Gabe held up a hand. “Slow down.” He described the three women who’d been entering the bakery as he’d fled to get away from Lynn’s teasing on the afternoon Selena had gone missing.
“They’re the women who started it,” Mitch confirmed. “Over the years, they’ve included a bunch of other women, Lynn among them. I’m not sure what they do beyond the occasional margarita night get-together, but they sure do stick up for one another. I wouldn’t want to tangle with them or get their backs up, that’s for sure. I’m not sure I’d be married to Lynn right now if they’d objected to it.”
Mitch grinned. “Fortunately, Maddie, Helen and Dana Sue and I go way back. They jumped on my side. In addition to any wooing I did, Lynn got the full-court press from the Sweet Magnolias, too.” His expression sobered. “I’m just saying, if you do anything to hurt Adelia, they’ll be all over you. I have a hunch her recovery’s going to be their next project.”
The advice was perfectly reasonable, but Gabe took offense just the same. “Whatever my flaws might be, Mitch, they don’t include a trail of brokenhearted women. Listening to my mom cry her eyes out at night taught me to be honest and never offer something I don’t intend to deliver.”
His cousin nodded. “Good to know.” A grin spread across his face. “Something tells me, though, that battling wits with you could be just what Adelia needs to get her confidence back.”
Gabe waved those yellow pages in his cousin’s face. “So, I was right. Despite all those warnings you just uttered, you do have some crazy idea about pushing the two of us together for more than fixing up that house of hers.”
Mitch shrugged, his expression innocent. “The work needs to be done. You’re good at what you do. If a few sparks fly in the process, all the better.” He gave Gabe an amused look. “For both of you. Just keep in mind those boundaries I warned you about.”
Gabe scowled at his cousin, suddenly wondering if coming back to Serenity had been as smart a move as he’d once thought it was. “I’m not likely to forget.”
* * *
Chic closed promptly at six on Saturday, though it was usually closer to seven by the time Adelia wrapped up all the chores she felt were necessary before locking up for the night. When she stepped outside, she was stunned to find Gabe leaning casually against the building. He straightened at the sight of her.
Adelia regarded him with confusion. “Were you waiting for me?”
He grinned. “What was your first clue? You know any other pretty women in the neighborhood?”
“Gabe!” she protested. “You have to stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
What was he doing exactly, other than rattling her, that is? Was he flirting? It had been so long since any man had teased and flattered her, she couldn’t be entirely sure.
“Saying things like that,” she told him finally, then started striding down the block with the crazy idea that she might be able to shake him if she walked away quickly enough.
He easily fell into step beside her. “Hasn’t anybody ever told you how beautiful you are?” he inquired curiously.
“Not in a long time,” she admitted wistfully before she could stop herself.
He stared at her incredulously. “Then the men of Serenity are idiots,” he declared.
She smiled at his vehemence. “Or maybe they just had good instincts for self-preservation,” she suggested. “Until recently I was married, remember?”
“So compliments were reserved for your husband?”
“Something like that.”
“And did he lavish you with a lot of them?”
She frowned. She had a hunch he already knew the answer to that. “We’re divorced. What do you think?”
“Then I get to lump him in with all the other idiots,” he said.
Adelia stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. “Gabe, why were you waiting for me? And why are you walking home with me? If we were sixteen, I’d say you were angling to carry my schoolbooks.”
He laughed at that. “If I’d known you back then, I probably would have been.” He pulled the now-rumpled yellow pages from his back pocket. “I thought I could look over these projects of yours and try to get a handle on what needs doing first.”
For a few minutes, Adelia had forgotten all about the renovations and his assignment to take them on.
Gabe was studying her with unmistakable amusement. “Did you forget about these?”
“Temporary lapse,” she assured him.
“Is this a bad time? If you have a date or something...” His voice trailed off as he studied her speculatively.
“No date,” she responded tersely. “And this is as good a time as any. I should warn you, though, that my mother’s at the house with the kids. That might ensure that you’ll get an invitation to a good meal, but it will also come with a lengthy interrogation.”
“I made it through your brother’s. I imagine I can handle whatever your mother asks.”
Adelia regarded him with alarm. “Elliott interrogated you? When?”
“On the day we were looking for Selena. He came by the construction site that evening. He told me he was there to apologize for the way he’d reacted when we stopped by the gym, but it was evident he wanted to clarify a few things for me.”
“Such as?”
“My intentions. His concerns. That sort of protective guy stuff.”
Adelia groaned. “He didn’t! I may have to kill him. He had no business getting in your face like that.”
“Oh, he thought he was being subtle about it, but men are rarely as subtle as they’d like to think when they’re warning people off. I got the message.” He shrugged. “Then we went out for pizza.”
“Men!” she said, shaking her head.
“He just wanted me to know you have someone looking out for you. I don’t imagine he realizes he’s not the only one.”
“Who else?” she asked before she could stop herself.
“Mitch chimed in just a couple of hours ago. He also said there’s some group of women in town, the Sweet Magnolias I think he called them. He said they’d have my hide if I hurt you.”
Adelia actually laughed at that. Though she wasn’t an actual member of that unofficial group of women, she certainly knew them all. She also knew their reputation for protecting their own with a ferocity that was a little terrifying to any rational man in town.
“And yet here you are,” she said. “Risking life and limb by walking through town with me.”
“Darlin’, there are some things worth taking an occasional risk for,” he said.
Then he very deliberately added a wink that rocked her nice, safe world. Adelia actually thought her heart might have come to a complete standstill for a few seconds.
And that, she concluded, should be sufficient warning to send her right back to where her day had started, knowing that she needed to avoid this man at all costs.
Gabe got one whiff of the aromas coming from Adelia’s kitchen and decided that any interrogation that might lie ahead would be well worth it, as long as