Big Girls Don't Cry

by Linz, Cathie

  At least Rock Creek had that. The weather was spring perfect with the promise of things to come in the air. Apple blossoms were just beginning to burst on the single tree struggling to survive next to the World War II memorial tank. Even the funeral home looked nice with the red tulips blooming in a surprisingly pretty garden out front.

  What did it say about a town when the nicest place was the funeral home? She was pondering that question when someone bumped into her outside the thrift store. “Sorry.”

  Leena recognized Edie Dabronovitch’s daughter, Hannah. The girl was bent over, picking up the contents of her backpack, which had spilled onto the cracked sidewalk. Leena immediately helped her.

  “I’m so clumsy,” Hannah muttered. “My mom is always telling me.”

  “You’re not clumsy. You couldn’t play softball or basketball as well as you do if you were clumsy.” Leena looked down at the diet pills that had tumbled out of her backpack. “Are you taking this stuff?”

  Hannah just shrugged.

  “It’s not good.”

  “You know of a better pill?”

  “You don’t need pills.”

  “Yes, I do. I’m fat as a cow. My mother tells me so all the time.”

  “She’s wrong. She called me a fat cow too, yet I was a model.”

  “She says if you were really a model, then you wouldn’t be working at the vet’s office.”

  Score one for Evil Edie. What was Leena doing, giving advice to a kid? She was hardly in a position to be doing that. It wasn’t as if she was the model of success here. But the thought of Hannah having such low self-esteem got to her. Because Leena knew what it was like to feel that way.

  Granted her mom had never ridiculed her the way Edie did Hannah. But the other kids had.

  Leena had been an underdog most of her life—told she was too bossy, too tall, too fat. But she’d had people, like her mom, who believed in her. Hannah needed that. Everyone did.

  “I have my reasons for being here,” Leena said. “I can’t go into them.”

  “Are you going to be an actress? A lot of models go into acting. Are you here preparing for a role?”

  “I can’t say.”

  Hannah nodded. “I understand. It’s okay. Your secret is safe with me.”

  “Those pills aren’t safe. Promise me you won’t take any. You are wonderful just the way you are. And anyone who tells you otherwise is just wrong.”

  “I don’t look like my mom. She looks like the models in the magazines.”

  “Those models are airbrushed and computer enhanced. No one looks that way. Trust me, I’ve seen the before and after shots. You wouldn’t believe what they can do with computer software. Why, they even tried to mess with Katie Couric’s picture to make her look skinner. Big mistake.”

  Sister Mary interrupted them. “Hello, Hannah. Why aren’t you in school?”

  “It’s a teacher conference day.”

  “I see.” Sister Mary turned her eagle eyes on Leena. “Aren’t you going to come inside and take a look around?”

  Leena took a step back. “I need to get back to work. I was just taking a quick power walk after lunch.”

  “Yet you had time to talk to Hannah.”

  “We’re gal pals. We’ve bonded.”

  “Really?” Hannah stared at Leena in awe.

  It felt good to be looked at that way. And it felt good to let this kid know that there were other points of view besides Evil Edie’s. “Yeah, really.”

  “Sweet.” Hannah flashed her a shy smile before turning to leave.

  “Remember what I said.” Leena didn’t want to refer to the pills in front of Sister Mary, but she could tell by Hannah’s expression that she understood.

  “I will. I promise.”

  Then Hannah was gone, leaving Leena with Sister Mary. “Come on in and take a look around.”

  Recognizing an order when she heard one, Leena did, with Sister Mary at her side the entire time. “You’ve got a ThighMaster for sale here.”

  “You sound surprised.”

  “It’s just that there’s so much stuff here—from couches to Bakelite jewelry. This stuff goes for a lot of money on eBay.”

  “ThighMasters?”

  “No. Bakelite jewelry.” Leena slid a red bangle on her wrist. “I’ve never gotten into the ThighMaster.”

  “I have,” Sister Mary said proudly. “Feel these muscles.” She pointed to her thighs.

  “No, that’s okay,” Leena stuttered. “I believe you.” What nun would lie about a thing like that? What nun would lie, period?

  “I’ve used the ThighMaster for years. I don’t mean to brag, but I’ve got thighs of steel.”

  Leena was speechless.

  “What? You don’t think a nun should have thighs of steel?”

  “I, uh . . .” Leena had no idea how to properly answer that question.

  “You’re not comfortable talking to me about these things?” Sister Mary said.

  “No, I’m not.”

  “So are you still faking it till you make it?”

  “Absolutely.” Leena’s attention returned to the bangle. The price was only two dollars.

  “Does that include faking your feelings for Cole?”

  “Which feelings for Cole? I have so many.”

  “Really? Frankly, I expected you to deny having any.”

  “That would be a little hard to do at this point. You know, when we were kids, Cole always made me feel like he was laughing at me behind my back.”

  “You still think that way now?”

  “Sometimes. He doesn’t take much seriously.”

  “That’s what he likes people to think.”

  “He seems to take great pleasure in teasing me.”

  “That’s not the only thing he seems to take great pleasure in doing to you.”

  Leena blushed so hard she thought her cheeks were on fire. “We were not making out in my car the other day. That was a total lie.”

  “What about in Nathan’s office?”

  “When Cole is charming, he’s hard to resist. And when he’s impossible, sometimes he’s even harder to resist, you know? The man drives me crazy. I know he’s your nephew, but come on. You’ve got to see how he could drive a person crazy. But he’s my boss. Not that he’s used his position in any way to try and get me to . . .”

  “Make out with him in Nathan’s office?”

  “Maybe I should get another job. Are you looking for help here at the thrift shop?” Leena asked as she paid for her bangle.

  “No. And Cole depends on you at the clinic. He’s always raving about you, about how organized you are and how you’ve whipped things into shape.”

  “I need to whip myself into shape,” Leena muttered.

  “Is that why you gave me the cakes the other day?”

  “Yeah. As soon as I got back here, I started falling into bad habits.”

  “Did you ever consider the possibility that you had to come home to face your fears before you could move on?”

  “What fears?”

  “You tell me. And don’t try telling me you don’t have any fears. We all have them. I suspect yours are tied to this town, to your upbringing, to your roots.”

  “What do you know about my parents?”

  The question caught Sister Mary by surprise. “I know they’ve retired down in Florida.”

  “Yes, but what about before that? When they were still here?”

  “I didn’t know your family well, but they seemed a colorful bunch of individuals.”

  “Right. A polite way of saying they were strange.” Leena had talked to her mom on the phone a few times in the past month. Each conversation had been brief. The only comment her mom had made about Leena’s return to Rock Creek was a vague comment about it being nice that she and Sue Ellen could spend some time together. Then she’d gone back to talking about her friends in Florida, ending with a halfhearted invitation for Leena to come down and visit them sometime when they weren’t quit
e so busy.

  For some dumb reason those awkward calls always made Leena feel as though she wanted to cry. She wasn’t sure why. She really needed to return to e-mails as her main means of communication with her parents.

  “I’m not like Cole,” Leena said. “I’m not in love with Rock Creek.”

  “You talking about me again, Princess?” he drawled from behind her.

  “Yes, I am. I’m trying to get embarrassing information about you from your aunt so that I can use it against you should I need to at some future point.”

  “No.” Cole dramatically placed one hand over his heart. “You wound me deeply.”

  “I don’t want to wound you deeply, just slow you down a little.”

  “Honey, I can go as slow as you want.”

  Leena blushed. “Don’t talk like that in front of a nun!”

  “Not even Catholic, yet she’s filled with guilt,” Cole told his aunt. “I suspect it’s because she wants me but is afraid to admit it. Especially in front of you.”

  “Then I’ll leave you two alone to work it out.” Sister Mary gave him a hug before going to help a new customer.

  “Why do you do that?” Leena gave him an exasperated look.

  “Do what?”

  “Never mind. It’s useless trying to reason with you.”

  “Wait a second. Where are you going?”

  “Back to work. I have a mean boss.”

  “I could put in a good word for you.”

  She gave him an evil glare.

  “That didn’t come out the way I intended,” Cole said. “Never mind. I’ll walk back with you. Are you getting excited about your welcome-home party?”

  “I’m not sure excited is the word.”

  “Then what is the word?”

  “Apprehensive.”

  “You? You’re not afraid of anything.”

  “Your aunt just told me that we all have fears, whether we admit them or not. Take you for example. You’re clearly afraid of commitment.”

  “What gives you that idea?”

  “Your track record. You’re a serial monogamist.”

  “You make it sound like a crime.”

  “You stay friends with your former girlfriends after you break up because you never really got emotionally involved with them in the first place. Everything was surface. A temporary good time. No broken hearts.”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothing . . . if you like shallow relationships.”

  “You prefer broken hearts?”

  Remembering the painful humiliation Johnny Sullivan caused her, she wondered if maybe Cole had the right idea after all.

  “What’s his name?” Cole demanded.

  “Huh?”

  “The guy who broke your heart. What’s his name?”

  “None of your business.”

  “So you don’t deny that he did break your heart?”

  “We are changing the subject.”

  “No, we’re not. You always do that when things get too personal.”

  “Do what?”

  “Change the subject. Not this time. I want to know who this guy was. Someone in Chicago?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “Because I care about you. Why do you find that so hard to believe?”

  “Because I’ve heard it before and it was a lie.” Fearing she’d already said too much, Leena walked away.

  “You’re late,” Cole told Nathan. They were in Cole’s office, a total contrast to Nathan’s obsessively neat workplace. Nathan’s desk was orderly. Cole’s wasn’t. His office was cluttered with boxes, journals, books, pieces of rarely used equipment, and empty paper cups. But he knew where everything was and refused to allow anyone to mess up his system. The jumble drove Leena crazy. Fine by him. She drove him nuts too.

  “What is this?” Cole asked as he unwrapped the suspicious-looking package Nathan had handed him.

  “Lunch. I told you I’d bring food.”

  “I thought you meant you’d bring a pizza or a burger or something.”

  “Consider this something. Stop looking at me that way. It’s not radioactive waste. It’s just a sandwich.”

  “Why is the bread so funny looking?”

  “Because Angel made it.”

  Cole immediately set the strange-looking sandwich back on his desk. Then he looked at Nathan. “Where’s yours?”

  “I’ve got a burger from the Dairy Queen.”

  “I’m not taking your food.” Cole shoved the sandwich toward Nathan. “Hand over the burger and no one gets hurt.”

  “No way—”

  Cole didn’t wait for permission. He grabbed the burger and bit into it before Nathan could do a thing.

  Nathan gave him a steely-eyed glare. “Stealing a man’s burger is illegal.”

  “So is passing off one of Angel’s yellow-squash bread with boiled carrots sandwiches on me.”

  “She’ll be upset if I don’t eat it.”

  Cole shrugged. “Your problem, not mine.”

  “And if Angel is upset, Skye is upset.”

  “Again, not my problem.” Cole finished off the burger in four more bites.

  “Isn’t there some animal here at the clinic that would like a yummy sandwich like this?”

  “Don’t even think about it,” Cole growled. “I wouldn’t wish that on any creature big or small.”

  Nathan sighed and tossed the paper-wrapped sandwich in the garbage. “So have you told Leena you’re crazy about her yet?”

  Cole just gave him a look. “Man rule number forty-one: Never cause a hassle in your buddy’s castle.”

  “You stole that phrase from Algee.”

  “The meaning is the same.”

  “I just find it amazing that a man who is supposed to be so charming with women, who always has smooth sailing with the opposite sex, suddenly hits a brick wall with this woman.”

  “She’s not like the others.”

  “Because she’s immune?”

  “If she was immune, we wouldn’t have been making out in your office.”

  “You both looked pretty amorous in front of the mini-mart too.”

  “She was afraid I’d squash her goodies.”

  Nathan almost snorted the soda he was drinking.

  “Not those kind of goodies,” Cole said. “I meant food. She’d bought some stuff.”

  “I heard a rumor that she got you a jug of antifreeze. Is that true?”

  “Yeah.”

  “First time a woman’s done that for you I bet.”

  “No more bets. And yeah, that was a first. I’ve had a lot of firsts with Leena.”

  “You’re a dead man.”

  “What?”

  Nathan just shook his head. “You don’t have a prayer. You’re already as good as hog-tied and bound.”

  “I am not.”

  “No use protesting, buddy. It’s a done deal.”

  “It is not. Eating Angel’s sandwiches has adversely affected your brain function.”

  “I only had one bite one time and that was months ago. No, I’m not the one with limited brain capability. You are. What are you afraid of? Why don’t you want to tell her how you feel about her? She obviously feels the same about you.”

  “She’s going back to Chicago the minute she can.”

  “And that’s a problem? Why? Your relationships don’t last all that long to begin with. What’s wrong with enjoying the time she is here?”

  “When did you become Dear Abby?”

  “I’m not sure, but I think she’s dead.”

  “And so will you be if you keep bugging me about this.”

  “Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, though.” With those final words, Nathan left Cole alone to wonder what the hell it was about Leena that made her different. He should have figured her out by now.

  He’d learned some stuff—like the fact that he loved the way a strand of her hair trailed down her neck when she pinned the rest of it up. Or the fact that she had
the best cleavage he’d ever seen and the most voluptuous body. And then there was her husky laugh. He was getting hard just thinking about it. About her laugh. How weird was that?

  She was in his dreams every night, teasing him with her smiles and kisses, urging him on with her moans of pleasure.

  Was his buddy Nathan right? Was Cole already a goner? Was this what it felt like to go overboard about a woman?

  A knock at his office door interrupted his thoughts. “Yo, doc, you got a minute? Leena said I could come on back,” Algee said. “And she even smiled at me. I think she’s over her mad about the bet.”

  “Or she’s planning some new kind of revenge.”

  “That’s possible.” Algee sat in a chair across from Cole. “I just wanted to make sure you and I were good. About the bet, I mean.”

  “The bet is officially off.”

  “Yeah, I figured. Too bad in a way, seeing as how I would’ve won.”

  “Oh no you don’t. You’re not drawing me back in. Remember, you’re the one who blew it by telling Tameka everything.”

  “We’re dating.”

  “Bully for you.”

  “Are you and Leena dating?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “So you’re just doin’ the deed around town?”

  “No, we’re not, and even if we were, it’s nobody’s business.”

  “I hear you, man.” Algee held up his hands in a universal peace gesture. “I just wanted to make sure that you and I were copasetic. I mean after I broke that man rule thing. I didn’t want to mess with that.”

  “Just don’t do it again.”

  Leena was about to lock up for the day when a boy came to the clinic door just as she was flipping over the OPEN sign to CLOSED. He pounded on the door, his face desperate. “I need to talk to the vet!”

  Leena didn’t have the heart to turn him away.

  Hearing the pounding, Cole came into the reception area as she let the boy in. “What’s going on?”

  “I need your help to find him!” The boy’s face was streaked with tears.

  “Calm down.” Cole placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Find who?”

  “A cold-blooded fugitive.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Whoa there,” Cole said. “It sounds like you came to the wrong place. You need the sheriff.”

  “No. I need you.” More tears formed in the boy’s eyes. “To find Bob.”