Blue Dahlia

had a couple of years to grill me. Didn’t figure I’d have to go through this part of it again at my age.”
    “Of course you don’t.” Jolene gave her husband a little slap on the arm. “He’s just teasing. Stella can support herself and those boys just fine. And you wouldn’t be here looking so irritated if you didn’t love her. I guess one question, if you don’t mind me asking, is how you feel about being stepfather to her boys.”
    “About the same way, I expect, you feel being their stepgrandmother. And if I’m lucky, they’ll feel about me the way they do about you. I know they love spending time with you, and I hear their Nana Jo bakes cookies as good as David’s. That’s some compliment.”
    “They’re precious to us,” Will said. “They’re precious to Stella. They were precious to Kevin. He was a good man.”
    “Maybe it’d be easier for me if he hadn’t been. If he’d been a son of a bitch and she’d divorced him instead of him being a good man who died too young. I don’t know, because that’s not the case. I’m glad for her that she had a good man and a good marriage, glad for the boys that they had a good father who loved them. I can live with his ghost, if that’s what you’re wondering. Fact is, I can be grateful to him.”
    “Well, I think that’s just smart.” Jolene patted Logan’s hand with approval. “And I think it shows good character, too. Don’t you, Will?”
    On a noncommittal sound, Will pulled on his bottom lip. “You marry my girl, am I going to get landscaping and such at the family rate?”
    Logan’s grin spread slowly. “We can make that part of the package.”
    “I’ve been toying with redoing the patio.”
    “First I’ve heard of it,” Jolene muttered.
    “I saw them putting on one of those herringbone patterns out of bricks on one of the home shows. I liked the look of it. You know how to handle that sort of thing?”
    “Done a few like it. I can take a look at what you’ve got now if you want.”
    “That’d be just fine.” Will pushed back from the table.

twenty-one

    STELLA CHEWED AT IT, STEWED OVER IT, AND WORRIED about it. She was prepared to launch into another discussion regarding the pros and cons of marriage when Logan came to pick up the boys at noon.
    She knew he was angry with her. Hurt, too, she imagined. But oddly enough, she knew he’d be by—somewhere in the vicinity of noon—to get the kids. He’d told them he would come, so he would come.
    A definite plus on his side of the board, she decided. She could, and did, trust him with her children.
    They would argue, she knew. They were both too worked up to have a calm, reasonable discussion over such an emotional issue. But she didn’t mind an argument. A good argument usually brought all the facts and feelings out. She needed both if she was going to figure out the best thing to do for all involved.
    But when he hunted them down where she had the kids storing discarded wagons—at a quarter a wagon—he was perfectly pleasant. In fact, he was almost sunny.
    “Ready for some man work?” he asked.
    With shouts of assent, they deserted wagon detail for more interesting activities. Luke proudly showed him the plastic hammer he’d hooked in a loop of his shorts.
    “That’ll come in handy. I like a man who carries his own tools. I’ll drop them off at the house later.”
    “About what time do you think—”
    “Depends on how long they can stand up to the work.” He pinched Gavin’s biceps. “Ought to be able to get a good day’s sweat out of this one.”
    “Feel mine! Feel mine!” Luke flexed his arm.
    After he’d obliged, given an impressed whistle, he nodded to Stella. “See you.”
    And that was that.
    So she chewed at it, stewed over it, and worried about it for the rest of the day. Which, not being a fool, she deduced was exactly what he’d wanted.
     
    THE HOUSE WAS ABNORMALLY QUIET WHEN SHE GOT home from work. She wasn’t sure she liked it. She showered off the day, played with the baby, drank a glass of wine, and paced until the phone rang.
    “Hello?”
    “Hi there, is this Stella?”
    “Yes, who—”
    “This is Trudy Kitridge. Logan’s mama? Logan said I should give you a call, that you’d be home from work about this time of day.”
    “I ... oh.” Oh, God, oh, God. Logan’s mother ?
    “Logan told me and his daddy he asked you to marry him. Could’ve knocked me over with a feather.”
    “Yes, me, too. Mrs. Kitridge, we haven’t