“Well, you always have been different than everyone else.” His voice turned husky. “And in a very good way.”

“Joe,” I warned, turning my attention back to the furnace.

“In any case, you need to be more careful and lock your doors during the day. You have a better-than-average chance of an intruder while those bank robbers are on the loose.”

I scowled at him. “What are you doing here, Joe?”

“Just performing my duty as a public servant.”

“More like hoping to catch me alone while Mason’s at work.”

“No…” he protested half-heartedly. “I was patrolling in the area and decided to make sure there hadn’t been any break-in attempts and that Muffy was okay.”

“Muffy is just fine.” The traitor jumped on his leg as if on command, begging for his attention. “And I didn’t realize high-ranking sheriff’s deputies were asked to do patrols. Sounds like you need to renegotiate your contract.”

He laughed. “What are you doing down here?”

“The pilot light keeps going out. I was about to relight it.”

“That shouldn’t be happening. Why don’t you let me look?”

I wasn’t sure that was a good idea, but I couldn’t afford to have a repair man make a service call. Maybe he could give me a preliminary diagnosis so I’d have some idea what I was facing. When I started to get to my feet, Joe offered me his hand, but I ignored it and stepped back to give him room, brushing my hands off on my jeans.

He took off the front panel and poked around for several minutes. “This thing is ancient. I can’t believe it’s still running, but I think I’ve figured out your problem.”

I groaned. That didn’t sound good. “How bad is it?”

“Honestly, you need a new furnace, but the immediate problem is there’s a scale buildup around your pilot light. If we scrape it off, you can make it limp along a little while longer.”

“And how much would a new furnace cost?”

“Several thousand dollars.”

“I don’t have that kind of money,” I said before I thought to stop myself.

He turned around to face me, shock in his eyes. “What about your inheritance?”

“I don’t get access to all of it at once, remember? And I’ve used up what’s available to me until I turn thirty. That’s why I considered selling the farm last month. To pay for the expansion of the nursery. But then we got the SBA grant.” I scowled. “But you know all about that.”

He looked exhausted. “Rose, I swear to you I didn’t know anything about my father setting up the campaign stop at the nursery or the strings attached to the SBA grant until it was too late.”

Joe’s father had arranged the whole thing just to ensure I knew Joe and Hilary were back together…as well as to give Joe a not-so-veiled threat that something bad could and would happen to me if he didn’t stay in line. While I’d seen glimpses of the real Joe before, that day he’d shown up with the veil completely thrown off. I had seen Joe in all his non-glory.

Not that it mattered. What was done was done. “The SBA grant can only be used toward the expansion at the store and, like I said, the rest of my inheritance is off limits to me for years. The money has to come from somewhere else.”

“Rose, you know I can help—”

“Stop right there. You’ll do nothing.”

Strangely enough, he kept silent.

I waved toward the furnace. “So I can scrape the scales off? If I do, how much longer will it last?”

“A few weeks? Another year? It’s hard to say.” He reached for the gas valve. “I thought I saw a screwdriver over by the washing machine. Can you bring it to me?”

I knew I should tell him to step away from my furnace and leave, but he was about to save me a huge repair bill. When I handed him the screwdriver, he took it without comment, then bent over and poked around inside the bottom of the giant tank. Within several minutes, he had the pilot light reignited. “That should fix it for now, but like I said, this thing’s old.” He replaced the cover at the bottom and turned to face me, looking serious. “You should ask Mason to help pay for it if he’s living with you. It seems reasonable.”

“No. Our living situation isn’t permanent. He’s just helping with utilities and food until he finds a new place.” Why had I told him that?

“How long has he been living here? Is he even looking for another place? You can bet I wouldn’t be if I were in his shoes. I’d be stalling just like he is.”

“And thank you for that confirming character assessment.”

“Hey.” He held his hands out at his sides. “When a man knows what he wants, he goes for it. Full throttle.”

“And maybe that’s the problem.” I shook my head. I didn’t want to discuss us anymore. “For the record, he’s been waiting on his insurance check, but it should be arriving soon, so his mother is coming next week to help him look.”

Joe laughed. “His mother?”

“Shut up.” I rolled my eyes, heading for the stairs. “You’re one to talk, Mr. I-Let-My-Daddy-Run-My-Life.”

“That was different,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, Mason’s sweet mother is coming to help him out, while your father’s like Attila the Hun—determined to conquer and destroy everything in his path. Sounds pretty different to me.”