Bulletproof Mascara: A Novel (43 page)

“Pick me, pick me,” she said, bouncing up and down.

“For what, Jane? What did I just agree to?”

“You agreed to be a team leader, which is, like, a huge opportunity. She asked you to put together the team, so that means you get to pick everyone. This is so great! I get to be your analyst, don’t I? Please, please.”

“Yeah, sure, of course.” Nikki was still reeling. “I knew she fixed it. I don’t know how she did it, but I knew it. I knew I couldn’t have been that unlucky!”

“Awesome,” said Jane, ignoring Nikki’s rambling. “We will pick the best team. This is going to be awesome!”

“Awesome,” repeated Nikki, feeling lightheaded.

LOS ANGELES II

The Morning After

Mr. Merrivel helped Nikki angle the heavy box full of coffee table parts up the stairs and into her new apartment. They dropped it flat onto the floor, probably irritating the downstairs neighbors.

Nikki flopped onto the couch. “Thanks, Mr. M.”

“Whew,” he said. “Didn’t think we were going to get it in here for a sec.”

“You should have been here when they moved the couch in. I’ve never been a hire-movers kind of person, but I have to admit they were worth it.”

Mr. M nodded. “It’s one of the perks of having money. It makes it easier to get things done when you’re by yourself. You know,” he said, looking out the window and changing the subject. “I gotta say that’s one heck of a car you got for yourself.”

“It’s . . . it
was
Val’s. I figured she’d want someone who cared about it to have it.”

“I doubt it. I expect she’d want to drop it off a cliff before someone else got to play with her stuff.”

Nikki grinned. “I thought of that, too. And it still seemed like a good idea.”

“What’d you do with her cat?”

“Gave it to Jane,” answered Nikki with a guilty smile. Mr. M laughed. “You want a soda pop?” Nikki asked, going to the fridge.

“Sure, if you’ve got diet-something.”

“Diet root beer?” she suggested, standing in the cold blast of the refrigerator. “You know I still cannot believe that apartments here don’t come with refrigerators. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw how much they cost.”

“There are apartments that come with refrigerators?” Mr. M asked, accepting a root beer and sitting down at the kitchen table.

“In Washington there are!”

“Huh. Must make it easy to move.”

Nikki nodded and looked with some pride around her first very own apartment. It had taken two weeks to find it, and she had practically wiped out her bank account furnishing it, but it looked good. And there were bigger and better paychecks to come.

Thinking of paychecks reminded her of her new job, and she frowned. “You’ve hired people before, haven’t you, Mr. M?” she asked, sitting down.

“And fired,” he answered.

“How do you decide who’s the best person to hire? I have to put together a team, but everyone looks really qualified. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Nikki,” said Mr. M in exasperation. “You said that before you went to Thailand, and look how that turned out.”

“It could have gone better,” she said honestly.

“Sure, things can always go better, but you figured it out, didn’t you? You persevered and trusted your instincts, and things came together. Be more confident!”

Nikki laughed. “That’s why I like you, Mr. M. You’re like my very own pep coach.”

“Everyone needs a little pepping up now and again. And if you want actual advice about hiring, well, I find that the best way to hire people is face-to-face. A piece of paper can’t tell you what you need to know about a person.”

Nikki nodded.

“OK, sweetie, I’m off to do the golfing thing.” He kissed the top of her head and ambled toward the front door. Nikki followed after him and waved goodbye from the front stoop. The phone was ringing as she shut the door, and she ran to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Nikki, what is this nonsense you just sent me?” Her mother’s voice sounded crisply across the phone line.

“Just some stuff from Thailand, Mom,” Nikki said with a sigh. “I told you I was going there for a conference. I thought you would like some souvenirs. There’s some Thai silk and some pearls underneath the pictures and carvings.”

“I don’t think you should be spending that much money on souvenirs.”

“They’re really cheap in Thailand, Mom. And I just got a raise.”

“A raise?” asked Nell skeptically. “You’ve only been with them a couple of months!”

“I did a pretty good job at the conference,” Nikki said, taking the phone into the living room and lying down on the couch.

“Huh,” said Nell. Nikki felt like laughing. Her entire life she had been under constant assault from her mother to better herself. Her post-collegiate life had been one barbed comment after another about her being a jobless slacker. Without that staple of conversation her mother was speechless.

“So, who are you dating?”

Nikki really did laugh. “Mom! I just got back from Thailand. I’ve barely had time to find an apartment. I don’t have time to meet anyone new.”

“Anyone new? So you broke up with the lawyer?”

“The lawyer?” Nikki repeated in confusion.

“That man with the nice voice.”

“Oh, right, the lawyer.” Somehow
lawyer
was not the term that sprang to mind when she thought of Z’ev.

“Will you be seeing him again?”

“He works in other countries, Mom. It wouldn’t really work out.”

“Well, you’re not getting any younger, Nikki. I was married and had a child by the time I was your age.”

“You had a child? Do I know her?” Nikki asked incredulously.

“Don’t be strange, Nikki. You know what I mean.”

Nikki could hear some rustling in the background.

“These elephants are kind of cute.” Nikki congratulated herself on sending the elephants instead of the dragon-faced mask. “Oh! I just found the pearls. These are pretty!”

“I’m glad you like them, Mom. I wanted to get something you’d like.”

“Well, I’ll wear them to the office tomorrow.”

There was a silence between the two of them as neither one could think of another time when they had been so in complete agreement. It was uncharted territory; they had sailed completely off the edge.

“Well, I should go,” Nell said with verve. “I don’t want to run up the phone bill.”

“Yeah, sure. I won’t keep you.”

“Nikki . . .” There was a pause, and Nikki felt a moment of
panic. She had never heard her mother sound so uncertain. “I’m really glad you’re doing well.”

“Thanks, Mom.” It was all Nikki could do to stutter out the words.

“But you know that it’s all right to fail. You can always come home again.”

Nikki sighed and thought about arguing. “Well, that’s good to know, Mom. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Nikki hung up the phone and grinned. If her mother ever gave an unqualified compliment they would both keel over from the shock.

She looked around the apartment. Life was good. She had friends, money, a job, a really cool car, an apartment, and she had actually been praised by her mother. Why, then, did she feel this little empty spot? She rubbed her head. She knew why, and she knew who would fit perfectly into that spot. But he was in Thailand, and she wasn’t going to think about him. It wouldn’t do any good.

LOS ANGELES III

Discovering America

Nikki stepped off the elevator and into the lobby, feeling the urge to skip, but maintaining her grown-up facade. It had been a good day at work. Mrs. M had approved her final team list, a list that included Jenny and Ellen, who would soon be returning from their missions, and then she could begin team training sessions. She had several new ideas for the team. She’d been reading nonstop about tactics and training, and she couldn’t wait to put some of her theories into practice.

She felt she had a right to the self-confident swagger she was strutting at the moment. She was beginning to feel as if she really belonged here. She shared her sense of well-being by smiling at the security guard as she passed the information desk. She instantly regretted the bold move when the guard called her name.

“Miss Lanier!”

Nikki turned with an inquiring expression, masking her sudden spasm of doubt.
Miss Lanier, you’re wanted in the principal’s office.

“I was just about to call upstairs. There was a gentleman here looking for you,” the guard said, looking concerned.

“Gentleman?” Nikki repeated, frowning.

“He was cute and had a really deep voice,” said the information girl with a smile.

“We told him we couldn’t let him upstairs or confirm that you were here,” the security guard said repressively.

“But he left a note,” the information girl added with a giggle.

Nikki took the note, which read
I’LL BE AT THE BAR ACROSS THE STREET. Z.
Nikki had the giggly, dizzy, elated feeling she used to get as a child when she’d whirl around as fast as she could until she fell down.

“I watched,” said the information girl helpfully. “He went into the Lion and Unicorn.”

“Thanks,” Nikki said.

“Is there a problem?” asked the security guard. “Should I notify anyone upstairs?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Nikki said, shaking her head. She tucked the note into her purse and walked across the street.

The Lion and Unicorn was owned by a retired Carrie Mae consultant. It had a large wooden shield over the door showing a lion and unicorn fighting for a crown. The bar drew a high percentage of Carrie Mae employees and was usually busy during the lunch hour and after quitting time, but at three in the afternoon it was fairly quiet.

Nikki stood in the doorway, letting her eyes adjust to the gloom. Z’ev was sitting at the bar staring skeptically at a woman next to him. She was laughing loudly and had her hand on his thigh. Nikki walked toward them, her shoes making the usual warning clatter, but neither one of them noticed.

“Would you mind taking your hands off my husband?” demanded Nikki when she was standing behind them. The woman froze and narrowed her eyes at Nikki. Nikki stared back.

“Should have told me you brought the wife,” she muttered, and flounced away from the bar.

“Now, what did you do that for? She was really nice,” Z’ev said sarcastically.

“With our luck,” Nikki said, taking the barstool next to his, “she’d turn out to be an Armenian gun smuggler.”

“You have a point,” conceded Z’ev, sipping his drink and watching her in the mirror behind the bar.

“So what are you doing in California?” asked Nikki, getting to the point.

“You know that guy who thought the world was round? And everyone told him it was flat and then he sailed around the world and proved it really was round?”

“Magellan?”

“No! The famous guy.”

“You mean Columbus?”

“Yeah, that’s the guy.”

“What about him?”

“Well, I guess you could say I’m the Columbus of vacation time. I’m currently proving that it exists.”

“Vacation time?” repeated Nikki incredulously. “Since when?”

“Since Monday. I would have been here sooner, but it took me two days to find you.”

“You are seriously telling me that you are on vacation.”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Two weeks.”

“Two weeks with no bullets, bombs, or fistfights?”

“Not unless they’re aimed at you,” Z’ev said seriously.

Nikki ignored this comment and considered the prospect of two weeks with Z’ev. “So, you’re going to be here for two weeks? That means we could go out to dinner and I could probably see you every day.”

“Probably,” Z’ev agreed, taking another sip of his drink.

“That would be so weird. It would almost be like having a boyfriend or something.”

Z’ev’s reserve cracked at that point and he laughed. “Or something. Hey, if I’m getting demoted to boyfriend, can we do stuff?”

“Do stuff?” Nikki asked, raising an eyebrow. Just what did he mean by that?

“Yeah, like Disneyland. I’ve never been, and everyone says that Pirates of the Caribbean is really great. And I kind of want to see the Chinese theater and all those sidewalk stars.”

“Disneyland, Hollywood, sure. What about surfing?” asked Nikki with a laugh.

“Yeah, surfing. That’d be good, too.”

Nikki found that she was grinning at Z’ev and he was grinning back. He took some cash out of his pocket and tossed it on the bar. “Come on,” he said, standing up. “The world’s not getting any rounder.”

Nikki stood up, and when she did he reached for her and pulled her into a kiss.

“Nikki!” yelled Jane, bursting into the bar. Nikki groaned and buried her head in Z’ev’s shoulder.

“Go away, Jane,” she said, not moving her head.

Jane hopped from foot to foot in agitation. “There’s a problem. A kind of big problem.”

“Yeah?” Nikki said, finally looking at Jane.

But Jane had noticed Z’ev. “Oh golly, you’re him, aren’t you? You aren’t supposed to be here.”

Z’ev looked questioningly at Nikki, who shrugged.

“What kind of problem, Jane?”

“There’s a, uh, package that’s gone, uh, missing.”

“Missing?” Nikki repeated, wondering what the hell Jane was babbling about.

“Missing,” Jane answered. “Mrs. M says to come quick.” Nikki looked back at Z’ev. He returned her gaze and shrugged. It was up to her.

Nikki tried to assess how likely it was that Mrs. Merrivel would fire her.

“Tell her I’m on vacation,” said Nikki with a laugh, and she kissed her boyfriend.

Acknowledgments

Like Nikki, I am surrounded by amazing women who have supported and inspired me. Their efforts have not only shaped this novel, but myself as well. My aunt Linda inspired me to actually do something serious with my writing. Heather, Michal, and Michelle, who, when I confessed my brilliant idea for a book about the militant wing of a certain home-sales cosmetics giant, laughed at me, made up the Carrie Mae salute (chest thump, mascara twirl), but never ceased to encourage me. Juel’s wit, assistance, and sage advice came always just at the right time. Theresa has been my champion in the battlefield of publishing. And Jennae. I could probably write an epic poem about the ways Jennae has helped me, but suffice it to say she has been my comforting shoulder to lean on, my true editor, and my friend for over a decade. Without these women,
Bulletproof Mascara
would not have made it from my head to the page or from my computer to print, and I cannot acknowledge or thank them enough, but for what it’s worth—my undying thanks and love to all of you.