That evening Miri was scheduled to perform a séance. Jolene convinced both Freddy and Sally to attend. She told them she had an idea how Sally could get the money she needed for the house payment, and she would explain it to them at the bar tonight when the third person involved would also be there. Now we just had to figure out how to also get Dex to the bar this evening. And naturally the ladies decided that was my assignment.

I called Destiny and told her about her ex's visit. I figured I owed it to her to give her a heads up he was in town. She wasn't surprised. I ask if she had a number where she could reach him. She did so I asked her to tell him I had a lead on a room he could rent, but he needed to come to the bar tonight to get the details or someone else might beat him to it.

The bar was crowded as it always is on séance night. I was behind the bar at the far end when Dex came in so it took a minute for him to spot me and he had to weave his way through the crowd to get back to me. He squeezed his way into a spot at the very end of the bar and I worked my way over to him.

"Want a beer?" I asked.

"Sure. That IPA I had this afternoon was good. Destiny said you had a lead on an apartment for me?"

"I think so. See those two ladies at the other end of the bar?" I gave him time to spot them and then explained, "The one pouring the beer is Jolene and the really gorgeous one is Sally. Right now, Jolene is talking Sally into renting out her spare room. I think she will succeed. Jolene told me they've been friends since childhood. Like you, Sally is recently separated and could use the extra income. Her house is in a family type neighborhood and you said that was the type of area you were looking for? And you'll not find a more pleasant or better-looking landlord anywhere. I can't believe Freddy, her ex, let her get away. Well, she is and always was out of his league."

"What the hell, Joe!" Crap, it was Freddy. I have got to be more aware of my surroundings. He snuck up on us through the crowd. He gave me a dejected-dog look and said, "I thought we were friends."

"Sorry Freddy, I was just pointing out how hot your ex-wife is and what an idiot you are for letting her get away. Don't take it personally." I said trying to sound like I was kidding. At least kidding about his being an idiot.

"You're right she is too good for me." He said helping my case. "But we are just separated. It ain't over yet," he added definitely not helping my cause.

I introduced the two men to each other and explained to Freddy that Jolene was seeing if Sally was interested in taking on a boarder to help with the house payment and that Dex was trying to find a place to rent in that neighborhood.

Freddy was clearly unsure how he felt about this. Dex could see his hesitancy. To ease Freddy's mind as to his motives he explained, "I'm looking to find a neighborhood suitable for my kids. I would like to rent there for a few weeks to check out the area before buying a house. Let's face it, who wouldn't want to live in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood?"

Freddy chuckled at the play on his last name even though he'd lived with such jokes all his life. He was clearly more at ease with the idea after hearing Dex's explanation. "I'll go talk with Jolene. I suspect we can work something out," Freddy said and headed over to where the girls were.

It was looking like Dex was definitely interested in renting the room from Sally. Back to my warfare analogy, we'd won the first battle. Unfortunately, we may have lost the war. I seemed to have done more to rekindle Freddy's interest in his wife than I did to spark any interest from Dex.