Just One Kiss (Fool's Gold #10)(55)

She paused. “I shouldn’t have said that, right? It’s too soon. I’m not used to having girlfriends, either. My assignments in the military put me around men, and with the traveling...” She pressed her lips together. “Not that I’m implying we’re friends. We’ve just met and—”

Patience had been prepared to really hate Felicia. She was too beautiful not to. But after five minutes, she realized that despite the incredible good looks and perfect body and apparently the genius mind, Felicia was just like anyone else. She wanted to fit in and wasn’t sure she would be accepted for who she was.

Patience leaned toward her. “Felicia, we’re friends. Now relax. We’re all crazy here. You get to be crazy, too.”

Felicia nodded. “Actually the health profession doesn’t use the word crazy as a definition for mental illness.” She paused. “That’s not what you meant, is it?”

“No.”

Felicia nodded. “Sometimes I have that problem. I know nearly everything you can learn in a book and very little that you learn in life. Like my fear of spiders. It’s silly, really. I’ve studied arachnids in an effort to get over my ridiculous overreaction, but still, every time I see one...” She shuddered. “It’s not pretty. I simply can’t control myself. A flaw—one of many.”

“If you’re not perfect, then you came to the right place,” Charlie told her. “Fool’s Gold is a lively town with plenty of characters. You’ll get a crash course in how the little people live.”

“I hope I can fit in.”

Patience saw the concern in Felicia’s eyes and touched her arm. “You’re going to do just fine.”

* * *

FORTY-EIGHT hours and counting, Patience thought as she put mugs into the dishwasher.

Melissa Sutton walked into the back room with a tray in her hands. “This is the last of the dishes,” she said. “I wiped down the tables and the chairs.”

Patience took the tray and set it on the stainless-steel counter. “Thanks, Melissa. You’re great. I appreciate all you’re doing.”

The statement had the advantage of not only being true, but sounding so rational. It sure beat “I’m going to throw up from nerves” or “Never, ever open your own business.”

She’d reached the place of panic, which was a little scary. With two days left before the opening, where did that leave her to go? Extreme panic? Extreme, extreme, icky panic?

Either Patience was doing a good job of pretending to be normal or Melissa was really polite, because the eighteen-year-old only smiled.

“I’m happy to be working here,” she said. “It’s a cool job that’s going to be lots of fun.”

“Saving money for college?” Patience asked. Melissa was working through the summer.

“I am. I go in late August. UC San Diego. My mom is a little nervous about me going out on my own. I keep telling her I’ll be living in a dorm and not to worry, but you know how she gets.”

Patience wasn’t close friends with Liz Sutton-Hendrix, but they’d known each other most of their lives. Liz was a few years older. Technically Melissa and Melissa’s younger sister, Abby, were Liz’s nieces. A few years ago Liz had moved back to Fool’s Gold to raise them when their dad went to prison and their stepmom skipped out on them.

Complicating everything was Liz’s relationship with Ethan Hendrix and the fact that he had a son Liz had never told him about. They’d worked through their issues and were happily married. Patience understood Liz’s worry about her oldest going away to school. She didn’t think she would ever be emotionally prepared to let Lillie move out.

“You might want to go talk to Isabel at Paper Moon,” Patience told the teen. “She had an unexpected experience at UCLA. You need to avoid what she did.”

Melissa laughed. “It didn’t go well?”

“She had beautiful highlights and a fabulous surfer boyfriend, but didn’t do so well with the going-to-class part.”

“That’s never good.”

“It’s not.”

Melissa shook her head. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m big on being responsible. I would never blow off class for a guy.”

“Good for you. Picked a major yet?”

“I’m looking at a couple of different options. What I do know is that I’m going to law school. I’m thinking Harvard.”

“Ambitious. You don’t want to be a writer like your mom?”

“I think I have just enough of her skill to write a good brief.” Melissa untied her apron. “I’ll be here at four opening morning.”

“Me, too,” Patience said. “You sure you can get up that early, then go to class?”

Until high school was over in June, Melissa would work mostly on weekends and a couple of evenings. But she had wanted to work on opening morning.

“You’re going to be super busy. You know how the town loves a grand opening,” Melissa said. “I can be sleepy for one day.”

“Thanks.”

The teen waved, then left.

Patience watched her go, thinking Liz and Ethan must be so proud. They had three great kids.

She finished loading the mugs and plates, then turned on the dishwasher. Their last practice run had gone well. She’d kept the numbers small and by invitation only, and they’d worked out a few kinks with the espresso machine. The rest of her coffee would be delivered tomorrow morning, along with most of the food.