Page 9 of Hearts Like Hers

“I’ll be by on Thursday.”

“Done.”

He turned back to Kate. “Sorry about that.”

She shrugged. “I’m good. It’s okay.”

“Per our agreement, you have the unit for onemonth. Let me know if you wish to extend. It’s been very popular.” Withoutanother word, the guy turned and left, walking as if on a mission, but then shehad a feeling he always walked that way. She glanced at Isabel and inclined herhead in the direction of Larry’s retreating form. “Thanks. For the intervene.”

“No problem. He can be a lot. Good rule ofthumb is don’t take the guy seriously, and bring up the name Hadley as much aspossible.” Isabel set her laptop on the coffee table and pointed at an upstairsapartment in the corner. “She lives there. He’s madly in love with her butdoesn’t fully realize it.”

“Hadley. Got it.” She glanced behind her intothe unit. “Should maybe be writing this down.”

Isabel waved her off. “You’ll be fine. Thisis an easy place to be. Everyone is super chatty, though, and I will admit thatit caught me off guard at first. Consider yourself warned. In fact, I’m doingit now, which is kind of unlike me. I should shut the hell up.”

Kate grinned. “I don’t mind. It does seemlike a nice place.”

The outdoor courtyard was clean, well-kept,and surrounded by the white building trimmed with black shutters. In the centersat several wrought iron tables and chairs, next to a more comfortable areamade up of outdoor couches with bright green cushions, the kind of place you’dwant to spend time. Kate had lots of that.

“The quiet, scary guy who lived in your unitmoved, so Larry had it furnished and is renting it out on Airbnb as a businessexperiment. We’ve seen a variety come through. I don’t miss the bongo drumswoman from three stays back.”

“I can imagine. Kate, by the way.”

“Isabel Chase. Nice to meet you.” She pickedup her laptop. “So, what brings you to Venice for the month? I mean besides allthe naked people on the beach.” She held up a hand. “Kidding. There are onlylike four naked people. The rest are half-naked.”

Kate took a moment, unsure how to answer theoriginal question. She needed to figure that out because it was likely one shewould hear a lot. “Have you ever just needed space from…life?”

“Big time. Every day I was alive. I justnever had the funds to do anything about it until recently.”

Kate nodded, feeling a little uncomfortable.“I had some time off and some cash socked away. Literally in a sock.”

Isabel seemed to enjoy that. “And here Ithought that was just a cliché.”

“I’m from a small town. Most clichés arebased on our reality.”

Without delay, Isabel set to typing. “I’mstealing that line. I hope you don’t mind. In fact, I’m stealing it even if youdo. It’s that good.” She pointed at her own face. “Writer. You?”

“Firefighter.”

“Shut up.”

“Sorry?”

Isabel held out her hand. “No. I didn’t meanactuallyshut up—it’s aphrase, a way of—you know what? Never mind.”

Kate walked over to the couch. “Try me.”

“Okay. But I don’t want you to think I’mhitting on you, because I’m wildly in love with someone else, but I sayshut upbecause you’revery attractive and a firefighter, and now I’m the cliché myself, but”—sheglanced around, leaned forward, and dropped her pitch—“that’s a killer combo.You’re going to do well here. It’s just math.”

Kate nodded. The job did tend to get herextra attention, a few extra phone numbers at the bar, but she wasn’t lookingto get involved. “I’m just trying to keep things simple. Sit in the sun. Read abook. Explore the neighborhood. That kinda thing.”

Isabel nodded. “A standard vacation. You’vecome to the right place. Welcome to Seven Shores, Firewoman Kate. Or is itfireperson? I never know.”

“Firefighter works for me.”

“Do you playPac-Man?”

Kate took a second with that one. “I couldtry.”

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