Ladd Fortune by Dianne Venetta

Bangs
reception area, her eyes fastened on Jeremiah. She held her breath
as she stared, shock swirling through disbelief and curiosity,
mixed with an emotion that bordered on hate, which oddly included a
murky longing.
    Jeremiah turned from Candi, the instant
recognition transforming his expression from lazy pleasure to a
steely interest. Candi jerked her hands away from her styling
chair, the look in her eyes one of sheer desperation. Annie’s brain
felt muddled. Fuzzy.
    Racing around Jeremiah, Candi hurried
down the center aisle toward Annie. “Annie!” she exclaimed and
quickly saddled up on her friends’ side.
    But Annie only had eyes for Jeremiah.
It was the first time she had seen him since he and Lacy took off
for Atlanta. Eighteen long years since she’d held the man in her
gaze, in the flesh. She’d have to give him his looks. He still
looked good, his body lean, seemingly in shape. As he approached,
she noted the lines in his face, but rather than old, they added
depth, maturity. Jeremiah Ladd looked the same as he had when he
left, only older, wiser.
    Better. Annie swallowed the lump in her
throat and said, “Hello, Jeremiah.”
    “ Hello, Annie.” He stopped
front and center, his glance lingering on Candi’s as though the two
shared a secret.
    Annie looked to Candi who blurted,
“Jeremiah just stopped by—like five minutes ago—wanting to know how
to find you.” She dodged his gaze and added, “And here you
are.”
    Candi fussed with the blonde hair
around her eyes, ran her hands down her apron, then slipped them
into her front pockets. Wondering why Candi was rambling, Annie
turned back to Jeremiah. And why had he come to Candi to find her?
Her name hadn’t changed. She was in the phone book.
    “ How ya been?” Jeremiah
asked her. “You work here, too?” Setting hands to hips, he hurled a
presumptive glance around the salon, as though he owned one just
like it.
    “ No,” she replied
automatically. “I work at Trendz.”
    Jeremiah nodded, but didn’t delve
deeper. “So listen, Candi,” he said. “We’ll be in touch,
okay?”
    Like a wet cat with her tail ensnared
in an electrical outlet, Candi look horrified.
    Smiling syrup and slime, Jeremiah
tossed to her, “See you around, baby.”
    Annie watched him walk out of the
salon, sunlight setting fire to the gold in his hair. The door
swooshed closed and he was gone. Suspended in a haze, she stood
dumbstruck within the confines of the busy salon. Had that really
happened? Her gaze drifting from the front door to Candi, Annie
noted the fear squeezing out through the brown eyes of her friend.
Questions plagued her. Why had Jeremiah stopped by? Why check with
her first? The image of Candi and Jeremiah standing together by her
chair crystallized in Annie’s mind. Epiphany pinched. “Is something
going on between you two?” she asked.
    “ No! Why would you
ask?”
    “ Well, when I walked in
here, you two seemed awfully cozy...”
    “ Good God, girlfriend, no
way! There is nothing going on between me and Jeremiah.”
    At Candi’s fidgety scan of the salon,
Annie swept around to see what she was looking at. All eyes were on
them, yet no one spoke a word. Humiliation welled deep in her
heart. With great effort, Annie turned faced Candi directly. “Candi
Sweeney, don’t you lie to me. What was Jeremiah doing
here?”
    “ Nothing , Annie. He stopped by looking for you.”
    At the crack in her voice, Annie’s
trust shriveled. “I don’t believe you.”
    Candi’s demeanor began to unravel.
“Annie, it’s true! You have to believe me. There is nothing going
on between me and Jeremiah, you know that.”
    “ What was ‘see you around,
baby’ about?”
    “ Guy
talk— loser talk.
You know Jeremiah, he’s always tried to have his way with girls.”
Annie stiffened. When Candi appeared to realize her mistake, she
cried, “ Please ,
Annie, let’s not talk about this here.” Candi grasped Annie’s elbow
but she yanked free. Annie