the perfect house. “I’m Grace Valentine.”
“Please, call me Matt.” He stood and held his hand out to her. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Same to you. Thank you for letting me help you with your real estate needs.”
A waitress appeared and took Grace’s order for coffee and a cinnamon roll. She was still feeling indulgent after her date was cut short a few nights ago, and she promised herself she’d get to the gym that evening one way or another.
Grace spent the next hour with Matt Dahl, jotting down notes about the beach property he was looking for. In the process, she learned he was widowed and had two grown sons. The property would need to have enough bedrooms for both of them and their spouses as well as a bedroom or two for any grandkids.
“I have one listing that fits all of that criteria that’s on the market now,” Grace said, trying not to sound hesitant about the haunted cottage. She and Hope were going to try to smudge the property later that day. Hope had a few tricks up her sleeve. With any luck, when they were done there wouldn’t be any creepers waiting to run him off. “But I can’t show it until tomorrow.”
“That’s fine. I’ll be in town through the end of next week.”
She scribbled a note to herself. “It will also give me some time to go through the local listings and see if I can find anything else that might fit the bill. There might be a few.”
“Just as long as it has a spectacular view. Anything less isn’t even worth looking at.”
“Got it.” She took out her business card and handed it to him. “I’ll do my best to weed through everything. If you find something online you want to make sure you see, shoot me an email and I’ll make us an appointment. Does tomorrow at nine sound okay to start?”
“Meet here for breakfast again? Say eight?” he asked, scanning his gaze over her as if she were going to be his breakfast.
Alarm bells went off in Grace’s head. “That’s kind of you to offer, but I need to run into the office for a meeting first thing,” she lied. “I can meet you here for a quick cup of coffee while we go over the listings we’ll be touring.”
“Okay. I can live with that.” He smiled at her, his green eyes twinkling. “It’s a date.”
“A date?” a very familiar male voice said from behind her.
Bill. Grace stiffened and unconsciously curled her hand into a fist.
“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” He appeared at their table, smiling down at her gently. “It’s been a rough few months, and all this dating just seems to be a little much, don’t you think?”
“Excuse me?” Grace glared up at her ex and wondered what would happen if she just reached out and junk-punched him.
“It’s just a little too fast,” he told Matt. “She’s been out of the dating pool for over twenty years, and two dates in one week seems a little fast.”
Two dates? When and how had he heard about Owen?
Matt cocked an eyebrow at Bill. “Uh, how do you know Grace?”
Bill smiled patiently at the man. “I’m her soon-to-be ex-husband. We had a really good run, but just grew apart. You know how it is.”
Grace, who had been shocked beyond words when Bill suddenly decided to inject his opinion on her fledgling dating life, snapped out of her silence and let out a sardonic laugh. “Sure. It’s not easy to stay in sync when your husband is boinking the office receptionist.”
Matt turned steely eyes on Bill. “Perhaps you should step back and let Ms. Valentine and I finish our business meeting.”
“Business meeting?” Bill stared at Grace. “What business?”
Grace gave him a sickly-sweet smile, thoroughly enjoying herself as she said, “Real estate business, Bill. I work for Kevin Landers now.”
Bill’s pudgy face turned a dark shade of red as he sputtered, “Landers? You work for Landers?”
“Sure,” she said breezily. “Who else was I going to work for? Surely you didn’t expect me to come ask you for a job at On Pointe, did you?”
“Well, why wouldn’t you?” he said, appearing completely bewildered.
Grace rose from her seat and grabbed the bill the waitress had left on the table. “Bill, you’re an idiot.”
“You really are,” she heard Matt say as she stalked off to pay for their breakfast. She watched from the counter as the two got into an obviously heated conversation before Bill