Real estate agent Joanne McConnell has had her fair share of bad relationships. Her last girlfriend complained she spent too many long hours working and didn’t focus enough on them. Now single again, Joanne still keeps too busy a schedule to meet someone new. That all changes when she’s babysitting for her brother and meets Edie, the contractor he’s hired to fix up his home. There’s no denying the instant attraction between the two women, and Joanne is more than ready to take a chance on someone new. But Edie Davis, sole proprietor of Davis Contractors, was so badly burned by her last girlfriend that she’s sworn off dating altogether. Edie won’t let anything -- or anyone -- distract her from growing her business. She isn’t lonely, she isn’t, so she’s more than surprised when she finds herself falling for Joanne. Joanne’s offer of a business lunch turns into a date on Friday night, the first in months for either of them. Things seem to be going so well for both ladies. Can Edie let herself trust another again? Or will her past relationships screw up any chance of a future with Joanne?

Renovated Heart

Joanne smirked. “Well, I’m not saying we can’t getto that, but actually one of the other agents in my office was giving away tickets to a jazz quartet at a brewery downtown tomorrow night. His brother plays sax or something, I don’t know. I took two thinking I’d give them to Michael so he could take Shelly out for one last date night before the babies came, but I was too late. I’m not really into jazz, but the tickets pay for the cover charge and give us like ten percent off our bill. So dinner, drinks, live music. I mean, you know. What do you think?”


What Edie thought was it sounded better than anything else she could have come up with on her own. The place might be loud, true, but the thought of snuggling up to Joanne in a booth, drinking local beers and eating bar food while listening to live jazz was more romantic than any scene she could think of playing out in a club or bar.


“I’d like that,” she said, surprised that yeah, she really wouldlike it.


Chapter 14