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underlying hint of something medicinal.
    “Yes, that’s my new scent, it’s called Sting Soother No. 5, by Chanel,” she said, and smiled at him.
    He shut the door
    “It’s very becoming,” he said. “But how is the leg?”
    They both looked down at her thigh, which was covered by her Capri pants.
    “It’s fine,” she said. “Thanks to you.”
    She held out the gift bag.
    “I just wanted to stop by and thank you in person for your quick thinking. What you did was exactly right and the fact that it was done so quickly really helped keep down the effect.”
    Archer accepted the bag but said, “You really don’t have to give me anything. I was just making sure nothing happened to you so you could pay me for my work.”
    She laughed.
    “But thank you,” he said.  He glanced up at the clock on the wall.  It was only half past three.
    “I know it’s a little early, but here in the Keys we don’t pay too much attention to official drinking hours and I can see that one of these bottles is chilled.  I say we put it to good use.”
    Archer saw her hesitate and he was sure she was going to decline his offer.
    “Well, I consider you an official caregiver and I think it would be foolish of me to ignore sound medical advice,” she said.  “So yes, I’ll have a glass.”
    He led her to the open kitchen area, retrieved two glasses and uncorked the bottle of chardonnay, then poured them each a glass.
    Justine was looking around his space and she said, “Does a tour come with the glass of wine?”
    “Certainly,” he said.
    “This is an amazing property,” she said.
    “Thanks. It used to be a small cigar factory, then it was a hotel, and then it was turned into a boardinghouse.  When I bought it several years ago, it was mostly empty except for one landlord who occasionally swindled someone into renting one of the rooms.”
    He pointed out the exposed beams in the great room.
    “It took me the better part of two years to rip out all of the rotten wood and the ridiculously bad modifications that had been done over the years,” he said.  “I had pictures of the place back when the cigar people had it, and I thought it was beautiful.  So I kept everything that was original, and tore out all of the crap.  And what I couldn’t save of the original wood, I rebuilt those parts to match.”
    “It’s got a classic beauty.”
    Just like you, he wanted to say.  He continued the tour, showing her some of the interesting original woodwork that he had so carefully restored.  Eventually, they wound up near the set of French doors leading to the rear of the property.
    “And look at your view!” Justine said. 
    He noticed her glass was nearly empty as was his.
    “Let me show you the back,” he said. “But first I’ll grab the bottle of wine.”  He went back into the kitchen, jammed the bottle into a bucket with some ice and brought it out to the back.
    “Archer this is incredible,” Justine said.  He topped off her glass along with his.
    “It was one of the few properties around with this much waterfront,” he said.  “The reason was the cigar folks used to get their tobacco in by pretty big boats, so they refused to sell off any part of the land to developers. And then the hotel people wanted to hold onto it. And the apartment guy was so obnoxious no one could even get him to talk to them about selling off a piece of the property. So it wasn’t until he passed away that it went on the market.  I was lucky in terms of my timing.”
    They sat down at the table facing the ocean. The sun was starting its descent and shadows from the royal palms that bordered each side of the landscaping were beginning to lengthen. The water was calm and a sailboat cruised by in the distance, a few people crowded around the prow, watching for dolphin that loved to put on a show.
    Archer pretended to watch the sailboat but he was looking at Justine’s profile. He felt his face to start warm along with the rest of him.