Kim Harrison - Dates From Hell

Claire shook her head, her eyebrows drawing together with concern. After the accident that had taken their parents’ lives, Kyle had taken his half of their parents’ insurance money and invested it. Jill had used her half to purchase a little clothing store downtown. It was doing well, mostly because Jill was a very dedicated store owner, willing to put in long hours to make it work. She usually started early and worked late. Her being home in the middle of the day was unusual.

Kyle slid out of the car and started around to her side, but Claire opened the door and stepped out before he could get there to open it for her. She smiled faintly as he took her arm to walk her to the door, noting the worry still visible in his eyes as he peered her way. His concern was sweet…and encouraging to Claire. She’d had a crush on him all through high school. It had blossomed into something more since she’d started working with him. Unfortunately, despite Jill’s assertions to the contrary, Claire suspected he thought of her as nothing more than a buddy and coworker. She wished it was otherwise.

“Jill?” Kyle called out as they entered the house.

“Kyle?” Jill’s voice came from the living room. Her tone suggested she was just as surprised at his arrival home in the middle of the day as they had been to know she was here.

“Yeah. Are you okay?” Kyle led Claire up the hall. “You aren’t sick or something, are you?”

“Or something.”

Claire frowned at the weariness evident in Jill’s voice. As they entered the living room, she stepped around Kyle and peered at her friend. Jill sat balled up in a corner of the couch, her shoulders slumped and posture dejected. She was pale, her eyes red-rimmed, and she held a freshly opened container of ice cream…always a bad sign.

“What’s wrong?” Claire asked with concern as she moved to sit beside her on the couch.

“What are you doing here?” Jill asked with surprise.

“Never mind that,” Claire said. “Tell us what’s wrong.”

“Nothing,” Jill said, then sighed and admitted, “Actually, I just got dumped.”

“What?” Claire asked with amazement. Jill had been seeing a store owner named Ted Leacock for the last six months. Claire knew her friend had thought it was “the real deal.” That she’d found the man she would marry and raise babies with.

“Yeah.” Jill held up the container of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. “So I came home for lunch.”

“Oh, honey.” Claire hugged her with sympathy.

Jill shrugged. “Plenty of good men out there, and right now Ben and Jerry are being very sympathetic.”

Kyle shifted and Claire glanced his way to see a myriad of emotions cross his face, anger for his sister, a frown of concern, then discomfort.

“Well,” he said finally. “You can’t just eat ice cream, Jill. I’ll see about lunch.”

Claire watched him leave the room, then glanced back to Jill as the blond slid a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.

“I’m sorry, Jill,” she said quietly.

Jill shrugged. “Better now than later.”

“You’re too good for him anyway.”

“I thought you liked him?” Jill asked with a frown.

“I did. He seemed nice,” Claire said quickly. “Though he obviously had bad taste if he broke up with you…and you deserve a guy with good taste. A super guy.”

“Super guy, huh?” Jill smiled briefly, then sighed. “He wasn’t as nice as we thought, anyway. It seems I wasn’t the only woman he was dating.”

“What?” Claire asked with surprise, then understanding crossed her face. “All those late nights working?”

“Yeah. It seems he was working on a couple of other girls. Trying to decide who would be the winner in the ‘Ted’s wife lotto.’ I apparently made it to the final two, but the other finalist won out.”

“What?” Claire repeated with amazement.

Jill grimaced. “It was apparently close. So close, in fact, that he couldn’t bring himself to break the news to me until now. A week before the wedding to the winner.”

Claire opened her mouth, but Jill forestalled her with “Please don’t say what again.”

Claire closed her mouth, frowned, then shook her head. “But you two went away last weekend.”

“Yes. And have been sleeping together for the last four of the six months we’ve been dating.” Jill grimaced. “I guess I should be glad I wasn’t the winner. Who needs a jerk like that for a husband?”

Claire nodded. “He’ll never be faithful. Oh, honey. I am sorry.” She gave her another hug.

“I guess I’ll have to go to the grocery store,” Kyle announced coming back into the living room. “We’ll need lunch and supper.”

“I thought you two were going to the school reunion tonight?” Claire reminded him, peering over Jill’s shoulder. She had decided not to go herself, but the twins had planned to attend, and Claire was sure that getting out would be the best thing for her friend.

Jill snorted at the idea. “Like I’m going to the reunion without a man on my arm? You have got to be kidding. Magda would spend the entire night insulting me…the bitch,” she added on a sniff.

“And I’d rather not leave you alone,” Kyle said. He was speaking to Claire, but his concerned gaze was bouncing between her and his sister. “I need to keep an eye on you for at least twenty-four hours, though the whole weekend would be better.”

Jill stiffened in Claire’s arms, then pulled back to peer at her.

“Why? What’s happened?”

Claire merely grimaced, while Kyle said, “John zapped her with the destabilizer.”

“What?!” Claire winced at the shriek as Jill peered from her to Kyle and asked, “How? Was it an accident?”

“No,” Kyle said grimly.

“You’re kidding?” Jill looked outraged. She was one of the very few people privy to their experiments and what they entailed. “How?”

Sighing, Claire shook her head. “I had strapped in the bunny and started out of the room, but he sent me back to check on the camera. He said it was offline and told me how to move the table so I could kneel under it and check the camera alignment. Once I was there, zap,” she finished with a shrug.

“So that’s how he did it,” Kyle murmured, and she realized he hadn’t known how John had got her under the camera and therefore under the beam.

“The toad!” Jill said with disgust, tossing the ice cream carton on the coffee table.

“Yeah.” Claire sighed. Really, it was unconscionable. She could have been killed and was just lucky Kyle had got her out before any damage was done.

“Dangerous toad,” Kyle said grimly. “He was tired of running trials and decided to speed the experiment along.”

Ben & Jerry—and even Ted—briefly forgotten, Jill caught Claire by the arms and looked her over as if expecting to find her glowing green and falling to pieces. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Claire assured her firmly. “Really. I don’t feel bad at all.”

“Well, you aren’t suddenly turning the same color as the couch or anything,” Jill murmured, eyes narrowed.

Claire glanced toward the paisley couch and muttered, “Thank God.”

“Still, Kyle’s right, we can’t leave you alone this weekend,” Jill said firmly.

Claire shrugged, uncomfortable with all the concern.

“Although I’m not going to be any fun tonight,” Jill added with a grimace, then brightened, her expression that of someone who’s just had an idea. “You two could go to the reunion together, though. That way Kyle could go and still keep an eye on you.”

Claire flushed, knowing Jill was playing matchmaker. Her friend had known about Claire’s crush on Kyle for years and thought they would be perfect together. As far as Jill was concerned, the only thing keeping them apart was their own shyness. Claire didn’t doubt for a minute that Jill was trying to push them together, and while she appreciated it, one glance at Kyle’s reluctant expression told her it wasn’t working.