by Tonya Kappes
“No, my treat.” He put his hand on my mine to put the wallet away. “But you have to give me your phone number.”
I looked into his green eyes, and they were glowing.
“Absolutely.” I grabbed the pen the waiter left on the table for Joel to pay the bill, and scribbled my number on his receipt.
I was satisfied the date had gone well, but was a little disappointed I wasn’t in his arms. . .yet.
I was on cloud nine the rest of the day. All the details of Joel’s life aroused my curiosity. The only way I was going to find out about him was through his file at Color Me Love.
Maybe Michael occupying Erin’s time was a good thing. I could easily break into Color Me Love and read his file without Erin knowing.
After all, I was good at breaking and entering. I’ve only been caught once.
I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning my house and plotting my future with Joel.
I even took Herbie for a quick walk around the block.
“You be a good boy,” I said to Herbie while I went down the checklist and gathered the tools I would need to break into Color Me Love.
1) Dress in black because that seemed to be the color choice for all criminals on television shows.
2) A full set of different tools for picking locks.
3) My mini-mag flashlight.
4) My cool new hat that had a flashlight built into its bill.
5) Pen and paper to write down all the juicy details about Joel.
I pulled the Toyota around to the back of the Color Me Love building. I parked just past the back door of The Surplus.
Vive’s car was the only one back there, and I didn’t want her to see me.
Quietly, I tip toed to the back door of Color Me Love. I pushed the button on the side of my hat to illuminate the bill flashlight. It worked like a charm
I tried a couple different tools in the lock, and viola! The lock clicked and I was in.
It was 8:00 PM. I had plenty of time to get in and get what I needed.
I went straight to the office where I knew Erin kept her files.
The new hat worked like a charm. I could see the entire office.
I jumped when I heard the buzzing of the printer. I had told Erin to turn it off every night to save electricity. I made a mental note to flip the switch on my way out.
I opened the files and thumbed through them. Joel was written on a tab and I pulled it out.
“Joel Shelton.” His named rolled off my tongue. “Shelton.”
It had never dawned on me that I didn’t know his last name.
I opened the file and saw confirmation that he lived at Heifer’s and Ho’s Dude Ranch.
I definitely had the right file. I noticed how thick it was.
“Gosh, Erin. How much paperwork do your potential suitors have to fill out?” I turned page after page, not really reading anything on it.
There was no way I was going to be able to jot down all the information I wanted to.
The humming printer made me pause and look over at it. I looked back at the file and a lightbulb went off. I undid the prongs in the file, and took out all of Joel’s papers.
I loaded the printer with his file and pressed the green print button. One page at a time, Joel’s history was fed into the printer, and zoomed out the bottom.
Within seconds I had Joel’s file put back together and in the cabinet, safe and sound.
I grabbed my copy, flipped the printer off, and turned off my hat.
It was time to go home for some great reading.
Ten
I opened the back door and pushed the lock button so the door would lock behind me.
“Stop! Arms up! Police!” The voice boomed out of the loudspeaker of the lights flashing police car.
“Or I will spray you!” Vive yelled out from behind the police car pointing the mace gun at me.
“I said hands up!” The voice boomed out again, and a flashlight blinded me.
I threw my hands in the air sending Joel’s file into the night sky and floating down to the ground.
“Do you want me to spray?” Vive asked the officer.
“No. Put that down.” I heard the officer whisper. “I’ve got this under control.”
“Are you sure?” Vive asked. “I’m pretty good with this new mace gun.”
I had to smile, even in this situation Vive was funny.
“I’m sure you can. You can go back to your shop.” The officer assured her.
I kept my eyes closed. I knew she didn’t recognize me under this hat. A sick feeling hit my stomach. Even though I knew I was going to be okay, I also knew I was going to have to explain to Erin why I was there.
A car came screeching from around the corner of the building and stopped.
I glanced under the bill of the hat and noticed it was Michael’s car. Erin and Michael were running up to the police car.
“I want him arrested.” Erin screamed out.
Him? She didn’t recognize me either. I wanted to call back to her, but didn’t want the officer to shoot me if I made a wrong move or give Vive reason to use her fancy new mace gun.
“Slowly turn around and put your hands on the building!” The officer screamed.
I did exactly what he asked. I heard footsteps behind me.
“Excuse me,” I said politely before he reached me.
“Wait! Olivia?” Erin asked.
“Ummm. . .yes.” I confirmed, too scared to turn around.
“Olivia Davis?” The police officer asked.
“The one and only.” I kept my hands in the air as I turned around to face them. “Joel? Why are you in a police uniform?”
“My new job.” He put the flashlight away. “Why did you break in to Color Me Love?”
“Olivia?” Erin grabbed Joel’s history up off the ground. “I mean Jennifer.”
“Jennifer?” Joel questioned. “You mean Olivia.”
“I can explain.” I looked between the three of them, and then pointed to Michael and Erin. “And I think you two also have some explaining to do.”
“Come in.” Erin patted her pants for the keys. “I don’t have my keys.”
“I can get in.” I dangled my breaking and entering tools into the air and blushed.
Joel didn’t find it amusing.
“Are you going to press charges?” Joel asked Erin.
“No.” Erin gestured for me to pick the lock.
“I still need a statement.” Joel followed us inside.
Erin walked through Color Me Love flipping the lights on. We all took a seat in the office.
“First off, Olivia, why were you here?” Joel took a mini pad of paper and a pen out of his jacket pocket.
He did look even more handsome in his uniform.
“I was trying to get more information about you since I knew you were a client here.” I explained the situation about how I was really Olivia, but had an alias as Jenn with my job. And how Jennifer didn’t show up to any of her dates and Erin asked me to stand in.
Erin laughed which confused the situation.
“Olivia, you are super secret client Jennifer.” Erin took a file from the cabinet. “Matilda, Michael, and I wanted to set you up since you haven’t had a social life in the past six months.”
My mouth dropped open.
“And if we told you the plan, you’d never go for it.” Michael said. “I came up with the idea that the secret client was a no show and Erin would send you in her place.”
“You are Olivia, right? But they were privately setting you up with me?” Joel asked.
“Yes, that sounds about right. I think we both were misled, but I never pretended to be Jennifer at Pete’s because you had already met me.” I smiled at Erin because I knew she was aware I had just played her too.
There was no way I was going to tell him about my “gift.” People always think I’m a freak when they find out I read auras.
“Great, so there was a connection?” Erin looked betwee
n me and Joel.
“I did get her number.” He smiled.
“Blue.” I confirmed.
“Geez.” Michael knew exactly what I was talking about.
“Okay, now that this is settled I need to go.” Joel stood up. “I will call you tomorrow, Olivia.”
“Okay.” I couldn’t wait for tomorrow.
Everything was going to be okay, and I was going to get to know Joel.
About The Author
Tonya is an Amazon Movers and Shakers, and International bestselling author. She writes humorous cozy mystery and women’s fiction that involves quirky characters in quirky situations.
Splitsville.com, the first novel in the Olivia Davis Mystery Series, is a double finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the Mystery and Humorous Categories.
Carpe Bead ‘em is a finalist in Amazon’s eFestival of Words in the Women’s Fiction Category.
She travel to various writer's groups giving workshops on marketing and promoting no matter where you are in your career or what journey you take in publication.
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