Crazy for You Read online

  “Really nice.” Barbara smiled. “Taking care of her like that. I’d love to have dinner.”

  “Terrific,” Nick said, and wondered why if everything was going his way, he felt so lousy.

  Bill stood on the porch of the Apple Street house after school—he was never going to call it Quinn’s and she wasn’t going to be there much longer anyway—waiting for Quinn to answer the bell. He was happier than he’d been since she’d moved out, happier really than before she’d moved out, because his life was finally completely on track and he was really paying attention. Spring was in the air, they had a whole future to plan, everything was going to be—

  The door swung open and Quinn stood there in a paint-stained chambray shirt, a two-inch paintbrush in her hand. She looked flushed and beautiful, and just for a moment she took his breath away and he wanted to touch her so much—

  “Bill?”

  “You look great,” he said.

  The damn dog came snuffling up and growled at him. “Quiet, Katie,” Quinn said. She wasn’t smiling at him at all. Well, that would change.

  “Get your coat.” He grinned at her, encouraging her to smile, too. “I have something to show you.”

  “Bill—” She stopped, looking at him as if she was angry. “I’m not in the mood for this. I’ve had a really bad day.”

  “It’ll only take a minute.” His grin widened. “This will turn your day around.”

  “I doubt it.” She took a step back and began to close the door. “I have to go.”

  “Wait a minute.” He put his hand against the door to hold it open. “You don’t understand. I found us a house.”

  “You what?”

  “I found us a house.” This was going to be great. “It’s in the development behind the school, walking distance from both the high school and the elementary. The kids’ll have to ride the bus to junior high, but that’s okay.”

  Quinn looked stunned. “What kids?”

  “Our kids.” He almost laughed, she looked so surprised. He’d just swept her right off her feet. “It’s a great house. Four bedrooms, big backyard, huge basement—”

  “Bill, we’re not having any kids.”

  “—and wait’ll you see the family room, the kids—”

  “Bill!”

  He stopped, jerked out of his plans by her scowl.

  “We’re not having any kids,” she said. “And I’m not buying a house with you. I bought this one yesterday. You can buy that one, but I already bought this one. So we’re not buying one together. We’re not doing anything together.” She stopped, and he could hear the blood pound in his ears. “I’m sorry, but I’ve told you over and over. We’re not getting back together.”

  “How could you buy this house?” he said.

  “Bill, I told you I was going to—”

  “How did you get the loan?” he asked before he could stop himself, and she grew still.

  “I had to put more money down,” she said finally. “Was that your idea?”

  There was something pressing on his chest, making it hard to breathe and hard to see, too, for some reason. “Quinn, you shouldn’t be here alone,” he began and then his mind went blank because he couldn’t explain that it was for her own good, that he hadn’t really done it, that she shouldn’t hate him—

  The damn dog nosed its way past her leg and began to bark at him.

  “You screwed up my loan,” she said over the dog’s yapping. “You keep calling the city on me, you had Bobby threaten me with Jason, and you stole my dog three times—”

  “No,” he said, trying to make her listen.

  “—Stay out of my life.”

  Quinn slammed the door and left him alone on her porch, trying to breathe in enough air so he could say the words that would bring her back, but his lungs just couldn’t suck enough in.

  It’ll be all right, he told himself as his mind slid around the panic. It would be okay. So the new house was out, well, that was all right, maybe this house wouldn’t be that bad. Really, it wasn’t that bad. It was small, he didn’t know how many bedrooms, but maybe they could build on. Yeah, that was it. They could build on.

  He walked off the porch and around the side of the house to the gate to the backyard, walking carefully because he felt a little dizzy. The backyard wasn’t huge, but it was big enough for the kids until they got to junior high age and then they’d be at the school most of the time anyway. Lots of room to run drills at the school. A small backyard here would mean less to mow. That was good. They could put an addition on, an extra bath and bedroom above, a family room below, and still have enough room for a deck. Not a problem. He should have been more flexible from the beginning. It was his fault. He should have listened to her. He felt much calmer. This house was fine.

  He turned to go back toward the gate and saw movement in the kitchen. He moved closer to the side window and squinted through the lace curtain. It was hard to see because the light wasn’t on inside, but he could make out Quinn at the sink, working her hands back and forth on something, probably the brush, probably cleaning the brush. He stood and watched for a while as she bent over the sink, the curve of her bottom so familiar he felt as if he could reach out and pat her, just like he used to, except he never had, he realized. He wasn’t a patter, Quinn hadn’t seemed like a woman who wanted patted, but now he wanted to. He felt closer to her now than he had when he’d been with her, maybe because she didn’t know he was there so she couldn’t shut him out, couldn’t make her eyes go blank the way she always did now when he tried to talk to her. He couldn’t understand it; he was giving her so much time. When was she going to stop this and let him back in?

  It started to rain, and when he looked up, Patsy Brady had come out to take in her crummy lawn furniture and was looking at him with interest. This is ridiculous, he told himself and ignored her to head back to the car. Anyone would think he’d lost Quinn. Things were going to be fine. He’d be patient and understanding and things would be fine. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t get in to her. He could get in any time.

  He trudged back to the car, reminding himself to call Bucky and tell him the house hunt was off and thinking about packing his stuff for the move to Quinn’s house. He probably wouldn’t need all of it since she’d acquired some extra furniture, but a lot of that was hand-me-downs and junk that she might not want after he brought her their pine furniture from the apartment. They’d have to talk it over when he got ready to move.

  Just thinking about talking things over with Quinn again made him feel better. He imagined their conversations all the way home.

  “Heard the Bank Slut’s dating your husband,” Lois said in the break room of the Upper Cut the next day.

  Darla’s heart leaped to her throat, but she forced herself to lean back against the couch and say, “Did you now?” as if it didn’t matter. Max.

  “Took her to dinner Monday night,” Lois said with smug satisfaction. “The Anchor Inn. She had lobster.”

  “Anybody who has lobster at the Anchor Inn deserves what she gets.” Darla concentrated on keeping her breathing even. “So how’s Matthew?”

  Lois’s satisfaction faded. “He’s moved back in,” she said, her chin in the air. “I’m taking him back.”

  “Good for you,” Darla said. You deserve each other.

  “We’ll see,” Lois said. “We’ll just see how he acts.” She didn’t seem particularly pleased.

  Quinn breezed in and pushed past her to sit in the armchair across from Darla. “Hey, Lois,” she said. “What’s new?”

  “Matthew moved back in, and Max took Barbara to dinner,” Darla said calmly, meeting Quinn’s startled eyes without a flicker.

  “Interesting,” Quinn said, and shut up until Lois gave up and left. Then she said, “Max did what?”

  “Lois said he took her to dinner Monday night.” Darla swallowed. “Lobster at the Anchor Inn.”

  Quinn looked miserable. “He’s trying to make you mad.”

  “It’s