Dangerous Curves Ahead: A Perfect Fit Novel (12 page)

“Doing so will only shave four seconds off our ordering time,” he grumped but took his wife’s hand and headed into the kitchen.

Ellis was left alone to wait for her sister. Somebody in their family was always waiting for Dina Gregory. Ellis tried not to let it bug her. Once upon a time she’d longed to be close to her sister, but as they grew up, instead of growing together they grew apart.

“Hey, Smelly Ellie.” Dina breezed in fifty-six minutes late for dinner. Looking like a young Phillipa, she was dressed in a pink leotard and a long paisley printed skirt, her long auburn hair thrown up in a messy bun. She must have come from her second job teaching modern dance.

Ellis rolled her eyes at her childhood nickname. “You’re late. Daddy’s ready to bust a blood vessel. You know how he hates to order after six.” She turned her head toward the kitchen. “Daddy, Dina is here. You can dial now.”

“Whatever.” Dina sucked her teeth. “I don’t know why you play into his Asperger’s bullshit. So what if he has to wait? He’ll get over it.”

Ellis wanted to defend Walter but she kept her mouth shut. Walter wasn’t Dina’s birth father. He wasn’t Ellis’s birth father, either, but unlike Dina, Ellis had only known Walter Garret as her dad.

Ellis was adopted but Dina was Phillipa Gregory’s flesh and blood and she never seemed to get over the fact that she had to share her mother with a man. “You know, Dina, if you’re going to be late all you have to do is call. Last time I checked your fingers weren’t broken.”

Dina admired her hands for a moment. “No, they aren’t broken—”

“But I would be happy to break them for you,” Ellis said, finishing her sister’s thought.

“Hungry, Ellie? Is that why you are being such a cranky bi-otch.” Dina flopped herself on the couch next to Ellis and rested her head on Ellis’s shoulder.

“I’m cranky because
you’re
such a bitch sometimes,” she said softly. “I don’t like it when you’re mean about Daddy.”

“I know.” Dina shifted her eyes to look up at Ellis. “Is that why you don’t love me anymore?”

“Oh, Dina.” Ellis groaned, a little less irritated with her sister. This was the nature of their relationship. Dina would be offensive and then say something sweet, causing the world to love her once more. “I love you but you’re still a bitch, and a self-centered one at that. People don’t tell you that nearly enough.”

“You’re right. I am.” She sighed. “My therapist says I deliberately do things to sabotage my relationships. He thinks I constantly alienate people to test their love for me.”

“What?” Ellis looked down at her sister. “You’re in therapy?”

And actually learning something?

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I’m thirty-four, unmarried, and living in a studio apartment above a bar. Something went wrong in my life.”

Ellis had to stop her mouth from dropping open. “I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it. I know why we don’t get along,” she said softly. “I’m jealous of you.”

“What? Dina, you’re drop-dead gorgeous. You’ve got two percent body fat and you date the hottest men on the planet.”

“Men just want to fuck me,” she said, shrugging. “But you’re smart. Everybody is always talking about how smart you are. I’ve been mad at you my whole life because of it. Now I can see that I was jealous of you when you passed the bar because you’re six years younger than me and had accomplished so much more. I wanted to stick it to you. I knew the one thing that I always had over you was a way with men. That’s why I took that guy to your bedroom that night. I wanted to hurt you. But God, Ellie, I didn’t think you would stay mad at me for years.”

Ellis didn’t know what to say to that. She never thought she would have this conversation with her sister. She never thought they would clear the air. Boy, was she glad they did.

“Did you ever manage to have sex with that guy?” Ellis knew she shouldn’t have asked. Dina and she had barely spoken for years, and instead of having a moment Ellis was asking about Mike.

“Unfortunately not.”

He told the truth. Ah!

Dina rolled her eyes again. “I never saw him again after that night. He went all self-righteous on me and claimed he couldn’t be with a woman who would do that to her sister.” She sighed wistfully. “It’s a pity, too. I liked him. He was really freaking hot.”

“He still is,” Ellis mumbled. Her mind flashed back to him standing in her store all sweaty, his wet T-shirt clinging to his muscles. She found herself wanting to lick him, wanting to know what his big damp body would feel like on top of hers.

“What?” Dina sat up and Ellis’s mind snapped back to the present. “Have you seen him?”

“Yeah … Uh, we bumped into each other. He didn’t remember me,” she said quickly.

It wasn’t exactly a lie. Mike hadn’t remembered her, but for some reason Ellis didn’t want Dina to know that eventually he had. Or that there was a strange but powerful attraction between them. Or that they’d shared a kiss that literally took the breath out of her. But why? Mike and Dina had only dated for a few weeks, but Ellis didn’t want her sister to know that the guy who was the catalyst for their rift was the same guy Ellis had a hard time controlling herself around.

“I’m surprised he didn’t.” Dina said with a frown. “You had a colossal bitch fit.”

Ellis raised a brow at Dina. “It was justified.”

“It might have been. So”—Dina nudged Ellis—“do you forgive me now?”

Ellis didn’t like being estranged from her sister. Of course Dina was forgiven, but Ellis couldn’t help herself. An apology from Dina Gregory was a rare thing. “Only if you tell Daddy you’re sorry for being late.”

“Fine,” she huffed. “I’ll apologize to the Mad Scientist.” She got up and tugged on Ellis’s hand. “Come with me. We can tell Mother that we’re all made up. Maybe she’ll stop inviting me to dinner now.”

“Fat chance.” Ellis said. “Now she’ll insist on doing this once a week.”

*   *   *

The next morning Ellis woke up to a ringing phone. She glanced at the clock: six fifty-eight. Two minutes before her alarm was due to go off.

If this is my mother asking me to go jogging I’m going to scream.

Phillipa had asked her last night. Apparently word of Agatha Toomey’s visit to Ellis’s store had gotten back to Phillipa and the jogging partners had severed ties. On the one hand Ellis was glad her mother would no longer be associated with the skinny hag, but on the other she was sad that Phillipa would no longer have a friend to run with. Maybe one day she would strap on a pair of sneakers and join her mother.

Yeah right. And maybe one day I’ll be a size two.

Mike’s face entered her mind. The sexy detective liked to jog—and more important he liked Phillipa. Maybe he could go in Ellis’s place and save her from all that embarrassing huffing, puffing, and sweating.

Ellis shut off her about-to-go-off alarm and picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello?” she said, not happy that someone had robbed her of two minutes of precious sleep.

“It’s Jack.”

Her stomach sank. “I don’t want to talk to you, Jack. I thought I made that perfectly clear the last time.”

“I told you I wasn’t going to give up on us,” he said quietly. “We need to talk about our relationship.”

Ellis looked at her nails and sighed. “Nope. Don’t want to talk to you.”

He had controlled so much of her life before. What hours she worked, where they lived, what she wore, how she felt about herself. No more. Her rose-colored glasses were gone.

“Ellis, if this is about my aunt, I apologize. I had no idea she was going to your little store but she’s right. I’m unhappy without you. I want you back in my life.”

He’d called her store
little
again. That one word diminishing all the hard work she put into it. Acid burned in her gut. “Oh, really? Well, I’m not your girlfriend anymore so it’s not my place to care about your happiness. Everything is not about you, Jack. I come first from now on and I don’t want to be with you.”

“Why won’t you let me explain?” His voice grew sharp. “I did a lot of thing wrong but I did a lot of good things for you. I can’t believe you are going to let a bad six months ruin a year and a half of good times.”

“You don’t get it, Jack. This isn’t just about you. I wanted a new life.”

“Your old life was fine. Ellis, you need to rethink this breakup. You know how much I love you. If you don’t you’ll regret it.”

“I’m sorry, Jack but I don’t think I will.”

She hung up on him. It was the first time she had done so and damn, it felt good.

*   *   *

Belinda had a doctor’s appointment and Cherri wasn’t scheduled to arrive until one. Ellis was left manning the store alone. She didn’t mind. Saturdays were their busy days; only a few shoppers came in early in the week, and not usually before lunchtime. This gave her time to sew. On days like this she brought her form to the front of the shop to do her alterations. Today she worked on a dress for a high school reunion. One of her customers had a very large bust, a tiny waist, and a hard time find clothing that worked on her. Ellis helped the woman try on every dress in the store but nothing came close to fitting her. The reunion was in four days, which left Ellis with a challenge: lose a customer, which she couldn’t afford to do, or redesign a dress. The customer, Lydia, had fallen in love with a red silk number that looked great against her skin. Silk was a hard fabric to work with but Ellis worked carefully and the dress was nearly ready.

“I deserve a treat for this,” Ellis said, studying her work. “A piece of red velvet cake. To honor this dress.” She nodded, smoothed her hands over the silk, and made a mental note to call Lydia.

The bell over the door sounded, alerting Ellis to a customer’s arrival. She turned away from the dress and smiled, expecting to see a woman. Instead she saw a man, balding, big belly, in his mid-forties with a giant, gaudy ring on his left hand. He was probably looking to buy a gift for his wife.

“Welcome to Size Me Up. Can I help you find something?”

“Yeah.” The man approached the register. “Cash.”

“Excuse me?” Ellis’s smile dropped a fraction. “Like an ATM machine?”

“No, honey.” The man put his hands in his pockets. “Empty out your register. You’re getting robbed.”

“What?” Ellis put her hands on her hips. “Are you freaking kidding?” Robberies didn’t happen like this. Short, fat middle-aged men didn’t just walk into stores and demand money.

“No. I’m not. Empty out your drawer.”

“No!” She rolled her eyes. First Jack-ass’s call and now this. “Who robs a store in the middle of broad daylight? And a clothing store at that? Why didn’t you try the jewelry store on the next corner? They’ve got way more money than me.” It dawned on her then. “Are you the same guy who robbed the yarn store?”

The man took a small step back and frowned at her. “You think I’m going to admit that to you?”

Ellis shrugged. She should be afraid but she wasn’t. This guy was four inches shorter than she was. He didn’t look dangerous—plus he was stupid enough to rob her store. He was no criminal mastermind. “I guess not. Listen, I don’t have any money. Why don’t you just go away and we’ll forget about this.”

The thief took a step closer. Thankfully her glass display case stood between the two of them. “Open the register.”

“No. Go rob somebody else. I just told you that there is no money in there. We opened an hour ago and most of my customers pay by credit card. This is not a convenience store.”

“The jewelry then.” The man looked down at her case.

“It’s all costume. It’s not worth that much.”

“Listen, bitch.” His head snapped up. “I’m tired of talking to you. I’m not leaving here empty-handed, so shut up and open up the case.”

“Fuck off. I’m calling the cops.” Ellis turned to get the phone, her heart pounding.

A hairy hand grabbed her by the back of her shirt and forced her around. “I’m not playing around. Open the damn case.”

“Okay.” Now she was scared. “The key is in the drawer. I need to get it.”

“I’m watching you.”

He let her go and Ellis took the opportunity to rummage through her drawer. She felt the keys but she also felt cool metal against her hand. The retractable metal baton. The most thoughtful present a mother could give. She reached for it, pulled it out ready to strike, but the man with the big stomach and the hairy hands was quicker than he looked. He grabbed the baton with one hand and delivered a viscous backhanded slap to Ellis’s face, his gold ring slicing into her cheek.

“I warned you not to fuck with me, bitch.” In one quick move he slammed the baton down on her display case, causing it to shatter. Pieces flew into Ellis’s face. “Don’t try anything else.”

She nodded, watching him as he emptied the display case, burning his image into her mind as he did.

“Have a nice day, ma’am.” He tipped his nonexistent hat at her and walked out the door as if nothing had happened.

Chapter Eight

“Did you watch the game the other day?” Lester asked Mike. They were at their desks going over paperwork and old case files.

Mike nodded and then shook his head. “It was pathetic. Being a Mets fan is like getting your heart broken, then stomped on repeatedly, then put back together and shot.”

Lester nodded. “That’s some deep shit, man. Why do we even bother?”

“Hell if I know.” Mike looked down at a file. “Hey, did you ever follow up with the lady who thinks her neighbor stole her cat?”

“Yup and she’s batshit crazy. Cat showed up the next day. I still can’t believe she made you fill out that incident report.”

“Believe it. She says that her neighbors are out to get her because she has five rusty Chevys parked in her front yard.”

“Five.” Lester shook his head. “That’s not enough to kidnap a cat over. Eight.” He nodded. “That’s when it gets to be ridiculous.”

Mike laughed at his partner’s musings and returned to his paperwork. A couple of minutes later his cell phone rang and when
ELLIS
popped up on the caller ID, Mike smiled.

“You changed your mind about going out with me? I knew you would come to your senses eventually.”