Change of Heart (The True Heart Series Book 3)

by Layce Gardner

  Parker kissed Amy on the top of the head. “Don’t fret over this Carrie thing. Rosa will take care of it all.”

  “She won’t beat Carrie up or anything?”

  “No. Steph will do that,” Parker said.

  ***

  “What?” Rosa Garcia said into the phone. Rosa was a police officer and Susan’s best friend since college. She’d been shot in the back by a drug dealer and now walked with a cane. Her days of being a street cop had been cut short due to her injury. Now, she did mountains of paperwork and hated it. She pulled a pen out of her tight bun. The guys were always making off with her pen so she’d learned that keeping it on her person was best. She had tried the lanyard pen holder but got it caught in a file cabinet and almost strangled herself when she shut the drawer—like she needed another Workman’s Comp fiasco. She was still fighting with them over her hospital bills from the shooting.

  Rosa looked longingly at the box of donuts that Chief Bob Ed had brought in. She looked down at her hips and sighed. Her worst fear was getting secretary’s butt. Weight had always been a problem for her. She had her mother’s genes. She’d also gotten her mother’s dark good looks and generous breasts, as her wife, Steph, constantly reminded her whenever she brought up the topic of her weight.

  Rosa just wished the daily box of donuts would stop arriving. She could smell the maple bars from here. Her mouth watered like one of Pavlov’s dogs. They were her favorite.

  “Tell me you didn’t say what I think you just said,” Rosa said into the phone.

  “Carrie’s back in town and Susan ran into her. She’s working at The Perk,” Parker said. “Hold on a minute.” Parker covered her phone with her hand and called out, “Jose, I want the holes pre-drilled, you’ll split the wood otherwise! Need I remind you of the high cost of lumber?”

  “What did Susan do?” Rosa asked. She’d gotten up and moved the box of donuts to the dispatch desk where Mike’s eyes lit up. He was taking a call about a loose emu that was chasing people around the parking lot of Save-More, the local grocery store.

  “Apparently, she was rendered speechless,” Parker said. “Luke was there and extricated her from the situation. I have to go before Jose destroys the gazebo. Make sure Steph doesn’t kill Carrie. Later.”

  “Wait,” Rosa said, but Parker had already clicked off. She went back to writing reports. As long as she was at work there wasn’t much she could do. Looking down at her cell phone, she itched to text Susan but she stopped herself. She wasn’t going to be one of those employees who spends more time on her phone than working. She’d wait for her lunch hour.

  She tried to work, but couldn’t keep her mind from wandering back to the day when she’d first learned about Carrie’s affair with Monica—the affair she should’ve told Susan about but didn’t. Rosa had been in the changing room at The Bridal Boutique trying on her bridesmaid’s dress when she’d overheard Carrie and Monica talking. They hadn’t known she’d arrived early and was already in the changing room. Monica had been badgering Carrie into telling Susan about their love affair before the wedding. Carrie promised she would.

  Rosa decided that it was better to let Carrie tell Susan than for her to do it. She didn’t want Susan to hate her for revealing the affair, or worse—call Rosa a liar. That was always the quandary—damned if you do, damned if you don’t. It was Rosa’s very own Sophie’s choice. Hurt her best friend by telling, or hurt her by not telling.

  When the wedding was still scheduled, Rosa figured that Carrie had backed out of her affair with Monica. Carrie had had one last fling and now she was ready to settle down. Rosa thought Carrie’s behavior was deplorable, but up until then, Carrie had been good to Susan. Rosa figured she’d have to overlook the whole thing for Susan’s sake. But then, watching Susan at the altar getting stood up, Rosa realized she’d made the wrong choice. She hated Carrie from then on.

  Rosa always wondered if Carrie had known that Rosa had been privy to her and Monica’s conversation. She’d come out of the changing room, pretending nothing had happened. She acted as if she hadn’t known they were even there. She remembered Carrie staring at her, but Rosa thought she had a pretty good poker face. Still…Rosa wondered.

  She hoped Susan wouldn’t go near the lying, two-timing bitch. Susan must never find out about Rosa’s choice. It was bad enough for Susan to be wronged by her lover; she didn’t want Susan to feel deceived by her best friend, too.

  Chief Bob Ed called for her from his office. Using her desk as leverage, Rosa got up, grabbed her cane, and limped into his office.

  “I need you to cover dispatch. I’ve got to send Mike out to handle this damn emu situation. We’re short today. Andy has the flu and Fred is on another call,” he said.

  “Sure, but he’s got to take that box of donuts with him. I can’t stand the temptation,” she said.

  “Maybe he can bait the emu with them,” Chief Bob Ed said. He chuckled. He was a big guy, wore a cowboy hat and polyester Wranglers, and had a grin that charmed the voters every election. He was a good ol’ boy and played the part well. He was originally from New Jersey, a fact he played down.

  “I’ve heard they’ll eat anything,” Rosa replied. She went to sit at Mike’s desk. The phone rang and she was glad for the distraction. She didn’t want to think about Susan and Carrie.

  She grabbed a maple bar out of the box and answered the phone.

  ***

  Steph and Ruth were cleaning up the fire station garage. They took pride in their work. They scrubbed until the floor gleamed and sparkled.

  Steph was Rosa’s wife. They had been together twelve years and married for only one. After Rosa’s accident and subsequent recovery, she had surprised Steph with a wedding on Christmas Eve in front of all their friends.

  Ruth was the only other female firefighter in Fenton. She had transferred to small-town Fenton from Tulsa after her nasty divorce. She hoped that the slower pace of a small town would be an ideal place to raise her daughter.

  Ruth was spraying the cement floor with a garden hose and Steph was sweeping. It had been a slow week for Fenton’s firefighters. The only interesting call was hauling Mrs. Smithers off her roof after the ladder she’d used to get up there had fallen over, leaving her stranded. Steph had counseled her on not patching her roof with tar because she was ninety-three and had a bad hip. Although, Steph was pretty sure her warning had fallen on deaf ears.

  Eric, another firefighter, came out to the garage, crossed his arms over his big chest, and said, “That’s what I like to see, women cleaning.”

  Ruth turned the hose on him and he ran off howling. “That’ll shut his pie hole,” she said.

  Steph laughed. She liked Ruth. Ruth was a big woman, six feet tall in her stocking feet, with dark hair and eyes as green as her ancestral country—the Emerald Isle.

  Steph was Italian. She had olive skin, black hair, and dark eyes. She was hot-tempered and loud-mouthed. She also had a warm heart. She was passionate about her wife, her friends, food, and romance. She was a romance junkie and had the library of lesfic books to prove it.

  Rosa teased Steph about having a crush on Ruth. “It’s not a crush. It’s a bromance,” Steph said in her own defense. “And she’s one hell of a firefighter.”

  Ruth and Steph finished cleaning the floor and took a break, sitting in the camp chairs the boys had set up. An ice chest served as a coffee table between the chairs. After much digging in the cooler, Ruth pulled out two ice-cold Barq’s root beers and handed one to Steph.

  “Damn, I love these things,” Steph said. She took a sip.

  “You’re not the only one. I caught Sal with one the other day. I managed to take it away from him before he broke his diet,” Ruth said.

  “When will he learn that the only way to keep those pounds off is permanent abstinence?” Steph said. “It took us six months of sugar-free solidarity for him to lose twenty pounds so he could pass his physical.”

  “He looks good now.”

  “Ye
ah, but can we keep him that way?”

  A shadowy figure loomed in the doorway. Steph couldn’t believe her eyes. She nearly choked on her root beer. It was Carrie.

  Steph’s temper exploded. “You piece of shit!” She jumped out of her chair, fist cocked.

  Ruth quickly grabbed Steph around her waist and lifted her off the floor before she had a chance to knock out Carrie St. Claire.

  “Whoa there, whoa,” Ruth said as Steph squirmed trying to extricate herself, shouting obscenities in both English and Italian.

  Ruth looked at the pretty blond woman standing in the doorway, “I don’t know who you are, but I suggest you leave right now before she goes all Hulk Hogan on your ass. I can’t hold her back forever.” She sat Steph down, but kept her hands on Steph’s shoulders.

  “I just want to talk to her,” Carrie said.

  “Not happening,” Steph spit.

  “Look, Steph, I understand why you’re mad,” Carrie said.

  “Oh, really? What happened, your affair didn’t work out and now you want to pick up where you left off with Susan?”

  “No. I want to make amends.”

  “Yeah, that ought to be super easy,” Steph said. She looked over her shoulder at Ruth. “If I promise to behave will you turn me loose?”

  “For sure?” Ruth asked.

  “For sure,” Steph said.

  Ruth let Steph go. And the second she did, Steph lunged at Carrie and punched her. Carrie recoiled, crying out, and shielding her face from any further blows.

  Ruth grabbed Steph again, pulling her away from Carrie. “Get out! Go!” Ruth yelled in Carrie’s direction.

  Carrie quickly ran down the sidewalk, not slowing her pace until she was two blocks away from the fire station.

  Steph didn’t calm down until Carrie was out of sight. She paced across the width of the garage until she finally calmed down.

  “Ice,” Steph breathed. “Need ice.”

  “Too late. She’s gone,” Ruth said.

  “Not for her,” Steph said, shaking her swelling knuckles. “For my hand.”

  Chapter Two

  “It’s going to get messy,” Parker said as she, Amy, and Rosa sat on the back deck of Steph and Rosa’s bungalow. They were drinking iced tea with mint leaves from Steph’s herb garden. The fecund smell of damp earth was in the air, signaling spring.

  “Let’s just hope Carrie doesn’t press charges. Steph could get suspended,” Rosa said.

  “She still at work?” Amy asked.

  Rosa nodded. “She has one more day on her rotation before she has four days off.”

  Ruth had called Rosa and told her the story because Steph was still so hopping mad she couldn’t even talk about it without going off again. Ruth had put Steph on the treadmill in an effort to calm her down and called Rosa to tell her the sordid tale.

  “Carrie pressing charges is the least of our concerns,” Parker said.

  “What do you mean?” Amy asked.

  Parker sipped her beer. She looked over at Rosa who nodded at her. She trusted Amy and maybe having a relative newcomer to their group would provide some insight into Rosa’s problem.

  “Rosa knew that Carrie was having an affair and didn’t tell Susan about it. The million-dollar question is whether Carrie knows it,” Parker said.

  Amy shook her head. She looked at Rosa. “You knew about the affair and didn’t tell Susan?”

  “I know, it sounds horrible. And I regret it, believe me,” Rosa said. “And now that Carrie’s back I live in fear that she’s going to tell Susan that I knew all along.”

  “Wow,” Amy said under her breath.

  “Bad, right?” Rosa said.

  “You didn’t even tell her afterwards?” Amy asked.

  Rosa shook her head. “And I hate myself for it.”

  “Well, whatever you do, don’t tell her now,” Amy said.

  “I’m more concerned about Tess. I’m not certain that Susan doesn’t still hold a bit of torch for Carrie,” Parker said. She pulled several napkins out of her back pocket.

  “She can’t, not after what Carrie did to her,” Rosa said. She dodged a hummingbird who was heading toward one of the many feeders Steph had hung around the yard.

  “Love is a funny thing,” Parker said. “Speaking of love…” She handed the napkins to Rosa.

  “What’s this?”

  “I want your opinion. I can’t decide on the napkins for our wedding,” Parker said.

  “Which one do you like?” Rosa asked Amy.

  “I can’t make up my mind either. All this wedding planning is stressing me out,” Amy said.

  “Which is why I’m planning it,” Parker said, leaning over and taking Amy’s hand. “But the napkins have me stumped.”

  Rosa looked down at the napkins and studied each one. They all looked pretty much the same to her, but with different slogans printed on them. “Well, the one that says all you need is love is nice.”

  “I feel like that’s a copyright infringement,” Parker said.

  “Okay, then. Best day ever is pretty good.”

  “Too valley girl,” Parker said.

  “Hmm…Cheers to a married life,” Rosa said.

  “Too British,” Parker said.

  The last napkin read Eat, drink, marry.

  “Too cutesy,” Parker said.

  “Well, why am I looking at these if you don’t like any of them?” Rosa asked.

  “Because they’re the best ones so far,” Parker said, furrowing her brow.

  “You better keep looking then.” Rosa handed the napkins back, adding, “How are the other things going?”

  Parker didn’t look at her. Parker had never mastered the fine art of lying. Instead, she ignored troublesome questions.

  “She’s having trouble with seating arrangements,” Amy answered for her.

  “Geez, you guys, at this rate you’ll never get married,” Rosa said. “Maybe you should have a simple wedding like the one Steph and I had.”

  “It’s not Christmas. It’s not a surprise, and I’m not wearing a bad Christmas sweater,” Parker said bluntly.

  “Come on, it was fun and romantic. Remember the look on Steph’s face when she walked into the church to find all her friends holding candles waiting for her to get married?” Rosa said.

  Amy smiled. She thought it was the most beautiful wedding ever. “It was amazing.”

  Parker took the napkins back from Rosa and laid them out on the table so she could study them better.

  Amy touched her knee. “Everything will work out, honey. You’ll see.”

  “I know it will because I have you,” Parker said.

  Rosa rolled her eyes, good-naturedly. “You two are so sweet you’re giving me diabetes. Have you had a fight yet? Surviving those is the true test of love.”

  Parker considered the question. “Does my disregard for the toilet paper under/over debate count?”

  Amy chuckled. “Uh, no. That was a discussion.”

  “You didn’t yell at me,” Parker said. “So, it wasn’t a fight.”

  “That was the only fight you’ve had?” Rosa asked.

  “Can you think of any other?” Parker asked Amy.

  “Nope,” Amy replied.

  “Then you’ve missed out on the joys of make-up sex,” Rosa teased. “It’s the absolute best sex you’ll ever have.”

  Amy raised her eyebrows in Parker’s direction. “We could pretend to have an argument.”

  “Let’s do it,” Parker said. “As soon as we get home, I’ll change all the toilet paper rolls to the wrong way.”

  ***

  Tess was in her kitchen making chicken fried rice. The kitchen was her least favorite room in her house. She was a serviceable cook and sometimes she even enjoyed it, so it wasn’t that. It was that the rest of her house was so cozy, warm, and inviting. She had decorated every room with the ultimate degree of comfort in mind. That is, every room except the kitchen. It was too utilitarian. Maybe she should redecorate it.
Do some kind of farmhouse motif. Blue checkered curtains and tablecloth…

  She stirred the rice in the wok, keeping the burner on low. She’d gotten used to having a doctor for a girlfriend. Sometimes Susan got off on time and sometimes she didn’t. Tess tried to make meals that could easily be reheated if an emergency caused dinner to be late. She hoped today would not be one of those days. She wanted to talk to Susan about the reappearance of you-know-who.

  Tess sighed. She could decorate her kitchen in her mind all she wanted, but she couldn’t get rid of the thought of Carrie. Big, bad Carrie. The only black spot on her relationship with Susan. Why couldn’t relationships be like bananas? Just cut out all the yucky spots.

  Parker had called to tell her the news about Carrie. She’d told Tess that she didn’t want her to be blindsided. “I am not gossiping by doing this,” Parker had said.

  “I know that, Parks.”

  “I wanted to warn you. Before somebody else dropped the bomb on you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Call me if you need to. I’ll be your voice of reason.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  Tess had spent the rest of her day off in a state of barely contained panic. She tried to tell herself that Susan would never have anything to do with Carrie, but still it was disconcerting knowing that she was back in town and obviously intended on staying for a while. She wouldn’t have bothered getting a job if she planned on leaving any time soon.

  It was her failed love affair with Carrie that had kept Susan from committing herself fully to Tess at the beginning. They’d been dating for six months and it had taken some doing to persuade Susan to move in. Susan hadn’t known if she could fully give her heart to another woman because Carrie had hurt her so badly. But she’d finally done it; she’d taken the chance. Tess didn’t want Susan to doubt their relationship because Carrie suddenly showed back up in town.

  Tess heard Susan’s car pull up in the drive and steeled herself. She would be a good listener and keep her doubts and fears to herself. Right now, Susan needed her support. Tess pasted a smile on her face, turned off the burner, and poured them both a glass of wine. Dinner could wait. They needed time to talk and process.