Careful What You Kiss For (14 page)

“Let’s go,” Kate whispered, tugging at Tensley’s arm.

“But what about … ”

The words died on her lips as Madame Claire speared her with a single look.

“
Fine
.” Tensley allowed herself to be led toward the front door. “We’ll be back.”

“This I know,” the psychic replied gravely. She beckoned toward the nervous woman. “You will come now.”

Kate half-pushed, half-shoved Tensley through the door, the bells overhead clanging in alarm.

“What the hell?” Tensley choked as they spilled onto the sidewalk.

Her best friend took her arm, propelling her down the street. All around them, Tensley realized with a jolt, it appeared to be a perfectly normal day. Seattle-gray skies overhead, bicycles going by, people emerging from beneath the green awning of a Starbucks, lattes clutched in their hands.

A traffic light turned yellow and then red. Cars stopped obediently, not knowing anything was wrong. That in a flash of light, Tensley Tanner-Starbrook had gone from a nearly happy, financially secure business person to a stripper who owed rent to the “house.” Even worse, no one cared. Except her best friend, who hadn’t known until yesterday that they were still best friends.

“Think,” Kate ordered. “What would you have to learn from that whole thing with Rhonda?”

“I don’t know. I can’t think. I can’t even walk.” As if to prove it, she stumbled.

Kate dragged her back up by the arm. “Well, you have to.”

“You’re the one who started this whole thing.”

“I know. And I said I’m sorry. That’s all you’re getting until we figure this out.”

They walked in silence for two blocks, until they reached a small city park, with weathered wood benches and a set of swings with black rubber seats. They stopped at the same time and then, without a word, Kate made for the swings.

Tensley followed. She fell into a swing next to Kate and grabbed the thick chains, holding on tight. There was comfort in the feeling of the cold metal against her skin, in the knowledge that it had safely carried too many children over the years to count. Digging the heel of her shoe into the sawdust, she pushed off, setting the swing in motion.

They swung back and forth as the chains creaked and moaned. The sound took Tensley back years, to the feeling of flying through the air at recess, hair streaming behind her as she stretched her legs forward and back. No worries but who she would sit with at lunch and how she would make herself pay attention in math.

“I heard Rhonda’s opened up a boutique,” Kate said at last. “Sounds like it’s doing well.”

“Specializing in what? Hard-to-fit sizes for women with bad boob jobs?”

“Okay, Bitter Betty.” Kate flew by, toes pointed up.

“What do you want me to say,” Tensley grumbled. “I’m happy her life’s turned out great, while mine sucks?”

No answer.

Tensley hung her head, staring at bits of sawdust as she swung by. It had become such a habit over the years to hate Rhonda, it was disconcerting to find herself feeling a little bad about it. “Max told me yesterday that it was all a setup. That I was
supposed
to find him with Rhonda so I would leave him to go to college.”

“Huh.” Kate slowed down. “I suppose that might make sense, though I wouldn’t have seen it then.”

“Yeah, well. Neither did I.” She borrowed a term from Madame Claire. “Ob-vi-ous-ly. But I’m not so sure I believe him. He might be saying that now because he wants something from me.”

“What something?”

“Just — nothing. Never mind.” She couldn’t bring herself to think about going back to that place.

After a few minutes, Kate said, “You know, you might not be that far off about Rhonda.”

“I was being mean. So she has her own boutique. Good for her.” She tried as hard as she could to sound like she meant it.

“It’s called ‘Rags to Bitches.’”

“Are you kidding me?” Tensley started laughing.

Kate joined in. “I’m not.”

“I’ll bet she sells spandex evening gowns.”

“With matching hubcap earrings.”

“And gloves with detachable brass knuckles. For those
special
occasions.”

The heavy load pressing on Tensley’s chest lightened for a few minutes as the two friends giggled and swung. Then, after a few leftover snickers, they quieted.

“I wonder what would have happened if you had left him and gone off to college,” Kate mused.

Tensley came to an abrupt stop, sawdust flying, and shot her friend an exasperated look.

“Sorry,” Kate was quick to say. “I forgot. You already know.”

A raindrop landed on Tensley’s nose. She pushed off again, sending it sailing through the air. A minute later, there was more moisture on her face, but it wasn’t rain. She swiped at her eyes. “That’s my real life. This isn’t.”

“So quit whimpering and concentrate on figuring out what you have to learn.”

“I do not whimper. I am not one of your patients.” Tensley made a face. “You know, you’re much nicer in my real life.”

“I doubt that.” Kate grinned. She backed up and took off again, stretching her legs high.

Tensley’s answering smile disappeared seconds later. “What could I possibly have to learn from punching Rhonda? Or … not punching Rhonda.” She aimed a quizzical look at her friend as she flew by. “Which is it?”

“Got me.”

Tensley stood and moved to one of the poles that anchored the swing set to the ground. She leaned against it and folded her arms across her chest, watching children go down a slide on the other side of the small park. Each kid landed on the ground with a shriek of joy. “So if it’s true it’s a regret that has always been with me, I guess the question is, why? Out of all the things I’ve done in my life, why is that one my biggest regret?”

“She took your man. You wanted revenge.”

“Which would definitely work if my life was a country song.” Tensley thought for a minute, then shook her head. “I don’t think that’s it.”

“You always wanted to be a pro boxer, but you didn’t follow your dream.” Kate was barely moving in the swing now. She leaned back all the way, her arms extended, face to the sky. “Wait. I think that one’s a movie.”

Tensley tipped her head, exasperated. “Are you going to help, or not?”

“I am helping.” Kate sounded miffed. “So far, I’m the only one who’s come up with anything.”

Tensley began to pace, making a trail in the sawdust. “Maybe I’m supposed to learn to be more accepting.”

“Of what? The girl you found kissing your guy?” Kate shook her head. “That can’t be it.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so, either.”

Kate sat up. “What about jealousy? Isn’t that one of the seven deadly sins?”

“Let me think.” Tensley wracked her brain, pulling open the mental file drawer that contained her childhood catechism. “Envy.”

“Same thing.”

“What exactly did I envy?”

Kate made a dismissive motion with her hand. “Rhonda. She had the skanky arrogance to talk herself out of every single clothing detention, had practically every guy in school panting after her — ”

“Not
every
guy.”

Kate ignored her. “At the time, she had
your
guy’s tongue down her throat.”

Tensley leveled a look at her friend. “Fine.” She raised her arms, palms up. “I’ll never be envious again,” she called. The kids on the slide stopped shrieking and turned to look.

“You can’t just say it,” Kate reminded her. “You have to demonstrate it.”

“A little hard to do since high school was a while ago. The only thing I really envy now is anyone with a Zac Posen Alexia bag. Don’t think I’m going to find that here.” She stopped. “Unless you have one?”

Kate shook her head. “I’d just get dog pee on it.”

“That’s okay. Not sure I could manage a lack of envy on that one.” Tensley tapped her chin, thinking. “Maybe it’s that I’m supposed to be more diplomatic. See a problem, solve it. Instead of making it worse.”

Kate scuffed the toe of her sneaker, slowing the swing. “I don’t know.”

“I should have asked questions. Expressed my feelings and asked for feedback. Brokered a solution.” She stopped pacing.

“Not sure if that’s a journey.”

“It definitely could be.” Tensley paused, imagining herself calm, cool and in control. Taking the emotion out of a problem and solving it, to the gratitude and maybe even applause, of those around her. “I know I haven’t been doing enough of it at my job.” Hastily, she added a clarification. “My real job. I tend to get too caught up in the people involved and not focus enough on the problem and how to solve it.”

“If that’s your lesson, how are you going to prove you’ve learned it?”

Tensley’s shoulders sagged. “I have no idea.”

Kate rose and came to stand by Tensley’s side. When she spoke again, her voice was gentle. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Right.” Tensley pumped her chin up and down. If only Madame Claire’s mamma had written a damn mamma manual. She took a deep breath and then said, “Max is investigating the strip club. He asked me to help him get information.”

“What did you say?”

“I said no.”

“Why?”

“It’s dangerous, that’s why. And he wasn’t even thinking about that part of it, about putting me in danger. He only wanted to use me, to help make his case — ” She stopped, turning to Kate. “Wait a minute. He has a problem.”

“A problem.”

“He doesn’t have enough information to nail the guy. I can help him get it.”

“A problem that needs solving.” Though she sounded doubtful, Kate nodded her support.

Tensley sighed. “But I’d have to go back to that place. If I ever knew anything that would have helped him, it was gone as soon as Madame Claire did her thing and I could only remember my old life.”

“Max can’t put you into danger without a way to protect you.”

A lone butterfly began flapping its wings against Tensley’s ribs.

“I used to date a cop,” Kate said. “They have procedures miles long.”

“I can’t go back.” Tensley shuddered.

“He needs your help. You need to learn a lesson. This could be your ticket back to your old life.”

“Maybe.”

“Or he figures if he scares you enough, you’ll jump into his bed for protection. Could be worse things to do while you’re waiting for a flash of light.” This time, Kate was the one who sighed. “There was something pretty sexy about sleeping with a man who put his gun on the nightstand.”

“Great. Thanks for that.” Half of her wanted to leap straight ahead to that fantasy and linger awhile, while the other half shouted a warning that, if she let herself fall for Max again, she’d be so much worse off than she was now. Pressing her fingers against her temples, Tensley decided to ignore both and concentrate on the right here, right now — doing what she had to do to get her life back. “So if I help solve his problem, I might end up with a lesson learned.”

“Possibly.”

“I don’t know.” Tensley shook her head. “This might not have anything to do with Max at all.”

“You won’t know until you try.”

“There has to be something else.”

“You’re just scared.”

For someone who couldn’t remember being her best friend, Kate could still call her bluff. “Wouldn’t you be?”

“Is he still as gorgeous as he was in high school?”

Tensley didn’t hesitate. “Oh hell, yes.”

“You two were so great together. You had something special.”

The butterfly in her stomach found friends. Yes, she and Max had had something special together.

Something she had yet to recover from.

Max didn’t bother to look at the caller ID on his cell before he answered it. The way this fucked-up day was going, it didn’t matter. “Hunter,” he said, his voice a rough bark.

“What’s wrong?”

Tensley
. That fast, his heart started the weird happy dance thing it hadn’t done since high school. “Nothing’s wrong,” he lied. “I’m glad you called.” No lie about that. He sat up straight and then decided he was better off trying to relax, so he leaned back in his chair, staring up. The ugly brown water stain on the ceiling tile above his head had become bigger overnight. Nice. “About the other night — ”

“If you’re going to apologize,” she broke in, “don’t. I overreacted.”

He was silent for a few seconds, taking that in. Overreacting had always been part of her appeal. Tensley had a passion he’d never seen in other people. “No, you didn’t,” he said. “You thought I was trying to throw you to the wolves. Or in this case, one wolf. Gary.”

“True,” she admitted.

“So are we done apologizing to each other?”

“For now.”

He could have sworn he actually heard her smile. “Good.”

“The thing is … I’m calling to say I’ll help you.”

He sat back so fast, his wheeled chair nearly launched him into his desk. “You serious?”

“Hardly ever. But I am about this.”

He heard something in her voice. Something that caused his detective instincts to kick in. “Why the change?”

“You’re making this a lot harder than it needs to be.”

Nothing had ever been easy when it came to this woman. “Right.” He tapped a pencil against the desk. “I won’t ask, then.” Hell, yes, he would. But not now.

“Good idea.” He heard her suck in a breath. “There’s only one condition. You can’t let me be gunned down in a hail of bullets. Much as I’ve always wanted to play the tragic, sympathetic heroine, I’m pretty sure I would suck at it.”

The idea of a bullet coming anywhere close to her caused his stomach to clench with apprehension. He tried to hide it with an off-hand response. “Good to know. I’ll take the gun battle off my to-do list. Damn. We usually get at least one a day in, but seeing as you don’t want to do it … .”

“The blood would mess up my hair.” A nervous laugh.

“Not gonna happen. Trust me.” As if he was trustworthy. Just the thought of his hands in her soft hair — He shoved away from his desk to try to startle his dick out of its ready position. Unfortunately, he forgot about the wheels again and his chair slammed into the desk of the surliest detective in their unit, who aimed a zero-tolerance frown at him. Max drew his brows together, pointed to the phone at his ear and shook his head at the guy —
nothing, man, ignore it.
His colleague turned away.