Her Charming Heartbreaker by Sonia Parin

other. Wait and see what he’s like tomorrow. For
all you know, he might have been getting in touch with his broker.
Men like him do that a lot.”
    “Maybe. Whatever. I
don’t know.” She groaned. “I’m a mess.”
    “I’m sorry I suggested
having a fling with him. I take full responsibility for seeding the
idea.”
    “Your idea was harmless
enough. Unlike mine… For a while there I thought since disasters
come in threes I should get that third disastrous relationship over
and done with, but then my optimism kicked in and I wondered if I
could be third time lucky.” There had to be some sort of rule of
thumb she could follow. Something to guide her. “What if my life is
actually ruled by Murphy’s Law? Whatever can go wrong, will go
wrong.”
    “You shouldn’t allow
your life to be dictated by an adage.”
    The sudden rap on her
apartment door should have had her jumping to her feet armed and
ready with a welcoming smile, but instead Eddie called out, “Come
in. Tonight’s freak show is a free-for-all.”
    Joyce entered, and
striding toward the middle of the room, she took a bow. “Ladies, it
finally clicked.”
    “Um… cue drum roll?”
Sophie asked.
    “Yes, that would be
appropriate, but we should wait for Helena. I passed her in the
hallway. She just stopped to take a phone call.”
    “This is a foot tapping
moment,” Eddie said draining another glass.
    Then Helena arrived.
“You’ll never guess—”
    “You need to wait your
turn. I was here first,” Joyce said.
    Helena made a lips
zipped sign and sat down next to Eddie.
    Joyce drew in a deep
breath. “Okay, here goes. Jon Kendrick.”
    “The Hollywood movie
star,” they all said in unison.
    “None other.”
    Eddie shrugged. “What
about him?”
    “Isn’t it obvious?”
Joyce asked.
    Sophie held up the
empty bottle of champagne. “Not to us. Our mental capacity has been
somewhat diminished.”
    “Jon. Theo. Kendrick.
Do I need to spell it out?”
    “Are you saying they’re
related?”
    Joyce gave a vigorous
nod. “Father and son. Theo keeps himself out of the limelight, but
I found a photo of him in one of the weekly gossip rags.” She drew
out her copy and opened it to a dog-eared page. “There,” she said
tapping the picture.
    “You’re pointing to a
profile and a grainy one at that.”
    “He’s standing several
steps behind Jon Kendrick, but it’s definitely him.”
    “There’s only one way
to know for sure. We’ll have to ask him,” Sophie said.
    Joyce shook her head.
“We can’t do that. It would be so un-cool. People like him want
their privacy.”
    “Sure they do.” Eddie
rolled her eyes. “And that’s why you racked your brain trying to
uncover his identity and even teased him about it.”
    “That was then, this is
now. We can’t let him know that we know.”
    “Straight from the
mouth of someone who hasn’t had a drink yet,” Eddie said as she
poured Joyce a drink.
    “Do you think he’s in
the movie business?” Helena asked. “Maybe he’d here to scout for
talent.”
    Eddie shook her head.
“You came in late, so you missed the latest. Theo Kendrick came to
Eden looking for Claire Muldoon. He’s into older women. Not that
there’s anything wrong with it.” Nothing other than the fact she’d
been thinking a great deal about Theo and how maybe she should
consider doing something outside of her comfort zone. Eddie
wondered if she could clock up the experience, or at least the
attempt at an experience, as her third disaster. Then she’d be free
to get on with her life. She could almost see a flicker of hope at
the end of the tunnel.
    Helena bit the tip of
her thumb. “That explains why I saw him go into the salon. And
after Claire let him in, she flipped over the closed sign and
pulled down the shutter. Oh, that was my news.”
    Eddie turned to Sophie.
“Those cousins you mentioned yesterday, do you have photos of
them?” At some point, Eddie had to accept her fate. But first, she
had a few