Just One Kiss (Fool's Gold #10)(54)

“The only flaw seems to be his business partner. I’m not a fan. She’s so beautiful and apparently smart. I’m sure tiny forest animals come and dress her every morning while singing about how glorious she is.”

Heidi grinned. “You’re not kidding about not being a fan.”

“I hate her. Okay, maybe not hate her, but I don’t like her much and I wish she hadn’t moved to town.”

Charlie groaned. “I wish you’d mentioned this sooner,” she said, holding up an arm and waving. “I met her earlier and invited her to join us.”

Felicia spotted Charlie and waved back.

Patience sank back in the booth. “You didn’t.”

“I try to be friendly from time to time. I figure I need to balance out my karma.”

Isabel scooted over to make room for Felicia. “This is going to be so great. Like a flash mob or something.”

“You need more than four or five people for a flash mob,” Heidi said helpfully.

“Good point.”

Patience shifted. “No one say anything,” she said in a low whisper.

Heidi gave her a quick hug. “I swear we’ll always like you best.”

“You’d better.”

Felicia reached the table and gave them all a warm smile. “Hi. I’m Felicia Swift. It’s nice to meet all of you.”

“You know me,” Charlie said. “This is Heidi Stryker, Patience McGraw and Isabel Beebe.”

Felicia’s gaze settled on Patience. “Oh, hi. We’ve met. I’m Justice’s friend.”

“Uh-huh,” Patience murmured. “Nice to see you again.”

Felicia slid in next to Isabel. Her long red hair was still perfectly layered and curled. She had on a bit of makeup, but with her features, she didn’t need the help. Her pale yellow sweater clung to perfect curves. Patience thought about the rips in her jeans and how her hands were a wreck from all the work she’d done at the store and the fact that her T-shirt featured a grinning possum. Not exactly sophisticated.

“How do you like Fool’s Gold?” Charlie asked.

“It’s wonderful.” Felicia’s large green eyes sparkled with excitement. “I’ve never lived in a small town before. I’ve lived on a university campus, which has some similarities in size and sense of community but the demographics are totally different.”

Jo hurried by. “What’ll you have?” she asked, barely slowing.

“A margarita,” Felicia called after her.

Heidi turned to Felicia. “Your parents were professors?”

Felicia hesitated. She reached for a chip, then pulled back her hands and rested them on her lap. She seemed to be making a decision. “I was raised by several professors and scientists, but they weren’t my parents.”

Charlie leaned toward her. “What? Why is that?”

“I’m very intelligent. I was doing complex math equations when I was three, and by the time I was four I’d become more than my parents could handle. When a professor approached them about admitting me into a special program through the university, they agreed.” She gave a brief smile. “It was for the best. I would have been impossible in a regular school.”

Patience stared at her, trying to process the matter-of-factly delivered information. “You didn’t live with your parents?”

“No. They moved away and had other children. Oh, they also adopted several special-needs kids. That was easier for them to handle. I stayed at the university until I was sixteen. Then I joined the army.”

She shrugged. “I admit I forged my identification so that it said I was eighteen. I handled logistics and got moved to Special Forces, which is where I met Justice.”

She relaxed as she said his name. “He’s been my family all these years. When I was in my car accident, he was the one who took care of me.”

Patience felt as if her head was spinning and she was on her first margarita. “Car accident?”

“I was hit by a car. I had several broken bones, mostly in my face, but everything turned out great.” Felicia glanced around and lowered her voice. “I was really unattractive before the accident. But when my face got smashed up, the plastic surgeon who fixed it made a few tweaks. Actually we collaborated. I made a few sketches of how the bones could be adjusted and the muscles placed, and he agreed.”

Felicia reached for a chip. “Our standards of beauty can be reduced to a mathematical formula. It’s all about symmetry. When I saw what he’d done, I was thrilled. It’s really tough being the smartest person in the room, let me tell you. Add in some mismatched features and it’s nearly impossible to fit in.”

Heidi looked at Patience and raised her eyebrows. Patience knew what her friend was thinking. Felicia was a little bit strange but not unlikable.

“How smart?” Charlie asked.

Felicia sighed. “You don’t want to know. People get scared when I tell them.”

“How many degrees do you have?”

“Five. Oh, I assume you meant advanced. Like PhD level. If you want me to count up all of them—”

Charlie nearly choked on her beer. “Pretend I didn’t ask.”

Heidi smiled at Felicia. “Are you married?”

“No. I don’t date much. Men are afraid of me. Some of it is I’m not very good with the details of mating rituals. Growing up the way I did, I missed normal socialization. I’m trying to figure it out, but it’s not going well. Getting a guy to sleep with me the first time was so complicated.”