My jaw slackened. What was she talking about?
“You did?” Mir said.
“No. Who is Jo Anne and why would she say that?” I demanded, annoyed by the gossip. “And why would anyone believe it?”
“She’s one of the 911 dispatchers here,” Mir said. “Knows everything about everyone.”
Then it clicked. That woman who’d told me to be happy about the “free” concert. Ugh. I resisted an urge to pinch the bridge of my nose, since I was wearing glasses. But my head was hurting, and I was embarrassed. I hadn’t realized this Jo Anne person would tell everyone. Shouldn’t she keep things confidential? 911 dispatchers should sign NDAs.
“Well, she’s wrong. I never tried to have him arrested. Just called in one complaint about noise pollution,” I said. “Anyway, we’re here to shop,” I added before Val started to share more ludicrous tales.
Mir snapped her fingers. “Oh, right.”
“You need a basket?” Val gestured at a stack of plastic black baskets. “Or we have carts, if you prefer.”
“I’m good, thanks,” I said before Mir could respond, then marched deeper into the store where a sign that read WOMEN was located.
“A basket might be nice,” Mir said, following me.
“I only need one outfit, not a basketful.”
“Yeah, but you might want more for later.”
“Later…what?” I asked. Wasn’t Mir leaving after tomorrow?
“When you go out again? You can’t wear the same stuff all the time.”
“‘All the time’ would be a big exaggeration. I’m a reclusive yeti, remember?”
Mir cringed. “Sorry. Val can be a little gossipy and obtuse, but she doesn’t mean anything.”
Easier for her to say, since she wasn’t the one being labeled a big, hairy—and undoubtedly smelly—monster. On the other hand, I shouldn’t take it out on Mir. It wasn’t her fault.
“I’m sure. I’m just a little introverted, so interacting with strangers can be a strain,” I said with a smile, not wanting Mir to be upset. She was a fan and Killian’s sister. I could be gracious.
“Oh, sure. Totally get it. I just thought you’d be a little more comfortable with the whole social thing.” Mir looked through some dresses hanging from a rack.
“You did? Why?”
“Because your bio said you worked a corporate job and got an MBA. I figured you wouldn’t get that degree if you preferred to work alone at home. I mean, didn’t your old job required you to interact with other people in an office and so on?”
“You can be an introvert and still do that,” I said, not wanting to get into all the reasons I got that degree, which I’d never wanted in the first place. But Dad had insisted. I’d wanted to quit my soul-killing position and do something more fulfilling. I just hadn’t been sure what that was back then. He’d been so certain that if I got an MBA, I wouldn’t want to waste my amazing Ivy League education doing “stupid shit,” as he called whatever I might decide to do with my life. He’d assumed wrong, because after I graduated, I set my sights on becoming a romance novelist. That had been why he and I started the bet on my career, and he refused to be proven wrong and lose the bet.
Mir looked thoughtful. Probably mulling it over. She was obviously an extrovert. Just look how bubbly she was. But then, she’d had loving parents. And I was certain Killian was a good brother to her. I just couldn’t picture him being rude or nasty to anybody.
She pulled a dress from a rack. “How about this one? Looks like it’s your size, too.”
I checked the label. “Yeah, it is.” Then I looked at the item she was holding out.
A bright red dress. The skirt seemed a bit short, the neckline low. If I put that on, I’d look like one of the barely legal groupies who’d surrounded Killian in pictures, except older and fatter. And unless he was blind or suffering from amnesia, he’d know and compare. It was definitely a huge no.
I opened my mouth to say it was a terrible choice, but Mir was wearing the most hopeful, happy expression. “I don’t know. It’s really…loud,” I said instead.
“Well, yeah. But it’s totally hot.” She held the dress in front of me to see. “Red is a good color for you, and we should look hot when we go out.”
Maybe if I were barely legal and wanted to hook up, I’d consider the dress she was holding. But the only person I might want to impress was Killian, and the effort would be wasted on him, the way a bottle of decent wine would be wasted on a man used to drinking Dom Pérignon.
“Let’s look around some more,” I said. “There might be something better.”
“Okay.” Mir draped the dress over an arm and started looking through the rest of the offerings, her fingers shifting the hangers as she gave each outfit a critical once-over.
I spotted a cute and modest white maxi dress and pulled it out. I could probably pair it with the pink sandals in my closet. And it could be repurposed for signings and conferences. The red one was too sexy for either.
Mir picked out a flashy strapless silver number. Oh dear.
“I just can’t believe Kingstree has a new celebrity,” she said, admiring the metallic outfit. “And this will make you sparkle like—”
“What celebrity?” Was there an actor hiding out in town? If so, I hadn’t seen him. Or her. On the other hand, I didn’t go out except to grab groceries or—very occasionally—run.
Mir looked at me like there was a purple lizard growing between my eyes. “You. You’re the new celebrity.”
“I’m the celebrity?” Since when?
“Of course! I’ve read every single one of your interviews, and try to go to every book signing you go to as long as I can get away from work. But so many interviewers ask similar questions. I wish they’d get more creative so you could share more about yourself.”
“There isn’t much to say.” My life was pretty ordinary. Minus the embarrassing Dad thing, which wasn’t for public consumption. “I bet you and Killian have a much more interesting history. He said you two were raised by your grandmother.”
“Yeah. Our parents passed away in a plane crash when we were young.” Mir gave me a small smile that people used when they didn’t want pity over something that had happened a long time ago. “They were in a small private plane, and it had a mechanical failure. No survivors.”
Killian had told me he’d lost his parents, but not the details. It must’ve been devastating, especially since they sounded like great people. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Mir nodded. “Me too. But my parents had a great life together. Did everything on their bucket list, too. A safari, scuba diving in the Maldives, seeing the pyramids, canoeing up the Amazon…all that stuff.”
“Wow.” That was a great list, and what was more amazing was that their parents had wanted to do everything together. That explained a lot about Killian’s attitude about true love. I tried to imagine my parents traveling together like that…and failed. They would tour separately. How else was my dad going to screw around?
“And they did it in style.” Mir smiled. “Pretty amazing for an electrician and a DMV clerk, huh?”