Unnatural Calamities (12 page)

Jack shook his head no. Toph pulled the chips toward him and concentrated on stacking them. He toyed with the idea of punching someone.

He never had the urge to hit people.

Jet, Delgado and Mickey wandered back to the table carrying beers and a couple of bags of chips. Mickey had a bowl of gourmet sushi-flavored popcorn.

“He win again?” Jet said.

Mickey groaned dramatically. “Dammit, I hate playing with you, Toph. Isn’t it enough you own my ass?”

“Mickey, I own nothing of you or yours. You’re the jerk who said you can’t take my money until this mess is sorted out.”

“You’re the jerk who said Carmody is my client. One stinking buck and I bet she’s taking up thirty-five billable hours a day,” Mickey grumbled.

He shoved a bottle of Thomas Hooker ale at Toph, who shook his head. “Nothing for me.”

Mickey flipped off the top and drank. “Relax your uptight ass, would you, Dunham? You’re too damn edgy.”

Jack pushed his hands through his perfect blond hair, gritted his dazzling white teeth, and plowed ahead. “Listen. Would you listen? I’m only telling you what Bea is losing sleep over. Our ex is worried, Toph. She called me up at midnight, for God’s sake, to say she’s convinced that you should be more helpful. The authorities are convinced that it was all a setup. Toph, you have to at least listen to them. One of Bea’s friends over at the prosecutor’s office? He said there is some kind report about Blair and the Carmody woman.”

Mickey snorted. He grabbed a handful of his seaweedy popcorn, tossed one in the air, and caught it neatly in his open mouth. “It’s her sister. Even you can understand that. Two different people who look very much alike. Her. Sister.”

Jack ignored Mickey and continued yammering at Toph, “Anyway, maybe there is something to what they’re saying. Maybe Blair set you up and used the Carmody woman to do it. He’d planned the whole thing and—”

“Zack Blair couldn’t plan his way out of a paper bag,” Toph interrupted. And the fact that Blair managed to hold him hostage for a full day made Toph less intelligent than…what? He didn’t finish the thought. “Whose deal is it? Can we get back to the goddamn cards?” He leaned across the table, grabbed a deck and began to viciously shuffle them.

“My deal. Five card draw.” Mickey held out his hand for the cards.

As he dealt, he said, “You’re in a bad mood for no good reason, Dunham. This Carmody thing is going away any minute now. She won’t even get arrested. The prosecutor knows he has jack against her, especially with you being uncooperative. You’re just being a pain in the ass now ’cause I told you to stay away from her ’cause she needs rest. Too many people been bugging you, Mr. Big Money Macho Man. She don’t need that.”

“You bet.” Toph managed to keep his voice calm, but the words came out too quickly and too loud. “The publicity is one reason I am being a pain in the ass. I have others. One. Because I was kidnapped and I feel like a major fool for letting myself get grabbed by Blair. Two. Because the cops paid no attention whatsoever when I told them what happened. And three. Because it isn’t enough the media is giving me a load of nonsense, you jackasses are also bugging the hell out of me. Are we going to play?”

He didn’t say
and,
four, I can’t stop thinking about her
. It had been three weeks and he waited for her to call him back. He wanted to beg Mickey,
make her call me
. No way. That was not going to happen.

Jack, Jet, Delgado and Mickey stared at Toph. Nobody touched the cards.

“He really is in a state,” Jet observed. “Mickey is the touchy asshole. Not the Tophster. Never Toph.”

“Yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like this,” Delgado said.

“Maybe he’s got the hots for the Carmody woman?” Jet offered.

“She ain’t said nothin’ about him. Nothing much anyway,” Mickey said. “She keeps trying to fire me. She told me Dunham doesn’t owe her anything.”

“Huh. Shoe is on the other foot, as my ma used to say. She owes him big time. Wanna know about her hospital bill?” said Jet.

“No,” said Delgado. He got up and wandered to the kitchen.

Jet went on, “And of course she doesn’t have insurance.”

Mickey guffawed. “Cops’ll pay the damn hospital bill. Eventually. Anyway, Jet, why do you care what Dunham pays? As I recall it, he paid quite a few of your bills.”

He waved a shooing hand at Jet’s feet, which were propped on an empty chair across the table. “And hey, man, get your alligator skin boots off my furniture.”

Jet gave an offended grunt. He leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands across his considerable stomach above his huge belt buckle. “They’re snake skin. You all should be grateful I’m a fast learner. Anyway, a couple of bad investments don’t matter in the long run. Toph thinks I do a good job.”

Toph was sick of the bunch of them. He stood up and pulled his jacket off the back of the chair. He shoved his arms into the sleeves and headed for the door.

“Toph is tired of being talked about in the third person. He is saying good night,” Toph said, and slammed out of Mickey’s apartment.

Micky, Jet, Jack and Delgado stared at the door in silence.

“About the Carmody woman,” Jack said at last. “The pictures in the papers don’t make her look like much. Is she cute, Mickey? Does she look anything like Bea?”

“Nothing like,” said Mickey. He ate some more sushi popcorn. “She doesn’t have a scrap of Bea’s refiiiinement.” He drawled the word. “Can’t hold a torch to Bea’s beauty, neither. Bea is way classier, another league of altogether. Carmody’s kind of a cute and friendly babe. Nice smile.”

“Nice smile,” Jack said at last. “Once, right after Bea left me, I got semi-plastered with Toph. Only time I’ve seen him drunk. And he said he wanted a woman with a nice smile. My guess is she’s what’s bugging Toph.”

“It’s gotta be her,” Jet said.

Mickey thought for a moment. He ate the last of the popcorn then nodded. “Yup. Probably is.”

Toph didn’t worry about anyone spotting his car at Janey’s house because he still drove a rental. So he pulled up the driveway.

To hell with the overprotective Mickey who told him to stay out of the picture during his brief moment as a media darling. The national press had lost interest when he refused to do any early morning interviews, and the local press had given up too. They’d hied off to New Haven for some kind of scandal involving professors.

He would finally find out why Janey hadn’t called. And he’d get to touch her properly. He’d thought about this often enough. If she didn’t tell him to get lost, they would spend the night, exploring each other, taking their time to learn… Oops, no. Maybe not. He had forgotten about Rachel.

Okay, they would just talk.

Bill Blair had a new fence around his property. And the garage apartment had a new, stronger door with a peep hole. Good. Mickey’s idea, no doubt. The man was paranoid but effective.

The door opened before he knocked.

“Toph.” Her smile lit into him as if she’d touched him. “How nice to see you.”

His breath hitched at the sight of her. Then he noticed her face was as pale as she’d been in the hospital.

She’d lost at least ten pounds and her usually rosy cheeks had turned white and gaunt. She wore a red flannel bathrobe over flannel pajamas decorated with cats dancing cheek-to-cheek with dogs.

“Janey, are you all right?”

She laughed. “Everyone else who sees me goes on and on about how great I look now that I lost some weight, and you ask in a shocked way if I’m all right. Yes, I’m fine. Would you like to come in?”

The relief of seeing her rumpled sweet self and that welcoming smile proved to be too much.

“God yes. Thank you.” He took two strides to Janey, gathered her into his arms, and pressed his mouth against hers in a proper kiss.

“Oh. My,” she said breathlessly, and took a step back. She goggled at him, a surprised smile on her face.

With his forefinger, he brushed a lock of fluffy blonde hair from her cheek. “Janey. I’ve missed you. Every time I take a shower I think about you.”

“Oh?” The smile vanished and her brow furrowed.

“You know. The bathtub.”

The confused frown on her face deepened. She almost looked frightened. Damn. Was she going to pretend it was a bad experience? Slightly comical—yes, he’d understand that reaction. Okay, even hysterically funny. But bad? He remembered her words at the time. She had thanked him. He was absolutely sure of that.

She pulled her robe tight around her throat. “Um, Toph. I’m afraid I don’t know. That is, I don’t know what you mean.”

He frowned at her. “You are kidding me, right?”

Her eyes widened. “I-I think something happened that I’ve forgotten about. I had a concussion when I hit my head and they say some short-term memories—” She waved a hand. “Poof.”

He groaned and shoved his hand through his hair. “May I sit down?” he asked.

“Of course.” Her confused look vanished and the full lips curved into an almost shy smile. “I really am glad to see you. Come on and take a seat. Can I get you something? Coffee? Tea? Wine?”

“A glass of wine. Definitely.”

“It’s the cheap stuff. It’s white and a brand that was on sale but if—”

“It’ll be perfect,” he said firmly. He crossed the room and sank down onto the grey sagging couch. He stretched out his legs, glanced down at the charcoal grey trousers and well-polished black shoes he wore, and wished he’d changed out of his suit before he barged over to her house. Toph wasn’t sure what Miss Manners would say, but it seemed to him that the situation called for casual clothing.

Holy shit. Janey didn’t know what they’d done together.

What would she say if he told her? He couldn’t guess her response. Surprising that he did not know Janey Carmody well enough to guess. She might be angry, or maybe she wouldn’t believe him. If he told her? He had to. No question.

From the tiny kitchen area she called, “Would you like some Duck à l’Orange or squid ink pasta with puttanesca sauce?”

Despite his tension, he chuckled. “Where’d you come up with that amazing selection?”

“My friends are foodies, remember? If someone has an emergency, they help out by bringing by food.”

“I’ve heard of that but it’s usually neighbors with stuff like tuna casserole.”

“I think I have some of that too. Margaret stopped by with it.”

“No thanks.”

He listened to the squeak of the fridge door.

No time like the present. He took a deep breath. “So. What did the doctor say about you regaining your memory?”

From the kitchen came the clink of glasses and glug of wine. “Nothing much. I lost some time before and after bashing my head. A lot of it is coming back. Mostly I’m relieved I wasn’t more badly hurt.”

She walked back into the room, looking slightly neater. She’d retied her bathrobe and clipped her hair back up. “I mean, it’s just short-term loss, so I didn’t lose any important memories, like my whole childhood or anything.”

He couldn’t help the snort of laughter.

She frowned as she handed him his glass of wine and slowly sat down in a lumpy brown chair across from him.

She studied him, and took a sip of her wine. “Or so I thought until you showed up. I can tell I forgot something I should not have. Go on, Toph. Tell me what happened.”

He took a deep breath. “What was the last thing you remember?”

She smiled and blushed. God, she was cute when she turned pink. He wished he could touch her face with his mouth to see if her skin grew warmer. He absently tapped his lip with his finger as he waited for her answer.

She murmured, “Kissing you.”

“In the bathroom?”

“No. Lying on the bedroom floor.”

“Eventually we ended up handcuffed in the bathroom. And we ended up, ah, doing more than kissing.”

Her eyes widened. “Uh oh. What on earth do you mean?”

He told her.

Her expression transforming from curious to appalled and embarrassed would have been fun to watch—if it weren’t so depressing. Perhaps the most astonishing sex he’d ever experienced and his partner had no memory of it.

At least she didn’t grow angry. Instead she refused to believe him.

“No way,” she said firmly. “I mean, I definitely remember that I wanted to, um, be with you. But what about Zack? You did say he was in the next room? And anyway, I wouldn’t do that these days—sleep with someone I’d just met. I’m not like that anymore. No.”

“No?” he said softly.

Janey gaped at him for a few seconds.

She shut her eyes. The strange time in the hotel room. The feel of him and the tangy taste and smell of him was firmly entrenched in her memory. That urgent driving need she had not known for years.

Screwing a man she barely knew wasn’t like the reformed Janey Carmody. But then nothing about that day was like any Janey Carmody she’d ever known.

She remembered something new as she pondered their imprisonment in room 210. Zack pushed them into the bathroom and threatened her. And she recalled the voice of a strange woman laughing in the bedroom.

When she opened her eyes again, Toph was watching her, his dark intent gaze fixed on her face. And she knew he hadn’t lied to her. Oh, what an event to have forgotten.

“Damnation,” she murmured. “Well. Did I…uh. Did I enjoy it?”

“We both did.” He sounded bemused. “We had a very good, albeit brief, time. You even asked me if we could do it again sometime. Without the handcuffs and not in a bathtub.”

She grinned and felt the hot blush creep into her face. “You’re kidding. Tell me you’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

The grin turned into a snicker and she began to laugh.

“Whose idea was it, anyway?” she gasped as she laughed.

He grinned at her. “A mutual decision. We didn’t talk that much.”

Her laughter ended abruptly, as if turned off by a switch. Her eyes grew round. Her mouth formed an O of shock. Or fear. “Oh my good gosh. Toph.”

“Yes? What’s wrong?”

Her voice shook as she asked, “Did we use protection?”

“Ah. No. We didn’t.” He gave her a sheepish grin. “I figured, six years for you meant you had to be okay. And I know I’m healthy.”