When Brody looked up, his eyes were bleak. “Does my daughter’s heart being stolen count?”
“You can’t keep her all to yourself forever,” Frank said in a patronizing voice. “Someday Terri’s going to meet a nice young man and get married and give us grandkids.”
Brody grimaced. “Too bad you didn’t listen to Della’s gossip. I want to show you something.” He went out the door, through Anna’s office, to the outside.
It was a beautiful day and there were several kids playing soccer on the lawn. They were being coached by a man with a limp and sparse gray hair.
“I’ve seen him before,” Frank said.
“How about photos in Life magazine? He coached the US soccer team in the Olympics.”
“Does he live here?”
“He’s spent ten summers here, but no one asked him what he did before he retired.”
“So who...? Ah,” Frank said. “This guy Nate asked?”
“He did. I swear that in the week Nate Taggert has been here he’s learned more about the residents than I know after a lifetime here.”
“I can believe that,” Frank said. “But then, it was always Leslie who was the social one. She—” He stopped at the look Brody gave him. “Sorry. The forbidden subject. It’s just that she made friends. You and Terri are clones in being workhorses. So this guy helps around here and you said he’s stealing our Terri’s heart? What’s the problem? He’s old and ugly?”
“There he is, so what do you think?” Brody nodded toward the dock.
A big, good-looking young man put his hands on the waist of a heavy-set woman and easily swung her out of the boat onto the dock. She was smiling up at him like he was a rescuing knight.
“He’s built like Billy,” Frank said under his breath, then turned to Brody. “What’s the problem?”
“Nate’s engaged to Lew Hartman’s daughter.”
“Wonder why Della didn’t tell me that? But Stacy is a nice girl. She—”
Brody gave him a hard look, then walked away, Frank right behind him.
“This isn’t good, is it?” Frank said when they were inside Brody’s office. “How many boyfriends has our Terri had since she dumped Billy?”
“None that we know of. But then, any boy she looks at, you run through the system to see if he’s ever had so much as a parking ticket.”
“Give me the stats on this guy so I can find out about him.”
Brody gave a snort. “Since he worked for Kit Montgomery, you’d have to have the security clearance of the Secretary of Defense to find out about him.”
When Frank heard a laugh that he’d been hearing since Terri was a toddler, he went to the window to look out. He’d never been married and had no children, so Terri was as close as he was going to get to his own child. In his eyes, she was beautiful and smart and deserving of all the good in the world. Just his unbiased opinion.
She was standing beside the big guy and watching the kids play soccer. They weren’t touching but were as close as two people could be without contact. Every once in a while, she glanced up at him with sparkling eyes full of laughter.
From what Frank could see, Terri was wearing her feelings in the open—and that made him frown. She was usually cautious around men. Over the years, he and Brody had shared laughter when they saw the young men come on to Terri. They tried every line ever created. They tried to impress her with tricks on water skis, on motorboats, with the size of Daddy’s cruiser.
None of them had succeeded. Frank and Brody had watched as Terri dumped pails of bait over their heads. She’d pushed four Enders off a dock. Mostly, she just froze them with a look and walked away.
But this guy... Frank had only seen Terri look at a boy like this once before—and that had been a long time ago.
Brody was standing beside him.
“You said they’re living together?” Frank asked softly.
“Yeah, but Terri says nothing is happening.”
“If circumstances were different, I’d wish she’d go after him. Put on a red dress and high heels and give cute little Stacy Hartman a run. May the best girl win the prize.”
“And what happens if she wins him?” Brody asked as he went back to his desk. “People add the breakup to my daughter’s résumé? The Hartman family is well liked in Summer Hill. Stacy is practically the town’s princess, while Terri is...is...” He couldn’t finish the sentence.