Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(4)

“John likes everyone to go to him for anything,” Mr. Montgomery said as soon as she had caught up. John was still within hearing range. “But you try to get anything done, and he bars the way.”

All Krista could do was inwardly groan.

When 5 o’clock rolled around, Krista couldn’t sprint out of work fast enough. She headed straight for happy hour with Kate and Jasmine, two friends from college who moved to San Francisco shortly after graduation. Krista had never thought to move, letting them escape to California unhindered, but when Jim had found her at a party, shortly after serving him a restraining order, and punched her in the face, she decided skipping town was the right, and only, way to play it.

Yes, he’d gone to jail—he took down another three people who got in the way, all of whom had pressed charges—but he’d get out eventually. Something as trivial as the law wouldn’t stop a man like Jim. Not being able to see out of one eye for a week drove that point home.

Krista spotted Kate in the corner sipping her drink.

Twenty-six with long brown hair and large, luminous eyes, Kate had a dainty look, but a contrasting foul mouth. She was also pygmy short, which was funny when she started throwing out the f-bombs. Her one, self-proclaimed, greatest flaw was always falling in love with g*y men. In her defense, it was an easy thing to do, especially in San Francisco. More than half the population of g*y men had great style, excellent hygiene and unbelievable bodies, not to mention being intelligent, educated and cultured.

Kate was in love a lot.

“Hey, Kate,” Krista said as she flung her handbag into the corner of the booth and crawled in.

Kate jumped, and then giggled. “You ass**le,” she said by way of hello.

“Did I grow, or is this pub fashioned after people your size?” Krista asked as she tried to straighten her legs under the table.

“Har har. How was your first day?”

“No, seriously. Is this not the smallest booth in the world? Let’s go to the bar.”

About then Jasmine showed up, looking like a painter. She was a tall girl and rail thin with a short bob and a cloudy disposition, but always managed to make things fun regardless. Or maybe she sought to up the fun factor since she thought everything was dismal.

Though all of them went to the same college with the same major, each of them landed in different fields. Jasmine was a designer of some sort and Kate ended up in product development. They all had jobs, though, so they didn’t complain too loudly.

“Hi,” Jasmine said, sliding onto her own bar-stool.

“So, Krista,” Kate said. “What about these embarrassing stories from the day you text about earlier?”

“Ooh, I love embarrassing stories!” Jasmine clapped happily, catching the eye of the older bartender and pointing to the tap of Harp.

Krista couldn’t help a grin. “I have a few. First off, my boss!”

Kate and Jasmine settled into their barstools expectantly as Krista unfolded the strange events of her first day. When she started talking about Mr. Montgomery and his various quirks, humiliation turned into hilarity.

Finally Krista got to the most embarrassing story.

“Wait,” Jasmine said as she bowed her head with a thoughtful expression. “You picked up a piece of paper, which you had heard print, in order to look normal? I don’t get it. Was he hideous or something?”

“Or creepy?” Kate asked as she leaned over her martini to get a good look at Krista’s face.

Krista cleared her throat and shrugged. Kate and Jasmine immediately honed in.

“He was hot, wasn’t he?” Jasmine accused with an evil smile.

Krista shrugged again, hating that her friends could read her so well.

“He must have been super f**king hot to make you lose your shit!” Kate chortled, matching Jasmine’s delight.

Krista kept the shrugs coming.

“Seriously? He was that hot?” Jasmine asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Krista felt herself flush. “Okay, yes. He was hot, okay? He just surprised me, is all. He was in my space—I wasn’t all ga-ga over him, or anything! I know to steer clear of hot guys!”

“Womanizing guys,” Kate corrected.

“Same thing.” Jasmine waved the thought away. “Describe him!”

“Seriously, you guys. There’s nothing to describe. He was pleasant looking, he smelled good, and he surprised me in an enclosed space. It’s not like I’m great with people. He could’ve been anyone and I would’ve been a dweeb!”

“De-scr-ibe-him,” Jasmine enunciated.

Krista rolled her eyes. “Fine. He was over six feet—not much over, I don’t think. He had really green eyes—super green. Hard to look away from eyes. Stop looking at me like that!” Kate held up her hands as if to say there was no look. Krista continued with a red face. “He had blondish hair in kind of a spikey ‘do. He had these, like, noble-born features ….”

Jasmine shook her head to cut her off. “What does that even mean? Who do you know that’s noble?”

“Just…I don’t know…like, straight nose, chiseled jaw—like a guy a photographer would have a wet dream over.”

“Okay, so he was noble, fine. Body?” Jasmine asked with hungry eyes.

“Jaz, whoa, get laid already,” Kate said as she leaned away.