“You’d better be. You’re new and have energy. I plan to use you shamelessly.” Pia shifted her tote to her other shoulder. “Love the jacket, by the way. Red is so your color.”
“Thanks. I did some shopping.” The black pants were new, too. Boot cut and long, which worked as she was in high-heeled boots. The black short-sleeved sweater provided a simple backdrop for the deep Red Riding-inspired jacket.
Pia slowed, then stopped. “Oh, God. I’m having a weird out-of-body experience. The other night, at Jo’s, did I say something about your clothes?”
“You mentioned they were a little out of date.”
Pia winced. “I was so drunk. I’m sorry. At Jo’s place—I was hideous, wasn’t I? Can you forgive me?”
Charity touched her arm. “There’s nothing to forgive. You weren’t wrong. I was dressing too conservatively. Hiding from my life. It’s not like I need therapy or anything. You were a good wake-up call.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No. Stop apologizing. I needed to hear the truth about my clothes. You were right—I was dressing like someone a lot older.”
Pia winced. “Note to self. Never have alcohol again.”
“How long will that last?”
Pia grinned. “At least a week.”
They walked into the recreation center. There was a small snack bar with a few dozen tables, then a long, wide hallway with classrooms on either side. As they walked, Charity saw a group of older women scrap-booking, while across the way, grade school kids did some kind of martial arts.
“You can learn just about anything here,” Pia said. “Last year, someone flew up from L.A. and did a class on Feng Shui. It was interesting. I shifted my entire bedroom to draw in love and power. It didn’t work. Maybe I should have worked on my money center instead.”
“Um, probably not in your bedroom,” Charity told her.
Pia grinned. “You’re right. That would be illegal.”
They walked into the large auditorium at the far end of the building. There were already about twenty people standing around talking.
“I know we don’t need a space this big now,” Pia said, “but we will later, and I’ve learned to grab the big space early or someone else will claim it. Do you know everyone here?”
“I think so.”
Charity saw several familiar faces, including Morgan, who waved at her. There was one of the women on the city council and a—
The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She felt a ripple of awareness tiptoe down her spine and without turning she knew Josh was in the room.
Ever since the kiss, she’d done her best to avoid him, and so far it had worked. Looked like her luck had run out.
She turned slowly and saw him talking to several people. Even in the crummy fluorescent lighting, he looked amazing. His gold-blond hair needed cutting, but that only added to his appeal. He was tall, built and had a face that would make an angel want to sin. Worse, he kissed with a fiery passion that left her past weak and nearly to begging. How was anything about the situation fair?
Just then he glanced up and saw her. Although he didn’t greet her in any way, she saw something very close to a twinkle in his eyes. As if they shared a private joke. She turned away.
Pia glanced between them. “Wow. You really hate him.”
“What? Why would you say that?”
“You were glaring. I can’t believe the old charm isn’t working on you.”
Yikes. The last thing Charity needed was for Pia to start asking questions. “No. It’s not like that. I barely know him. I was thinking about something else. There’s, um, there’s a problem with some stuff at work.”
“Oh.” Pia lowered her voice. “The missing three-quarters of a million dollars. Marsha told me about that. Don’t worry. I haven’t mentioned it to anyone. Sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed you were pissed at Josh. I’m just so used to everyone adoring him that it was really strange.”
“Not a problem.”
“Are you looking for fun? Because Josh is available. At least I think he is. He has so many women, it’s hard to tell.”
“I’m not into crowd control.”
“He’d be worth it. Trust me. I went to high school with him. I was a few years behind, but we all totally adored him. Even back then he was special.”
“Did you ever…” Charity paused, not sure how to ask the question. “Were you ever involved?”
“No, but I wanted to be. In a generic, he’s-a-god sort of way. I didn’t actually know him that well.” She glanced at her watch. “I should probably call this meeting to order.”
Pia raised her voice. “All right, people. Let’s take a seat and get going. The sooner we start, the sooner we can all get home to watch American Idol.”
Charity moved toward the table. In an effort to keep anyone from thinking there was a problem, she did her best not to notice Josh at all. Which turned out to be a mistake when she ended up standing by an empty chair next to him.
“Shall we?” he asked, holding out the chair.