Page 29 of Not Bad for a Girl

“I brought you back to life,” Jason added. “So no harm, no foul.”

“You!” I said, turning on him. “I studied under the ‘we’re landing in the Hudson River’ guy? Why?”

To his credit, he kept his cool. “Because I also made an executive decision in the heat of the moment. Heidi made a mess trying to save you, so I had to save her. And everything’s copacetic now.” He turned to Heidi. “Can I get you a drink?”

She smiled at him. “Sure.” She looked back at me as she walked away. “I was only trying to help, Ana.”

I sighed. “I know.” I took a deep breath and forced the scream back down my throat. Everyone was so helpful. They were so helpful, they’d almost killed me. And probably Melvin. He’d looked on the verge of a heart attack.

When I finally looked up, I saw Patrick and Shane looking at me as if they were trying very hard not to laugh.

“You all think this is funny?” I asked them tartly.

They both shook their heads, but they deliberately didn’t make eye contact with each other.

“So glad you’re amused,” I grouched.

I huddled down, planning to stay put until the brunch was over. I felt myself starting to relax a little, as each minute took me farther and fartheraway from that horrible moment where Heidi killed me, then flopped off the stage.

A little while later, I’m not sure how long, I heard Joseph call out, his voice deep and bearing a slight Minnesotan accent. “Patrick? Are you out here?”

Patrick waved, and Joseph jogged over. “I did my part, so we’re good to go,” Joseph said.

“Great,” Patrick said. He took Joseph’s hand, but I immediately stood between them. “What was your part, Joseph?” I asked as steadily as I could.

“I helped,” he said and smiled at me, reminding me way too much of Heidi. “I placed a few half-finished whiskeys, all neat, throughout the room. That’s the manliest way to drink it, in my opinion. Plus, I don’t order anything ‘straight.’” He and Patrick grinned at each other. “And did you see there’s a bird’s nest right above the terrace door? Probably not, because even I could barely reach it, but I grabbed a bunch of feathers and sprinkled them throughout the room. With the whiskeys. I think we have our bases covered.”

I didn’t say anything, which Joseph took to mean I didn’t understand.

“You know, like you came back from the plane covered in bird and had some drinks with people, with bird still on you,” he explained slowly.

“I get it,” I said, then pulled my head and arms into Shane’s oversize jacket as if it were a turtle shell and hid, ignoring the sound of their retreating footsteps and Shane’s quiet, infectious laughter.

Chapter 8

After last night, I wanted to stay in bed all day with the covers pulled up over my head. I wasn’t even hungry; I couldn’t shake the image of little bits of batter flying as Heidi tussled with Melvin before announcing I had died. It took a few texts from Shane to get me out of bed. He wanted to go somewhere fun to distract me, and since he was leaving Denver soon, I didn’t want to waste an opportunity to get to know him better. So I cleaned myself up and had an extra coffee to shake off the bad mood.

“Good morning, sunshine,” he said brightly when he came to pick me up. “You’re looking pretty spry for—”

“Say it and I’ll kill you,” I growled.

He tried to look serious. “Too soon for jokes?”

“Give it a year or two; then we can laugh and laugh about my crash landing because of afreaking bird.”

Shane gave me that sexy half smile, and I shook myself. None of this was Shane’s fault. He’d been nothing but nice to me and kept my secret, atleast for now. It was in my best interest to be nice to him. Plus, he looked so handsome in his dark jeans and black crewneck sweater.

“Sorry,” I said. “I still have a little extra adrenaline from yesterday. Where are we going?”

“Brace yourself—we’re going to the pet store.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it’s time for you to become a pet parent.”

Shane and I arrived at the pet store just south of my apartment. “I’m still not sure about this,” I grumbled.

Shane chuckled as he cut the engine and turned to give me a smile. “You overthink things. You’ve memorized the nitrogen cycle, right?”

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