by Nic Saint
Passing Rafi’s Deli, she hesitated for a moment, then decided to step inside. Just a quick visit to see how Rafi was holding up. The poor guy had probably spent most of the afternoon at the police station, testifying about the terrible events.
The sound of the bell as she pushed open the door gave her mood a cheerful boost, and when she saw Rafi, busily ringing up his customers’ wares, she felt her mood surge even more.
In spite of what happened, it was business as usual and it warmed her heart.
“Miss Bell! Welcome, welcome!” Rafi caroled the moment he laid eyes on her.
Ben and Rachelle Atkins, the customers waiting in line, put their hands together for an impromptu applause and added cheers to their clapping.
“The heroine of the hour!” Ben exclaimed cheerily. A handsome middle-aged man with a shock of white hair, he owned the pharmacy across the street.
Rachelle, his bottle blond wife of indiscernible age, held out her hand and shook Felicity’s. “That was a very brave thing you did, young lady,” she trilled.
“Oh, well. Just spur of the moment kind of stuff,” she assured the couple.
Ben nodded seriously. “If everybody was a courageous can-do girl like you there would be no crime in Happy Bays. Crooks wouldn’t come near the place!”
“Thanks, Ben.” Felicity’s cheeks were reddening at the unexpected praise, and when she looked up she caught sight of a familiar figure walking by. She pursed her lips, a twinge of panic setting in when she realized Rick Dawson was about to enter the shop.
She braced herself in anticipation of the meeting. This time the cheery clanging of the bell didn’t strike her as uplifting. It was more like a death knell.
The smile on Rick’s face evaporated like breath on a razor blade the moment he caught sight of Felicity.
“Oh,” he said, hesitating on the doorstep, then seemed to make up his mind, and stepped inside.
“Rick,” Felicity said coldly.
“Felicity. How nice to see you again.”
Behind them, Rafi’s face had taken on a deeper tinge of mauve. He was pointing a trembling finger at Rick. “It’s him!” he cried. “The crook! He’s back!”
“Oh, no,” Rick hastened to say, holding out his hand. Unfortunately for him, the object he was holding, his unopened umbrella, looked a lot like a weapon.
“Miss Bell! Do something!” implored Rafi. “Stop him!”
“Here,” Rachelle grunted, “take this,” and hurled the frying pan she’d been intending to buy in Felicity’s direction.
There are moments in a person’s life when a split second is all the time one has to react. This was one of those moments. The fact that Felicity had always been last to be picked in gym class was because she could always be relied upon to fumble the ball. She watched the skillet zoom through the air, made a grab for it, and bobbled the pan.
Abruptly changing course in midair, the heavy object landed on Rick’s head with a dull thud and both it and Rick went down hard. And while the pan bounced once or twice, seeming to enjoy the process, Rick remained where he lay, out for the count.
“Way to go, Fee!” cried Ben.
“She good. She very good,” agreed Rafi proudly.
But instead of rejoicing, Felicity clasped her hands to her face in shock. Without hesitation she crouched on the floor next to the stricken man and placed a soothing hand on his brow. “Rick,” she whispered, “I’m so sorry!” And to show that these were not idle words, she cradled his head in her lap and rocked him gently.
It would have warmed Rick’s heart had he been conscious during this touching scene, and he would have instantly revised his statement that Felicity Bell was the kind of modern girl possessing a heart of stone and a soul of ice.
As it was, he simply lay there, dead to the world.
Chapter 14
“Come, come. No harm, no foul, right?”
Doctor Denby Jennsen, coincidentally one of Felicity’s former classmates at Happy Bays High, didn’t seem to think much of the incident. Seated beside her in the corridor of Happy Bays Hospital, he was explaining that all would be well. Rick had only suffered a mild concussion and would be out of there in no time.
“I’m so sorry Denby,” she repeated. “It was an accident. Really.”
“That’s all right, Fee. I’m sure he won’t hold it against you.”
She doubted that very much. It was the third time now that she’d attacked the man. First with cans of baby peas, then eggs, and now a skillet. He must think she was some sort of murdering maniac.
Denby seemed to find the whole thing quite amusing, for he smiled broadly. “You never could handle a pass, could you, Fee?” he grinned. She’d explained to him what had happened, and Denby, looking as bronzed and athletic as ever, had shaken his head and laughed heartily.
She wondered if he would have laughed so hard if that skillet had killed the patient instead of merely wounding him. She didn’t think so.
Denby rose to his feet. “Rick Dawson will be just fine. The man’s got a thick skull.” He gestured to the door. “Look for yourself, if you want to. I’m sure he won’t mind. But Fee,” he added, giving her a warning glance, “don’t hit him over the head with the bedpan now, you hear?”
And with those words, he chuckled and sauntered off, leaving Felicity to wonder if Rick wouldn’t press charges against her for assault and battery.
He very well might.
Rick watched Felicity step into his room and blinked. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, feeling a little confused. One minute he’d been stepping into Rafi’s Deli, wanting to snap up a pack of Newports, and the next he was lying on a stretcher being carted into an ambulance, two EMTs discussing the upcoming Mets game.
After the day he’d had it was enough to disconcert him even more. The doctor who’d examined him and given him a clean bill of health, explained he’d had an episode at the store but that fortunately for him Felicity Bell had been there when he collapsed and had immediately administered first aid and called 911.
For the life of him he couldn’t remember how the episode had occurred. All he remembered was that the excitable store owner had started screaming something and then the world had turned dark.
The doctor said he’d simply passed out. Things like that sometimes happened, the medical man had assured him and had asked him a lot of questions about his family health history and his job. When informed he’d just been fired, the doctor had nodded knowingly, as if that was what had caused the sudden collapse.
Rick glanced up. “Hello, Felicity. The doctor told me what you did and I wanted to say—”
“Oh, Rick. I can explain everything. You see, even in high school I used to bobble the ball.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“I was quite notorious for it. They called me butterfingers.”
He nodded, wondering what she was talking about. “Mmm, yes. Look, I already asked the doctor and now I want to ask you. Could you tell me what happened, exactly? I mean…” He knew it was silly of him to ask. She was, after all, not a medical professional. But she’d seen him take the fall and he wanted to know if there were any symptoms she’d detected, perhaps a rolling up of the eyes or some other indication. “Based on your experience, will this happen again, you think?”
“Definitely not!” She quickly closed the distance between them and took a seat next to him on the bed. “This will never happen again, Rick. I swear.”
And as if to prove it, she took his hands in hers.
Her hands felt nice. Soft and warm. He blinked as she gazed into his eyes with a pleading look. She was very pretty, he thought. Exceedingly so. He’d admired those eyes before but only now did he notice those remarkable flecks of gold. Like tiny splashes of stardust.
He’d been wrong, he now saw, to think she was one of those hard-hearted girls. She was sweet and tender and he suddenly became aware of a thunderous noise in his ears. He realized it was the powerful beating of his hear
t, responding to this sudden proximity with this wonderful girl.
“How—how can you be so sure?” he asked.
“Oh, Rick,” she muttered. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
A twinge of alarm shot through him. He knew it. She had detected some symptom, some indication… He slumped a bit. “It will happen again, won’t it?”
She shook her head, and placed a hand on his cheek. “No, it won’t.”
He gazed at her wistfully. It was so sweet of her to reassure him, even though she must know better. “Thank you, Felicity. You’re very kind.”
“Please call me Fee.”
“Fee. What a lovely name.”
A lovely name for a lovely girl. Too bad he was a sick man, for she was proving herself to be quite different than he’d first anticipated. She was a far cry from the hard and uncaring soul he’d first taken her for. As she sat next to him, holding his hand and gazing softly into his eyes, he felt those flutterings of his heart increase in both intensity and rapidity.
It had been a long time since he’d felt like this. Spending most of his adult life in a competitive environment, he’d grown accustomed to the kind of gravel-chewing career women prevalent in his line of business, and he suddenly found himself irrevocably drawn to the tender woman by his side. Before he could stop himself, he leaned in and kissed her fervently. It was only after he’d done this for about thirty seconds that a sharp slap on his cheek told him something was wrong. And when he opened his eyes, Felicity was giving him the same gimlet-eyed stare she’d given him on all the previous occasions they’d met.
Chapter 15
Felicity stared out the window while the world outside grew dark. Evening had fallen and she found herself in the grip of a strong sense of melancholy. She transferred her gaze to Alice, who was sipping her chamomile tea and nibbling from one of the donuts that were always present and accounted for at the cozy little house they shared. As it often happened, Felicity had brought home a bag full of the delicious treats that were her friend’s favorite.
Alice was a card-carrying member of the Happy Bays Neighborhood Watch Committee or HBNWC and a proud one at that. In fact she practically ran the thing, keeping the other members, mostly senior citizens, on a short leash. And as an HBNWC member she often saw herself as an extension of the Happy Bays Police Department, hence the donut fascination. Wrongly or correctly, Alice believed that donuts were a police officer’s main source of nutrition.
Although she usually ran her rounds at night, this night she’d opted to stay home and buck up her friend. Felicity was glad for the support. She could use it.
“I don’t think I heard you right,” Alice began. “Did you say he kissed you? Actually touched your lips with his and kissed you?”
“That’s what I said and I’m sticking to it.”
“And then you slapped him.”
Felicity merely nodded, cursing her volatile temper.
“You mean to tell me that for the first time in—”
She gave her friend a warning frown.
“—just a little while a man kissed you, and you actually slapped him?”
Morosely, she picked at her own donut. “I did.”
“How many times is it now that you’ve physically assaulted the guy?” She did her best to keep a straight face but failed miserably.
“I lost count,” Felicity said between gritted teeth. She really didn’t want to go there. As if it wasn’t enough that she cursed herself, Alice had to go and rub salt in the wound.
“Let’s see. First there was the baby peas incident.”
“That doesn’t count. Purely self-defense.”
“All right. We’ll let that one slide. Then you had him arrested.”
“Same thing.”
“Next: the egg incident.”
“Yes.”
“And the meat cleaver.”
“I never even threw the damn thing!”
“Then we have the frying pan.”
“I bobbled it! You know how I always bobble the ball!”
“Whatever you say, butterfingers.”
Felicity buried her face in her hands. “Oh, God.”
“And then finally, the slap.”
“You’re actually enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Am not. I just think it’s important not to lose sight of the salient facts pertaining to the case.” She shrugged. “If this ever goes to court, we need to be able to tell the judge our side of the story.”
“There is no case. He’s in love with me, apparently.”
Her friend’s eyes widened. “What? Are you serious?”
“Dead serious. I could see it in his eyes before he locked lips with me.”
“After all that’s happened he’s still willing to take a chance on romance?”
“Very funny. I’m telling you, the love light was clearly visible in those baby blues of his.” She slumped a little more and idly pushed her food around, a clear sign she was in the dumps. She was a firm believer in finishing her plate.
“Now this is a story fit to print,” Alice muttered, her eyes bright with excitement.
Felicity looked up in alarm. “No way.” She quickly checked around, making sure she wasn’t secretly being filmed. “After the whole ‘I don’t need sex’ fiasco this is all I need.”
“You have to admit it stirred things up.”
“It stirred things up, all right. Every Tom, Dick and Harry walking into Bell’s is asking Mom if it’s true her daughter hasn’t had sex in ages.” She threw up her hands. “The whole town is butting into my sex life!”
Mom had already given her an earful about it, and even Dad had asked if there was something she wanted to talk about.
“Serves you right,” Alice stated decidedly. “It isn’t healthy for a young woman in her prime to deprive herself of one of the most primal urges. You should really give this some thought Fee.”
“Oh trust me, I’ve given it a lot of thought. A heck of a lot. In fact it’s all I’ve been thinking about all damn day.” She stabbed a finger in her friend’s direction. “And all thanks to you.”
“You’re welcome,” Alice said humbly, displaying that sly smile again. “Now, what are you going to do about Rick Dawson?”
“What can I do? After that slap he seemed pretty determined to break off relations and never to kiss me again. Especially after one of the nurses came barging in and started blabbing about the whole frying pan incident, which apparently was news to him.”
Alice’s eyes widened. “He didn’t know?”
“I think if he’d known he would never have kissed me.”
“Oh.”
“Oh is right,” she said miserably, then sighed. “Maybe it’s all for the best. I will never see that man again and so be it.”
“You like him, don’t you?” Alice asked, narrowing her eyes.
She shrugged. She’d come to the same conclusion herself. And if she hadn’t acted on impulse and slapped him, she might actually have enjoyed that kiss.
“You do like him!” she cried.
“What if I do? It makes no difference whatsoever. I’m sure by now he’s filed a restraining order against me. And I really can’t blame him. Ever since he met me, life has been one string of trouble for the poor guy.”
“Poor guy? I thought you said he was a scoundrel.”
“I may have changed my mind about that.” Somewhere around the time that kiss passed the ten second mark. Right before her hand had snuck up and ended it.
“I think we should thresh this thing out a little more.”
“I think not.”
“No, this is important. You like Rick and he obviously likes you.”
“Liked. Past tense.”
“If in spite of the baby peas, the eggs and the frying pan he still kissed you, I think it’s safe to say one little slap won’t change his mind.”
“He kissed me before he knew about the skillet,” Felicity pointed out.
“That’s true.
” Alice pondered this for a moment. “I think I know what’s to be done. It’s time for some decisive action.”
Felicity looked up in alarm. Every time her friend uttered the words ‘decisive action’, people got hurt. As she was something of a gun nut—one of her jobs was at her Uncle Mickey’s gun store—she was a lot more dangerous than Felicity. “Please, don’t,” she implored. “I really think you’ve done enough damage for one day. Need I remind you that there’s still a video out there about my sex life?”
Alice waved away her reservations. “I’ll set the record straight, Fee.”
Felicity hung her head. This was the end. Once Alice got involved, things had a way of going to hell in a handbasket. “There is no record to set straight. The man simply hates my guts.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“He made it very clear when he showed me the door.”
“He didn’t know what he was doing. Probably still dazed by that kiss.”
“Or the skillet.”
“I’ll have a chat.”
“Please don’t.”
“Consider it done.” She grinned. “What are friends for, huh?” And with those ominous words, she took another bite from her donut and returned to her copy of Guns & Ammo. It was obvious she considered the discussion closed.
Felicity knew she should have argued her point more vehemently but she felt weakened by the notion that Rick, in spite of his obvious faults, was growing on her. He had some really wacky ideas about women but apart from that he seemed like a nice guy. And then there was the fact that he was extremely easy on the eyes and their kiss had been extremely pleasant. So much so that she wouldn’t have minded if he tried again and maybe this time she might not even slap him.
Chapter 16
Johnny scratched his scalp. “What do you think?”
Jerry grimaced. He’d just swallowed a mouthful of tea. “I think we should finish this.”
They were sitting in the car, watching the Felicity Bell place. They’d been driving all over Happy Bays without so much as a glimpse at Dawson and they were at their wits’ end. The man they worked for didn’t tolerate failure and if by this time tomorrow they still hadn’t succeeded in accomplishing their mission, there would be hell to pay.