Mending Defects Read online

  She halted about ten paces ahead and came back to look. I evened out my breathing to keep from panting. Aerobic exercise drained my energy. For someone with half a heart, walking was considered aerobic. Hiking was the equivalent of a fitness boot camp for me.

  “Make sure your trash can lid is locked every night if you decide to keep it outside.”

  She looked from the raccoons playing in the trees back to me. “Good tip. Not something I’d have to worry about at my co-op.”

  “Bet you didn’t have this view at your co-op either.”

  “I woke up to the spectacular sight of a brick wall every morning. If I looked out the corner of my window I could just make out a line of dumpsters in the alley.”

  “Stunning.”

  She laughed and looked surprised by it. Amazing sound. I liked it more than I wanted to admit. Not that I had time to dwell on that with her swiveling and starting into a trot on the trail. As sexy as her long legs were, I now wanted to hack them off at the knees.

  I kept up the best I could. My breath came in pants by the time I stopped again to retie both of my shoes. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted me stopped on the trail. She came back and waited with a surprising amount of patience. My progress was painstaking, but she didn’t seem to mind.

  After an hour I was ready to throw up a white flag. Or maybe just throw up. I couldn’t keep her pace. In fact, I seriously doubted I could make it all the way back without a stretcher. This had been a stupid idea. I should have known better than to try to impress a beautiful woman by exercising with her.

  “Ready for a snack break?” I called out as a last hope.

  She twirled with an eager smile on her face. Seeing the fifty feet between us, the smile slackened in confusion. She seemed troubled that she’d outpaced me so far and hadn’t noticed it. The confusion disappeared when she saw me pull off my backpack. Eagerness took over. “Baked snacks?”

  “Of course.”

  I took a seat on the nearest log and pulled in discreet breaths through my nose, letting them out through my mouth. Digging through my backpack, I found the tinfoil wrapped ginger cake I’d baked this morning. Her body brushed against mine as she sat down. I stopped myself from shivering at the contact. Or at least I thought I had.

  “Are you cold?” she asked, reaching for one of the proffered tinfoil packages.

  “No.”

  “Your lips are blue.” Her eyes stayed on my lips, shooting a surge of arousal through me. They dropped downward after a moment. “So are your fingertips.”

  Damn. That happened when I pushed myself too hard. I’d called for the break just in time. Any farther and I might have passed out.

  “I guess I must be.” I had to offer some excuse for the lack of oxygen in my bloodstream. It was less shocking than telling her if she didn’t slow down, she might need to give me CPR. I was a firm believer that one should save CPR for the second or third date. Why rush emergency medical care? It’s really something to build up to in any relationship.

  She rummaged through her backpack. “I have gloves and a sweater.”

  “I’ll be fine now that the wind isn’t blowing in my face. You have us jogging out here.”

  She bumped against me with a laugh. “Don’t tell me you’re out of shape. You don’t look it. How often do you work out?”

  Walking from the car to my house was a workout for me. So technically, every day, but it wasn’t what she was asking.

  “You’re probably young enough that you don’t need to work out yet. Am I right?”

  “Not that young. I’m thirty.”

  She frowned momentarily before pushing air through her lips audibly. “You’re practically a baby.”

  At thirty? She couldn’t be much older. Not that it would matter. Facing mortality so young gave me an ageless perspective.

  “And you’re not?” I knew from her résumé that she was older but not by how much.

  “I’ve got ten years on you.”

  She didn’t look it, not by any standards. Sexy, lean, and poised, sure, but not ten years older. She must have a hell of a skin care regimen.

  “Will you need a walker to get back down the trail?”

  “Hilarious.” She crumpled up the tin foil and shoved it into her backpack. “You’re the one that’s out of shape.”

  “You wolfed that down.” I changed the subject. “Rating?”

  “I’ll post them when I’m ready.” She grinned and fluttered her eyebrows. Then just as suddenly, she popped off the log and started back toward the trail.

  I resisted a groan and got up to follow. We were only a hundred yards from the first viewpoint. It was beautiful enough to convince her we didn’t have to go on. Next time, I’d bow out of hiking. We could enjoy the outdoors on a four-wheeler or inner tubing down the river in the summer. That was exercise I could handle.

  Chapter 10

  Spencer’s job had many necessary evils, fundraisers being one of them. Often I’d volunteer as his plus one to act as a buffer for the many residents who’d spend these evenings accosting him for things. I didn’t usually mind, but tonight I kind of wished I was back on my porch, hoping for a drop by of my favorite new neighbor.

  “You look great tonight,” Spence said, his trimmed beard hiding part of his smile. He was an attractive man, much more so than he’d been in high school. He had the kind of face that needed growing into. Now that he’d filled out a bit, his square face suited him better.

  I eyed his tan suit and dark blue shirt and tie. Very stylish, if I do say so myself. Mei and I found it on our last shopping trip for her style-challenged husband. It wasn’t unusual for us to call Spencer to tell him we’d found something he might like. He did the same for us. I had a new snow blower courtesy of his last trip to Denver.

  “You’ve said, seven or eight times,” I responded with a smile.

  He never took anyone for granted. It was one of his best traits. With his old fashioned charm, he could make anyone feel special. It was probably why he’d been voted in as the youngest mayor of the town and had held the position for three years already.

  “I’m behind, then and people won’t stop raving about this suit. Nice pick.”

  “Thanks.”

  “What’s a nice pick?” Andy, Mei’s husband, asked when they joined us. He was a schmooze hound, knowing full well that a fundraiser was a great place to garner votes. He hadn’t aged as well as Spence, being a year older than us. That extra year looked like a difference of ten now. It helped with his occupation, but the receding hairline would probably disappear in another five years.

  “His suit. We found it when Mei was out looking for yours.”

  He nodded as if it were the most important thing he could agree with all night. “These ladies love their shopping, huh?” He elbowed Spence, whose only choice was to agree. We weren’t shoppers, but Andy never bothered to learn that. He was perfectly happy thinking his wife was shopping with me and crashing at my house for the night when really she was spending time with Spencer.

  If I were judgey, I’d have a problem with their affair. Thankfully, I’m not. Mei had been in a blissful high school romance with Andy when Spence became my good friend and, thereby, a friend of hers. Nothing sparked between them at the time because Andy was already talking marriage as soon as they graduated. It was always on the tip of my tongue to encourage her to wait, but Mei had been raised with a sense of duty. Her parents approved of Andy, and he made her happy. They didn’t see a reason to wait, and Mei didn’t know why she needed to.

  That all changed last fall when Andy was on one of his many work trips out of town. Mei came over to my place for a movie night with Spence and me. I don’t exactly recall how, but sometime that night, they’d fallen in love. I’d watched it happen. I’d never seen anything like it before or since. Movies try to capture that on screen, but it will never be depicted as well as seeing it happen live. Like moving from a soundproof, sterile room to the raunchy, vibrant city streets, the exp
erience can never be portrayed. It must be lived.

  For me, it had been shocking and touching then heartbreaking because Mei was married and Spence was a public figure. They tried to fight it for a while, but the affair happened and has been going on ever since. My parents and I were the only ones who knew. They both needed someone to talk to and their own parents might not understand.

  “I think I spotted that one first,” Mei said about Spencer’s suit.

  Andy didn’t even blink at his wife’s admission that she’d chosen clothes for another man. He’d never expressed jealousy or concern. He just assumed that after marrying Mei she’d continue to fawn all over him like she was still in high school. He didn’t seem to get or maybe he just didn’t care that Mei had grown up and they’d been growing apart for more than five years.

  “Nice pick,” Spencer repeated his compliment to her. He kept his tone neutral. He felt the guilt as much as Mei, but he’d never been in love. He wasn’t about to give it up because of a legal complication. I had to agree with him on this one, even if I’d never been in love either.

  “Are they feeding us at this thing?” Andy whined. He liked to eat. After being a judge, eating was his next favorite thing.

  “Finger food, we’re trying to keep it low cost.”

  “And you expect us to fork over dough when you don’t even feed us?”

  I resisted rolling my eyes. Andy always tried too hard with humor. I’d let it roll off me ever since I’d met him. He’d been Mei’s boyfriend, a permanent attachment to her on some days, so I had to get used to him. Even after college and law school, he hadn’t matured a whole lot.

  “The town needs a community center, Andy.”

  “Sometimes I forget you’re the mayor, Spence. We’ve managed without one for years. Why now?”

  Spencer shouldn’t have to justify this, but he took his duties as mayor seriously. “Families and kids need a low cost option for entertainment and learning opportunities to bring the townspeople closer together. It feels like I have to wade through ten thousand tourists before I spot a local in the winter. The community center can help us all feel more connected.”

  “Like a cult?” Andy joked.

  “Andy,” Mei warned. She became easily exasperated by him these days.

  “Better benefits,” Spencer quipped back.

  “How much are you going for tonight?”

  “One point five.”

  “Expensive, but it pays to have a friend who knows how much her clients can cough up.” Andy winked at me.

  “Andy,” Mei warned more harshly this time. She mouthed an apology to me, but I shook it off.

  “You forget that I also know how much you can cough up,” I said, and his grin faded.

  Spencer snickered. “Anything you can give would be appreciated, Andy. There are some nice silent auction items or if you just want to drop a check with Brandy.”

  “You should have been in sales, Spence.” Andy grabbed Spencer’s hand in a bone grinding handshake.

  “He’d be terrific at it.” Mitch, my board colleague, overheard and joined us with his wife. “No reason you can’t start now, Spence. I could use you on the lot.”

  We had a good laugh at the idea of Spencer trying to sell cars to all the people who voted for him. “When I need a new car, I’ll join up for the day to get an employee discount.”

  “I might take you up on that.” Mitch gave me a once over. “When are you finally going to make an honest woman out of Eiben here?”

  Spence and I glanced at each other before I responded as I usually did, “We’re just friends, Mitch. Always have been.”

  Mitch, like many residents, believed that Spencer and I were a couple. The rumors had started after we both moved back to town and took up hanging out together. It didn’t seem to matter how much we denied it. In fact, that usually made people think we were trying to keep our relationship secret. My friends knew the real story, but I stopped making an effort with acquaintances and clients. That it now helped Spencer and Mei didn’t hurt either.

  “Hello,” a familiar voice spoke from behind me.

  I turned to see my neighbor looking gorgeous in a tasteful black dress. Kirsten, the vice principal, and Rod, the elementary school principal, stood on either side of her. “Hi, all.”

  “Glory, good to see you looking well.” Rod brushed his mustache against my cheek in greeting. We’d become friends when he was dating my realtor friend, but now he was engaged to Kirsten. I didn’t know her as well, but we’d always been friendly. They seemed like a good match, much more so than he’d been with Rachel.

  While they were saying hello to everyone, I studied my neighbor. She looked at home here as she had as a principal and as she does sitting on my porch. Her hair was loose tonight, hanging free to the middle of her back. I scanned the dark strands trying to name the product she used to keep it so polished no matter the style she chose. She wore an expensive set of ruby earrings and a matching bracelet. Not the kind of accessories most principals could afford. Come to think of it, her house, twice as large and extravagant as mine, wasn’t something a principal should be able to afford. She must have made some good investments in her former job. That or she’d robbed a bank.

  “A community center would be a wonderful stop for some of our kids, don’t you think?” Lena asked her companions.

  “If there’s tumbling, my kids are in.” Rod grinned.

  “I’d be in, too,” Spence joked. “If we get the funds, we’ll need all the volunteers we can get.”

  “Now that’s something I can donate. Financially I’m not going to be much help,” Kirsten said.

  “We’re happy to accept any kind of help you want to give.” Spence was proving again why he made such a great mayor.

  “Great fundraiser, subtle but effective,” Lena complimented.

  “How are you settling in?” Andy asked her. “Can’t be easy coming into a small town like this.”

  She smiled then flicked her eyes to me before admitting, “I’m still adjusting, but I made the right neighborhood choice.” She nodded at Spencer then, with what felt like more meaning, me. The air pressure seemed to drop in the room. She was getting too damn sexy for words.

  “Didn’t think you’d be here, Gloria,” a voice from my past spoke up.

  Mine wasn’t the only groan issued when we turned to find Rick Orting and his trademark smirk. He’d been my first high school romance and enjoyed bringing that up whenever he came back to town. Calling me by my given name was just one of his ways to establish that he’d known me intimately once. Damn the pressure of prom night. Not that I’d minded getting rid of the annoying virgin thing, but he’d been really juvenile about my surgery scars. It made the experience awkward, but that wasn’t the worst thing. He’d gone on to blab about it at school the next week. More specifically that he deserved a medal because of how bad my chest looked. What had been an awkward event became humiliating for me, even if his bragging backfired. I went from being the new girl with the heart thing to the sweet girl with the heart thing wronged by an asshole.

  I felt the usual flash of regret and momentary twinge along the scar on my chest at the sight of him. If I were a bigger person, I’d thank him for making me open to the prospect of dating women. My small high school hadn’t afforded that option and sexuality was still a taboo topic on television at the time. Without Rick being such an ass, I wasn’t sure if I would have agreed when Maggie, my first girlfriend, had asked me out in college. I would have figured it out eventually, but I might have wasted a couple more years dating men had Rick not really turned me off.

  “I live here, Rick. What brings you to town?” I was always civil with him so that he wouldn’t guess his actions in high school still stung a little.

  “Dad’s sixtieth. Mom’s making a big deal.” He glanced up at Spencer as if noticing him standing close to me for the first time. “Damn, Spence, are we dating or something?”

  “Go find some other place to play, Dick
.”

  “Rick!” he barked but took a step back when he remembered he’d already received one beat down from Spence after bragging to the wrong person. His motion pushed him into Lena. “Who are you, beautiful lady? New to town?”

  “Lena this is Rick. Lena’s the new high school principal.” I watched her take his hand and regard him. She was trying to place where he belonged in the mix. The forced smile told me she’d guessed it in one.

  “That’s right, old Willie finally kicked the bucket, huh?” His eyes showed amusement, like the death of our former principal was funny to him. “Remember what a pain in the ass that dude was, Glor? How many times did he catch us trying to sneak away for some alone time?”

  “I think it’s time for you to find your dad,” Andy suggested in his best authoritative voice. He hadn’t liked Rick when we were younger, but he’d learned to be diplomatic from a very young age. “Give him my best wishes on his sixtieth.” He placed a big palm on Rick’s back and pushed to get him moving. Rick had no choice but to take a step or he’d fall.

  “We should catch up, Gloria. Go over old times.” His smirk was the kind that could make a more violent person stick him with a knife.

  I didn’t know what he was trying to prove this time. Watching him walk away, I felt glad I wouldn’t find out.

  “Gloria?” Lena teased while the group was preoccupied with making various comments about Rick. “Not Glorious?”

  Her tease untwisted the knot that had formed in my stomach at Rick’s presence. She was beginning to like me, and not just because I was her neighbor who gave her coffee or beer every once in a while. She actually liked me. She didn’t realize it yet and would more than likely fight against it, but she’d come around.

  “Whatever you say, Beatrice,” I teased back.

  Her scowl made me smile.

  Chapter 11

  Cassie was the tenth person I’d bumped into while shopping today. It didn’t matter what time of day I came into the grocery store, I could expect to spend twenty extra minutes chatting with people. I never minded with Cassie. We’d been friends since high school, and as the large animal vet in town, she had many great patient stories that could double as a comedy routine.