Page 28 of The Perfect Appearance

“Well, my bodyguard just knocked on my door so we should probably end this soon,” Kat told her. “But you know how you said earlier that you wanted something positive to cling to? I might have a tidbit that will fit the bill.”

“What’s that?” Jessie asked.

“Mitch proposed to me this morning.”

"What!" Jessie exclaimed, unable to control her excitement. "That's fantastic! At least, I assume it's fantastic. Is it?"

“It is absolutely fantastic,” Kat assured her. “I’ve been trying not to bounce off the walls all day. It’s not like I could chit chat about it with Gila. She’s not exactly that type. In fact, she's glaring impatiently at me through the window right now. I'm surprised your bodyguard isn't doing the same."

Sure enough, a moment later, there was a knock on the door.

“You just jinxed it,” Jessie said. “I have to go, but when we have more time, I want you to talk my ear off about this thing.”

“Will do. I’ll give updates on that and my Haddonfield search,” Kat promised.

“Thanks and congratulations!” Jessie said one more time. Then she hung up, hopped off the bed, and opened the bedroom door just as Grover was about to knock again.

“Ryan should be home in an hour or so,” she said. “Any updates from your people?”

“A few,” he said, leading her back to the living room. “Everything okay with you? I heard an animated tone.”

“All good,” Jessie told him. “I just got some nice personal news from a friend. What are your updates?”

“I just got off the phone with Kat’s bodyguard, Gila.”

“Oh yeah, how are those two making out?” Jessie asked as if she didn’t already know. She was curious to hear the other side of things.

“It seems that your best friend is working a case on your behalf,” he said.

“I might have asked her to look into something for me,” Jessie acknowledged.

“Well, ‘looking into’ things has her moving about the city in a way that makes Gila extremely uncomfortable.”

“I’ll bet you know how that feels,” Jessie teased.

He wasn’t amused.

“I was hoping you might ask Kat to restrict her movements to make protecting her easier,” Grover replied.

Jessie understood that she was making things tough for Grover and his team, but she felt the need to make it clear to him that unlike Hannah, she and Kat couldn’t simply be cloistered away until this situation was resolved.

"I'm going to be straight with you.," she said. "Kat was out of commission for months after Ash Pierce tortured her and nearly killed her. She needs the money, so she's going to take jobs, risky or not. There's no way around that. I happen to need something looked into and am willing to pay her a generous rate. So this works out for both of us. I’m afraid Gila is just going to have to deal with the challenge. Is she up to it?”

Grover sighed.

“She’ll be fine,” he said, “but grumpy. And grumpy Gila is not my favorite Gila. Luckily, I’m not the one who has to be around that. Kat is.”

“With everything Kat has been through, a surly bodyguard won’t be the end of the world. What about Hannah—how’s she doing?”

Grover looked like he wasn’t done discussing Kat but apparently decided to let it go for now.

"In terms of security, everything's good," he said. "The safe house is locked down, and Rufus showed her all the emergency procedures and policies. She picked them up fast."

“And emotionally?” Jessie wondered.

“As you might expect, she’s bored and frustrated,” he said. “According to Rufus, she completed the coursework on all her class syllabi in less than an hour. They played some chess. She even spent some time reading a Russian novel. But he said she’s been restless and irritable. He tried to warn her that she needs to adapt because it’s going to get worse before it gets better, but that didn’t go over too well.”

“Are you sure I can’t talk to her?” Jessie asked, already sensing the answer. “I’ve been kept in a few safes houses in my time. Maybe I can help her better set her expectations for this experience.”

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