Asking For Trouble (41 page)

"Exactly...I can't help him with them or
wait it out, because the kids would get hurt. They're my top
priority right now," Jazzie said and her heart twisted in her
chest. It wasn't a decision that part of her anatomy was happy
with, but her brain was firmly on board with it.

"I'll get Gabe to call him and make sure
he's okay," Sabrina told her, then stood up. "You better go get
ready, sounds like you have a busy day ahead of you..."

"Yeah, I do...Bri, thanks for everything,"
Jazzie told her and stood to give her a hug. "I'm sorry things
didn't work out with Beau."

Sabrina pushed back from her and held her
shoulders then asked, "What the hell are you apologizing for? My
brother is the one that's a putz."

"He's not a putz, he's a good man. Beau is
just...broken...and I can't fix him."

"Who knows, maybe he'll figure it out, but
don't wait around on him. You deserve better," Sabrina's told her
with dark blue eyes full of sympathy.

"I won't...but men aren't my priority right
now, the kids are...and probably will be for a long time." Jazzie
knew it was going to be a hell of a long time before she worked
Beau Bowman out of her heart.

An hour later, Jess picked her up in Wade's
truck. Her friend told her the real estate agent was meeting them
at the Blue Bird to go over the listings he'd pulled. If she liked
any of them, they'd go check them out.

"Sabrina told me about a for-sale-by-owner
house over by the school. We're gonna go see that one this
afternoon," Jazzie told Jess with excitement. "It sounded perfect,
but I want to look at everything that's available, then make a
decision."

"Of course, can't buy the first thing on the
rack, right?" Jess said with a snort.

Jazzie laughed and relaxed back against the
seat. This was going to be a good day, one of the best days of her
life, the first day of the rest of her life. Jess pulled the truck
into the police station and parked at the back of the lot, then got
out. Jess hooked her arm through Jazzie's and they walked across
the street.

When they walked inside the cafe, every
booth was filled with smiling townsfolk, and a number of them
glanced at Jess and Jazzie, but went back to their breakfast. Jess
spotted the real estate agent and gave him a little wave, then
pulled Jazzie toward a booth where the silver-haired, slick looking
man in a suit was seated. He looked out of place in the midst of
the other people in the diner, who were mostly farmers and ranchers
dressed in blue jeans and cowboy hats.

When they got near the booth, the man stood
and held his hand out to Jess, and she shook it, then introduced
her. "This is Jazzie Ramos...I hope you found some nice homes for
her to look at," Jess said then slid in the booth, across from the
man. Jazzie took a seat beside her.

"I did find a few, but this time of year,
with school in, there's not much to choose from. If you wait until
summer, people are moving then, and you'd have better choices," he
told her apologetically, then pushed several print outs toward
her.

"I can't wait until then," Jazzie looked up
and told him.

"I see...well, that's the best of what's
available. If you want to move closer to Henrietta, I might be able
to pull more listings for you."

"No, I want to be in Bowie," Jazzie said and
quickly scanned the listings. "You're right, these look like
fixer-uppers...that's not what I'm looking for, I need to move
now."

"There's one in here that you might like,"
He said and took them from her and spread them out, then pulled one
out and handed it to her. "Price is kind of steep, but we can
negotiate it, probably."

"Wow, that is at the top end of my budget,
and it has too much land for me to take care of by myself," she
told him with a shake of her head. Jazzie didn't want something
that was going to break the bank, or require too much maintenance,
she was going to be a busy single mother.

"You could sell off the extra land and put
it toward your mortgage," he suggested, then added, "Or lease it
out to a rancher or farmer to produce some income."

"I'm not going to have a mortgage," she told
him and his eyes widened. Jazzie was frugal, had saved her money
for years. She wasn't independently wealthy, but she had a
comfortable nest egg to buy the house with. At her young age of
twenty-eight, that evidently surprised this man.

"Damn straight she isn't, I'm paying cash
for whatever she wants, so you show her houses, not price ranges,"
Jess said angrily.

"Hell no, you're not!" Jazzie grated and
pinned Jess with her eyes. "I'm doing this on my own, Jess."

"Hell no, you're not! I'm helping you! I owe
you my life, Jazz...and I
finally
have a chance to pay you
back, and dammit, you're going to let me do it!" Jess spat and
crossed her arms over her breasts stubbornly. Jazzie knew that
look, she'd seen it many times in the years she and Jess had been
best friends. Arguing with her when she was like this was like
arguing with a brick wall. Their raised voices and angry words had
attracted the attention of several people at adjacent tables.

They needed to get the hell out of here,
before she and Jess had a knock down, drag out right here in
Sabrina's cafe. Wouldn't that give the town grapevine some fresh
fruit?

"Let's go look at the damned house, and I'll
deal with
her
later," Jazzie told the agent gruffly, then
slid out of the booth. This conversation wasn't over by a long
shot, Jazzie was just putting it on the back burner to simmer,
until they were alone.

Before they even got to the house, Jazzie's
sour mood, and Jess's stiff back, made Jazzie hate the house they
were riding with the agent to go and see. When they arrived, she
opened the car door without a word and stomped up to the front
porch, waiting impatiently for the agent to bring the key.

Jess walked up behind her and grabbed her
shoulder, then spun her around. "Look, what makes you the only one
who can help people? You got a Madonna complex or something?"

"I definitely don't feel like a virgin,
anymore," Jazzie snorted and tilted her chin belligerently.

Jess shook her head and her blond hair
swayed around her shoulders. "You are a mess...you know that's not
what I'm talking about," she said in exasperation, then added with
a grin, "That was a horrible song anyway, I don't know why it was
so popular."

Involuntarily, a matching grin spread over
Jazzie's face. "Yeah it was pretty bad...definitely not a tune for
the violin," she agreed, then added, "But I sure as hell tried to
play it."

"I'm trying to help you, sis...that's all,"
Jess told her softly, then pleaded, "Please let me help you and the
kids..."

Jazzie didn't want to take Jess's offer, but
it looked like it meant a lot to her, and the last thing she wanted
to do was hurt her best friend. "Okay," she capitulated, then
stepped forward and put her arms around Jess's waist. "Thank you,
Jess." Jess hugged her tightly and Jazzie felt tears burning her
eyes.

"I just thank God that I'm able to do it,
Jazzie...we were so broke, for so long, and you helped me crawl out
of the hole I was in...I wouldn't have made it without you. I love
you."

"You don't owe me anything, I did it because
I love you too. I just don't want you feeling like you owe me
anything," Jazzie told her in a trembling voice, and the tears
she'd been holding back escaped.

"Oh, Jesus, not the waterworks, I'm gonna
start leaking too, now stop!" Jess said and pulled her back into a
hug.

"I'm just so happy, Jess...this is what I
want to do, and I can't believe it's all coming together so
fast...but I feel guilty about leaving you," Jazzie said honestly.
The only thing that could make her happiness more complete was
Beau, but she wasn't going to go there. He was not good for her, or
the kids, because he couldn't commit, and being with them wasn't
what he wanted out of life...but damn she missed him already.

"If anyone deserves happiness, sugar, it's
you..." Jess told her firmly, "I'm a big girl, and the band is
great, we'll figure out how to fill in the huge gaping hole you're
gonna leave us with," Jess teased with a chuckle, but Jazzie saw
sadness in her eyes too. This was a big change for both of them,
and there were going to be some growing pains.

"Oh, that made me feel better," Jazzie said
and sniffled, then pulled back from her and wiped her eyes with her
arm.

"Good, now stop worrying, and start
shopping, we've got a house to buy!" Jess told her and hooked her
arm with Jazzie's then led her across the threshold to find the
real estate agent, who'd gone inside ahead of them.

"Wow, I wish this house would've been
available when we were looking," Jess said with awe as she took in
the same thing Jazzie was taking in. The huge kitchen that had been
totally remodeled with stainless steel appliances and marble
countertops.

The cabinets were all walnut with stainless
knobs, and there was a half-circle island in the middle with a
sink. The walls were painted a soft sage green, and there were
muted grapes and leaves stenciled on the walls and range hood. It
had a Tuscan feel to it that was warm and inviting. Jazzie ran her
hand along the smooth, cool marble and walked to open the large
walk-in pantry built into the wall across the room.

"This is an awesome pantry," she said and
flicked on the light, so she could see better. There was another
door at the back of the pantry and she walked back there.

The agent walked into the pantry behind her
and said, "That's a safe room," he told her then added, "The owners
had it installed with the remodel...there's also a state-of-the-art
security system installed. They spent a lot of money on that
system. He's some kind of cop...I guess they were paranoid."

"It's not paranoid," Jazzie said recalling
all that she had been through recently. Having this room to go to
in case of trouble would make her feel safer, especially with the
kids.

"It's locked and I don't have a key, sorry,"
he told her apologetically.

"That's okay, it makes me feel better they
don't hand out keys to it willy nilly," she told him. "Let's go
look at the rest of the house...it's four bedrooms, right?"

"Yes, and three baths. There's a full bath
and a suite on the main level, and another one upstairs. Let's go
have a look," he told her with a smile.

Jazzie and Jess spent an hour in the house,
combing through every inch of the beautiful home. It was bigger
than she had planned to buy, and it wasn't in a neighborhood, but
it was so perfect, she would have a hard time turning it down. The
property was an issue, there were ten acres with the house, but at
least two acres were fenced into a treed back yard. There was even
a wooden play set already set up, that the agent said went with the
property. Jazzie could see a pool back there one day, when she
could afford it. The kids would love that.

"We'll take it," Jess told the man, then
asked, "You have a purchase agreement?"

He looked at Jazzie, then back at Jess, and
asked uncomfortably, "Miss Ramos?"

"You heard my sister, we'll take it," she
told him with a big grin, the added, "But we need to close quick.
How long will it take?"

"Well, fortunately there isn't a mortgage on
it now, so we could close in a week, if we can get a rush title
opinion, and the Seller agrees."

"Offer full price, as long as they agree to
close by next Friday," Jess told him and Jazzie lost her
breath.

"God, Jess...we could negotiate it some, I'm
sure," Jazzie said breathlessly, thinking that they were throwing
away money Jess didn't need to spend.

"They pay the closing costs," Jess added
firmly, then sweetened the deal for Jazzie. "And all the furniture
goes with the house."

"Oh, I don't know if they'll go for that..."
the agent said hesitantly.

"They'll go for it, because we're making
them an offer they'll never get from anyone else. Bowie isn't the
real estate capital of Texas, and this isn't the selling season.
Doesn't look like they're actually living here right now, so I'll
bet they have other furniture."

Jazzie was damned impressed at Jess's
negotiation skills, and that she'd deduced that the owners were
living elsewhere. Now that Jazzie thought about it, the big walk-in
closets in the bedrooms were all empty. Shit, she was good.

"We'll write it up that way and fire it over
their bow, and see what happens," he told her not sounding like he
thought it was going to fly.

"I have another house I'm looking at later
this afternoon, a by-owner home by the school. I need to have their
answer before then, or I'm going to withdraw the offer, and buy the
other one," Jazzie improvised and she saw Jess smile widely.

"What time?" he asked and she heard fear of
losing this sale in his tone.

"Three o'clock, so they have about four
hours to decide," she told him firmly.

"I can write you a five thousand dollar
check for earnest money, if you need that to show we're serious,"
Jess said and unzipped her purse. She flipped open her leather
covered checkbook and quickly filled out a check, then tore it off
and handed it to him smugly.