because after you told me about how people pay you to help fix them up, the way the poodle is doing, I decided to see if I could hire you to, you know, give Otis a nudge.” She shrugged, smiled. “But he finally came around on his own.”
“I’m glad. Let me know how the movie goes.”
“I will. And I also wanted to tell you that I told some of the other girls at Sunny Beaches about you being a love doctor.”
“You told the other girls?” Babette asked, thinking it adorable that Rose called her friends, the youngest of whom was over seventy, “girls.”
“Yes, and I think I’ve stirred you up some clients.”
“Clients?”
“Oh, don’t worry. They’ll pay you. Loads of retirement money over there, you know.”
“No, I didn’t mean that,” Babette said. “But I’m really not looking for more clients down here. After I get Jeff back with Kitty, I’m going home.”
Rose’s disappointment was more apparent than any she’d ever seen. Her shoulders dropped, mouth eased downward, eyes blinked several times, fighting tears. “I understand.”
“But I’d be happy to talk to them and do what I can to mend their fences while I’m here.”
Rose’s disposition did a one-eighty, and she beamed. “Wonderful! I’ll talk to them to see when they want to get started. Now, about your other case,” Rose said, “Why aren’t you with Jeff? Today’s going to be your best day to talk to him, and if you wait until tonight, that’ll be too late. He’s never alone on a Saturday night.”
Rose’s statement bothered Babette, but she smiled past it. “Oddly enough, he was gone when I got up. I called his condo, and then I even went up there and knocked on his door. But he’d headed out.”
Rose shook her head. “How are you ever going to talk to him about the poodle if you can’t catch him at home?”
“Oh, I talked to him last night.” Talked . . . and then some.
“About the poodle?”
“A bit.” A very little bit. “But he knew I wanted to chat with him more today, and he left.”
“Running from you?”
“So it seems.”
“Doesn’t sound like the Jeff Eubanks I know,” Rose said.
“Well, I’ll talk to him today, whether he likes it or not. Wait and see.” She had to talk to him today, somehow. Kitty was driving her crazy with the nonstop calling, and she needed to give the woman something that she could hold onto, at least enough to keep her from calling every hour on the hour. And this morning, Kitty had even suggested that perhaps she should drive down so Jeff could see her and remember how good they were together.
Uh, no. That’s all Babette needed, Kitty reminding him what a stalker she could be. How Jeff ever got hooked on a clingy one in the first place still befuddled her mind.
“Well, if he’s working, or outright ignoring you, you may be out here a while,” Rose said, once again picking up Babette’s bag and helping herself to everything inside. This