chandeliers. Okay, maybe the designers, both inside and out, had lacked imagination, but the effect still cried money and status. She could settle for that.
The dining room looked over a marina with a variety of boats ranging from modest cabin cruisers to the honest-to-goodness yachts that had given the club its name. They were ushered to a seat near the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the view was breathtaking.
“I can imagine working here,” she said, as Lee politely pulled out her chair and settled her in the spot with the best view. “I could never get tired of looking at this.”
“Happiness Key will have a marina as pretty as this, once the red tape’s been cut.”
“We’ll drink to that when we have something besides water.”
Lee asked their server, who had just arrived, to bring the wine steward to their table, and at his urging they chose a California Pinot Grigio that was new to the club’s wine list.
Once he’d gone, they ordered mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat to start. By now Tracy felt relaxed enough to feel every sore muscle from her active day.
“You’re easy to be with,” Lee said. “We seem to have similar tastes.”
“Let’s not forget being stuck in a couple of neighboring cottages that have seen better days.”
“Did they? See better days?”
She giggled. “Probably not. Even brand-new, they must have been awful.”
“I’m guessing they were built right after the war. Maybe for returning G.I.s.”
“Actually, from everything I’ve seen, they’ve always been vacation rentals. In the early fifties a local family owned the land and planned a big resort. They started with ten cottages and a rental office. They were going to add a modest-size motel, miniature golf, even a drive-in theater, the whole nine yards. They were going to call it…” She paused for effect. “Happiness Haven.”
Lee shuddered, and she laughed. “My ex discovered that on some document, and that’s when he got the bright idea of calling his development Happiness Key.”
“What happened to all those plans?”
“The family fell on hard times, but they refused to sell the land until recently, when the last member moved out of the area. Maybe they were still hopeful they could follow through on development, I don’t know. When the cottages began to need serious repairs, they bulldozed them one by one. You can still see the foundations of the others if you look.”
“So your ex dove in and grabbed the property.”
“When it came to finding a deal, CJ was an Olympic champ.”
“Maribel says he was something else.”
“Right. A felon.”
“I don’t think that’s what she meant. She seems to admire him.”
“If she’s interested, he’s probably ripe for a pen pal.”
“I didn’t mean to take the conversation in that direction.” He put his hand over hers briefly and squeezed. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m so over CJ there’s nothing to apologize for. He left me a mess, but he also—inadvertently—left me Happiness Key. I figure that makes us even.”
“So your marriage was a business arrangement?”
“When a marriage ends, that’s when you finally get a clear view of what you had.”
She paused and realized what she’d said. “Now I’m the one who’s sorry. Lee, I was talking about my marriage, not yours. It must be totally different when somebody dies.”
“I’ve never been sure which is worse. When you divorce, there’s so much anger, you can’t look back on the good times without getting angry all over again.”
“You sound like somebody who knows.”
“I was divorced before I met Karen. College sweethearts who discovered they had different ambitions. Different everythings.”
“That sounds like a recipe for disaster.”
He leaned closer. His expression was more than friendly, an inch less than affectionate. “You’re easy to talk to.”
For a moment she wondered if that was true, and if it was, why? Was this something else she’d learned from her mother? That being a good listener was as important for finding the right man as exposing carefully calculated cleavage and a tightly toned midriff?
“When you married the second time, you knew what to look for?”
“Karen was amazing. We were at a party, and it was like an old movie when everything dims and the spotlight shines on one perfect woman.”
“Wicked.”
“She’d been married, too, to a guy who drifted from one job to another. He never finished anything, never made up his mind. She wanted a marriage with goals, a family. We were a great fit, and we realized it immediately.”
She waited for him to go on, although she was worried that now the whole evening was going to be about his perfect marriage.