Page 15 of Misadventures With The Mistaken Twin

“I'll be fine, Miss Goldie.”

“Veronica will take you.”

“What?” I all but shouted. “No way.” He'd practically told Goldie I was into S & M and he expected me to give him a ride!

Goldie looked at me.

“Veronica will take you,” she repeated, her words spoken in a no-nonsense tone. “Take him shopping and get him proper winter clothes first. We can't have the man freezing to death onus. At least not before he satisfies you.” She laughed at her own joke.

I counted to ten. Not only would finishing Jack's uncle's job get me the money I needed to pay off my dad, but it meant Jack got on a plane back to Florida. The sooner I was done, the sooner he'd be out of the state, out of the time zone, out of my life. I had to be civil with the man until he was flying the friendly skies. “Here, take some of these, will you?” I thrust two of the bags at him. I might have to give him a ride, but I didn't have to like it.

“What did you end up putting in Mike's bag? I can't imagine what else he would need for domestic discipline besides that paddle you left him.”

“Domestic discipline? Mike? I think he was pulling your leg,” Goldie asked. “I've heard of it, but I've got to look that one up on the Internet.” Goldie went behind the counter and hunt-and-pecked into the laptop positioned next to the register. We referred to it frequently when someone was looking for a specialty item—or fetish. “Need to stay current,” she told Jack.

“Give him a call, he can tell you all about it,” Jack told her.

I doubted that was true, but it redirected Goldie away from thoughts of me and Jack. “While you do, we'll head out,” I told Goldie. I wanted to get this over with.

“Have fun, you two! Oh, and Veronica, don't forget to do that writing we talked about.”

Oh, brother.

Once outside, Jack swore under his breath. “It's fucking freezing.”

The little hairs in my nose froze in the cold. I looked across the street at the bank's sign with the flashing time and temperature. The display blinked five below. With the sun shining. Itwasfucking freezing, but I was fine with my hat, mittens, long, puffy coat and heavy scarf. I had little doubt Jack felt every bit of the frigid air.

Standing beneath the bank sign was the same woman from earlier. Pink jacket, bandaged hand, cold stare. “Hey, see that woman over there?” I cocked my head in her direction.

Jack turned and looked at her. “Yeah.”

“I think she's following me.”

Okay, it did sound stupid. I wasn't a drug dealer being followed by the DEA. I was a small-town plumber standing outside freezing my ass off. What person would be stupid enough to do surveillance, or stalk someone, in weather like this?

“Get real, Miller.”

“Miller?” I glared at him. “Miller? Mynameis Veronica. Use it.”

He held up his hands, bags and all. “Whoa, easy.”

“I won'twhoa.You've been a total jerk since you got here.”

“You haven't been all that welcoming yourself. There was the little head bashing incident,” he pointed to his noggin.

“You're being a jerk because I defended myself?”

“No. I'm being a jerk because I don't like being played.”

What the hell was he talking about? “Played?”

“Forget it,Veronica.”

He fumbled in his coat pocket and pulled out some keys. He clicked the button on the fob and a car beeped down the block. He walked toward the sound, most likely eager for a real car's heated seats and heater set to HIGH.

“You said you walked.” Our breaths came out in white puffy clouds around us. Cold stung my cheeks. The streets were quiet except for a city sand truck that came by, diesel engines chugging, as it sanded the intersection.

“No,Goldiesaid I walked.” The corner of his lip turned up.