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“Fortune threw around her bullshit and they bought it because they wanted to buy it.” Lola cleaned her mouth with a paper napkin. “A form of confirmation bias.”
Feeling contrarian, Carmen shrugged. “Or maybe Fortune has been right all along. Maybe she’s really some kind of mystic.” She watched Lola’s body tense. “Could explain why Serenity seemed to know we were coming.”
Lola laughed, but it was hard and caustic rather than joyful. “Yeah, she’s so psychic that she believed we were married,” she said it like it was the absolute stupidest, most improbable thing in the world.
Carmen didn’t really think Fortune was gifted with anything other than the artistry of a con man, but she couldn’t help wanting to coax out Lola’s views on love. There was no way she didn’t believe in it at all.
“There are people who get married after a few days and live a lifetime together,” Carmen countered, unsure what point she was making but wanting Lola to say more.
“That’s luck,” she countered without hesitation. “Not divine providence or some fated shit.” Lola’s body language was all retraction, pulling herself in, getting tighter and more closed off.
“So you don’t believe in fate?”
Lola leaned back, arms crossed over her chest, and gaze narrowed. “What? Like we’re all destined to live a paint-by-numbers life where we’re stuck playing out a role that’s already been planned?” She shook her arms. “If that was the case, I’d be a—” She stopped herself. “We make our own choices and those have consequences.”
Considering her response, verbal and non, Carmen crafted her next question. “Does that mean you’ve never been caught up in a love so big it makes you do something reckless?”
Lola shifted in her seat and picked at the pile of fries on her plate. She muttered something inaudible. Carmen strained to hear but didn’t.
Carmen would have given anything to teleport into Lola’s thoughts. Despite the terrifying mosh pit of slam dancing that she was sure to find in there, she could bet that there was a glimmer of something softer… or at the very least…more real.
The flicker vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared. Lola slammed shut like a steel door. “Some of us don’t have theprivilegeof acting recklessly,” she said through gritted teeth. “Some of us have to work hard for what we want. We can’t all just coast on family money and connections.”
Carmen's skin flushed with heat, quick and angry, but she hesitated before responding. Lola’s words were intended to provoke. To change a topic she was uncomfortable with. Her lashing out was so obvious, it made it easier for Carmen to sidestep. To see it for what it was… a fear response.
“And yet…” Carmen reached for her soda and pulled the straw between her teeth. “I’ve never been in big, reckless love either.”
Lola’s eyes, dark and simmering, widened. She obviously hadn’t expected that response. Didn’t know what to do with something other than a counter attack.
When they finished eating, they split the check and started for the door. Carmen had almost considered offering to pay before deciding that Lola would misinterpret the act as some kind of attack.
Outside, the night was quiet and cold. Carmen’s headache had eased, but it was still pulsing on one side of her head. Holding out her hand, she expected Lola to hand her the keys.
But Lola barreled toward the car, ignoring her and starting for the driver’s seat. Her expression was still stern, her energy giving off an I’m-so-over-this-and-annoyed-and-I’d-rather-be-enduring-a-pap-smear vibe, but Carmen felt that flicker again. A softening somewhere far below the surface.
“What are you doing?” Carmen asked the way Lola might.
“Driving back to Redpine,” she replied with a roll of her eyes, pulling the door open. “I didn’t see any lights on the road and if you’re all compromised, I don’t want you to drive.” Harshly, she added, “I don’t want to die,” before getting in the car and turning it on.
Carmen resisted the amused pull at her lips, the fluttering in her stomach. She opened the passenger door, and hesitated. “You’re not on the rental agreement.”
Lola cranked the heat in the car even though she didn’t look as cold as Carmen. “Yeah, well. Maybe the car rental company will be stupid enough to think we’re married, too. Get in the damn car.”
Biting the inside of her cheek, Carmen nearly lost her mind and thanked Lola for the kind gesture. Nearly allowed herself to acknowledge how sweet it was for her to take care of her when she wasn’t in fighting shape. But her senses returned before she scared her away with words of recognition.
CHAPTER39
Lola saton the lumpy bed in her hotel room, laptop open and struggling to focus on the email she was drafting to fix the wardrobe debacle on Starla’s movie set. It was late, and she should try to get some sleep since they had an early morning ahead, but her mind refused to settle. She was trying to harvest the excess energy and make it useful, but her body wouldn’t comply.
Her gaze drifted to the empty soda can sitting on the dresser next to the TV. She should throw the stupid thing away. It was garbage. It belonged in the garbage bin. She stared at it like it was an intricate puzzle hiding the meeting of life.
She closed her eyes, the damn turkey sandwich vexing her. The note Carmen had left for her tucked in her bag instead of tossed in the trash.
Shaking it off, she tried to work on something else. It lasted minutes before her thoughts wandered again. She couldn’t stop thinking about that stupid sandwich. No one had ever done something thoughtful like that for her before. The realization left her off-balance, like the world had tilted on its axis.
Lola ran a hand through her hair, increasingly convinced she was losing her mind. This trip had her all turned around. She couldn’t help fearing she was teetering on the edge of a huge mistake, but her instincts were failing her. Nothing made sense anymore.
The sound of Carmen’s voice outside her window pulled Lola from her spiraling thoughts. Carmen was out on the balcony of her second-floor room, clearly on a tense phone call.
