Just One Kiss (Fool's Gold #10)

Charlie leaned toward her. “What? Why is that?”


“I’m very intelligent. I was doing complex math equations when I was three, and by the time I was four I’d become more than my parents could handle. When a professor approached them about admitting me into a special program through the university, they agreed.” She gave a brief smile. “It was for the best. I would have been impossible in a regular school.”

Patience stared at her, trying to process the matter-of-factly delivered information. “You didn’t live with your parents?”

“No. They moved away and had other children. Oh, they also adopted several special-needs kids. That was easier for them to handle. I stayed at the university until I was sixteen. Then I joined the army.”

She shrugged. “I admit I forged my identification so that it said I was eighteen. I handled logistics and got moved to Special Forces, which is where I met Justice.”

She relaxed as she said his name. “He’s been my family all these years. When I was in my car accident, he was the one who took care of me.”

Patience felt as if her head was spinning and she was on her first margarita. “Car accident?”

“I was hit by a car. I had several broken bones, mostly in my face, but everything turned out great.” Felicia glanced around and lowered her voice. “I was really unattractive before the accident. But when my face got smashed up, the plastic surgeon who fixed it made a few tweaks. Actually we collaborated. I made a few sketches of how the bones could be adjusted and the muscles placed, and he agreed.”

Felicia reached for a chip. “Our standards of beauty can be reduced to a mathematical formula. It’s all about symmetry. When I saw what he’d done, I was thrilled. It’s really tough being the smartest person in the room, let me tell you. Add in some mismatched features and it’s nearly impossible to fit in.”

Heidi looked at Patience and raised her eyebrows. Patience knew what her friend was thinking. Felicia was a little bit strange but not unlikable.

“How smart?” Charlie asked.

Felicia sighed. “You don’t want to know. People get scared when I tell them.”

“How many degrees do you have?”

“Five. Oh, I assume you meant advanced. Like PhD level. If you want me to count up all of them—”

Charlie nearly choked on her beer. “Pretend I didn’t ask.”

Heidi smiled at Felicia. “Are you married?”

“No. I don’t date much. Men are afraid of me. Some of it is I’m not very good with the details of mating rituals. Growing up the way I did, I missed normal socialization. I’m trying to figure it out, but it’s not going well. Getting a guy to sleep with me the first time was so complicated.”

She paused. “I shouldn’t have said that, right? It’s too soon. I’m not used to having girlfriends, either. My assignments in the military put me around men, and with the traveling...” She pressed her lips together. “Not that I’m implying we’re friends. We’ve just met and—”

Patience had been prepared to really hate Felicia. She was too beautiful not to. But after five minutes, she realized that despite the incredible good looks and perfect body and apparently the genius mind, Felicia was just like anyone else. She wanted to fit in and wasn’t sure she would be accepted for who she was.

Patience leaned toward her. “Felicia, we’re friends. Now relax. We’re all crazy here. You get to be crazy, too.”

Felicia nodded. “Actually the health profession doesn’t use the word crazy as a definition for mental illness.” She paused. “That’s not what you meant, is it?”

“No.”

Felicia nodded. “Sometimes I have that problem. I know nearly everything you can learn in a book and very little that you learn in life. Like my fear of spiders. It’s silly, really. I’ve studied arachnids in an effort to get over my ridiculous overreaction, but still, every time I see one...” She shuddered. “It’s not pretty. I simply can’t control myself. A flaw—one of many.”

“If you’re not perfect, then you came to the right place,” Charlie told her. “Fool’s Gold is a lively town with plenty of characters. You’ll get a crash course in how the little people live.”

“I hope I can fit in.”

Patience saw the concern in Felicia’s eyes and touched her arm. “You’re going to do just fine.”

* * *

FORTY-EIGHT hours and counting, Patience thought as she put mugs into the dishwasher.

Melissa Sutton walked into the back room with a tray in her hands. “This is the last of the dishes,” she said. “I wiped down the tables and the chairs.”

Patience took the tray and set it on the stainless-steel counter. “Thanks, Melissa. You’re great. I appreciate all you’re doing.”