What A Girl Wants (23 page)

I
t just didn't get better than this.

Sure, things started to really heat up behind the popcorn stand after only fifteen minutes, but that was partly due to the fact that they'd had to postpone the date once because of an unexpected twist in one of Grant's cases . . . and they were
really
happy to see each other. Hayley simply reminded Grant about the purpose of the date and explained that she didn't want him to think she only wanted him for the sex and vice versa. He seemed to take it pretty well, although Hayley had to swat him with her empty popcorn container to wipe the smirk off his face.

So far they'd seen the lions and tigers and bears. . . in that order, because Hayley thought it would be funny.

While Grant watched indulgently, she'd oohed and ahhed at the animals in a manner she would have found repulsive and annoying in anybody else. But not today. Today Hayley and her man held hands. They shared food. They laughed at the tourists.

It was divine.

Hayley felt as if she were living one of those cheesy montage
sequences, sort of
When Harry Met Sally
, but with giraffes and stuff.

Now that they'd spent the morning looking primarily at animals with fur, Grant requested that they stop in at the insect zoo, since it was on the way to the petting zoo.

Hayley wasn't all that thrilled to be checking out a bunch of insects, but she figured he'd been pretty patient so far, and if he wanted to look at bugs, then by God she would go with him to look at bugs.

Grant peered happily through the Plexiglas windows at the various specimens of yuck while Hayley walked behind him scratching and rubbing at phantom creepy crawlies on her neck.

“You need to see this.” Grant waved Hayley over to his side and pointed through the Plexiglas.

Hayley stared at a spider with rust-colored tufts of hair on its spindly legs. She lifted one eyebrow and looked dubiously at Grant. “It's . . . er, nice.”

“No, no.
This
one. You're looking at the Mexican Red Knee tarantula, which is a perfectly respectable spider, but I'm more interested in the black widow spider. . . .” He directed her gaze to an adjoining display. “Now,
that's
a spider.”

He nodded in satisfaction at the display, while Hayley backed away in horror.

“I hadn't really thought about the fact that spiders might or might not have knees,” she said in a slightly quavering voice. “But I'm not really a ‘spider person.' Heh.”

She looked down at the insect zoo brochure.
Ugh
. Nor, for that matter, was she a “hissing cockroach” person.
Oh, God
. Was Grant one of those men who refused to flush bugs down the toilet? Probably. After all, he was in the business of saving lives.

Hayley chewed on her lower lip, watching him. It was
something to consider if they were ever going to move in together. No, wait a minute. She'd sworn she wasn't going to overanalyze or jump ahead of herself.

Grant looked at her and laughed at the expression on her face. “I think you might be shortchanging yourself. There is much to appreciate about the black widow spider.”

In a teasing tone, he added, “Let it not be said that I was unable to appreciate the Mexican Red Knee tarantula, but the fact remains that it's the black widow I find particularly . . . appealing.”

Hayley watched him stroll around the display, checking out the spiders from all possible angles.

She knew full well he expected her to ask. With a little laugh, she said, “By all means, don't keep it to yourself. What
is
so appealing about the black widow spider?”

“The black widow spider,” he said with a
National Geographic
–special inflection, from the opposite side of the display, “has
many
appealing attributes. . . .”

He was circling around the exhibit toward her now, a predatory look on his face. Hayley shrieked happily and started to walk in the opposite direction. In response, he walked faster and faster after her, and she had to stop trying to outrun him or else go completely dizzy.

He caught up with her and stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders. “The black widow spider has a nice, curvy figure. . . .”

Okay, so he was using a little creative license right there, but Hayley figured she'd take it as a compliment, because he gently brushed his hands from her shoulders down what existed of her curves down the sides of her body and then away.

He put his mouth up close to her ear and whispered, “And a tattoo that only those up close and personal get to see . . .”

His hands moved up to her waist, and he pressed his palm over the spot where her teeny-tiny flower tattoo sat. Hayley thought she might pass out.

“According to the documentation,” he growled softly, “the black widow spider has a bit of a temper. We've come to find that she's not always in a good mood, but we like her anyway. . . .”

Hayley just grinned like a fool.

“The black widow spider enjoys warmth. . . .” Hayley could feel Grant's hot breath on her neck and started having a little trouble with her own breathing.

Dammit!
This date was supposed to be charming and romantic and cute. Who got turned on at the zoo? In the insect zoo?!

“The black widow spider likes to handle her man in her own special way,” he said. “I hope you don't take this the wrong way when I tell you that she likes to suck the body of her man into her mouth and do with him what she will. . . .”

Hayley gasped and burst out laughing, then turned in to his chest to keep from making a scene.

Grant bent down slightly so he could whisper in her ear some more. “There are many, many things, you see, to like about the black widow spider. The Mexican Red Knee tarantula doesn't. Even. Come. Close.”

“You're completely insane,” Hayley whispered breathlessly into his shirt.

“Maybe so.” He shrugged.

The separation in his shirt between the two buttons she'd accidentally dislodged distracted Hayley. Her proximity to the patch
of bare chest seemed to be affecting her short-term memory. The notion of refusing to let the date end up with sex was just that: A fleeting notion.
Oops.
There it went. A fled notion. “What do you say we get out of here?” she asked.

She could hear the laughter in his voice when he asked, “But what about the petting zoo?”

“We can pretend I'm the goat.” Hayley took him by the hand and made a run for the exit.

“T
hat's not a latte, is it?” Audra's voice sounded shocked as she peered into Hayley's mug. “It's darker than usual.”

“Why, Audra, you're extremely observant this morning,” Hayley said. “This is not a latte; you are correct. This is a café au lait. I've decided to break with tradition and go for less milk, lower octane.”

“She's breaking with tradition,” Audra said to Diane.

Diane shrugged. “She's had an epiphany,” she explained in a blasé voice. “And now she's acting out.”

“Acting out? What's that supposed to mean?”

“You want others to believe that you really are making serious changes in your life, so you're doing things to make other people notice that something's different about you.”

Hayley just smiled. She took a sip from her noticeably different café au lait and then went digging in her purse.

“What's that?” Audra asked.

“What?” Hayley asked, looking up innocently.

“The thing you just tried to conceal in your purse.”

“What, this pamphlet?” She held up a pamphlet.

“What is it?” Diane asked.

“It's just a little something. I figured I'd wait for Suz before getting into it.” She put the pamphlet back in the purse. “Where
is
Suz?”

“Maybe she's not coming. She might have overexerted herself last night,” Audra said, glancing at the corner of the pamphlet sticking out of Hayley's purse.

“Just last week she lambasted me for missing a meeting,” Hayley said.

“Suz isn't usually quite this late. I don't think she's coming. So you might as well hand it over.” Diane tugged on Hayley's purse straps.

Hayley pulled the pamphlet back out of her purse and pushed it across the table to Diane.

“You're kidding, right?” Diane passed the pamphlet to Audra. Audra's jaw dropped.

“I'm not kidding. I can't help it if I find it interesting,” Hayley said. “Seems like a person should pursue their interests, don't you think?”

Diane took the pamphlet back and read aloud, “ ‘The Fifteen Best Jobs for People Who Are Scientifically Interested in Dead Bodies.' ” She gazed at Hayley. “
Scientifically
interested?”

Hayley shrugged. “It's put out by a science organization. They don't want to attract any weirdos.”

“No weirdos. Right.”

Audra stared at her. “No weirdos,” she echoed. “So what are you thinking of doing?”

“Dunno. Paramedic. Autopsies. Something along those lines.
Haven't had a chance to really explore what's available. Hence the pamphlet.”

Audra dabbed at her mouth with her napkin, looking fairly repulsed. “You screamed your head off when you discovered Fred Leary's dead body. You told us so. I'm not trying to put a damper on your newfound aspirations, but I think you need to be a little less squeamish if you're planning to work with the dead.”

Hayley huffed. “I
knew
Fred. It makes a huge difference. I'd have no trouble dealing with dead people I'm not personally acquainted with.”

Diane stared into her latte as though it had suddenly become distasteful. She shook her head. “Hayley, I want to ask you a question, but I don't want you to get mad at me.”

“I'm not going to get mad at you. Ask me anything you want.”

“Do you think all this will last?” Diane asked. “If in two weeks you still don't have an income and Grant won't take your calls, has something so profound happened to you that you won't be flipping out again?”

Hayley frowned, tracing the drawing of the chalk corpse outline on the cover of the pamphlet with her index finger. “Well, I don't know about ‘profound.' Let's just say that I can see a little more clearly than before. The reasons I was flipping out before . . . well, they don't seem as valid to me anymore. What's the point of getting all worked up over a job? You know? I could get hit by a bus on the way home today, and then what would it all be for?”

“You don't have to convince me about that,” Diane said. “I've been trying to avoid all sorts of jobs for years.”

“What about the relationship side of all this?” Audra asked.

“Ah, the Grant Thing. In all honesty? I have to admit I hope
that lasts awhile. And I won't pretend not to be upset if it all blows up. I really like him.” Hayley swirled her drink. “I don't know; I hope it works. What else is there to say about it?”

“You must have
something
else to say about it. You haven't even mentioned your date. How did it go?”

Hayley giggled. “We played petting zoo. He has an excellent imagination. But I'm not saying anything more until Suz gets here. She'd make me retell the whole story, and I'm not giving out the details twice.”

“Petting zoo. I see. So much for a nice, idyllic, get-to-know-you stroll amongst the happy, friendly people. You managed to get turned on at the zoo.” Audra shook her head. “Suz would be so proud.”

“Suz would be making animal-sex jokes. It's just as well she's not here,” Diane noted. “I don't think I could take it, and I
know
you couldn't.”

The three of them sat in silence. Hayley couldn't quite get a read on the mood. It seemed pretty glum. But it wasn't just because Suz was missing. “Did I give you enough relationship trauma to build a good paper around?” Hayley asked Diane with a smirk. Maybe Diane would perk up if they talked about her schoolwork.

“Yeah. The paper's done. I turned it in after you told us about quitting your job and confronting Grant.”

“Well, I'm sure you'll do very well,” Hayley said cheerfully. “You certainly worked hard on the research.”

Diane smiled a little woefully. “I'm pretty sure it nailed my A. I'm not worried about it.”

“Great,” Hayley said.

Audra looked at Diane. “Well, I guess we won't be seeing her around much anymore,” she said quietly. “We all know how it goes.”

“Her?
Who
‘her'?” Hayley asked. “Are you guys talking about me? Or Suz?”

“Yeah, I know what you mean, Audra. I wish my friends would stop getting involved in committed relationships,” Diane said, picking at a hangnail. “I keep losing girlfriends.”

“Whoa, you're talking about
me
. Don't be ridiculous,” Hayley blurted out. “First of all, it's hardly a committed relationship. I'm not saying it couldn't go in that direction, and at this point I'm hoping it does. But whatever happens with me and Grant, I'm not going to disappear. I'm not like that. You know I need my girls.”

Audra looked only slightly convinced.

Suddenly Suz sprinted into the café, ran up to the table, and just stood there stiffly, breathing hard.

Audra stood up and helped Suz take a seat. “Suzy, what happened? Are you okay?”

Suz sat there, her eyes wide and staring. “Holy shit. You aren't going to
believe
what happened.”

“Did somebody hurt you?” Hayley asked. “If somebody hurt you I'm going to call Grant and have him come down here and kick some ass.”

“That's not it, that's not it.”

Diane pushed a glass of water toward her. “Get some water in you. And take some deep breaths, Suz.” She pulled some stray hair out of Suz's face. “Just catch your breath, and then when you're ready to say it, you can just say it. Whatever it is.”

Suz picked up the glass of water and guzzled it down to the bottom. She slammed the empty glass down on the table and breathed in deeply a couple of times. “I think I'm having a crisis.”

The three other girls looked at each other. Audra sighed heavily, but Hayley could see she wasn't the least bit upset. Neither was
Diane. In fact, they were already looking a lot perkier than they had minutes earlier. Diane took out her handheld, and Hayley just leaned back in her chair and smiled to herself.

“Okay, I'm ready. Go ahead; we're listening,” Diane said.

“You see there was this guy. . . . God, I don't even know where to start. Um, there was this guy. . .and then there was my cruiser . . . and . . .” Suz trailed off, unable to articulate the exact nature of the disaster. “And I think I'm having a midlife crisis.”

“You're not even thirty yet,” Audra said patiently. “It can't be a midlife crisis.”

“It can if I die before I'm sixty. And the way it's looking, I might be on my way out a lot sooner than I'd planned.” She grabbed Hayley's water glass and added, “I'll give Fred Leary your regards.”

Hayley watched Suz slam down another water. Calmly cradling her au lait mug in her hands, she produced her most comforting look and said, “Don't worry, Suz; we're here for you. So just take it from the beginning and don't leave anything out.”