of a dressing room, trying on outfit after outfit to wear to the Dallas Police Department’s Christmas Ball. He’d sat in a chair pretty much the same as he was right then, only it wasn’t leaning against the wall.
He shouldn’t compare Jolene to Melanie, he thought. One had been choosing a dress; the other was choosing wallpaper. They looked nothing alike and their temperaments were different. But the flutter in his heart when he’d been around Melanie was the same one that he got when Jolene was close by. He’d continue to fight it, but it was getting harder and harder not to acknowledge.
Finally, Jolene narrowed it down to six and asked his opinion. He took the book and carried it fourteen feet away from where she was sitting and held it up in the air. “This is the way the people will see it when they walk through the bedroom doors. Now what do you think?”
“Why in the hell didn’t you do that an hour ago? I’ve been agonizing over this because it’s the most important decision we’ll make. We’ll see it in every room of the house, and you didn’t think to do that?” She narrowed her eyes at him and then shifted her gaze to the border. “Not that one. Hold up another one.”
He remembered that Melanie had held up two dresses in the end. One was red and the other one was black. He’d told her to buy both and decide which one to wear the day of the ball. She’d done just that and worn the red one—the same dress he’d chosen to bury her in.
He held up the last border, and before Jolene said a single word, her smile told him she’d found the perfect one.
“That’s it. That’s the one. We’ll need to order a bunch. Is that all right?” She bit at a thumbnail.
He thought about telling her exactly how much money he’d received when Melanie died, but he just couldn’t. It didn’t seem right.
“Of course. We’ll order as much as we need.” He didn’t tell her that he would have sunk his last dollar into wallpaper to have the decision made. “Now let’s go get a sample of it to take home.”
Home!
Saying it didn’t make it so, or did it? He thought about it on the way to the checkout counter. Had the Magnolia become home? And if it had, did that mean he’d taken another step out of the past? And was Jolene part of the future? If so, in what capacity?
“I’d like a sample of this border.” Jolene pointed to the one in the book.
“If we have one, you can have it.” The sales clerk opened a huge file drawer and flipped through until she found the right one. “Once these are gone, we won’t be giving them away anymore. Folks will have to order samples from the internet. Kind of loses the human touch, if you ask me. This is our last one.”
“Thank you. We’ll need to order quite a lot because we’re going to use it throughout a whole house. Could we call you Monday with the measurements?” Jolene asked.
“Just tell me how many feet of it you’ll need. I’ll do the figuring and send in the order. You might want to order a couple of extra rolls for matching and emergencies.”
“Thank you. Now about paint. Two gallons of this color and two of this one.” Tucker put the two samples on the counter.
The saleslady and Jolene started up a conversation about how well those two colors went with the border, and he bit back a long sigh. Women talked a helluva lot about nothing. Just mix the paint and get on with it.
Hey, now! Melanie’s voice was back in his head. Cut her some slack. Us women like to discuss things and think about them before we do them. This is a big deal for her.
He cut his eyes around the room, but he stood as still as if he’d spotted a spider in the corner. Of all the times he might want her to talk to him—this wasn’t one of them.
Well, it’s a pretty damn big deal for me, too, but I don’t have to discuss it to death, resurrect it, and talk some more, he argued. If Melanie would continue to drop into his head every now and then, surely he could get rid of these feelings that were developing for Jolene.
He listened intently, but Melanie had left the building. Did that mean she liked