“None taken. It isn’t really my couch.” She smiled.

“It’s just… Eduardo needs braces. Christen needs a new uniform for football, and now Clara wants to dance. Money’s too tight to let them do everything they want to do, but I don’t want to turn them down. Just because Maddie and I couldn’t see eye to eye doesn’t mean they should suffer. So the job thing’s just got me down. I got passed over for another one today.”

“The private school in Memphis?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No big.” He shrugged.

“Well, I was thinking,” Regan began, to change the subject. “If you were interested, I think I could get you a job on a site. One right here in Nashville.”

“You mean on one of your building sites?” He sat up straighter in his seat.

“Yes, that’s what I mean.” She shook her head. Carlos was a brilliant man, but he kept that in check by acting the imbecile most of the time.

“Sure, college, graduate school. Yeah, I’ve reached the level I could pound nails into wood.” He retrieved another soda from the fridge and drank right from the can this time.

“I didn’t mean to insult you. I just wanted to help.”

“I know. I’ve applied to eight schools in three districts. I’ve already gotten the thanks but no thanks from three of them.”

“Well then, there are five who need to decide you’d be the best for their kids.”

He nodded. “I’ve got three months to do something. My savings is almost depleted, and if Arianna comes back in July and sees the dent in her couch, I’ll have one in my head.”

“You don’t think she already knows you’re sleeping on the couch?”

“No, or she would have had something to say about it by now.”

Regan covered her brother’s hand before he could lift another bite to his mouth. “ I propose if neither of us is on our feet like we want to be by the time she comes back and claims back her house, I’ll spring for the cardboard box, and we’ll live together by the river.”

“Sounds like a fantasy fulfilled.” He lifted the soda can in a salute. “So what’s the job?”

Zach parked his car around the side of his mother’s house near her front rose garden, knowing he’d want to make a quick exit. This would save the hassle of having his car penned in by the guests that would soon be arriving. The grounds were green and manicured. The white pillars on the front porch and the large arched windows welcomed him. He appreciated southern architecture. Wouldn’t it be nice to build a large building with white pillars and arches like the grand old houses had? But steel and glass were the way of it.

He strolled to the front door. He had the tiramisu carefully balanced in his arms and had brought his mother roses. She had gardens of roses of every shape and color, but she loved when they came through the door in tissue paper. Audrey Benson answered the door in her white flowered sundress. A lavish wide-brimmed hat that matched her dress adorned her head like a crown.

She kissed his cheeks and smiled.

“Are those for me?” She took the roses and cradled them in her arms. “They are lovely.”

“And your dessert, ma’am,” he said, shutting the door with his elbow as he watched his mother’s eyes widened with delight.

“You got the tiramisu?”

“You asked me to.”

“It’s beautiful, where did you order it from?”

“Ah, I was going to keep this a secret, but I figure when I fly out on Monday you’ll be on Regan’s phone begging her for contacts.”

“How is it you know me so well?” She headed toward the kitchen, and he followed.

As it had always been, the enormous kitchen, with its miles of dark granite counters, was spotless and clutter free. She had trays of appetizers on the island still covered to keep his father’s fingers from digging into them.

“I have to taste it,” she said as she laid her roses on the counter and then pulled out two small plates from the cupboard.

Zach set down the tray. Toting that dessert around, he’d done nothing but think of Regan. She’d taken the time to prepare something so lavish for a woman she didn’t even know. Thinking of her mixing it together and cutting it into perfect servable squares made him wonder what else she took her time with. Did she keep house as precisely as she kept her desk? Did she sip tea and make cupcakes? Did she make love with the same passion she made desserts?

He shook the thought from his head. Images of Regan licking tiramisu from her fingers nearly had him needing to leave his mother’s presence.

He had desperately wanted to invite her to join him, but she was very straightforward with her attitude about seeing him socially. He didn’t think of the luncheon as a social event—it was more a torture session for Zach. But since it didn’t have to do with business, he knew she would have turned him down flat. Much like the symphony he’d attend the next night. It had seemed like fun when he’d received the tickets, but he’d really wanted to take her. Instead, he’d be taking Madison Fitzpatrick with him.

Nothing against Madison Fitzpatrick. However, her white-blonde hair in its tight knot on the top of her head wasn’t quite the style he looked for when he chose a date. He wanted the dark beauty who sat outside his office to accompany him. Alas, he’d be spending the evening with his mother’s grannyish best friend.

He didn’t blame Regan for not wanting to date her boss, but he couldn’t think of much else. The faces of the two men she’d embraced on Monday still filtered through his mind regularly. Maybe he should ask his mother about that Dr. Curtis, but then he didn’t have a last name to go along with his inquiry. Besides, when his mother gave her time and money, she didn’t do a lot of socializing with people beyond the board of directors.

There was no one but Regan that he could ask about the dark man who’d answered her door. Though the doctor had mentioned another man was worried about her when he’d gone to pick her up from work. His mind was in overdrive. Did the men know about each other? Regan didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would string along lovers.

That thought alone had his head spinning.

A week away from her face would benefit him greatly. As long as hearing her voice on the phone didn’t make him think of her too much, he’d be okay.