The Bigger They Are… (Lovers on the Fringe, Book Two) (10 page)

A fling with a guy who could turn into a Yeti. Which, up until this moment, she hadn’t believed existed.

It was enough to make a rational girl believe she needed a straitjacket and a rubber room.

And Jenna was nothing if not rational. Maybe too rational.

Maybe she needed to be a little irrational sometimes. Maybe she actually wanted to continue the romance with the Yeti.

Yeah, and what should she tell her brother?

Guess what, Joss? I met this great guy and he fulfills all my fantasies. And he’s an abominable snow monster and would prove all your crazy theories and make you famous. And make Andy’s life unbearable.

She couldn’t do it.

Better to leave now and promise to keep his secret. Besides, no one would believe her. They’d think she was just another crackpot. Just like Joss.

She forced a bright smile. “I’m not sorry to have met you, Andy. And I won’t betray your secret, not even to my brother. But what are you going to do with Mike?”

“Mike won’t be a problem. We’ve got ways of making him keep quiet. Jenna…”

Andy looked pained, so at odds with his normal expression that she lifted her hand to stroke away the lines.

“You don’t have to worry about me. I won’t tell a soul.” Not only would no one but her brother believe her but she’d be lumped into the same category of flake as her brother…which wasn’t so flaky anymore.

“I should be going. I’ve got a long drive home and I have to work tomorrow.”

Back to her boring life of numbers and equations and boring people who thought wookies weren’t as cute as ewoks.

And that sometimes the things that went bump in the night were actually more interesting than the people who sleepwalked through their day believing the only strange things in life were people who thought
K
was an acceptable substitute for
C
in given names.

How could she reconcile her boring life to the one he lived?

“Jenna,” Andy sighed. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine. Really, I will.” Maybe not her heart but…

“I know this is a lot to take in. And I totally understand that you don’t want to talk to me right now. But, if you find you do need someone to talk to later, look up Carrie Benson. She works as a reporter for the
Weekly World News
in West Reading. She’s been in the same situation as you.”

“Carrie Benson. Sure.” Of course he wasn’t offering to come visit her himself. She figured as soon as she was gone, he’d go jetting off to another part of the country. Or the world. He was a freakin’
Yeti
.

“Jenna.”

Instead of answering the entreaty in his eyes, she turned and took a step back rather than throwing herself at him then turned and forced herself to start walking.

Back to normal life. Which, after today, was going to be completely overrated. And oh so lonely.

“Jenna, are you sure you’re okay? You don’t sound like yourself.”

“I’m fine, Joss. Honestly. Nothing’s wrong. Tell me how the shooting’s going?”

For a few seconds, Jenna thought Joss wasn’t going to let her change the subject. He’d called her every day for the past week. Every time his question seemed legitimate.

Hey, Jenna, can you stop by my apartment and make sure I locked the back door?

Hey, Jenna, do you think I need to see a doctor for this rash on my leg?

Hey, Jenna, will you check to see if I paid the bill for my cryogenic storage chamber?

But she knew he was checking up on her. And here she thought she’d been doing a good job of hiding her depression.

She missed Andy. Which was ridiculous. She’d only known him for a day. Sure, it’d been the best sex of her life but he was a globe-trotting Yeti shapeshifter.

She was an accountant who lived in a house with a spotless white kitchen. Whose white kitchen was ever spotless?

As Joss finally began to talk about the fact that he was shooting at Loch Ness and how cool that was and how he’d only fallen off the boat twice, once on purpose, Jenna let her mind drift.

Back to Andy, of course. She wondered what he’d think of her if he saw her now, slouched in her black chair in her bland, cream-colored office with mahogany furniture, everything neatly in its place. Her books arranged by subject and her file cabinets meticulously alphabetized.

Even the diplomas on her walls were perfectly level.

“God, I’m the most boring person on earth.”

“What? Who told you that? I’ll kick their a—”

“I’m sorry, Joss. I’m going to have to call you back. I’ve decided I’m sick of living in a world without wookies.”

Silence for a full five seconds. “Uh, Jenna, are you sure you feel okay?”

“Cookies. I mean cookies. I’m on one of those stupid diets again.”

“You don’t need a diet, Jenna. Did someone tell you need to be on a diet? They’re full of shit. You’re perfect just the way you are.”

She actually felt tears come to her eyes at her brother’s defense. “I love you, Joss.”

“Yeah, love you too. And Jenna?”

“Yeah?”

“Nobody wants to live in a world without wookies.”

* * * * *

“Well, it’s not every day my accountant comes to visit. I hope you’re not bearing bad news.”

Jenna kept her smile as bright as she could even though she wanted to wince at the volume of Bill Dailey’s voice.

The short, round and balding editor of the
Weekly News Journal
always spoke as if he had to be heard over a jet engine.

“No bad news, Bill.” She took his outstretched hand and let him shake until she thought her arm would fall off. “How are you doing?”

“Can’t complain, can’t complain. Well, I could, but nobody listens.”

Jenna didn’t know how anyone could fail to listen but, as she looked around the office filled with several messy desks and a few antiquated pieces of office equipment, she saw no one paid him the least amount of attention.

“Anyway, we’re still making payroll, so that’s good,” Bill continued. “We’ve actually seen an increase in subscriptions lately so that’s even better. Lot more tinfoil-hat-wearing people out there than you might think.” He left off with a bray that reached ear-splitting levels before cutting off. “And since you’ve been working your magic on our books, we’ve managed to make a profit, as you well know.”

Yes, the
Journal
had made a tiny bit of money last year. Enough to buy a couple of high-end computers for the graphic designers. Or, as Bill called them, the wizard geeks.

“So what can I do for you, Jenna?”

“Actually, I’d like to talk to Carrie Benson, if she’s here. She and I are serving on a committee together and I just need a few minutes of her time.”

The lie rolled right off her tongue, amazingly enough, without a telltale blush or stutter. She’d had to practice but she figured she’d be getting a lot more practice if this went well.

Bill barely paused. “Care! Get over here.”

“Jesus freakin’ crap, Bill, I’m right here.”

Jenna did jump then because the voice came from right behind her. She turned to find herself staring at a rather well-endowed woman. A woman who could pass for an Amazon. She stood at least six feet tall, was perfectly proportioned and had long auburn hair that hung around a pretty face. And sharp green eyes that stared at her intently even though her smile was easy. And knowing.

“Hey, Jenna. Nice to see you again.”

This woman lied even better than Jenna, who caught back a sigh of relief before Bill could notice. Carrie was going to play along. Did that mean Andy had told Carrie about her?

“Hi, Carrie. Sorry to bother you at work but do you think we could talk for a few minutes? I just have a few things—”

“See ya later, Jenna. Have a nice day. Things to do.” Bill patted her on the back, which nearly made her topple over then headed for a guy slouched in a chair in the back corner. “Jamey, where the hell’s that picture of the alien baby autopsy?”

Jamey gave Bill the finger.

“Why don’t we go into the break room?” Carrie motioned toward the front of the office on the second floor of a quiet building in West Reading. “Should be quiet.”

Jenna gave a short nod then followed along, her eye catching several times on the
Journal
covers plastered on the wall.

Aliens Ate My Baby!

Wolf Boy Spotted with Lizard Man in Philadelphia Sewer!

A Weekend in the Alps with My Yeti Boyfriend!

She paused at that one, her eye caught by the incredible likeness to Andy in his Yeti form. Almost as if someone had taken a picture of him then made it just blurry enough to look fake.

“Like that one? I think it’s one of my best.”

Carrie wore that grin again, the one that said she was in on the joke, whatever that joke might be. Right now, the joke appeared to be on Jenna.

“Did you take that?”

“Sure did, right over the Berks County line in the woodlands in Schuylkill County.”

“It’s an incredible shot.”

“Thanks. Amazing what you can do with Photoshop these days, isn’t it?”

Except Carrie and Jenna knew that photo hadn’t been altered to insert a picture of the Yeti. The only alteration Carrie had done had been to make the photo look as fake as possible.

“So.” Carrie waved her into the lunchroom and closed the door behind her. “What can I do for you? Since we both know we’re not serving on a committee together.”

Jenna jumped in with both feet since Carrie didn’t look like the kind of person who put up with any bullshit. “I need to get in touch with Andy.”

“Andy who?” Carrie crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the nearest table. She still wore an easy expression but Jenna could tell the other woman was waiting for Jenna to say the right thing. Or the wrong thing.

“Andy Lohani. We met last weekend in Tioga County when my brother sent me to investigate a bar where he believed supernatural creatures hang out. Except they’re not creatures. They’re people. I met Andy, who…” She paused, not knowing how much she should say in a room that wasn’t soundproofed or swept for bugs. “Well, when I freaked after we were nearly shot by my brother’s friend, I told Andy goodbye.”

Which she’d regretted since the moment she’d driven away. “Biggest mistake of my life. So I’m here to beg you to give Andy a message from me. I’ve kept my promise. I’ve told no one. I will never tell anyone his secrets. Or the secrets of his friends. I just want to see him again and apologize.”

Carrie stared at her for a few seconds before shoving that gorgeous red hair over her shoulder and leaning down until her eyes and Jenna’s were on the same level.

“I’m not saying I believe your crazy story, Jenna, because really, who believes in supernatural creatures?” Carrie’s smile was back and this time it had a bit of a hard edge. “They’re just figments of our imagination and fodder for crazy tabloid stories, right? Or a way for a guy to make a living traipsing around the world shooting documentaries with fuzzy film footage and fading footprints in snow.”

Jenna tried to keep her disappointment from showing. Carrie wasn’t going to help her. Andy must have told her that, if Jenna came looking for him, Carrie should pull a
Men in Black
and deny everything.

Jenna understood. She really did.

She was a clone living with other clones on the Death Star while Andy and his friends hung out on the much cooler Millennium Falcon.

“But,” Carrie continued, “just for the sake of argument, let’s say these people really did exist. Don’t you think they’d be understandably gun-shy about getting close to anyone who wasn’t born in their world? How the slightest hint of rejection might make them more than a little reluctant to let anyone have a second chance. Sometimes you have to be willing to put yourself out there a little further.”

Hope began to bubble. “Sounds like you have a little experience with that.”

Carrie shrugged. “A little.”

“And how would you suggest I do this?”

“Are you sure you’re really ready to embrace the crazy? Because I gotta tell you, there are days when you’re gonna wonder if you’re ever going to see the other side of the rabbit hole again.”

Jenna nodded. She’d been living on the other side for way too long. She wanted Andy and she was willing to step into a little weird. “I’m positive. I haven’t thought of anyone or anything since I left Andy. I’m willing to do what it takes to show him I’m not going anywhere.”

Now Carrie’s smile was genuine. “Then consider yourself invited to a little party.”

* * * * *

Jenna almost turned around at the end of the lane leading to Carrie’s boyfriend’s house.

She’d actually been hoping the GPS would talk her out of this crazy idea but the stubborn thing had remained silent the entire way.