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rings, “did I wake you?”
    “Yeah,” he muttered.
    “Good. So why didn’t you let me know you were in town, you crud?”
    He rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know, Rosie. Maybe because I didn’t want you harassing me before I had my coffee.”
    “Okay, meet me at the Blue Star Coffee House in thirty minutes, and I’ll buy you a latte. Then I can harass you with a clear conscience.”
    He managed to shower and shave and pull on a pair of jeans that weren’t too disreputable. Not that Rosie would notice what he was wearing. Particularly if she was set to chew him out over something else, like the way he hadn’t let her know he was working on the King William house.
    He’d expected Rosie to show up with Evan Delwin, her Significant Other, but his sister sat by herself at a corner table, staring out the window at the San Antonio River. The sunlight caught her honey-colored hair, making her look even more like their mother than usual. A gorgeous Irish-American colleen. He’d never been able to figure out why the Riordan genes had managed to trump the Ramos genes in all three of them, but they definitely had. Their last name might be Ramos, but they all looked like they’d just come over from County Cork.
    “Hey, sis, how’s life?” He managed to give her a bland smile. It wouldn’t work, of course. Rosie had been seeing through his smiles since they were kids.
    “Why the hell didn’t you tell me about this house you and Kevin bought? And why are you living over there? Why aren’t you staying with me and Evan?”
    Ray blinked. Rosie’s information was remarkably thorough, given that he hadn’t really discussed this whole thing with anybody but Kevin. “How did you find all of that out?”
    “Oh please, don’t even try to dodge the question. Are you or are you not living in that house you’re renovating?” She narrowed her eyes.
    He shrugged. “Yeah. I’m sleeping upstairs. It’s no big deal.”
    “Yes it is. Why didn’t you let me know? You’re only a few blocks away. We’ve got plenty of room. Hell, you could have an entire wing.”
    Rosie and Evan lived in a large Victorian mansion that had once belonged to Grandma Caroline Riordan. Ray probably
could
have had an entire wing, assuming he didn’t mind having Rosie monitoring his every move. He wasn’t sure when she’d moved into substitute mom position—probably when his parents had taken off on their cruise.
    “I’m fine where I am. It gives me a chance to work whenever I’ve got the time. Besides, I figured you and Evan might like some privacy.” They had only been together a few months.
    “As it happens, Evan’s on a book tour. He won’t be back until the end of next week, and then he takes off again a few days later. So you’d have lots of privacy, unless you wanted company.”
    Ray took a swallow of his coffee. “I’m fine, Rosie. I’m comfortable. It helps to be where I’m working in case I want to get started early or work late.”
    She settled back in her chair, sighing. “So what’s with this house. Is it a good deal?”
    “Kevin thinks so. I think it’ll sell for a lot once we get it fixed up, but it’s got more
fixer upper
problems than we first thought.”
    “What kind of problems?”
    He shrugged. “Stuff that needs to be ripped out. Sheetrock walls, old carpeting, seventies wood paneling. Plus there’s some windows to replace, some molding to fix. Stuff like that.”
    She licked a bit of whipped cream off her upper lip. “And you’re worried about it?”
    He tried for nonchalance. “Not particularly.”
    “Bullshit.” She gave him a slow grin. “I grew up with you, remember? I know when something is bugging you.”
    He sighed. “I wish we hadn’t committed quite so much money on this, but I think we’re going to come out ahead. It’s going to take more time than I figured to get it in shape, though.”
    “How much more time?”
    “A few weeks.” His gut tightened slightly. Thank God they’d picked