Until We Touch. Susan Mallery

In fact, there was a sameness to her days that was kind of sad. The newest thing in her life was her mother’s talk with Jack and there was no way she was mentioning that.

      “I adopted a cat,” she said instead. “A lady died. She was ninety-three. Her kids couldn’t take in her cat, so I did. Her name is Dyna. She’s a Ragdoll cat. Really beautiful.”

      She pulled out her phone and showed them a couple of pictures.

      Dellina’s eyes widened when she saw the photograph. “She’s stunning.” Her mouth twitched. “Taryn, if she were human, she’d give you a run for your money in the fashion department.”

      “I’m more impressed you committed to an animal,” Taryn told Larissa.

      Isabel frowned. “I don’t get it. Larissa is always jumping into causes. That cat rescue last month was fantastic.”

      Larissa squirmed in her seat. “Taryn means that I tend to give in big gestures. Saving forty cats, not adopting one.”

      Jo appeared with a very large pitcher of margaritas and four glasses. She poured and said the nachos would be out shortly.

      Isabel raised her glass. “To the women I adore. Thank you for getting drunk with me. One day very soon Ford and I are going to be getting pregnant and then I’ll be on a drinking hiatus.”

      “Anytime,” Larissa said. She was going to add something else when Taryn slapped her hands down on the table.

      “Okay,” her friend said. “Here goes. I’m getting married.”

      Larissa looked at both Isabel and Dellina. They seemed equally confused by the statement.

      “You’re engaged,” Larissa pointed out gently. “You have a really big ring. We all noticed.”

      “Yes, but I’ve decided on a wedding. Angel and I are going to have a real wedding.”

      Larissa nodded slowly. “That will be nice.”

      “I’m happy to help you plan it,” Dellina added, sounding equally cautious.

      “I have some gorgeous dresses I want you to come see,” Isabel told her. “Designer stuff that will make you look like a sexy fairy princess. Or a slutty one, depending on what you want.”

      Taryn squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them. “Really? You think it’s okay?”

      Then Larissa got it. Taryn and Angel weren’t young kids. They’d both been married before. Taryn wanted the fabulous dress and traditional service, but she wasn’t sure she deserved it. Because everybody had their weak spots. Some were just better at hiding them than others.

      She reached across the table and touched her friend’s hand. “You should have the biggest wedding ever. In a dress so beautiful, it will make us cry.”

      Taryn’s mouth quivered. She squeezed Larissa’s fingers then shook off the emotion and reached for her margarita. “Thanks.”

      Dellina reached for her bag and pulled out an appointment book. “I’ll call you in a couple of days and we’ll talk.”

      Isabel turned to Larissa. “I nearly forgot. Your mom was in yesterday. She bought a dress and a handbag. She’s my new favorite person. Did you two have a nice visit?”

      Larissa grabbed her margarita and took a big gulp.

      “Uh-oh,” Taryn murmured. “That’s not good. I thought the visit went fine. That’s what you said this morning.”

      If only, Larissa thought. “That was before I found out what my mom did.”

      Her three friends stared at her. “And that would be?” Isabel prodded.

      These women loved her, Larissa reminded herself. They wouldn’t laugh and point. Or if they did, it would be when she wasn’t in the room, which was almost the same thing.

      “My mom went to see Jack. She asked him to fire me so I’d move back to L.A. and get married and give her grandchildren.”

      Dellina frowned. “Okay, that’s not great, but it’s not horrible, either.”

      “There’s more,” Larissa admitted. “She said the reason I had to leave Fool’s Gold was that I was secretly in love with Jack.”

      She paused, waiting for the hysterical laughter. Or any laughter. Instead, the three women exchanged a look.

      Larissa felt herself start to blush. “I’m not in love with Jack,” she insisted. “I’m not. I work for him. He’s great. But there’s nothing between us.”

      “If you say so,” Isabel said knowingly.

      “If Felicia were with us, she would say that the boss-secretary romance is a classic archetype,” Dellina said.

      “I’m not his secretary.”

      “Close enough,” Taryn told her, then picked up her drink. “If you say you’re not in love with him, then I believe you.”

      Just then, Jo appeared with the nachos and the subject got dropped. Larissa reached for a chip, but found that she wasn’t the least bit hungry all of a sudden.

      This was all her mother’s fault, she thought grimly. She’d opened a can of worms. Larissa was going to have to find every last one of them and put them back where they belonged.

      CHAPTER TWO

      BEING CALLED IN to see Mayor Marsha was a bit like playing against a rival team, without knowing anything about them, Jack thought as he headed up the stairs toward the good mayor’s office. There was always the potential for something unlikely to happen—and not in a happy way.

      Mayor Marsha was California’s longest-serving mayor. Not only did she get intimately involved with the residents of her town, she seemed to know everything and no one knew how. Jack tended to be wary of people like that. He preferred life to be blurry. Honesty could be uncomfortable. Like his talk with Larissa’s mom. He could have gone his whole life without hearing those words.

      Larissa had reassured him, which he appreciated, but being relieved and forgetting were two different things.

      He paused outside the mayor’s office. A pretty redhead smiled up at him. “Hi, Jack. You can go on in.”

      Jack nodded, thinking he should know the receptionist. He was sure he’d met her before. She was friends with Taryn and Larissa, he thought as he entered the mayor’s office.

      Mayor Marsha was in her sixties, with white hair and a habit of wearing pearls. Now that he thought of it, he wasn’t sure he’d seen the woman wearing anything but a suit.

      What concerned him more than her appearance, however, was her habit of getting other people to commit to things they didn’t want to do. No way he was going to be guilted into something, he told himself. He was a tough ex-jock. She was no match for him.

      “Jack,” she said warmly as she stood. “Thank you so much for coming by to see me.”

      “Ma’am.” He crossed to her desk and shook her hand.

      She motioned to the seating arrangement in the corner. “Let’s get more comfortable.”

      As they crossed the floor, he remembered something about her having been gone for a couple of weeks. “How was your vacation?” he asked.

      “Very relaxing.” She settled on one of the chairs.

      He took the sofa and realized immediately he was now sitting below her. Clever, he thought, respecting her power play. He was right to be wary.

      “I went to New Zealand,” she continued. “Beautiful country. Did you know a lot of our skiers go there to train in the summer? Of course, it’s during their winter.”

      Jack did his best to look interested as he waited for the mayor to