“I’m not that interesting.”

“You’d be surprised.”

THE SPORTS BAR CROWD groaned as the Mariners left two men on base. Walker ignored the game and walked toward the bar. His brother Reid leaned against the polished wood of the bar and smiled at the herd of women surrounding him.

When Reid spotted Walker, he slipped away from his adoring fans and promised he would be back later.

“You haven’t been in for a while,” Reid said as the two brothers claimed an empty corner table. “Getting lucky?”

Walker ignored that and ordered a beer from the busty, blond waitress who paused by their table.

“I’m good,” Reid told her and then turned his attention back to Walker. “Well?”

“I’m busy.”

“So you’re not getting any.” He motioned to the many women in the bar. “See anything you like here?”

“What do they see in you?” he asked.

“They think I’m charming.”

Walker wasn’t so sure about that, but Reid’s many years as a major league pitcher certainly helped his score quotient.

“But enough about me,” Reid said. “You’ve been back, what? Three months? All I know about is one short fling that lasted maybe two nights. It’s just not natural for a man to be alone, especially when he doesn’t have to be. You’ve got the soldier thing going for you. Plus, hey, you’re a Buchanan.”

“You don’t have anyone special in your life,” Walker pointed out.

Reid held up both hands. “I’m not talking about special. Who needs that? Just a little something to take your mind off things. It might help you adjust to life in the real world.”

“What makes you think I’m having any trouble adjusting?”

Reid shrugged. “I did. It’s a bitch to go from the roaring crowd chanting my name to this.”

“You’re doing okay.”

Reid’s stark expression said okay wasn’t good enough.

“It’s your first season out,” Walker said. “It’ll get easier.”

The waitress appeared with the beer. Walker took it and thanked her.

“You think it’s going to get easier for you?” Reid asked. “You want to tell me you don’t still dream about the bombs and the fear and the waiting for the next sniper shot?”

Walker never talked about his time in the military, but he wasn’t surprised to hear Reid’s accurate assessment of his life. He’d been in several hot spots. How hard was it to guess the big picture?

“It’s different,” he said.

“Agreed, but it’s still an adjustment.”

Around them the crowd cheered a home run. Reid didn’t bother to look at the giant TV screens.

“Are you sorry you left?” Reid asked.

Walker could read between the lines. He’d had a choice. Reid hadn’t. Once he blew out his shoulder, it was all over.

“I made the right decision,” Walker said slowly. “There are things I miss about the Marines, but not the killing. Every man has a line. If he crosses it, he becomes a psychopath. I was getting too damn close.”

“So what do you do now?” Reid asked. “After you find Ashley?”

Walker shrugged.

“Penny did twenty minutes on how you put the baby furniture together,” Reid told him. “You’re good at that kind of stuff. Maybe you should buy an old house and fix it up.”

“I’ve thought about it.”

He wasn’t ready to move just yet. He liked where he lived.

Damn—he was in big trouble if he was lying to himself. It wasn’t the place he liked, it was Elissa. Her and that stupid chicken on her uniform. How she’d looked so fierce, standing on his porch with her baseball bat. He wasn’t anyone who needed protecting, but she hadn’t thought of that. She’d just decided he was in trouble and had come to the rescue.

He hadn’t met anyone like her in a long time—maybe ever. Determined and independent with a heart as hard as a marshmallow. She was sexy as hell, too. Especially when she earnestly explained why she wasn’t interested in dating or ha**g s*x with him.

But he wasn’t going to act on it. He knew better than to get involved. Things would only end badly for her and he didn’t want that.

“I know some twins,” Reid said into the silence. “Interested?”

Walker rolled his eyes. “Not all problems can be solved with sex.”

Reid grinned. “Most of them can.”

“I’M READY FOR MORE vegetables, dear,” Mrs. Ford said from her place at Elissa’s kitchen table.

Elissa glanced over at the nearly full salad bowl. “You made quick work of everything.”

“It’s all in the right tools.” The older woman held up a unique little gadget that looked like a cross between garden shears and kitchen scissors. “I saw this Toss and Chop on QVC and knew I had to have it.”

Elissa stirred the pasta, making sure it cooked evenly. There was a nice marinara sauce with a whisper of meat—a scant quarter pound she hadn’t put in the chili.

“I felt kind of guilty at the mall today,” she admitted. “Like a fashion spy or something.”

“Why? You went into the store, you saw what was popular and you left. Hardly a crime.”

“I know. If I could afford to buy Zoe’s clothes, I would. But one of the dresses I looked at cost forty-five dollars. It’s not even two yards of fabric.”

Instead, she’d gone into the popular stores and checked out the various hot styles. Once home, she’d sketched out a few things to make herself. She wanted to make sure her daughter felt good about her clothes when she started kindergarten. Elissa still remembered the year she’d turned eleven and had shot up a couple of inches practically overnight. She’d gone to school with jeans that were too short and had been teased mercilessly. To this day, she still remembered crying all the way home.

Growing up was challenging enough. She was going to do her best to make sure Zoe avoided all possible pitfalls.

“Jeans and T-shirts are easy,” Elissa said. “Thank goodness for Wal-Mart. But the rest of it…”

“You’ll do fine. Have you seen Walker recently?”

Elissa stirred the sauce. “Not your smoothest transition.”

“I’m old and therefore allowances are made. Have you?”

“Not really.” Not if one didn’t count his recent visit to the restaurant. She didn’t want to get into the reason why he’d been there and if she left that out, Mrs. Ford was likely to assume things were heating up, which they weren’t.

“You should consider him,” Mrs. Ford said. “You’ve often mentioned that Zoe needs a father figure in her life.”

If Elissa had been swallowing, she would have choked. “You’re suggesting Walker for the job?”

“Why not? He’s an honorable man.”

Elissa could imagine him doing a lot of things, but being a surrogate father to a five-year-old little girl? “There’s more to it than just being honorable. He’s not exactly emotionally accessible.”

“Neither are you, dear.”

“Ouch.”

Mrs. Ford shook her head. “I’m sorry if that sounded harsh, and I apologize in advance for speaking my mind. Elissa, you’re living like a nun. It’s not natural for a woman your age. You have a perfectly attractive, healthy man living less than ten feet over your head. You should do something about that. Use it or lose it, I always say.”

Elissa didn’t know what to think. Parts of her brain actually froze. Was her ninety-something neighbor suggesting she have sex with Walker? Sex?

“Actually, you don’t say that,” Elissa managed at last. “You said I had to be in love first. While I appreciate the advice…” Sort of. “The thing is, I don’t want Zoe hurt. I don’t want her to get attached only to have the guy leave.”

“Not all men leave.”

True. Sometimes you had to kick them out yourself.

Mrs. Ford’s dark eyes narrowed. “It’s important for Zoe to know what a healthy romantic relationship looks like. She needs to understand how a man and woman relate to each other.”

“That’s why we watch television,” Elissa said cheerfully. “There are plenty of perfect families there.”

CHAPTER FOUR

SATURDAY ELISSA ARRIVED home with Zoe only to find Mrs. Ford standing on the front porch. It was warm and the old lady shouldn’t be out in the sun. The fact that she was gave Elissa a bad feeling.

“What’s wrong?” Elissa asked as she got out of the car.

“It’s the plumbing, dear,” Mrs. Ford said with a sigh. “It’s all backed up. I spoke to the answering service. Our landlord is on a cruise and the usual plumber isn’t answering his page. The service is trying to get someone here on an emergency basis, but they keep pointing out that it’s Saturday and it’s very expensive for that kind of call.”

Elissa groaned. Was that their way of only pretending to make the call?

“Let me call them,” she said. “Zoe, honey, stay out here with Mrs. Ford.”

“Why?” her daughter asked.

“Because when the plumbing backs up, it gets really stinky.”

Mrs. Ford smiled. “Stinky is a very good word.”

Seattle’s other name—the Emerald City—came from the abundance of trees and lots of rain. But the rain mostly fell in winter. Summer could be hot and sunny for weeks at a time, like now. Unfortunately, most apartments weren’t air-conditioned—no one thought it was worth the expense for only a few weeks out of the year.

Which meant Elissa’s apartment was not only stinky, it was stifling when she went inside.

The smell was thick and disgusting. She had the feeling it would never wash out of her hair. She quickly went around the apartment and opened all the windows, then did the same in Mrs. Ford’s place. On her tour, she noted that every sink and both tubs were backed up.

The same thing had happened right after she’d moved in. Tree roots caused the problem. A quick visit by the plumber with some nifty tool had cleared things up, leaving only the mess to contend with. She had an unfortunate feeling this time wasn’t going to be so easy.

“Elissa?”

She heard Walker calling her name and walked toward the sound. She found him in her kitchen.

“Hi,” she said. “Welcome to the neighborhood. Any chance I can convince you not to flush or run water?”

Being the upstairs apartment, Walker wouldn’t have the backup, although anything he did up there would spill into her place.

“Mrs. Ford said she didn’t think the service was trying that hard to find a plumber,” he said by way of answering.

“Apparently our usual guy isn’t answering his page. I was just going to call them and give them a stern talking-to. I’m guessing this is caused by tree roots. Our main line runs across the driveway and then into the grove of trees on the east side of the property. At least that’s what it was last time.”

Walker checked out her kitchen sink, then asked, “Do you know where the trap is?”

“Sure.”

She led the way outside. Zoe danced over to stare at Walker. “Can you fix the stinky plumbing?”

Elissa held in a smile. Later she would explain that the plumbing itself wasn’t the culprit.

“I’m going to try,” he said.

Zoe’s eyes widened. “You can do that?”

“We’ll see.”

Elissa showed him the trap.

“I’ll go rent a snake,” he said. “Let’s see if that fixes the problem.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she told him, even as she thought she should keep her mouth shut. After all, Walker would get the job done a lot faster than a long argument with the service, then sitting around and waiting on a plumber.

“What’s a snake going to do?” Zoe asked. “Do you have a cage for it? I don’t like snakes.”

“It’s not a real snake,” Elissa told her daughter. “It’s the name of a special tool.”

Walker smiled. “I’ll show you when I get back.”

“Okay.” Zoe looked doubtful.

“I should have this fixed in an hour,” Walker told Elissa. “Why don’t you ladies go get lunch or something? It’s too hot to be standing outside and you don’t want to go inside with that smell.”

He had a point. Mrs. Ford already looked a little flushed.

“I’ll leave the back door open in case you need to get in the house,” Elissa said.

“Thanks.”

Five minutes later they were in a blissfully cool fast-food restaurant. As Zoe stared at the kids’ menu and tried to decide on lunch, Mrs. Ford nudged Elissa in the ribs.

“Father figure,” she mouthed.

Elissa grinned. “I know. Who can resist a man with a snake?”

THREE HOURS LATER the pipes were clear and the last of the mess had been cleaned up. Elissa had insisted that Mrs. Ford keep her afternoon movie date with her friends.

After scrubbing out the tub three times, Elissa doused the whole thing in bleach. Still, she was going to have Zoe shower for a few days, until the pipe backup cooties were all gone.

She wandered over to Mrs. Ford’s apartment where Walker stood at the sink, rinsing the old porcelain.

“You didn’t have to do the cleanup,” she said. “We’re so grateful to have drainage again. That was enough.”