Terri gave a quick glance at Nate, who still hadn’t said a word. “But didn’t you put an office on the ground floor?”
“I did, but there’s still the upstairs and isn’t there an apartment downstairs? I only went to a few parties there. What’s the upstairs like?”
Brett handed Terri a sandwich, ciabatta bread slathered in mustard, with sliced beef, pickled peppers and homegrown tomatoes. She bit into it. “This is so good. Best I’ve ever had. Soooo spicy.” She glanced at the pretty little containers on Stacy’s cloth. “Is that a kale salad? The one with cranberries?”
“Yes, it is. Want some?”
“No, thanks. This is enough. Oh, thanks.” Brett had leaned forward and used a napkin to wipe a bit of mustard from the corner of her mouth. “Food like this makes me such a pig. Could one of you get me a cold beer?”
Brent opened one and handed it to her. “Now, where was I? Oh yes, dear Billy and that wonderful house. The attic is huge. Billy and I used to spend a lot of time up there. We’d...” Terri gave a little giggle. “Never mind what we were doing. But yeah, I could see that you could divide it up easily.”
“Billy mentioned his grandmother’s place downstairs. What’s it like?”
Terri smiled. “It’s very nice. When I was there, it was packed with years of family things. How did Billy sound?”
“Good. He asked about you. Asked if I’d give you his contact info.” She looked at Terri in question.
“Sure. I’d love to have it.” She watched as Stacy pulled an envelope out of her handbag and handed it to her.
“Billy said he had to go to class. He’s just finishing school and—”
“School in what?”
“Law, I guess. Didn’t Billy say he wanted to be a lawyer?”
Terri looked out at the water, her voice quiet. “Billy wanted to save the world. Damn! I miss him. Is he married? Children?”
“Neither,” Stacy said. “I did ask about that.”
Terri was silent for a moment, then she said, “But his office is there.” She didn’t look at Nate but jerked her head toward him. “Be careful not to rent to any single females. They’ll be attracted to him. Overwhelmed with attraction. Lots of attraction!” Abruptly, she stood up and dropped the cover she wore to the sand. Her long body was sleek, tightly muscled—and barely covered. She was like a model for a statue of a Greek goddess.
“How about a swim?” she said over her shoulder to the twins. She didn’t give them time to answer before she started running toward the water. The twins followed her.
Stacy watched them until they reached the lake and began to swim, then she turned to Nate. “What the hell did you do to her?”
Nate had reached across the cloth to pick up one of Mr. Parnelli’s sandwiches. “Me? I didn’t say a word.”
“You’ve done something to make Terri angry and I want to know what it was.”
“Nothing,” he said. “I did nothing to her.” He dropped the sandwich back onto the cloth, but Stacy didn’t stop staring at him. “I made a remark about Terri being attracted to somebody and she didn’t like it. That’s all it was.”
Stacy looked around the beach. There were some couples and a few families, several of whom she knew, and the lifeguard in his high tower. The last thing she wanted to do was get into an argument in public.
They sat in silence as they watched the people splashing in the lake. Most of them were tossing a ball and giving rides to children. But Terri was cutting the water with long, strong strokes. The twins were trying to keep up with her but couldn’t do it. “She’s really fast,” Stacy said.
“She’s holding back.”
There was such admiration in his voice that she looked at him sharply, but his eyes never left the trio in the water.
After about thirty minutes they returned—and everyone on the beach, young and old, paused to watch Terri stride across the sand.
“I think I should take one of your summer jobs here,” Stacy said when Terri put the cover-up back on. “It would get me in shape better than forty minutes a day in a gym.”
“Sure,” Terri said. “We’ll get you to help the guy who cleaned out the old motor shed. He always needs help with everything he does.”
When the twins turned away to hide what looked to be laughs at some inside joke, Stacy frowned. What she’d hoped would be a pleasant outing was turning into a