Trixie set the book to the side, her eyes sparkling beneath her hat brim. “I’ve missed you more.” She’d filled out a little in the last month and didn’t look so sickly.
“You finally got over that cold.” Relief washed through Pippa, even though she could feel people all around them. So many people. She wished she could be back in her quiet office at home.
Trixie nodded. “Turns out it was bronchitis. Thanks for the extra money. I needed it for medication.”
“Any time.” Trixie was Pippa’s age but had never lived a normal life, whereas Pippa could claim one until she had turned ten. “That’s what friends are for.” She studied her friend, who’d dyed her naturally dark brown hair a pretty red. “The color suits you.”
Trixie grinned as the waitress showed up and took their order. Neither one of them needed to look at the menu. It was memorized by now. When the waitress had taken off after scribbling their order, she leaned closer, nearly across the table. “I thought somebody was following me the other day, but then nothing happened.”
Pippa reached for her hand. “It’s okay to be paranoid. But they can’t find us. Our documents are too good.” She hoped. Man, she hoped.
“Yeah. I didn’t know if it was cops or the family.”
Wasn’t that always the question? “How’s work going?”
Trixie rolled her eyes. “Bad tips last month. The economy is making everyone cranky.” Then she brightened. “But I was bumped up to the dinner shift, so things should get better soon.”
“Good.” Pippa’s heart lightened a little. She reached for a Visa cash card from her purse and pushed it across the table. “I had a good month and wanted to share.” It was easy to transfer money from her bank account to the check card and have it shipped to her at home. No ATMs, no cash, and definitely no cameras.
Trixie eyed the money. “I can’t take that.”
“Sure you can.” Pippa took a sip of her water. “I don’t need it. Please, Trixie. You’re all the family I have left.”
Trixie took the card and slipped it into her pocket, her eyes lightening. “I’ll pay you back someday. I promise.”
Unlikely and unnecessary. “So, you dating anybody?” Pippa asked.
Trixie shrugged. “Not really. One of the line cooks has asked me out, but I don’t know. It’s hard to be me, you know?”
“I know exactly,” Pippa murmured. “I kissed a guy last night. A man. A tough man.”
Trixie’s mouth dropped open. “You did not. You? I thought after Miami you’d never date anybody ever again.”
James in Miami had been a good guy until her family had found her. Then he was freaked out. And she’d had to run again. “This guy is different. I don’t think anybody would scare him, but I also don’t think he’d forgive being lied to.” She chewed on her lip. “And he’s an ex-cop.”
Trixie’s eyes widened. “No. You can’t date a cop. You know what we’ve done.”
Pippa tried to breathe. “He’s an ex-cop. Not one any longer.” But he still had followed the law. Enforced it. Would he turn her in if he knew the truth? Did she even know the truth? “I like him.”
Trixie shook her head. “It’s probably a bad idea. Maybe. Or perhaps it’s time to get busy with a hot guy?”
Pippa leaned forward. “He kissed like the guys on television. All hot and wild.”
Trixie chuckled. “Why did you stop him? Why not have crazy sex with him?”
Pippa sighed. “You know why. Lying has become second nature to me. This man definitely deserves better.”
“There is no better than you, but I get what you’re saying,” Trixie said, her smile disappearing. “We’re going to be old cat ladies. Speaking of which, did you get a cat yet?”
Pippa rubbed her chest. “No.” Einstein had died nearly five months before, and she didn’t feel ready to get another cat. Oddly enough, it felt like cheating on the cranky old tabby. “Not yet.”
“I bought a fish.” Trixie snorted. “He’s a Betta, and I named him Alpha.”
Pippa chuckled, feeling much better than she had in weeks.
A shadow crossed the table, and she looked up, already smiling for the waitress. Then she stopped breathing. “Malcolm,” she croaked.
He smiled, his green eyes twinkling. “This is a surprise. Are you following me, gorgeous?”
