LITMIR.BIZ

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prepared for it. Maybe he was being too suspicious, Stone told himself.

      “I’m afraid the woman I’m giving your name to isn’t available during the daytime,” Maizie told him. “At least, not until the weekend. She’s busy taping her program during the day,” Maizie explained.

      “Her program?” Stone repeated, confused.

      This was a lot like talking to Virginia, he thought, wondering if vague obscurity was a gender thing or if he was just slow, the way Virginia had accused him of being. Either way, he was in need of either a further explanation—or subtitles.

      “Yes, she has a daily cooking show broadcast on a cable network and right now, her weekdays are taken up taping the program before a studio audience. When she first came out here and signed her contract,” Maizie continued proudly, “I sold her this lovely house. That was about six months ago.

      “I got her a really good deal on the house, but that was because the owner was in a hurry to sell. The house needed a lot of work and it was sold as is. She didn’t have the time then, or, I suspect, the money, for repairs. The poor dear was just starting out. But the program’s doing really well and she feels that she can finally afford to have the house fixed up the way she’d like.” Maizie paused for a moment, letting that all sink in before she asked him, “Are you interested, Mr. Scarborough?”

      It was work. He was more than interested. “Yes, of course I am.” But he had a question of his own. “Don’t you want to see some of my work before you refer me to someone?”

      She liked the fact that he was cautious and that he wasn’t trying to rush her into any sort of an agreement. For her part, she had already researched his background and had seen all she needed to. Virginia Scarborough had shown her a photograph of her brother and given her enough background information to get her started in the right direction.

      She felt she had the perfect match for Ginny’s father. Matches usually didn’t present themselves this quickly. They ordinarily took a little time. However, this time she’d thought of Danni almost immediately.

      That, to her, was a very good sign.

      “Your sister and daughter speak quite highly of you, Mr. Scarborough.”

      “And that’s enough?” he asked rather skeptically.

      “Yes,” Maizie told him with feeling, and then added with a slight chuckle, “of course, what I saw on your webpage didn’t exactly hurt, either.”

      “My webpage?” Stone echoed, confused. He turned to look quizzically at his sister as he said it. This was all news to him.

      “Yes, your sister very kindly gave me the URL address. I must say it was very impressive, Mr. Scarborough,” Maizie said warmly. “If my house was in need of work, I would hire you in a minute.”

      He supposed that was good news, but he was still a little confused. “Thanks,” he murmured belatedly.

      Poor man was probably still trying to figure out what hit him, Maizie thought, amused.

      “So, do I have your permission to pass your name on to my client?” she asked. Maizie had learned that it never paid to appear to take things for granted. People liked the illusion of being in charge of their own fate—even when they weren’t.

      “Yes, of course,” Stone said with feeling. If this was on the level—and it was beginning to sound that way—he definitely wanted the work. He made a point of never turning anything down.

      “Wonderful,” Maizie said, enthused. “I’m sure you’ll be hearing from her shortly,” she promised. “Just so you know, her name is Danni Everett.”

      “Danni Everett,” he repeated.

      Despite what the woman on the other end of the line had said about a cooking program on one of the cable channels, the name was not familiar to him. But then, he didn’t exactly spend his days watching cable channels or any other channels for that matter. When he wasn’t working—or trying to land work—he spent time with Ginny. That meant being outdoors, not locked in some room with the TV on, tuned to some brain-crushing program.

      Stone politely ended the call and then turned to look at his sister again.

      “My webpage?” he asked. “I thought we were going to discuss that.” The last he remembered, he’d told Virginia he’d get back to her. She’d obviously decided to go on without him.

      “We did discuss it,” Virginia told him innocently. “You said we’d talk about it when you had time. I decided that would take too long so I just put a few simple things together. You can change it any way you want.”

      “Oh, thanks,” he said sarcastically.

      Virginia sighed. Stone had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the present century for his own good. “Look, I do your accounting for you. I’ve got access to all your old jobs and the before-and-after photos you always take.”

      Photos, he thought, that his sister had insisted he take before and after undertaking each job that came his way in order to keep an accurate record of the work that he did do. He was a detail man only insofar as the actual construction work that he did. The other details, organizing the before-and-after photographs, keeping them readily accessible, well, he wasn’t so good at that. But luckily, he now had to admit, Virginia was.

      And apparently, she’d put that talent to work. But Stone didn’t want her thinking she was off the hook just yet.

      “Just how long has this webpage been up?” he asked.

      “About a week,” Virginia answered. However, she avoided looking at him when she said it.

      “No, it’s longer than that, Aunt Virginia,” Ginny piped up. “You told Maizie it was up for two months.”

      Virginia offered her brother a forced smile. “I exaggerated,” she told him.

      “To whom?” he asked. “Her or me?”

      “Um…”

      The time didn’t matter as much as the actual deed. “The point is, Virginia, you put up the webpage without telling me.”

      “I was waiting for the right time to tell you,” she answered. It looked as if she had waited too long. With a sigh of surrender, she said, “I guess this is it.”

      Virginia took her netbook out of her purse, turned it on and then typed in the appropriate address. Once the website was up, she turned the computer around so that the screen faced him.

      “What do you think?”

      Stone took in the various photographs he’d taken of his work, work he was very proud of and with good reason. Still, he shrugged carelessly. “Not bad.”

      That sounded like typical Stone, Virginia thought. He wasn’t exactly heavy-handed with his praise. Nonetheless, she splayed a hand over her chest, tilting her head back dramatically as she cried, “Oh, be still my heart. I don’t know if I can handle such heady praise.”

      Stone got the message. And, in all honesty, the website did look rather impressive. She’d done a commendable job.

      “Okay, good.” He paused. “Better than good,” he amended.

      Virginia did a rapid movement with her hand, urging him on. “Keep going,” she coaxed.

      The phone rang just then. “Later,” he told his sister. Taking his cell out again, he answered the call. “Hello?”

      “Is this Scarborough Construction?” an exceedingly melodic voice on the other end of the call asked.

      He thought he detected just a trace of a Southern accent in the woman’s voice. He caught himself trying to place it.

      “Yes,” he replied, wondering if this was the woman the Realtor had just told him about. Could she have gotten back to them so quickly?

      He

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