The Girl from Her Mirror (Mirrors Don't Lie Book 1) (4 page)

She and the computer analyst had dated
on and off for several months. About four months ago, they had agreed to make
it exclusive, but last week, he announced he had met someone new and no longer
wanted to see her. While she had hardly been heart-broken, the cold dismissal
had wounded her pride, more than her feelings, especially when he had gone to
great lengths to detail exactly what he found lacking in their relationship. He
was particularly brutal in his assessment, pointing out her faults with perverted
savor.

Just days later, she lost her job. Her
boss had cited much the same reasons. They were looking for someone with
fresher, newer ideas. Someone exciting. Someone glamorous. He didn’t say it in
so many words, but one look at her replacement explained exactly what they were
looking for: someone tall, buxom and blond, with a gushing smile and a bubbly
brain.

Hardin Kaczmarek was exactly what her
bruised ego needed. She wasn’t looking for a romance, but a little innocent
flirtation certainly wouldn’t hurt. Even if it went beyond innocent, a little
fling might be just the thing she needed to regain her confidence and get her
back into the real world.

She started to call him, then decided
better of it. It was getting late, and she was hungry. She still needed to move
her car, and she might as well do that while she was out finding a restaurant.
Tomorrow she would find a grocery store and stock the kitchen, but right now,
her top priority was finding a place to eat. Maybe she would text him over her
meal…

As Makenna approached the front desk,
the woman asked with a pleasant smile, “May I help you?”

“I hope so. I’m starving, and I hoped
you might have a suggestion on where to eat.”

“We have tons of choices. What kind of
food are you looking for?”

As the receptionist made suggestions,
Makenna heard someone call her name. She turned around, amazed to see Hardin
Kaczmarek standing behind her.

“Kenzie! Are you kidding me? We’re
booked in the same hotel?”

Delighted with the happy co-incidence,
Makenna thought her luck just might be changing. “Apparently so,” she said with
a pleased smile. “Are you just checking in?”

“Yes. There was a mix-up at the car
rental agency. I need something to carry my bike, and they tried giving me a
tiny compact with no bike rack.” He pulled a face. “Have you eaten yet?”

“No, that was what I was doing, asking
for suggestions.”

“If you’d care for company, give me time
to check in and I’ll join you.”

“Sounds great.” She hoped her smile
didn’t look as giddy as it felt. “I’ll check out those brochures while I wait.”

Makenna wandered over to the display of
area brochures and selected a half dozen or so that caught her eye. There were
ample attractions and activities to do in the region, many of which would be
helpful in completing Kenzie’s assignment. While she waited on Hardin, she
found a chair to sit in so she could peruse the colorful flyers.

“Sorry it took so long,” he said as he
returned, jogging down the stairs that emptied into the foyer where she waited.
He made the action look effortless. “My room’s all the way at the back.” 

“No problem. I had plenty to keep me
occupied.” She held up the fistful of brochures before she slid them into her
purse.

“Did you decide where you wanted to
eat?”

“I think so. They recommended a little
place just down the road.”

When Makenna told him she was driving a
convertible, he opted to let her drive. She laughed at the totally masculine
response to a sports car. They found the restaurant without incident and
settled into a cozy little table near the windows.

“Where are you from?” the hostess asked
conversationally as she handed them their menus and slid a basket of warm bread
onto the table.

“Central Texas,” Hardin answered, not
bothering to explain they weren’t a couple.

“Oh really? That couple over there is
from Texas, too. Small world, isn’t it? You’re welcome to help yourself to
cheese and crackers, served in the bar, just through there. Your server this
evening will be Neil. He’ll be with you shortly.”

“Thank you,” Makenna smiled. She glanced
at the couple sitting across the room. “Hey, I think they were on our flight,”
she told Hardin. “I had them pegged as celebrating their twentieth wedding
anniversary. I wonder what the odds of that are, all four of us on the same
plane, ending up in the same town?”

“I’d say pretty good, considering this
is a popular resort town. And you’re forgetting, New Hampshire is like twenty
eight times smaller than Texas. The entire state could fit inside our Hill
Country region.” He pulled a yeasty roll apart and stuffed it into his mouth.
He chewed and swallowed, continuing with his theory. “It would be about like a
plane landing in Austin, and four or more of its passengers ending up in
Fredericksburg. Odds would be pretty favorable.”

“I guess.” Makenna shrugged, reaching
for a crusty slice of bread from the assorted basket. “Just seems like a huge
coincidence, especially when you factor in that you and I are in the very same
hotel.”

“Coincidence,” he allowed. He raised his
water glass and tipped it against hers. Claiming her eyes with his piercing
blue gaze, his voice slid over her like warm molasses. “Or fate.”

Completely mesmerized, Makenna clicked
her glass to his and murmured, “To fate.”

Their server appeared, sporting a bottle
of Chardonnay. “Compliments of the couple by the windows.”

“Oh, how sweet!” Makenna beamed, looking
over at their fellow Texans. She waved her appreciation, while Hardin nodded
and expressed a vocal “thank you” across the room.

“I suppose we really should invite them
to join us,” he told her with a resigned sigh, as the waiter poured their wine.

“It looks like they are just ordering,
too. Why don’t we invite them to have dessert with us,” Makenna suggested.

Hardin raised an approving eyebrow at
her artful compromise. To the waiter, he said, “Would you be so kind as to
relay the lady’s wishes to the other couple? We’d like them to join us for
dessert.”

“Certainly, sir.”

“Not that I’m all that eager to share
you with someone else,” Hardin admitted as he pushed away his empty plate, “but
I guess it’s time to do the neighborly thing and invite our guests over for
dessert.”

Makenna wrinkled her nose in playful
distaste. “I think maybe you’re right.”

Right on cue, the waiter appeared at
their table to take away dirty dishes and re-set the table for four. Hardin
moved his chair close to Makenna’s. Stretching his arm along the back of her
chair, he let his fingers curl against her shoulders as he whispered
conspiratorially, “If they’re too boring, remind me of that phone call I don’t
have to make.”

“You’re incorrigible!” Makenna
admonished. Laughing, she bumped him with her shoulder, but was slow in moving
away as they watched the other couple approach.

Even though Makenna had imagined the
couple celebrating an anniversary, the newcomers were not a matched set. The
woman was short and… round. Makenna tried to think of a kinder word of
description, but none came to mind. It wasn’t simply a matter of being
overweight; the woman was truly spherical. A smiling round face peeked from
beneath a puffy cloud of pale gold, her hair fashioned into an inflated
bouffant. With little sign of a neck, her shoulders sloped downward, curling
into beefy arms that hugged her bulbous body like quotation marks. The woman’s
mid-section was round and full, with no definable waist beneath her peach
colored pantsuit. Short, bowed legs kept her low to the ground and her feet had
a tendency to point inward, completing the illusion of circularity. ‘Round’ was
the only way to adequately describe the woman.

The man with her was her polar opposite.
He towered over her, tall, straight, and thin to the point of gauntness. Where
her arms jutted outward, his hung straight and limp from bony shoulders. His
pearl-snap western shirt, still so new it sported factory-fold creases, was a
baggy fit on his angular frame. The man was all hard lines and angles,
including the downward slant of his
mouth.        

Hardin stood during the introductions,
when the newcomers identified themselves as Bob and Lisa Lewis. After a round
of thank-yous and how-do-you-dos, he reclaimed his place at Makenna’s
side. 

“I believe we may have been on the same
flight,” Lisa said as they settled into their seats. She had a high pitched,
nasal voice that bordered on a whine. “Did you board in Austin, or was it a
connecting flight?”

“We boarded there,” Hardin answered for
them both.

“Us, too. We live in Seguin. What about
you?”

“I live in Austin,” Makenna supplied.

“Gruene.”

Makenna slipped her gaze to Hardin.
Where had her charming dinner companion gone? The man beside her now was brief
and reserved, even borderline brusque. Granted, Lisa Lewis’ voice did grate on
the nerves, but she could feel the tight coil of Hardin’s body next to hers;
something else about this couple put him on edge.

As the waiter handed them each a dessert
menu, they perused the selections in silence, until Lisa declared that
everything looked delicious and Bob complained he hardly had room for dessert.
Lisa finally settled on an apple dumpling and her husband ordered an éclair;
Makenna and Hardin elected to share the over-sized brownie a la mode.

“So what brings you two up here?” Lisa
asked after the waiter moved away. 

Makenna motioned for Hardin to answer
first. “I’m training for the Ride for the Hills Cancer Charity.”

“Ooh, you’re a cyclist,” she cooed in a
voice intended to be sultry. Her eyes slid over Hardin with lingering
appreciation, causing him to squirm. If Bob noticed, he didn’t appear to be
nearly as uncomfortable as the man beneath her hungry gaze was.

With obvious reluctance, the rounded
woman pulled her eyes away from Hardin and settled her attention on Makenna.
“And you, dear? Just along for the ride?”

“No. Actually, we aren’t traveling
together,” Makenna explained. She felt Hardin stiffen beside her, but she was
already living with enough lies; she saw no reason to complicate matters worse
with yet another misconception. “I’m here on an assignment for
Now Magazine
.”

“Oh, you’re a reporter? How exciting!
Are you writing a story?”

“I’m a photojournalist. I’m here
covering a controversial new power line that’s scheduled to come through the
area.”

“Ooh, yes, we saw the signs!” Lisa’s
circular head bobbed up and down, causing her full cheeks to dance merrily. She
slapped the back of her hand against her husband’s arm, drawing a grunt. “What
did those signs say, Bob? ‘Fight the Giant’, or something like that?”

“Saw something like that,” he agreed.
Where her voice was high and lilting, his was deep and flat. “Seems they want
to cut down the mountain to get power lines through.”

“What side are you covering, dear? For
or against?”

Makenna tried not to take offense at the
question. “A good journalist doesn’t choose sides, we simply report the facts.”

“Oh, but you have to have an opinion!”
Lisa insisted. “I understand this is a huge issue. There have been
Congressional hearings and political debates and all sorts of environmental
controversies surrounding it.”

“You sound like you might be covering a
story on it yourself,” Hardin said, softening his words with the sudden
appearance of his most charming smile.

“Me?” Lisa twittered. “Hardly! I’m an
avid reader is all, and read all about it before we even left home.” She
lowered her voice, leaned in, and said in a loud, conspiratorial whisper, “And
once I heard the mob was involved, I was even more intrigued!”

“The mob?” Makenna said in surprise.
This was the first she had heard of that particular angle.

“Oh, yes. What was the name of that
organization, Bob?” she asked, slapping her husband’s arm once again. With no
padding on his bones to absorb the hit, the man had to be sore. “NorthWind?”

Makenna laughed aloud at the woman’s
theatrics. “That’s not the mob. That’s a legitimate power company, operating in
most of the New England and northern states.”

“Oh, so you’re familiar with them?”

Makenna shrugged. “I’ve heard the name.
From what I understand, they specialize in renewable energy sources, like wind
farms and solar panels.”

“So you know the ties to organized
crime,” Lisa said, her cheeks dancing again as she nodded vigorously. “I
understand the same mafia that controlled Italy’s green energy efforts is now
involved in this project.”

“I’ve not heard that,” Makenna said with
a frown, wondering if it was something she needed to check out.

“Oh, surely you have! Surely you’ve
heard of the Zaffino Family!”

Lisa was so insistent, and watching her
so closely, that Makenna feared the other woman was on to her deception. Was
that a name she
should
be aware of? In truth, it did sound vaguely familiar,
but Makenna was certain she had never encountered it while covering a news
story. Not that the
Austin Daily Newsprint
allowed her to cover many
stories about organized crime; the most controversial of her pieces centered
around corruption within the sanitation company contracted to serve the State
Capitol.

Makenna was saved from answering by the
arrival of dessert. “Mm, looks delicious,” she murmured, poking her fork into
the gooey warm center of a colossal brownie smothered in ice cream. “Good thing
we’re sharing, this thing is gigantic!” She tapped Hardin’s arm with her elbow,
trying to draw him into the conversation.

With a devilish glint in his eyes, he
looked down at his own arm, then discreetly darted a glance to Bob’s arm.
Understanding his playful comparison, Makenna pretended to scowl at the silent
insult. Seeing his answering gaze of pure innocence, Makenna laughed out loud.

“Did we miss something, dear?” Lisa
asked, her eyes much sharper than her humorous tone.

“Seeing this much chocolate just makes
me giddy,” Makenna improvised.

Watching as Hardin dipped his own fork
into the dish and lifted it to his mouth, Lisa’s hungry gaze followed his
movements. “Hmmm, I may have to try that on our next visit. It does look
divine.” It was unclear if she was referring to the dessert or to the man, but
Makenna felt Hardin shift uncomfortably in his chair. She quickly hid her own
grin behind a spoonful of pure chocolate sin.

“Does your family live there in Austin,
too, dear?” Lisa asked, scooping up a generous portion of her own dessert.

“No, just me.”

“Hmmm. I was just thinking about a
dentist I used to go to in the Highlands area, a Dr. Paul Reese. Was he by
chance your father?”

“No, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of
him.”

“So what does your father do?”

The line of questioning was making
Makenna uncomfortable. It wasn’t merely the fact that these were questions she
might not know the answer to, considering they were about her friend’s family;
it was the fact that a complete stranger was asking pointed questions about the
Reese family to begin with. They hadn’t even been mentioned in the
conversation.

“You might call him a
jack-of-all-trades, master of none.”

“That sounds interesting. You must have
moved around a lot as a child?”

“Quite a bit,” Makenna agreed with a
noncommittal shrug. Changing the subject, she looked at Bob. “So how is that
éclair, Bob? It looks wonderful.”

“Not too bad,” the thin man allowed.
“’Course, not too good, either.”

“Not like the ones they make at Ricki’s
Bakery?” his wife asked sympathetically, slapping his arm yet again. To the
other couple, she explained, “Ricki’s is the most divine little bakery we
discovered in Chicago’s Little Italy. What they do with pastry is absolutely
out of this world! Have you ever been there?” she asked, looking straight at
Makenna.

“No, I’m afraid I’ve never been to
Chicago.”

“Oh, really?”

“Well, I’ve been to the airport before,”
she corrected. “Connecting flights and all. One time we had a five-hour layover
and I actually did go out for pizza, just down the road from the airport. I’m
not sure that qualifies, does it?” She looked at Hardin for clarification.
Actually, she looked at him to save her from any more of Lisa’s very pointed
questions.

“Oh, I think it counts, especially if
you’re mapping out your travels. Looks good on your resume and on your social
web pages when you’ve been a lot of places.” His blue eyes were alight with
mischief. He was clearly thankful she was the one in the hot seat, and not him.

“I agree!” Lisa butted in. “We love to
travel, don’t we, Bob?” He merely grunted as she stabbed him with her elbow.
“We prefer to travel stateside than abroad, don’t you? We’ve been to all of the
Western states, skipped the Plains, and are now going for the Eastern states.
So far we’ve been to New Jersey, New York, and now New Hampshire and Vermont.
What about you, dear?”

“This is my first time to New England.
I’ve only been as far north as Maryland before.” Remembering a shoot Kenzie did
along the coast of Maine, she quickly corrected herself. “I take that back. I
made a very brief trip to the Maine coastline once, near the Canadian border,
but it was only a one day shoot.”

“So you’ve never been to the Granite
State before?” It was the first question Bob had asked, and it came out
sounding sharp.

“N-No.”

At last, Hardin jumped into the
conversation. “I detect a bit of an accent, Bob. Doesn’t sound completely
Southern. Are you from these parts originally?”

He waved off the question with the
half-eaten éclair gripped in his bony fingers. “Army brat,” he explained.
“Lived all over. Don’t share Lisa’s enthusiasm for traveling, but it gives me
something to do.”

“You don’t have a career to tie you
down?”

“Made my best fortune when I sold my
business a few years back. Good for the pocket book, bad for the rump. Get lazy
real quick with nothing to do. We mostly travel.” It was the most he had said
since sitting down.

“What kind of business were you in?”

“Software.” The one word answer did not
encourage further discussion. “You?”

“Construction.”

“And you, Lisa?” Makenna asked, more to
be polite than to satisfy her curiosity.

“I’m a free-lance travel critic. This is
actually a business trip,” she giggled. “I get to critique the resort where we
are staying, then take the whole trip off on income tax! Pretty sweet, huh?”
she beamed.

“Sounds like a win-win situation,”
Makenna agreed. “What resort are you staying at? Is it getting a favorable
review?” As she steered the conversation to a comparison of their respective
resorts, they all finished their desserts.

When Bob asked if anyone would like more
wine, Makenna glanced at her watch. “It really sounds tempting, but I promised
Hardin we would be back in time for him to make a phone call. If we hurry back
to the hotel, I get to keep my word.”