“You’re not mean.”
“Ain’t nice either.”
He didn’t want her to benice. And he had a feeling she wouldn’t have been asked to speak at a conference in Germany if she’d spent the past ten or fifteen years beingnice. “Who needs nice? You’re interesting. Colorful. And those girls in your Physics Club would probably call you smart and inspiring and encouraging. And speaking of those girls—you paid them the prize money yourself, didn’t you?”
She patted his knee. “Didn’t come for a pep talk, but it’s sweet of you anyway. You free on Saturday?”
She had.
She’d given her Physics Club kids the equivalent of the prize money from the pumpkin-chucking contest. He’d suspectedit since the day the squadron stole her car, but she’d basically just confirmed it by avoiding the question.
This woman was something else.
“No plans that I know of,” he said.
“Good. Meet me at my place at ten. I’m treating you to a date. And don’t go arguing. We both know I’ll win, but you’ll waste a bunch of breath in the meantime.” She paused. “Please.”
He smothered another grin. “Sure.”
She leaned back and eyeballed him. “You’re not fixin’ to argue?”
“Like you said. I’d just be wasting my breath.”
Plus, a date planned by Kaci?
No telling what she’d come up with, but he knew one thing. It wouldn’t be boring. Or ordinary.
Kaci was sippingher third latte of the morning after getting back from Lance’s house. Miss Higgs was snuggled in the corner of the couch. Tara came out of her bedroom in yellow pajama pants and a T-shirt proclaiming her one of the few, the proud, the weird.
She collapsed beside Kaci and smothered a yawn. “You made me a bagel. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I got a problem.”
Tara picked up the plate and sniffed the bagel. “You’re pregnant. Don’t worry. I have a plan. We’ll rent a house and raise it together and never tell anyone until he accidentally stumbles across us one day and realizes the baby has his eyes. And that’s when things will get murky, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
“Sugar, you’ve been writing again, haven’t you?”
“One of my redneck fairy-tale guys just found out he has a secret baby, and everything clicked right before I got out of bed for how I need to handle it.” She waved the bagel at Kaci’s stomach. “You’re not pregnant, are you?”
“Worse. You sure you should be taking accounting classes? Doesn’t seem to fit you.”
“Desperate times.” Tara gripped her hand. “He didn’t give you an STD, did he?”
“Not that bad.”
“Oh, Kaci…you fell in love with him, didn’t you?”
“It’s notlove. More like strong friendship. With more attachment on my end than his.” The coffee rolled through her stomach like sour milk, and her hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
From the caffeine?
Or from seeing Lance again?
“I thought staying away from him would straighten me out,” Kaci said.
“You need to stay away from that man permanently.”
“I promised him a date.”
