Wrong Way Renee (9 page)

“No speeding now. I'd hate to run in to you professionally again.
”
He smiled as he shut her door then
strode
away. She watched him for a moment. He had the cutest
rear view
.

“You have to be the luckiest person I've ever known,
”
Becky said after Renee started the motor.

“I am today. He's actually
kind of cute, don't you think?”

“Kind of cute? He's
freaking
adorable. And unbelievably sweet. He sure got your ass out of a sling. Could you imagine if we had to call your dad to tell hi
m you were in the county jail?”

“I don't even want to imagine that.
” She shuddered.
“
You really think he's cute, huh? Well, he probably won't call me. Most of 'em don't.
”
Her cell started
buzzing
. She pulled it from her purse and
checked the display but it said, ‘Private Number
.
’
“Hello?”

“I told you I'd call soon.
”
Joe’s
voice was quiet and silky
and coated in all sorts of yumminess
.

“Wow, a man of his word.
”
She
glanc
ed at Becky and winked.

“Will you go out with me Friday night?
”

She couldn't
wipe
the smile off her face.
“That depends.”

“On what?”

“Will your
handcuffs be coming along?”

“
Let me check their schedule. Um, yeah, They’re free.”

She laughed.
“
Okay then. Where are we going?”

“Do you like Italian?”

“
Sure.” She’d eat gruel if he was with her.

“
I know a great little place where they have the
best pasta this side of Rome.”

“Sounds great.” Better than great.

“You're not driving while talking on a phone, are you? Because that's dangerous. I'd have to cite you for
that, you know.”

“
You and your handcuffs?”

He chuckled. “Yup.”

“
I haven't even pull
ed out of my parking spot yet.”

“Are you waiting until I leave so you can go back inside to steal some more jewelry?
”

“Ouch. Be nice.”

“Sorry. I'll call you Fr
iday morning to confirm, okay?”

“I'l
l be waiting. Bye, Joe.”

She pressed the disconnect button then slid the phone into her purse.
Her whole body hummed with excitement.
Waiting until Friday was going to be excruciating.
“He's
so
sweet.
”

“Is
n't that what I just told you?”

* * * * *

Melissa
raced into the salon
Tuesday morning
and slid into Renee’s station like a baseball player stealing a base.

“It’
s okay.” Renee poured them
each of them a cup of coffee.
“I don’t have anyone right after you.”

“
I hate to be late.
”
Melissa
set
her hands on the towel.
“How are you?”

“Great. I have a date Friday night with a cop.
”
Thoughts of Joe made her heart flutter.
“And he's really sweet.”

“Good for
you. Where'd you meet him?”

“Remember I told you about being a bank robber's hostage? He was the first officer on the scene. Then I ran into him
…
at the mall this weekend.
”
Sh
e decided to skip explaining the where and how
.

“Cool. I guess sometimes bad st
uff happens for a good reason.”

“Yeah. I'm starting to believe that. And, I started a diet yesterday. I've bee
n really good for a whole day.”

“But Thursday is Thanksgivin
g. Won't that be hard for you?”

“Yeah, I forgot about that. Plus, my policeman is taking me to an Italian restaurant Friday night. I'll hav
e to practice portion control.”

Melissa waggled her eyebrows. “So he’s
your
policeman now, huh?”

Heat spread over her face. “No, no. You know what I mean.”

“You know, I was an overweight kid. My
mother
used to say to me '
just
push away from the table, Missy. It's that easy.' Now her hormones are slowing her metabolism down so she's packing on a few extra pounds. I love saying to her 'just push away from the table, Mom.' She doesn't like it any bette
r than I did when I was a kid.”

“My
m
ama
always has some sage advice for me. I think it's another way she can tell me what a failure I am. Because she's perfect, you see. She never had to worry about her weight.
”
Her stomach growled.
“I love diet advice from people who have no inkling of what it feels like to be overweight or
how awful it is
to eat three stalks of celery a
day and not lose any weight.”

“Why would she think you're a failure? You have your own business and you're a bright, attractive woman
. That's success, not failure.”

She shrugged.
“In her book, I should have been a lawyer. I was planning to be one until I realized I had no interest in law and that I was only doing it for her. What I wanted was to own my own business and have a low stress career where I me
et lots of interesting people.”

“So you're a big success.
”
Melissa took a sip of her coffee.

“What
did you do this week?”

Her face clouded.
“My husband and I went to see our fertility doctor. We've been trying to get pregnant for three years now with no luck.
It seems I'm the problem.”

“
I'm so sorry.
”

“
We're looking into in vitro pl
us some other options too.”

Renee silently
worked on
her client's nails. She had thought Melissa had it all. Apparently no one had everything.

She did two acrylic fills
then joined Becky in the kitchen for a lunch break to eat the salad she'd brought from home. She stared longingly at Becky's tuna sandwich and potato chips.

“Have you thought about what I said about hiring more hairdressers? We've got two empty stations. If we could fill them both, that would be an extra hundred fifty for each of us a week.
”
Becky slid a chip into her mouth.

“Yeah. Let's do it. I'll place an ad in the paper, but don't count on much response this close to the holidays.
”
Bad enough she was nearly broke. She couldn't deal with it if the salon went under.

“You never know.”

* * * * *

When Renee pulled her Jeep into her parents' drive Thanksgiving day, she
noticed
a silver BMW convertible that piqued her curiosity. Circling to the front of the beamer with her green bean casserole in hand, she read the vanity plate:
‘
FLA Law.
’

Cute. Must be one of Gary and
her
Dad's coworkers.

When she stepped through the door, voices floated to her ears from the living room and the smells of turkey, cinnamon and pumpkin filled
the air
.

Her
mother
floated
in
to
the dining room
wearing a yellow floral dress that was way too cheerful for her
.
“Ah, you made it. Happy Thanks
giving
. Put that on the buffet and come into the living room.
”
Elizabeth motioned for her to come.
Actually, her mother’s demeanor was also too cheerful.
“There's someone I'd like you to meet.
”

Uh oh.
‘
Someone I'd like you to meet
’
sounded like a set-up. She cautiously followed her,
stopping in the dining room to set her casserole on a heating tray on the buffet.

In the living room, Gary and
Char
stood next to the
fire
.
Her mother
must have cranked up the air conditioner to make that bearable in the seventy-degree weather.
Her father
sat on his overstuffed recliner. Gary Junior and Alyssa were sprawled on the wood floor playing pickup sticks. Next to the window, a fortyish man with
short hair and a light moustache
sipped a drink and stared at her.

“Renee's here, everyone,
”
Elizabeth chirped.
“
Cleave
Nichols, I'd like you to meet my other daughter, Renee
.”

Ah ha. He must be the someone her mother wanted her to meet, Mr. FLA Law.

“Nice to meet you, Cleave.” She
crossed the room to him and offered her hand.

Not bad, not bad at all. The last man her
mother
had
introduced
her to was a short, balding optometrist who resembled a turtle. He had bad breath and drove like Mario Andretti. After their one and only date, Renee told her never to set her up again. Apparently,
someone
hadn't been paying attention during that conversation.

But this one seemed okay; about six feet tall,
intense brown
eyes and he smelled wonderful, like
an exotic spice she couldn’t place
.

His gaze swept over her.
“The pleasure's all mine.
”

“
Cleave
's parents and sister went on a cruise so he had no one to spend the holiday with. He's a lawyer at the firm.
”
Elizabeth beamed.
“
Would you like a drink, Renee?”

“Thanks, I'll fix it.
”
She stepped behind the bar, stopping along the way to kiss her father.
“Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
”
Her stomach growled, but she had no idea if
the cause was hunger or anxiety.

“Same to you.
”
Char
leaned a spindly leg on a barstool.
“
Cleave
just moved here
from Atlanta last year, Renee.”

“It was so nice of your
mother
to invite me to join you,
”
he said.
“I'd have been at the office working today if she hadn't.
”

Renee mixed herself a gin and tonic, feeling all the adult eyes upon her.
Lord
, she hated fix-ups. And could they be any more obvious? They must
all
be in on it.

“Look what you've done, Elizabeth,
”
Luther
said with a smirk.
“We could have gotten an extra day's work out of him if you hadn't asked him over.
”

“
Luther
. You should be ashamed.
”
Her mother
shook her finger at her husband.

“It's okay, Elizabeth.
I'm used to these guys poking fun at me every day.
”
Cleave strolled to the bar then
set his glass down as he stared at Renee.
“Mind making one for me?”

She stirred her drink.
“What's your pleasure?
”

He regarded her with amusement for a long moment. “Whatever yours is.”

“Good answer,
”
Char
gushed. She had a big
, dumb
smile on her face.

Renee rolled her eyes, already tired of her
mother
and sister's happy family act.

Lourdes, her parents' young, Hispanic housekeeper, slipped into the room.
“Mrs. Wright,
”
she said quietly.