Flirting With Fire (Hometown Heroes) (4 page)

“Yeah, well, he
kept leaving his shoes in the middle of the floor.” And his beer cans, and his
dirty clothes. “’Bout killed myself every time I came home from work.”

“Shoes in the
wrong location—now there’s a reason to dump your boy toy.”

“Forget I
brought any of this up.” I ducked out from under Mitch’s arm and hit my keyless
entry. The dome light in my car flicked on, momentarily blinding us both.

“Oh, come on,
Liz. I was just teasing.”

“And I’m just
leaving.”

Mitch reached
out and snagged my arm. “Oh, don’t go away mad,” he said, reeling me in to plant
a kiss on the top of my head. “Just go away.”

I yanked my arm
free, a traitorous grin creeping onto my face. “Fine. But you’re still a jerk.”

He grinned back
and offered me a shrug. “Old habits die hard.”

Boy, could I
relate.

* * * *

I woke, alone,
to the sound of my cell phone ringing the next morning. At the crack of
dawn
.
And though I thought about ignoring it, or even silencing it, the only one
person on the planet sadistic enough to call me at that hour was my mother. The
same person that, if I didn’t pick up, would just keep calling until I did.

Resistance was
futile.

Muttering a few
choice words, I picked up the phone. “You know, most people my age are still
asleep at this hour on a Saturday.”

“And most people
your age are also married and have supplied their parents with bouncing bundles
of joy by now, too. But I thought perhaps it was too early to bring that up
just yet.”

I rolled onto my
back and sighed. “Thanks for the reminder. So, what exactly did you call to
bring up then, Mother?”

“As if you don’t
know. Seriously, dear, I can’t believe you didn’t call to tell us you’d lost your
job! Don’t you think your father and I deserve to know such things?”

I cringed. “Of
course you do. But I’d hoped not to have to call until after I had another job
lined up.”

Okay, so that
wasn’t exactly the case. Truth be told, I’d been too wrapped up in the whole
Sally debacle and jobless aftermath that I’d completely blanked on sharing the
news with them. A reckless move on my part. Though they’d moved to Indianapolis four years ago, my mother was still in constant communication with her
close-knit Autumn Lake euchre cohorts. I should have seen this coming.

“Oh, sweetheart,
I can’t imagine what you’ve been going through. Especially with us being so far
away. And to hear what Sally had done…”

“Well, what did
everyone think she’d do after learning the truth about her traveling-salesman-with-benefits
dirtbag husband?” I shook my head. “I was just relieved to hear none of
that
happened on
my
table. I would have had to burn it.”

A soft chuckle
greeted my ear. “Well, for your table’s sake, I’m glad to hear that, too.”

Though my
mother’s timing for phone calls always stunk, it was times like this I thanked
the good Lord for having her in my life. Two hours away or not, she knew me
better than anyone else. She was also my favorite sounding board, and had a way
of keeping me grounded while at the same time encouraging me to reach for the
stars. If there was anyone I trusted to be my litmus test in uncharted waters,
it was her.

“You wanna know
the weirdest part about this whole thing?” I asked. “The thrill that ran
through me when I realized this mess might actually be my ticket out of Autumn Lake. Does that sound crazy or what?”

“I always
wondered how long you’d stay in Autumn Lake after we’d left.”

I could hear the
grin in her voice. My mother had said on countless occasions that I’d never
reach my full potential staying here. She’d also warned that Sally’s promise to
eventually expand her salon and make me her business partner was nothing more
than a ploy to keep me around. Since I hadn’t planned to take her up on that,
her empty promises had never bothered me. Her closing shop, however, was a
serious bother.

“Yeah, well my
reason for sticking around sort of evaporated, huh?” I snorted, then took on an
air of nonchalance. “So, I spent the day in Fort Wayne yesterday. Job hunting.”

“Fort Wayne? Someone’s getting brave. Any luck?”

“I start at the
Spa del Sol on Monday.”

“The
Spa del
Sol
? It sounds so fancy. Tell me all about it, and don’t skimp on the
details. I don’t care if it is early.”

I rehashed the prior
day’s adventures, ending with Sarah’s insistence that the temporary job was a
bad idea.

“Why does she
always do that? Go raining on your parade?”

“Don’t be so
hard on her, Mom. She worries about me, that’s all.”

“Hmmpff,” my
mother replied. “That’s
my
job, not hers.”

I hated to be
the source of either of their worry.

We said our
goodbyes a short while later, and I tossed my phone aside.  My mother had been
right—I’d stayed in this apartment too long, grown roots I always swore I
wouldn’t grow. As I tried to envision a different bedroom, inside a different
apartment or house, wanderlust began to wrap its greedy claws around my heart. Maybe
Sally’s debauchery was just the kick in the pants I needed. And maybe this new
adventure would finally bring me closer to finding Mr. Right.

CHAPTER
4

Monday morning I
was up in advance of my alarm, eager to hit the road before traffic got too
hairy. Especially since I wasn’t sure if I could remember the exact route I’d
taken to get to Spa del Sol. And though I wouldn’t have minded asking directions
from Friday’s hunky travel guide, I highly doubted he’d be hanging around that
same gas station again.

No way could I
get that lucky.

I pushed my
thoughts of him aside and focused on the day ahead. A new job. It’d been years,
lots of them, since I’d had to face this. To walk into a new environment and hope
like hell you don’t look clueless, make a fool of yourself, or, worse yet, rub
your new co-workers the wrong way. A tall order for someone like me, who’s
rather stuck in her ways.

I showered,
tugged on my usual massage attire—khaki pants with a stretchy waistband, black
polo shirt, and comfortable sneakers—and pulled my shoulder-length mop up into
a no-nonsense ponytail. Then I stood in front of the bathroom mirror and
assessed my look.

Nondescript, as
usual. Though, since I spend most of my day working in a dimly-lit room, did it
really matter? Nope, especially since I had a strict policy to never date my
clients.

But what if you
accidentally rear-end some gorgeous, single hunk on the drive into town?
whispered
a little voice in my head.

I laughed at the
thought…then dove for the nearest tube of mascara.

No reason I
couldn’t put on a
little
makeup.

I turned out onto
U.S. 24 at six-thirty, well ahead of schedule. A thin layer of fog blanketed
the low-lying fields on either side of the highway, but the sky above was clear
and dark. According to the forecast, today had all the makings of another
beautiful Midwestern spring day. I’d have to make sure to go out for lunch if I
had a break in my day, to soak it in a few rays of good old fashioned Vitamin
D.

Traffic remained
sparse until I reached The Village of Coventry shopping center, where I fell
into line with the rest of Fort Wayne’s usual eastbound workforce. Odd as it
may sound, I couldn’t help but smile as the road became more and more congested.
In Autumn Lake, our workforce
left
town each workday in droves, traffic
dispersing to the east, west and south on their way to larger metropolises that
could offer more in the way of employment opportunities and higher earning
potentials. In Fort Wayne, I was seeing the exact opposite.

Today, for the
first time ever, I was part of something bigger.

Thankfully, the
heavier traffic did little to slow my travels. I remembered which turns to make,
and arrived back at my Friday parking space half an hour early. Unable to sit
still for more than a minute or two, I dropped a few quarters into the meter and
headed inside.

I climbed the
single flight of stairs—a much easier task today, not having spent the previous
six hours on an exhaustive job search—and tried the spa’s door, but it was still
locked. A faint light peeked out around the suite’s drawn metal shades, so I gave
the door a few tentative raps then stepped back to wait. Seconds crept by slow
as hours, and the worries I’d managed to suppress during my drive in began to seep
back into the forefront of my mind. I’d been at the same job for the past eight
years. All that familiarity, all that sense of belonging, gone.

What if I hated
it here? What if everyone here hated
me
? Or worse, what if I absolutely
loved it here and didn’t want to leave?

A small click sounded
from behind the door. It opened to reveal Dawn, peeking cautiously out into the
hall. Her gaze lit upon me, and a medley of relief and excitement washed over
her beautiful face.

“Good morning!”
She stepped aside to let me pass, then closed and locked the door behind me. “Thanks
for coming back.”

“Of course! Did you,
uh, not convince Xavier to let you stay home after all?”

“Oh, trust me—I’m
taking the next six months off whether he likes it or not. But I wanted to work
a few half days this week to help you get settled in. Besides, what kind of
person would I be if I just threw you to the wolves on your first day?”

Wolves?
I
felt the smile on my face waiver.

“Sorry, I
shouldn’t tease. You’ll be just fine! Besides, the staff are more likely to
bite than any of my clients. Come on,” she said, then turned and began waddling
away. “Let me show you where everything is before your first client arrives.”

We made our way back
to her massage room once more, but this trip she took the time to stop and
introduce me to the others as we went. Contrary to what she’d implied a moment
ago, everyone seemed very personable. No fangs bared or claws out, thank
goodness. Brittany, our twenty-something toothpick of a receptionist, was in a
stylist’s chair having her bangs touched up by Renee, who looked to be about my
age. She had a colorful ornate tattoo that stretched along her right side from
chin to fingertips. The reds woven into the design played up the auburn in her
modern hairstyle and the color painted on her smiling lips.

I made a mental
note not to mess with Renee. Something about her beautiful yet scary look had
me a little leery. Still, she seemed nice enough. Andrea (who looked to be in
her twenties and wore her long, honey blonde hair up in a twist) and Tony (who
I’d put around fortyish and wore his perfectly gelled dark hair in a modern ‘messy’
style) were the spa’s other two stylists, and both were also there checking
their supply levels. We exchanged our hellos and continued on.

“Sherri, Kim, this
is Liz,” Dawn said, introducing me to two ladies in the nail area. One was a
tall, rail thin, long-haired brunette, the other petite and curvaceous with
cropped, raven-black hair.

“Hi, Liz,” they
said in chorus.

I offered them a
little wave. “Hi.”

“Oh, my.” Kim,
the shorter of the two, reached out and grabbed my hand. “Honey, your cuticles
are a
mess
. How long has it been since your last manicure?”

“I don’t know. A
year or two?”

Kim’s eyes
widened to the size of cue balls. “Oh you poor, poor thing. You come see me
when you get a break this week, okay? I’ll get your hands presentable again in
no time.”

“Well, I don’t—”

“It’s fine,”
Dawn said, taking me by the elbow and waving the others off. “We do a lot of
swaps around here. Nails for hair, hair for a massage. Why, I haven’t paid for color
or a pedicure since we opened last spring.”

Free sounded
just about perfect to me. Except free massages. I snuck a quick sideways glance
at Dawn’s round belly. Nope, definitely not gonna ask for any massages.

She led me back
into her massage room and turned the lights up. Even in its brighter state, the
space was still welcoming. Soothing.

“I just can’t
get over how beautiful it is in here.” I let out a small snort and shook my
head. “It’s nothing like the tiny room I’ve been stuck in the past few years.”

“Oh? And where
was that?”

“Um, just a
small salon. In Autumn Lake.”

“Autumn Lake? Is that nearby?”

I grinned. If
she didn’t know where the town was, chances were she also didn’t know too much
about it. Or its gossip.

“Yeah, it’s
about thirty minutes away. Small town, pretty cozy. That’s where I live,
actually. And I’m the only licensed massage therapist in town.”

Dawn’s eyes
widened in surprise. “You just walked out on your existing clients?”

“No! I mean, not
intentionally. The salon closed last week.” Unexpectedly.

“Closed? How
awful.”

Sympathy washed
over Dawn’s face. She stepped closer and put a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry this
is only a temporary position, Liz. But hopefully this will tide you over while
you get something a little more permanent lined up.” Her grip on my shoulder
tightened a fraction. “Just don’t go getting any crazy idea of wooing away my
clients when you do.”

“I wouldn’t
dream of it.”

“Of course you
wouldn’t,” she said, and gave my shoulder a pat.

Mental note
number two:
don’t piss off Dawn.

* * * *

After going over
a few company and massage etiquette rules, she led me out of the room and back
toward the reception area. Part way there, she turned down a narrow side hall
I’d overlooked on our first two passes. Wedged between the nail and massage
areas, the hall ended in a door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY.