Her mouth opened once, and then closed again, before her eyes narrowed with suspicion. "That's not what I mean, and you know it. I meant the tricking thing…maybe."
"SomaybeI'm trying to trick you?" I grinned. "Which means maybe I'm not."
"Ormaybe, that's exactly what someone trying to trick me would say." She gave a little jerk of her chin, as if to say,So there.
She looked cute as hell, protecting the bottle for reasons I still didn't get – because let's be real here. Bubble bath and covering one's ass usually didn't go hand-in-hand.
Yeah, I'd checked the label.What, you thought I wouldn't?
But then, as I mentally combined the two, imaginingTessa'sass covered in suds, I was seeing things a lot differently. And let's just say, the view wasn't half bad.
Okay, it was seriously fine.
But this wasn't why I was here. Why Iwashere, I still wasn't sure, but I did know I wasn't done yet.
The longer we talked, the more relaxed she looked, and for some reason, I liked it more than I should.
"Anyway…the bottle," I said. "Is it one of those egg parenting things?"
"Wait, what?"
"You know, like in high school where they assign you an egg to care for. Is that it?"
Her mouth twitched. "No."
"Wellthat'sa relief."
"And why's that?"
"Because you already dropped it. No A for you."
For a moment, she looked almost insulted, like she wasn't used to falling short.It made sense.From what I'd learned, Tessa Sinclair had been a star performer until she'd gone up in flames.
As if to prove my point, she said, "Well maybe I wouldn't have dropped it if you hadn't startled me."
I spread out my arms. "Hey, I was just standing here. You were the one who turned around."
"Ihadto turn around," she said. "How else would I leave the store?"
Probably, there was a back entrance – not that I'd point this out.No need to give her ideas, right?
"Back to the bottle," I said. "Do I get another guess?"
She rolled her eyes. "Do I have a choice?"
"Nope."
"Fine. Then I'm all ears."
"Alright." I gave the bottle a long, serious look. "It's your Aunt Tillie."
She laughed. "Oh, please, like my Aunt Tillie would fit. And why would she be in the bottle in the first place?"
I considered telling her that Aunt Tillie's ashes would fit just fine, but now that she was laughing, the last thing I wanted was to remind her of death, so I replied with a shrug, "Maybe…she's a genie?"
"Ordead," Tessa said. "That's what youreallywanted to say, wasn't it? Like I'm toting an urn." But then she laughed again. "That'ssomorbid."
I liked the sound of her laugh. It was warm and musical, like wind chimes catching the breeze. I wanted to hear it again. "Hey, don't blame me.Ididn't kill your Aunt Tillie."
