Fortune's Woman / A Fortune Wedding: Fortune's Woman

Her own neighborhood near the elementary school was far different, an eclectic mix of old-timers who had lived in Red Rock forever and some of the new blood that had moved into the town, drawn by the quiet pace and friendly neighbors.

Moving here from Austin a year ago had been good for her, she thought as she rang the doorbell. She had made many new friends, she had a busy social life and she enjoyed a career where she felt she was affecting young lives.

Did she really need to snarl that up by yearning for a man who appeared unavailable?

At just that moment, Ross opened the door and she had to swallow hard. He was wearing Levi’s and a navy-blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He looked casual and relaxed and her traitorous body responded instantly.

She was staring at his mouth. She realized it a half second too late and jerked her gaze up, only to find him watching her with a strange, glittery light in his eyes that struck her as vaguely predatory.

“Hi,” she murmured.

“Evening.”

“It’s a gorgeous one, isn’t it?”

He glanced past her to the soft twilight and blinked a little as if he hadn’t noticed it before. “You’re right. It is. Come in.”

She followed him inside. Though his sister had been in custody for less than a week, the grand house already felt a little neglected. A thin layer of dust covered the table in the foyer and several pairs of shoes were lined up by the door, something she was quite sure Frannie wouldn’t have allowed.

“Where’s Josh?” she asked.

“Holed up in his room, claiming homework. I’ll let him know you’re here in a minute. Actually, I’m glad to have a chance to talk to you alone first.”

Her heart skipped a beat, despite her best efforts to control her reaction. “Oh?”

“About Josh, I mean.”

She hoped he didn’t notice her flushed features or the disappointment she told herself was ridiculous. “Of course.”

“Do you mind coming out back with me? We can talk while I throw the steaks and your fish on the grill.”

She nodded and followed him through the house, noticing a few more subtle signs of neglect in the house that weren’t present when she was first here nearly a week ago. A few dirty dishes in the sink, a clutter of papers on the edge of the kitchen island, a jacket tossed casually over the back of a chair.

Ross grabbed a covered platter from the refrigerator, then opened the sliding doors to the vast patio that led to an elegantly landscaped pool. In the dusky light, the area looked quiet and restful. While she didn’t much care for the style of the rest of the house, Julie very much admired the gardens around Lloyd and Frannie Fredericks’ mansion.

She eased into a comfortable glider swing near the grill and watched while Ross transferred the meat from the plate to the grill with the ease of long practice. When he was done, he approached the swing and after a moment sat beside her, much to her dismay.

He was so big, so very masculine, and she was painfully aware of his proximity.

“What did you want to talk about?” she finally asked, hoping he didn’t try prodding her again to reveal details about her counseling session with Josh earlier.

“I’m looking for an honest opinion here,” he said. “What do you think about Josh’s girlfriend?”

Okay, she hadn’t been expecting that. “Lyndsey? I haven’t met her.”

“But Josh has mentioned her, right?”

“Yes. That first night when I stayed here with him while you were at the jail.” She didn’t want to breach Josh’s confidences by mentioning all the times he had brought up her name during their therapy session. “Why do you ask? Don’t you like her?”

Ross was quiet for a moment, a push of his boot sending the glider swaying slightly. “I’ve only met her briefly myself. Can’t say whether I like her or not. But I know Frannie was concerned about how serious they seemed to be getting. Now that I’ve had a chance to take a closer look at the situation firsthand, I’ve got to admit, it worries me a little, too.”

“In what way?”

“To me, it seems like they’re together all the time. I mean, all the time! When he’s not over at her place or she’s not here, he’s talking to her on the phone or texting her or talking to her online. I don’t know how intense things were between them before Lloyd’s death but I’m a little worried that he’s becoming too wrapped up with her. He’s only a kid, with his whole life ahead of him.”

“Don’t you remember your first love? They can be pretty intense.”

“No,” he said, his voice blunt. “I never had one.”

She stared. “You never had a girlfriend?”

“No. Not in high school, anyway. I was too busy with…things.”

“What kind of things? Sports?”

His mouth tightened. “Family stuff.”

He didn’t seem inclined to add any more, so Julie forced herself to clamp down on her curiosity to press him.

“Well, first love can be crazy for a teenager,” she said instead. “Wonderful and terrible at the same time, full of raw emotions and all these fears and hopes and insecurities. I’m sure his emotional bond to Lyndsey is heightened by the chaos elsewhere in his life. She must seem like a sturdy rock he can hang on to.”

“She strikes me as the clingy, needy sort, just from the little I’ve been able to see of her,” Ross said.

She could barely think straight, sitting this close to him, but she did her best to rearrange her mind to gain a little clarity. “Well, that might be part of her appeal to him. Lyndsey is somebody who needs him. Look at things from Josh’s perspective. His father is dead. His mother is in deep trouble, but not any kind of trouble he can solve for her. Aiding this girl with whatever troubles she’s having might make Josh feel less helpless about the rest of the things going on in his world.”

He pushed the swing again with his foot. “So you think I ought to let their little romance run its course?”

“Josh is almost eighteen. There’s not really much you can do about it.”

“I could lock him in his room and feed him only gruel,” he muttered.

She laughed. “He’s a teenage boy. I imagine he would figure out a way to sneak out and go for pizza.”

He was quiet for a long moment. When she glanced over to gauge his expression and try to figure out what he was thinking about, she thought she detected a hint of color on his cheekbones.

“Should I take him to buy condoms, just to be on the safe side?” he asked, without looking at her.

The temperature between them seemed to heat up a dozen degrees and she knew it was not from the barbecue just a few feet away. She cleared her throat. “Maybe that’s a conversation you ought to have with his mother.”

“I can’t discuss my nephew’s sex life with my sister while she’s in jail!”

She supposed she ought to be flattered that he felt he could discuss such a delicate subject with her, but she couldn’t get past the trembling in her stomach just thinking about “Ross” and “condoms” in the same conversation.

“I can’t tell you what to do,” she said. “You’re going to have to make that decision on your own. But I will say that if Josh were my son or in my care, it’s certainly a conversation I would have with him, especially if he’s becoming as serious with his girlfriend as you seem to believe.”

He didn’t look very thrilled by the prospect, but he nodded. “I guess I’ll do that. Thanks for the advice. I can see why you make a good counselor. You’re very easy to talk to.”

She smiled. “You’re welcome.”