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He claimed the brain-rattling was merely behavioral correction.
Carine didn’t know what Heidi thought she needed to fix. Still, Carine was undoubtedly going to give the matter some thought because she didn’t want Heidi to use that “Stop” on her again.
Or she did.
She didn’t know the answer to that, either.
Heidi had already checked out when Carine walked her cart to the front. Sliding her credit card into her wallet, Heidi murmured, “Have a few fried carbs with me.”
Carine stared silently for a while, just like everyone else did when Heidi did the most mundane tasks. Then she got ahold of herself. Sometimes she wondered if Kevin hadn’t really been Heidi’s firstborn, and Heidi had traded away her true heir to a wizard in exchange for eternal beauty.
Act like you know the woman, for Pete’s sake.
“Right now?” Carine blurted.
“You’re Southern,” Heidi said. “There’s no homeostasis for you that comes without carbs.”
“And if I’m puffy this weekend and can’t fit into my house-selling dress, are you gonna drive out to Shora and help me into my shaper?”
“If I must. Or I could tell you to pick a different dress. Certainly, more than one has that contract magic.”
Yeah, you’d know all about magical advantages, lady.
“I’m not willing to risk it.” Carine recklessly met her gaze. “But I will risk the carbs.”
“Oh, good. I’ll be in my truck.” Heidi rolled her cart to the lot.
Allowing herself a deep exhalation, Carine piled the sock hop decorations onto the conveyor.
The cashier typed in her register code and crooked her thumb toward the departing customer. “You know her?”
“I do.”
“Scares the hell out of me. Glad she doesn’t recognize me.”
Carine found the Lipton corporate card at the bottom of her purse and risked another glance at the lady. Her eyes were round as half dollars, and lips pinched in a manner that hinted solely to relief. “Recognize you from where?”
“High school. Did me a favor one time. I don’t even think she knew me. She just hated my boyfriend, I guess. And good thing she did. Lord knows what he would have done.”
“Wait.” Carine gave her fingers a revelatory snap. “You wouldn’t happen to be talking about a prom thing, would you?”
“Lord, you know about the prom? I didn’t think word got around like that.” The lady chuckled then and started scanning.
“No, it didn’t. Just a legend from Heidi’s distant past that people who know her well know. Why wouldn’t you want her to recognize you?”
“Look at me.” The cashier gestured to herself and gave her head a solemn shake. “Old and tired and used up. Scared to do anything else. She comes here looking like a million dollars and just as gathered as she ever was.”
“Heidi’s not really one to judge.”
“I want to believe that. I wanted to say something to her after I heard she and Tim got divorced, but I didn’t want to be weird popping onto her radar after so many years. Say, what’s all this for?” The cashier gestured to the bargain decorations cranking toward her scanner.
Carine rolled her eyes. “Work party, and one I intend to camouflage myself against a wall at.”
The lady giggled. “I guess Heidi won’t be there to liven things up.”
“Oh, if Heidi were there, I’d camouflage myself for other reasons.” With several layers of full-coverage foundation makeup two shades too dark. That was the only way Carine would be able to disguise the blushes she’d suddenly become so prone to.
“Well, you tell her when you see her again that Mercy Hughes said ‘Hey’ and that she was the best friend I ever had and didn’t even know it.”
