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“It’s a promise.” She caught both of Tessa’s hands. “You were always on my side—well, except when we were little. Then you tried to run my life.”
Tessa looked suddenly prim. It was a look she used to wear a lot when she was a kid, back when Marnie would constantly razz her, calling her Saint Teresa. “You were a wild child,” Tessa said. “You used to swear like a sailor on shore leave, remember? And you were always running away, freaking everybody out….”
Marnie felt her shoulders slump. “Looks like I’m up to my old tricks, huh? Only minus the wild part. Somewhere I lost track of that—of my wild side. Lately, I’m about as wild as a stale slice of white bread.”
Tessa pulled her close again, whispered, “You’re still wild at heart. You know you are.”
“Oh, yeah, right.”
“You are.”
Marnie couldn’t help asking, hopefully, “You think?”
“I know.” Outside, Jericho’s chopper roared to life. The sisters were quiet as the rumbling moved along the driveway and then faded away down the street. Then Tessa spoke again. “I’m so glad you and Jericho seem to have worked out your differences.”
“I hated him at first.”
“No kidding.”
“But you know, I can see now that he’s an okay guy after all. A really good guy, actually.”
“He’s got a lot of heart. And in the past few years, he’s turned his life around.”
Marnie wondered what exactly that meant.
But before she could ask Tessa about it, Ash came in. Marnie apologized again for everything.
Ash said he wanted to let bygones be bygones. “I’m glad you came to us. And I meant it when I said you’re welcome to stay as long as you want to.”
Marnie told them good night and went back to the guesthouse, where she drew a bath and sank gratefully into it, sighing in pleasure as she let the hot water ease all her tensions away.
Things could be worse, she was thinking. And then she laughed at her own sudden optimism. Her life, after all, was still a great big mess. But somehow, she felt better about it.
It wasn’t even forty-eight hours since the breakup, but she was already beginning to see that her relationship with Mark really hadn’t been that good for her. In the years they were together, she had slowly relinquished her life to him, until she lived in his shadow.
His friends became her friends. His world, hers. He had a big trust fund set up for him by his dad. And he also made a lot more money than she ever would. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, to just stop working, to let him support her. After all, her jobs never brought in much anyway.
Without Mark to pay the bills, she had almost nothing to call her own.
But there was a bright side. All of a sudden, she was nobody’s shadow. She’d stepped into the light. She could see her life clearly now. Too bad what she saw wasn’t all that great.
Mark had offered her money “to hold her over,” when he told her they were through. She had proudly refused him, which had seemed really noble at the time—but was actually kind of stupid, when you got right down to it. Bottom line, she was on her own with five hundred dollars in her checking account. She had two years of junior college and a hodgepodge of subsistence-level work experience to recommend her to a prospective employer.
But she could get crazy all over again if she started dwelling on her chances of finding a decent job with her minimal skills in a not-so-great economy. She closed her eyes and let her body float in the cooling bathwater and tried to turn her wayward mind to soothing things.
For some reason, her thoughts drifted to Jericho. She could see him now, behind the dark screen of her shuttered eyelids, in the hard glare of the Mercedes’ headlights, when he caught up with her on his bike.
He’d held out his arms to her.
It was the last thing she’d expected him to do.
But he had done it.
And somehow, that moment—when his big, tattooed arms closed around her—that was the turning point. That was when she knew: in time, she was going to be all right.
The world had simple kindness in it after all. How strange that a big, scary biker guy like Jericho Bravo had ended up being the one to make her see that.
Chapter Three
“Are you sure you don’t mind if I stay a few weeks?” Marnie asked the next day.
It was after nine and Ash had gone to work. Marnie and Tessa were sitting at the table in the kitchen, the morning sun pouring in through the glass panes of the French doors, Tessa with a cup of herbal tea and Marnie with her third mug of coffee. Mona Lou, the bulldog, was curled up in her doggy bed nearby.
Tessa said, “The guesthouse is yours for as long as you want it. And Ash and I discussed it some more, last night after you left and we—”
“Don’t tell me. He said he wished I would go away and never come back, but since he’d told me I could stay, he felt honor-bound to stick by his word.”
“Oh, stop. He said no such thing. Now, will you let me finish?”
“Sorry. Go ahead.”
“Well, we were talking about your situation and we got to discussing the money thing.”
Marnie shrugged. “You want me to pay rent? That’s reasonable.”
Tessa set her cup in the saucer with a sharp clink. “Of course not.”
“Tessa, it’s fair. I don’t mind at all.”
“You are not paying us rent.”
“Tessa …”
“I don’t want to hear any more about that.”
“Okay, okay.” Marnie put up both hands. “Since you insist, I’ll be more than happy to stay in your guesthouse for free. And if you weren’t talking about my paying rent, then …?”
“Look. Do you need money? If you do, just say so. We would be only too happy to—”
“No. Thanks. But no, thanks.”
“Don’t be so proud.”
“I’m not.” She rethought that. “Well, okay. I am. Pride’s about all I have left at this point.”
“It’s not a big deal,” Tessa insisted. “Don’t make it one. If you’re planning on staying for a while, you’re bound to need a little cash to tide you over. ”
“I have a little cash.” Very little cash, as a matter of fact. “Also, I’m planning to earn my way while I’m here.”
Her sister gave her a disapproving look and then asked, with her mouth pinched up, “A job?”
“That’s right. I’m sort of a Jane-of-all-trades, after all. I’m sure I can find something. Did you know that I was even a short-order cook once?”
Tessa was still frowning. “You want to flip burgers?”
“I want a paycheck for the time I’m here.”
“But … there’s no need to rush into anything. Maybe you should, you know, take it easy for a week or so at least. Relax. Take some time off.”
“Tessa.” Marnie gave her a patient look. “You so don’t get it. I’ve had time off. The past five years since I’ve been with Mark, I’ve hardly worked at all.”
“But if you—”
“Tessa.”
“Hmm?”
“Don’t go all Saint Teresa on me. Please.”
Tessa put on her most innocent expression. “I would never try to tell you what to do.” As if she hadn’t just done exactly that.
But Marnie didn’t take offense. She knew that Tessa was only being bossy out of love. “Well.” Marnie sent her sister a fond smile. “Then we understand each other.”
Tessa got her pinch-mouthed look again. But at least she didn’t say anything more.
Ash had left the morning paper on the table. Marnie picked it up and flipped it to the want ads. What she saw there sent a little shiver down her spine.
It also made her smile. “Speaking of jobs. What do you think of that?” Marnie set down the paper and pointed.
The ad read:
Temporary Office Manager Sought
Busy motorcycle shop: repair and custom
Familiarity with Word, Excel and general office experience required. Past experience in car or motorcycle repair a plus.
Contact Gus, San Antonio Choppers (212) 555–2873
Tessa’s nod was beyond reluctant. “Yeah. So?”
“Why only temporary?”
“The woman who runs the office is going on maternity leave—and you’re not thinking of going to work for Jericho, are you?”
“Why not?” Marnie laughed. “You don’t think he’ll hold it against me that I stole his bike, do you?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you know you were thinking it.”
“You’re serious. You want to work in a motorcycle shop?” Tessa couldn’t believe it. But then, she’d never hung around the North Magdalene Garage in the old days, helping their dad, like Marnie used to do. To Tessa, a car was for transportation, period. And a motorcycle … well, she might admire the art and technical skill that went into Jericho’s choppers, but she clearly didn’t find them all that intriguing.
Marnie did. “Yeah. I think it might be interesting. And it just so happens that I have experience in car repair.”
“Working for Dad, you mean.”
“I also know Word and Excel. More or less. And I worked in an office. Once. Accounts payable and receivable. It was really boring.”
Tessa sipped her tea and wore her best I-am-staying-out-of-it look.
Marnie reached across and patted her arm. “Come on. Be fair. Think about it. Jericho is my brother-in-law. And we’re on good terms—as of now, anyway. And the job sounds kind of interesting. Plus, it’s temporary and I’m looking for something temporary. It could be just what I need.”
Tessa set down her cup and beamed her most beatific smile. “Did I utter a word of objection?”
“You didn’t have to. I can see it all over your face.”
“But did I say anything?”
“All right, fine. No. You didn’t. You’re a model of total non-bossiness.”
“Thank you.”
“Gus is Jericho’s partner in the shop, right?”
“That’s right,” Tessa said. “Gus owned the shop originally. And he and Jericho go way back. He let Jericho keep his first bike there, at the shop, while he was in prison.”
Marnie almost choked on her coffee. “Wait. What? Somebody went to prison?”
“I thought I told you that. Jericho used to steal cars. He would sell them to some guys who parted them out to repair shops. He got caught and did five years for grand theft auto.”
“Whoa. Wow. When?”
Tessa shook her head. “I could have sworn I told you all about this.”
“Tessa. When?”
“He was young. Twenty, I think. That was ten years ago. He did those five years and he’s been out for about five more. But right after his release, he got arrested down in Mexico for drug dealing. Gabe got him out of that one.”
Marnie remembered Gabe from the wedding—tall, well-dressed, slick. Really good-looking. “Gabe’s the family lawyer, right?”
“That’s right. And as it turned out, the thing in Mexico was a bad rap, a complete setup.”
“Jericho wasn’t really dealing?”
“No. It was just some trumped-up charge because he talked back to a policeman down there. Gabe got it thrown out.”
“So that was what you meant last night, when you said that Jericho has turned his life around …” Marnie thought of the spark of fury in his eyes when she’d joked about his sending her to jail for stealing his bike. His reaction made a lot more sense now.
