Free Thirty-Two and a Half Complications by Denise Grover Swank Page B

to be mad at him when he’d broken into the house with the best of intentions, but now one of my windows needed to be replaced. With money I didn’t have. “I fell asleep.”
    Worry replaced his irritation. “Are you not feeling well?”
    My stomach had been a mess of nerves most of the day, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. “I’m fine, just tired. Bruce Wayne and I had a big demo job today,” I said as I descended the staircase, Muffy bolting ahead to greet Joe.
    He bent down to rub her head. “What do you mean, demo job?”
    “You know how I hired Bruce Wayne and David to help me with the landscaping job at Jonah’s church?” Of course he did. He’d never approved of the decision. “Well, turns out that Bruce Wayne and I both love it. So we started a landscaping side for the nursery and we’ve had plenty of business. We ripped out a bunch of shrubs and bushes today and I got worn out.”
    “You shouldn’t work so hard, Rose. I know you like the planting, so why don’t you hire someone else to help Bruce Wayne with the hard labor?”
    I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at him, shaking my head. “Stop.”
    His mouth parted as I walked past him and into the kitchen to examine the damage.
    The kitchen door had nine rectangular windows on the top. The one directly over the doorknob had been knocked in, and shards of glass littered the wood floor.
    Muffy must have sensed the tension in the room because she headed straight for her dog bed underneath the windows on the back wall, burrowing into it.
    I grabbed the broom and dustpan from the pantry, but when I headed for the mess, Joe blocked my path. “You don’t have any shoes on. You’re going to get cut.”
    I looked down at my feet, forgetting I’d taken my shoes and socks off.
    “I see that you go barefoot even in the winter,” he said, his voice lowering. “I always wondered what it would be like to sleep with you in the winter. Whether you’d put your cold feet on my legs.”
    My back stiffened with anger. “Let’s get one thing straight right now.” I glared and pointed my finger at his shocked face. “You are here for a professional matter, Deputy Simmons . You are here to show me mug shots so that I can point out the man I saw in my vision. If, God willing, I find him, you will figure out how to arrest the man. But let me be perfectly clear: You and I are no longer together. You walked out of my house two months ago. That was the end of us, whether you changed your mind or not. So I will not tolerate your continued intrusion into my personal life and matters. Is that clear?”
    To my surprise, he grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”
    I shoved the broom and dustpan at him. “You broke the window, so you can clean it up.”
    He took them from me, actually chuckling now.
    That was not how I’d expected him to react. With my hands on my hips, I scanned the room. “Where are the mug shots? I’ll look at them while you clean.”
    “Shouldn’t the chief deputy sheriff be the one issuing the orders around here?” he teased.
    “Shut up and give me the mug shots.”
    “I left them in the car. When I saw that the lights were off but your truck was here, I worried something had happened to you.”
    That curbed my anger right quick. “Thanks.”
    “Just doin’ my job, ma’am.” He rested the broom against the kitchen counter. “I’ll get the photos. Leave the mess for me to clean up while you look.”
    “Okay.”
    He headed to the living room and out the front door while I grabbed the tea kettle from the cabinet. After I filled it with water and set it on the stove, I pulled out two cups, tea bags, and a jar of honey, setting them on the counter.
    “Are you actually making me a cup of tea, Ms. Gardner? ” Joe asked when he re-entered the kitchen. “Doesn’t that cross the boundaries you established mere moments ago?”
    I lifted my eyebrows. “Do you want a cup of tea or not?”
    “Yes, ma’am. I do.”
    I scowled. Joe