The Party Girl

by Tamara Morgan

  “I have no idea what you want from me right now, Kendra.” All he knew was that he didn’t like arguing about problems that belonged to someone else, didn’t care for the intrusion of the outside world in a place that should have been theirs and theirs alone. “Lincoln lost his job. As you’re so delighted to point out, he’s about to lose Nikki. Anything we have to offer is only going to make matters worse.”

  “Except for, you know, our friendship and support.”

  He waited.

  And waited.

  Kendra’s movements stilled, and her arms crossed in an exact emulation of his own.

  “You don’t see the problem with that scenario?” he finally asked.

  “All I see is that your friend needs you, but you’d rather hide out here, pretending the world doesn’t exist, than move yourself to help him.”

  He planted his feet more firmly to the floor, practically growing roots. “And all I see is you trying to control other people’s lives for them. Has it occurred to you that maybe he doesn’t want to see us right now? That maybe he’s avoiding us on purpose?”

  Kendra had never before realized it was possible to care for someone so much and wish to strangle him at the same time. She wanted to smother Noah with kisses and then promptly smack some sense into him.

  “I can’t tell if you’re mad at me because I care about what happens to Lincoln, or if you’re mad at me because I care about what happens to Nikki. I refuse to feel guilty on either count.”

  “I’m not mad at all.” Noah was a terrible liar. Even as he spoke, he shut down and closed himself off, disappearing behind his beard and his signature masked expression.

  “Don’t you dare.”

  Even though she hadn’t yet fully shaken off her own anger, she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged. When he didn’t hug back, she tilted her face up to his and waited for him to breathe. Even stoic hermits had to breathe.

  One tiny exhalation was all she needed to know they were okay, and the slight softening of his lower lip indicated it was on its way. Without hesitation, Kendra wound her hands around his neck and pulled him down to meet her for a kiss. Soft, undemanding, sweet. The simple reassurance that being two seconds away from throwing a mug at his face didn’t mean they were over.

  “I didn’t come out here to pick a fight,” she said, her lips forming the words against his. He wasn’t exactly kissing her back, but his arms had found their way around her torso. “I was worried about Lincoln and figured you would be too. But if you think he’s going to be okay and doesn’t want our interference, then I defer to your judgment.”

  He touched his forehead to hers. “And the rest?”

  She tried not to react, but she was afraid her muscles gave an undeniable twitch. Did he miss the part where she was being deferential? Did he think that came easily to her? He was so freaking insistent that he wouldn’t change his life for her sake, he somehow failed to realize that meant all the changing was on her side.

  And it scared her. She was supposed to be the complete set, the finished product, the Kendra she wanted to be—and up until a few months ago, she had been, if you didn’t count that pesky hole where her heart yearned for something more. Well, now here she was. Her heart was a little fuller, and everything else seemed to be falling to pieces around it.

  “We’re never going to see eye to eye on this Nikki thing,” she said, afraid to prod any deeper. “There’s no use pretending otherwise.”

  “So that’s it? We agree to disagree?”

  “Is that such a terrible thing?” She pulled away to look at him. His face was still stern, his muscles still taut. But his eyes crinkled in the corners, and she could see hope reflected in the soft brown irises. “There are a lot of things about your life choices that I’ll never understand, and I’m guessing there are a lot of things you’ll always disapprove of about mine—and neither one of us seems likely to turn a one-eighty any time soon. Unless you plan on dragging me into your cave to beat me to submission every time we don’t fall in line, agreeing to disagree is all I’ve got.”

  “And here I thought you liked it rough.”

  “I like you, Noah. That’s all that really matters here.”

  It would have been a perfect opportunity for him to share his own feelings—like, lust, the rocky path to love—but he just held her tighter and burrowed in her hair.

  “The day you discover that liking me isn’t enough anymore...you’ll tell me, right?” He spoke as if there was no question of that eventually happening. He spoke as if it was only a matter of time.

  “You’ll be the first to know,” she promised.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I can’t believe you’d betray me like this.”

  Kendra pinched the bridge of her nose. “Mom. It’s hardly betrayal. We’re at the airport right now. I’m waving at her as she’s moving through security.”

  “You were supposed to get her to stop thinking about boys. Not fall in love with a new one.” Her mother’s pause extended beyond dramatic to ominous. “Especially one with a criminal record.”

  Oh, for crying out loud. “He’s not a criminal. He’s an ex-cop. Those aren’t even remotely the same thing.”

  “They make the same amount of taxable income.”

  Her irritated huff turned into laughter. There was no way to argue with that kind of logic. “Nikki is no longer moping and she’s on her way to start summer quarter. I consider my obligations to be met in full.”

  “I suppose it’ll have to do. She didn’t call me crying even once.”

  Kendra wished she could say the same about Lincoln. He wasn’t crying—at least not that she could see. But as they watched Nikki disappear through security, he did look like he needed a hug and a plate full of carbohydrates.

  She hung up with her mother and slung an arm around Lincoln’s shoulder. It was nice, being able to touch him in a friendly way, feeling like she could provide solace and not wind up on the receiving end of a love poem.

  “Come on, Lincoln. You could probably use a distraction. What say we head out to Noah’s and see if we can’t get him to entertain us? I’m this close to convincing him to build a mini golf course hole out there.”

  Lincoln shoved his hands in his pockets and scuffed his toe on the linoleum floor. All around them, people streamed to and from the airline gates, luggage rolling behind them as they bustled through Philadelphia International. Pleasant Park wasn’t large enough to have its own airport, and she’d been loath to send her sister back via taxi, so here she was. Saying goodbye. Maudlin and weepy. Interfering.

  “Actually, would you mind if we talked?” Lincoln asked. “There’s a café near the Terminal A parking lot. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.”

  “Of course,” she said. “Do you want to talk about Nikki?”

  “It has nothing to do with her.” He looked up, his gaze sharp. “Well, it does, but it doesn’t. Come on. It’s kind of a long story.”

  Curiosity had Kendra picking up her pace and leading the way to the café, which was a generous term for three tables overlooking a passenger walkway. But she allowed Lincoln to buy her a cup of decaf and an orange, which sat unpeeled on the table between them. Airport produce was for braver women than she.

  On an impulse, she grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Shit, Kendra,” he said. “It’s not that bad.”

  She blinked. “Oh.”

  He withdrew his hands and stared at them. “It’s just—you’re acting like someone died or something. I only wanted to ask your advice.”

  “Give her space,” Kendra promptly replied. “I get that you’re into her, and I can tell she’s into you. But she really needs to focus on school right now, and—”

  “Not about that.” Lincoln’s tone was surprisingly brusque. “What’s going on between me a
nd Nikki will stay that way. We don’t need you to keep overseeing us.”

  She sat up straighter and, unthinking, began unpeeling the orange. Her long nails easily punctured the skin, covering the coffee scent with the tang of citrus. “Don’t be ridiculous. I never tried to oversee you.”

  “You try to oversee everything, Kendra. And don’t look at me like that—you know it’s true.”

  “I don’t—” She stopped before she made the mistake of saying more. Not my relationship. Not my problem. She’d told Noah she’d stay out of it, and she would. “Fine. I won’t say another word on the subject.”

  “Good, because it’s nonnegotiable.” He took the proffered orange segment, a peace offering of sorts. “What I really want to know is what you can tell me about starting a business.”

  “A...medical spa business?” She could write a book on the subject. Had, in fact, considered doing that very thing. It would be great as a marketing tool and for generating some additional income, but she could tell Lincoln right now that he was ill-suited for any profession in which a calming, healing environment was a primary requirement. “Why?”

  “You know I resigned from the force.”

  “I know you’re no longer gainfully employed with the Lakewood County Police Department,” she hedged. He’d told everyone he quit, but that was a horse-sized pill she couldn’t quite swallow. From Lincoln, she needed baby aspirin. “And I’m really sorry about that, by the way.”

  “Fuck ‘em.” Lincoln shoved another wedge of orange into his mouth. Kendra gave up on the pretense of eating it and spread the remaining segments out in front of him. “Did Nikki tell you why I quit?”

  “I don’t know if you noticed, but Nikki spent every remaining minute of her visit with you.”

  “The decision was pretty simple, when all was said and done.” Lincoln held up three fingers, counting them one by one. “I broke that case for them. I took a goddamn shiv to the gut. And I turned over one of my best CIs. That’s a confidential informant, in case you’re wondering. Turns out that’s who was following you in the Escalade after all.”

  “How comforting,” she murmured. She’d seen her share of cop dramas. She knew how that stuff went down.

  “Yeah, well. Those relationships aren’t forged overnight. I’ve been doing favors for that guy for years. And you know what they gave me in return?”

  Kendra took a stab. “A stern talking to?”

  “A demotion.” Lincoln’s hands came up in a gesture of exasperation. “They wanted to put me back on traffic violations. Said I can’t follow protocol for shit.”

  Kendra kept her mouth shut. Lincoln couldn’t follow protocol for shit. Once he fixated on something, he refused to consider any other possibility in the world. He and Noah were well suited in that way. God forbid they acknowledge that other ways of doing things existed in the world. God forbid they give in and buy an electric can opener.

  “So I told them exactly where they could shove it.” A bright smile worked across Lincoln’s face. “If you need me to spell it out, I meant somewhere dark and crowded and—”

  “I’ve got the visual, thanks,” Kendra said. “So you really did it? You handed in your badge all on your own?”

  “I did. And I’m finally taking Noah’s advice.”

  “You’re...becoming a hermit? I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think the lifestyle will suit you. Unless you’re planning on hermitizing in a hotel penthouse with room service.” That she could get on board with.

  Lincoln laughed. “No, not that. He’s been after me for years to break off from the force and try my hand at private investigations.”

  Say what now? “He has?”

  “Brings it up at least once a year.” Lincoln shrugged. “He’s always saying my skills are ideally suited for working outside the lines. I should have listened to him a long time ago. He’s good at stuff like that, at reading people, at knowing their strengths. He used to work in public relations—did you know that?”

  “He did?” Were they still talking about the same person? Mind-your-own-business Noah? Silence-is-golden Noah? Would-rather-skin-rabbits-than-pet-them Noah?

  Now it was Lincoln’s turn to hand her a piece of orange. Unthinking, she popped it into her mouth and chewed. It was rubbery but edible. “So, will you help me?” he asked. “I know it’s not the same thing as opening a medical spa, but I figure if anyone knows about getting licenses and all that crap, it’d be you.”

  “A business plan,” Kendra automatically replied. Although she was still somewhat dazed by the level of rationality Lincoln was showing—and the fact that he honestly considered Noah a people person—habit compelled her to reach into her purse and extract a yellow notepad. “The all that crap you’re referring to is called a business plan. We’re going to have to look into Pennsylvania state laws about your qualifications, and we’ll definitely need to look into getting you some personal protection, since I refuse to be your fallback if you get stabbed again. Let’s see...what else might you need? Handcuffs? A magnifying glass? A really sweet deerstalker hat?”

  Despite her flippant words, Kendra’s pen moved fast, whizzing over the personnel and tax documents he’d need to get started. No way would he be able to act as his own bookkeeper—and he’d need some sort of lawyer on permanent retainer.

  Lincoln watched her jot notes down with wide, almost cartoonish eyes. “Um...”

  “Relax,” she told him with a laugh. “It looks intimidating, but if I could manage to whip Whitney, John and Jared into turning a profit after six months, I can manage one rogue cop and his dreams of becoming a private eye.”

  He placed his hand over hers, stopping her in the midst of listing all the storefront spaces she’d recently seen go up for lease. There was a small two-room office on the second story of a fabric store that might work perfectly.

  “Kendra, wait.”

  She looked up. “What? This isn’t the sort of thing you can do on a wing and a prayer, you know. If you’re serious about this—and you’re serious about me helping—you need to approach it like a full-time career right from the start.”

  “Just...” He dropped his hand to his lap. “Don’t tell Nikki, okay? I kind of want it to be a surprise.”

  He wanted to surprise her sister with a business license and stable career? Kendra gulped. That sounded both horrifying and sweet. And horrifying. And sweet. And, oh, God, what had she done by introducing the two of them when her sister was only half-dressed?

  “I don’t want to make it a big deal or get her hopes up. In case things don’t work out.”

  “That’s a smart idea, actually.”

  He beamed. “I figure I should show Nikki my best self if I plan on taking things to the next level with her. I realize now that I only ever offered you the dregs. I’m sorry about that, by the way. You deserve more. You deserve someone who has his shit together enough to be your equal.”

  Kendra stared, feeling as though she were looking at a stranger. A familiarly orange-tinted, spiky-haired stranger, yes, but someone she barely recognized anymore. “I know I wasn’t there for you the way you wanted, but I always considered you my equal.”

  The look he gave her didn’t inspire much in the way of belief—though it filled her with plenty of dread. Wasn’t that what Noah was always implying? That her focus on material gains created an unbreachable gulf between them? That she was no better than the woman who’d robbed him and dozens of others of their life savings?

  “I don’t think I’m better than you,” she protested. “I don’t think I’m better than anyone.”

  Lincoln just blinked and handed her another slice of orange. “Are you sure about that, Kendra?”

  Well, crap. She wasn’t now.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Noah had to fight every urge he had not to drop his hammer
and come running at the sound of Kendra’s car pulling up.

  There was no mistaking it—his urges, awakened after a long hibernation, had become overpowering to the point of insensibility. He wanted Kendra in his bed. He wanted steak for his dinner. He wanted cold beer at night and NPR in the morning.

  Fortunately, he managed to hit his thumb at just the right angle—hard enough to jolt a sense of awareness back into himself, not so hard he’d need to grab his first-aid kit—and prevented himself from plunging further into ruin. He took a few deep breaths, letting his thumb throb, cherishing a familiar pain.

  “Hello? Anyone home?” Kendra poked her head through the half-open door, a smile in place. Kendra always smiled in his woodshop—and she didn’t seem to mind simply hanging out, a glass of wine in hand, watching him work as she unwound from a long day.

  Those were the moments when he felt they might have a chance, his doubts rendered insignificant next to the brilliance of her presence. Wherever Kendra went, she brought a feeling of life and purpose with her, infectious to the point of an epidemic. Basking in it—in her—strengthened him in his resolve to be a better man. A good man.

  “I’m just finishing up.” He adjusted a canvas cloth to cover the jewelry box he was working on. He didn’t want her to see it yet, planned on surprising her when it was finished. The box was more intricate than anything he’d done before, with tiny inlaid panels in contrasting woods, and he felt a pride of craftsmanship that was only partly due to his intended recipient. “I was thinking I might take you out for that picnic tonight.”

  “Mmm, that sounds lovely.” Kendra bounded forward and twined her arms around his neck. Her bracelets were warm where they pressed into his skin, her hands even more so, her kiss a fire that smoldered long after she drew back. “But we’ve only got about five minutes before Lincoln arrives.”

  “Lincoln’s coming? Now?” He felt a twinge of annoyance that he immediately regretted. To be anything but supportive right now would only give truth to Kendra’s assertions that he’d rather hide away than move himself to help his oldest friend. And that was unacceptable. “How’s he holding up now that Nikki is gone?”