"Diplomatic and sweet?" John said the instant she was gone, raising his eyebrows at Zach. "Was she talking about the same hard-ass we all know and fear?"
"Hey, the last time I saw Veronica, she and Coop were about to be married. I just made myself scarce whenever Lover Boy here started messing with her in front of me."
"You must have spent a helluva lot of time making yourself scarce, then," John said sardonically, "because he's still at it every chance he gets." Both men turned to look at the subject of their discussion.
Coop shrugged. "What can I say? She's very messable."
"She must be," Zach agreed dryly, "if you couldn't leave her at home long enough to take care of business."
"You don't know the half of it." Rocket gave their mutual friend a pitying look. "He said, 'But honey, cookie, sugar. This here is men's work and ya can't come along.' To which she replied"—John's voice went falsetto— " 'I'm going, Cooper Blackstock, and that's final.'" Then his voice dropped back down into its normal register. "And he caved, Midnight, he just caved. Hung his head and said, 'Okay, princess. Whatever you say.' Hell, she even got to ride shotgun on the trip up here."
Zach shook his head in sad disbelief. "Whoever would have thought we'd see the day the Iceman turned into a boy who just can't say no to the little woman?"
Coop snorted. "It wasn't my little woman who refused to wake you up this morning simply because you had a"—he inspected Zach's temple—"very minor-league knot on the head."
"Yeah, but some of us actually take charge once we regain consciousness from our extremely serious head injuries." Zach gave Coop a smile that was all teeth. "And you'll notice Lily didn't accompany me here." Not that she probably wouldn't have tried to if Jessica hadn't shown up in time to prevent the idea from occurring to her.
"If you two are through swinging 'em around," Rocket interrupted, "maybe we can get down to business." He gave the fly of his fashionable slacks a fond pat. "Besides, a show of size is about as pointless as the nipples on your chests, dont'cha think? Everyone knows who's got the big one in this group."
Zach and Coop looked at him. Then they looked at each other.
"Can't argue with that," Zach said and took a seat.
" 'Course you'll notice he doesn't have a woman of his own." Coop pulled up the chair next to him and gave Rocket a nod as he sat. "But you're in the majors, Miglionni, no question about that."
Then he turned his attention on Zach. "So, what the hell is this I hear about the kidnapper calling last night instead of today?"
Lily picked up a few groceries, then stopped by the hair salon to collect the car keys and see how much longer Jessica would be. When she discovered it would be awhile yet, she left to stow the groceries in the back of Jessica's car, then headed for the drugstore to replace some of her items that were beginning to run low.
She was cruising the aisles when she suddenly ran across the condom selection. She stopped short, her heart dropping with a thud that was nearly audible. "Dear God," she whispered, her mind flashing to the lone condom she'd seen in Zach's zipper bag that night in the campground near Mount Shasta. They'd used it the first time they made love.
And hadn't used one since.
The romantic in her stood there bemused, staring at the display and thinking she was in big-time trouble if she was so moon-faced in love she'd bypassed something as basic as protection. Her bedrock practicality, though, took a more irritated stance. That part couldn't believe it hadn't occurred to her before now that they hadn't been using anything. Or to him either, since Zach was hardly the careless type. She was on the pill, so she wasn't worried about pregnancy. But he didn't know that, and he'd sure as heck never checked to make sure she had it covered. And for both of them to just disregard the most basic safety precautions—good grief, they hadn't even once compared health histories. She never took chances when it came to that, and knowing that she had with Zach made her feel like banging her head on the nearest hard surface.
Instead she selected a box and tossed it in her basket. It was probably locking the barn door after the horse had bolted, but until she knew Zach was safe, he could darn well suit up. It was his sole hope of ever getting his big ol' pride and joy anywhere near her again.
Still fretting about it as she left the store, she nearly barreled into a young man just entering. "Excuse me," she said, and gave the arm she'd grabbed to keep from mowing him down an apologetic pat. "I'm afraid I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Then her eyebrows drew together. She knew that face from somewhere.
Just as quickly, however, her brow cleared. Well, duh. With that jet-black hair and those dark eyes, he was quite handsome, which undoubtedly was what she'd noticed about him when she'd seen him at one of the stores the last time she was here. Happy to have that cleared up, she gave him a sunny smile and stepped to the right to circle around him.
He stepped into her path, so she countered with a move to the left. When he mirrored her action, once again blocking her, she laughed. "Wanna dance?"
His eyes lit up, and it belatedly occurred to her he might think she was flirting with him. Fortunately, before he could say a word, Jessica's voice called out her name.
"Excuse me, gotta go." Holding up her hand like a traffic cop to stay him, she stepped around him. Then, catching sight of Jessica as her friend strode up the block, Lily immediately forgot the young man. She raced down the street as fast as her skyscraper heels allowed.
"Oh, my gosh," she said when they met in front of the jewelry store. "You look great!" She reached out to touch the soft brown wave that ended at Jessica's jaw. "How do you like it?"
"It's such a huge change, I'm kind of in shock. But I think I'm going to love it once I get used to it." She shook her head and laughed. "It feels so light!"
"It really suits you. It plays up the bone structure of your face and accentuates your eyes and neck. I give it the official Morrisette two thumbs up."
Jessica laughed, feeling weightless and pretty. She shook her head again just to feel her hair slide against her cheeks. "Oh, I do think I'm going to like it! It's so nice for once not to have great gobs of hair hanging in my face." She wondered what Christopher would think when he saw her new style. She'd deliberately not told him she was having it done, wanting it to be a surprise.
A few minutes later, as they were buckling themselves into the car, she looked over at Lily. "Would it be too awful of me if I didn't feel like going home just yet?"
Lily blinked. "Why would that be awful of you?"
"Well, I probably shouldn't be out enjoying myself when the kidnapper might call again at any minute."
"We've only been gone—what?—an hour? I don't see how treating yourself to another hour would hurt anything. And take it from me, it's not as if there's a lot you or I can do." Lily said the latter with such conviction it reminded Jessica of her spirited defense of Zach last night. But before Jess could pursue exactly what had occurred, Lily gave her a gentle smile and asked, "What is it you feel like doing?"
"You want to drive over to Olga? I'll show you the Orcas Island Artworks. It's one of the oldest cooperative galleries in the Northwest, and Lily, it has the greatest stuff. It offers everything from hand knits to the most exquisitely crafted glass. Not to mention the wonderful little cafe in the back." She wagged a persuasive eyebrow. "I'll buy you a goodie."
"Oh, very sly." Lily gave her a crooked smile. "You know me pretty well, I'd say, if you understand my appetite's the clincher. By all means, let's go. It sounds terrific."