“Think I should have held out for someone else?”

The kids started moving away. Still she felt their eyes on her as she and Jeff moved to the back of the room.

“Not sure if there is anyone who can compare to Michael Wolfe.” Jeff lowered his voice when they were away from the kids. “You just met him, Karen. You sure about this?”

Ahh, how sweet. Who knew Jeff cared? Karen lifted her left hand and wiggled her fingers to flash her wedding ring. “Little late now to have second thoughts, Jeff. But I’m sure.”

“I guess this means you won’t be around anymore.”

“Are you kidding? I’ll be here more. Sure, I’ll be taking a few more vacations…or trips. Michael has some shoots in some great locations this year. But I won’t have to work at my day job. I told them I’d help out remotely for a while. Let’s face it, Michael can afford me.”

Jeff’s smile fell. “Living in someone else’s shadow gets old after a while.”

Had she married Michael for love and forever, she’d do things differently. That wasn’t the case…and therefore not something she needed to worry about. “I won’t forget who I am. I’ll be OK.”

“As long as you’re happy.”

“Thanks, Jeff. I’m happy.”

Jeff nodded to a back room. “There’s something else I want to ask you about. Have a minute?”

“Sure.” She followed him to a private room. “What’s up?” she asked when he closed the door.

“I heard about your neighbors. I don’t think the kids recognized the house on the news…then again, I don’t think any of them watch the news.”

Karen rubbed the chill in her arms. “Yeah…it’s scary. They aren’t sure if it’s a homicide or a bad accident.”

“Thank goodness you weren’t home when it happened.”

“My roommate wasn’t so lucky. Actually, that’s part of the reason I’m going to be MIA around here a little longer.”

Jeff sat forward. “Why’s that?”

“Some strange things happened before the neighbors ended up…well, you know. The police are looking at all angles. One theory is a fan of Michael’s wanted to scare me.”

“You’re kidding?”

“Wish I was. The media hasn’t heard that yet. And please don’t be the one to tell them, Jeff.”

Jeff looked offended. “C’mon, Karen. I’m not a sellout. Do you really think someone’s out to scare you?”

“There were dead birds found by the bodies of the neighbors…another dead bird or two has made its way close to me since I met Michael.”

“We know how much you love birds.”

They’d arranged for a zookeeper to visit the kids six months ago. The zookeeper thought it would be fun to have a macaw in their animal mix. Every kid and every volunteer learned just how far Karen’s disdain for birds went on that day. There had been screaming, cowering…feathers and the need for therapy by the time they zookeeper left. If Gwen had witnessed that scene, she wouldn’t have concluded that Karen never cracked. Oh, she’d cracked plenty on that day.

“I hope to hell that’s a mistake.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Shouldn’t you have some kind of police protection?”

There had been some talk about that. Karen agreed to stay close to Michael’s home and when she wasn’t, she wouldn’t go near the Tarzana house without an escort. If any more dead birds turned up, Dean and Jim would assign someone to her.

“I’m OK. But until we know all the details, I’ll be keeping my distance from the kids.”

“Much as we’ll miss you, I have to agree.”

Karen stood and swung her purse over her shoulder. “That means you need to stay on top of my math group.”

He walked her out of his office. “I will.”

Karen talked with the kids for a few more minutes and then made her way to her car. She’d started looking around her vehicle before getting inside. With the pavement free of dead crows, she unlocked the doors and opened the driver’s side.

“Miss Jones?”

Karen turned to a familiar voice.

“Hi, Juan.” She hadn’t seen him inside but thought maybe he’d just missed the day. “How ya doing?”

As Juan came closer, the smile on his face started to fade. “So, you really married that guy?”

The way he said “that guy” made her pause. “The news got it right. Michael and I eloped last week.”

Juan’s eyes moved to her hand. “Everyone knows actors are all phony.”

Hookay, looks like Juan didn’t approve. “You met him, Juan. He’s a nice guy.”

“Didn’t mean you had to marry him.” Juan shoved his hands in his jean pockets and stared at the ground.

Damn, Karen. You’re a fool. The last time she’d seen a crush on a teenage kid, she’d been one. How had she missed Juan’s feelings?

Time to remind Juan that he was a teenager and she was a grown woman. “Michael and I are both adults, Juan. I married him for more reasons than he’s just a nice guy.”

“You can screw without getting married,” he bit out with anger.

“That’s out of line.”

“Whatever.” Juan twisted away from her and walked to the street. Away from the club.

That went well.

Chapter Nineteen

They stopped in a small town just inside the Colorado border and picked up camping supplies.

“I don’t camp,” Gwen whispered in Neil’s ear. The closest she’d come to camping was sleeping in the backseat of the car they were dragging across the country.

Neil blinked in response, put the tent in his cart anyway, and continued down the aisle.

What did she expect really? That they would hit a hotel every night now that they’d enjoyed one? And how many days and nights were they going to be doing this anyway? So far Gwen hadn’t pressed Neil for any details. She’d hoped that he would have opened up to her about his plans, but he hadn’t. Not much anyway.

Gwen walked faster to keep up with him as he found the sleeping bags and started looking at them. “I’m not kidding. Lying on the cold ground holds no appeal to me.”

Neil reached for a two-man sleeping bag, fixed his eyes to hers, and tossed it in the cart.

Maybe camping with Neil wouldn’t be so bad. There wasn’t room in the backseat for both of them.