Big Girls Don't Cry (24 page)

“Was there something you needed?” she asked Cole as he continued to stand there after the Gonzalez family departed.

He was staring at her so intently that Leena automatically looked down to make sure the buttons on her shirt hadn’t come undone. She was wearing one of her favorite J.Jill tops, but she doubted he could tell that.

Cole ran his fingers through his hair, giving him a tousled just-out-of-bed look she found entirely too appealing. “I just . . . I, uh . . .”

Leena was mesmerized by his mouth as he floundered for words.

What was wrong with her? She couldn’t look away. His bottom lip was so sexy she was almost overcome by the sudden urge to nibble on it.

Scared she might actually act on her thoughts, she raised her eyes and met his gaze. He looked as though he had some nibbling thoughts of his own going on inside that male brain of his. Nibbling not just on her lips but her entire body.

Leena became hot all over. Was she coming down with something?

Cole fever. That’s what she was experiencing. She needed some kind of antidote. Or a vaccine. Fast.

“Ready for our next patient,” Mindy said with customary cheerfulness.

Okay, that worked. Interrupted by a coworker. That disrupted the sensual tension. At least it prevented Leena or Cole from acting on it.

Which was a good thing.

 
Leena’s first hint that Sue Ellen had ignored her request not to make a big deal was the posting on the marquis above the Tivoli Theater Friday afternoon:

 
WELCOME-HOME PARTY 4 MODEL LEENA RILEY TONITE!

 
Sure, Leena knew that her sister planned on holding the event at the theater. But she hadn’t realized that the fact would be announced this way. And she didn’t like the red carpet that was being rolled out from the front door to the curb.

“What’s going on here?”

Sue Ellen looked up. “You’re early!”

“I was driving home from work when I saw the sign.”

“Wicked awesome, isn’t it?” Lulu said as she passed by, heading for the theater. Today she was wearing her GOT BRAINS T-shirt teamed with a red-and-black plaid miniskirt with combat boots and black knee-high stockings.

“I don’t know about the awesome, but it sure is wicked,” Leena muttered. “I thought I told you I didn’t want a big deal made about this.”

Sue Ellen waved her words away, the glittering silver stars on her acrylic nails reflecting madly. “Everyone says that when you’re throwing a party for them. They never really mean it,”

“I did. I do.”

“Well, it’s too late now. At least I didn’t have the parade that I wanted. If I’d had another week, I could have pulled it all together, but—”

“No parade. Ever. Seriously. Or I will hurt you,” Leena growled.

“Okay, okay. What a party pooper you are.”

“It’s her party, she can poop if she wants to,” Lulu said as she set up a giant poster board in front of the theater.

“What’s that?” Leena said.

“It’s you. We blew up one of your photos and turned it into—”

“A nightmare.” It wasn’t just one of her photos. It was the infamous Regency Mobile Home ad photo with her cheesy thighs. Which looked even worse in the grainy version currently on display at even-bigger-than-life size.

“I told you she wouldn’t be a happy camper,” Lulu informed Sue Ellen.

“She was right,” Leena said.

“But this photo sparked a reaction in so many people—”

“No more so than in me,” Leena said.

“I mean the women of Rock Creek. The people coming tonight. Bart and Nancy and Skye and Nathan.”

All couples, Leena noticed. Nothing like coming stag to your own party.

“And Violet and Owen,” Sue Ellen continued.

“Wait until you see the costume that Sue Ellen plans on wearing,” Lulu said.

“Costume?”

Sue Ellen nodded. “I told you it was a costume-party theme. I’m coming as Mae West. I’ve got the wig and the dress and—”

Leena held out her hand in a universal stop motion. “Don’t tell me.”

“She wants to be surprised,” Lulu told Sue Ellen with a grin. “I’ll bet Coach will be surprised to see you in your Mae West outfit.”

“Russ won’t be able to attend this evening.” Sue Ellen sounded surprisingly prim. “He had a wrestling match over in Serenity Falls. He might stop by later if he can.”

“I thought he was the football coach,” Leena said.

“He is, but he coaches other stuff too. Enough small talk. I’ve got lots to do before the big party tonight.” Sue Ellen rushed back into the theater.

“Don’t look at me,” Lulu said with a shrug. “She’s
your
sister.”

Leena sighed. “Yes, she is, God help me.”

Chapter Fifteen

“You ready for the big bash tonight?” Nathan asked Cole, who’d run into the mini-mart for some shaving cream. He was all out.

“I am now.” Cole tossed the can into his shopping basket. “How about you?”

“I’m not the one hot for the guest of honor.”

“No, you’re the one hot for the owner of the theater where the party is being held.”

“Guilty as charged.” Nathan grinned. “So I heard you and Leena were seen making out in George Schoppman’s shed. You got a thing against using your own bedroom? Or hers?”

“No way George could have seen anything.”

“You forget, he’s block captain for the Neighborhood Watch and has those powerful binoculars from his days in the Korean War.”

“George should mind his own business. So should you.”

“George was minding his own shed. He thought you two might be prowlers.”

“We were looking for a runaway tortoise.”

“So I heard. Tommy wanted me to file a missing tortoise report, but I told him we couldn’t do that and sent him over to you instead.”

“How kind of you.”

“Yeah, that’s me. A real kind guy.”

“Right. So are you and Skye coming to this party tonight?”

“Yeah. It’s at her theater, remember?”

“Right.” Cole felt like an idiot for asking such a dumb question, but his thoughts were on Leena and the kiss they’d shared in that stupid shed. “You sound thrilled about the festivities.”

“I’m not the party guy you are.”

“You’ve had your moments.”

“Yeah, and I’m going to have more with Skye.”

“You’re such a cute couple,” Cole mocked.

“Just like you and Leena.” Nathan gave him a look. “What, no instant denial that you two aren’t a couple?”

Cole shrugged. “I’m saving my energy.”

“Got big plans for later in the night, do you?”

“When did you get so nosy?”

“I’m in law enforcement. It’s my job to be nosy.”

“Not about my sex life. Man rule.”

“There is no such man rule. There is one for not talking at the urinal but nothing about discussing sex in the mini-mart.”

“We need to add it then. Or how about man rule nineteen: The dumber the man, the louder he talks.”

“Is that why you’re yelling?”

“Very funny. You know, I’m beginning to regret not giving you more trouble back when you were angsting over Skye”

“Guys don’t
angst
over women. Man rule nine.”

“Right.”

“Hey, how’s that younger brother of yours doing? You heard from him lately?”

“He took the breakup of his engagement pretty hard. Finding his fiancé in another guy’s bed on New Year’s Eve is about as bad as it gets. He’s off to see the world now. No settling down for him.”

“For you either.”

Cole’s voice hardened. “Are you saying I’m setting a bad example for my brother?”

“Hey, lighten up, would you? I wasn’t inferring that at all.”

“Because I don’t see you and Skye setting a date.”

“I’d ask her,” Nathan said quietly, “but she has a thing against marriage. She’s not exactly into tradition.”

“While you are Mr. Tradition.”

“Makes for an interesting life.”

“Or a lot of conflict.” Cole remembered all too well how his buddy Nathan had totally fallen apart when his first wife Annie had been killed in a car accident. Still waters run deep, wasn’t that the saying? It sure applied to Nathan. Not to Cole. He sailed through life. That was the image he projected and he preferred things that way.

“Like you and Leena aren’t always arguing. Talk about conflict. You two are the poster children for conflict. Yelling at each other and then making out in my office.”

“Bad choice.”

“Leena is a bad choice? I think she’s good for you. She shakes you up.”

“I’m sure there’s a crime somewhere you could go solve,” Cole growled.

“You two are such a cute couple.” Nathan threw Cole’s mocking words back at him before walking out.

It was only when he reached the cashier that Cole realized Nathan had tossed a box of condoms into his basket along with the shaving cream and six-pack of Bud.

 
“Shouldn’t you be getting ready for your big bash?” Bart asked Leena as she pulled into Regency Park. He was sitting out on his deck.

She stopped to join him. “Did my sister tell you to make sure I didn’t skip town before the party?”

Bart just grinned at her.

Leena shook her head. “You’re a devious clown, you know that?”

“Just be glad I’m not coming in costume tonight, despite Sue Ellen’s best efforts to persuade me.”

“What else do you know?”

“My lips are sealed.”

“She and Cole aren’t planning any surprises, are they?”

“Sue Ellen and surprises go hand in hand. But I don’t know anything about Cole’s involvement. The only news I’ve heard about Cole is that the two of you were very involved in Nathan’s office a week or so ago.”

“Does nothing escape notice in this town?”

“Not much, no.”

Leena turned her attention elsewhere. “What’s that music you’ve got playing in the background?”

“Yo-Yo Ma. He’s a classical cellist. This piece is by Bach. His cello suite. I’m a huge fan.”

“Of Bach?”

“Of Yo-Yo Ma. My clown name, YoYo the Clown, is my way of honoring him.”

“A clown who likes classical music, huh?”

Bart shared her smile. “Strange, I know.”

“Not strange. Impressive.”

“If you really want to be impressed, then I should tell you that the art of clowning dates back thousands and thousands of years to the time of the pharaohs.”

“Makeup dates back that far too. Kohl eyeliner was very big in those days,” Leena said with a grin.

He lifted his glass of ice tea in salute. “To clowns and models. We’re kindred spirits.”

Bart was right. Of all the people in town, he was the one she seemed to be able to relate to the best. This despite the fact that he liked being laughed at and she hated it. “I meant to tell you that Sister Mary is very impressed with the work you do at the children’s ward in the hospital. But she wasn’t impressed with my idea of beautifying Rock Creek,” Leena said.

“She has different priorities. That doesn’t mean you’re wrong.”

“It didn’t feel that way.”

“Maybe your ideas about Rock Creek and staying here will change now that you’re involved with Cole.”

“I’m not involved with him. I work for the man.”

“Believe me, I’m the last guy to give you any relationship advice. I’ve been divorced twice.”

“Well, you’d be the only person not trying to give me advice about Cole. The entire town acts as if they have the right to butt into my private affairs. Not that Cole and I are having an affair,” she quickly added. “But even if we were, it wouldn’t be anyone’s business but our own.”

“In an ideal world, that would be the case, yes. But this is Rock Creek.”

Leena sighed. “Yes, it is.”

“Well, I don’t want to keep you. I know you want to get ready for tonight.”

“No matter what I do, there’s no way I can possibly get ready for tonight. You just can’t get ready or be prepared for one of my sister’s celebrations.”

“You can’t take off.” Bart gave her a worried look.

“No, I can’t. Unfortunately.” Leena straightened her shoulders. “No problem. I should be able to do this. I did a photo shoot once where I had to kiss a toad, so you’d think this would be a piece of cake compared to that.”

“You’d think.”

“Well, it’s not.”

“Hey, look at it this way: It’s better than being shot out of a cannon.”

Leena gave him a worried look. “My sister’s not planning on doing that tonight, is she?”

“No. No cannon.”

“Thank heaven for small favors. Thanks for the pep talk, Bart.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You made me feel better, which is a major accomplishment considering the mood I was in.” She hugged him. “Thanks.”

Once inside her trailer, Leena had a hard time deciding what to wear. She wanted something that would give her confidence and make her feel she looked good. She’d been wearing jeans to work all week. Not the most feminine attire.

She went through the dresses she’d brought with her. Too fancy, too revealing, too short.

What about her hair? That question distracted her from the dress issue. Should she wear it up or down? Curl it? Maybe she should just chop it off and put on a fedora?

Leena flopped onto her bed and closed her eyes. She tried to visualize a suitable outfit and look. Instead she saw Cole right before he’d kissed her the other day.

He wasn’t supposed to be invading her mental images this way. But he did it all the time. A constant barrage day and night. She daydreamed about his blue eyes and how many emotions he could convey with just one look. She hungered for the sound of his voice, which rolled over her like rough velvet. Or something.

His voice wasn’t the only thing she hungered for. Kissing him hadn’t made her longing go away. No, it had only made things worse. The longing to get him naked in bed was so strong she wondered how much longer she’d be able to fight it.