6- Birds music

That blistering, mind-boggling kiss wasstill very much on Hazel’s mind
when she walked into the high school gym that night for the reunion dance.
Spotting Mr. Lee sitting all alone at one of the tables along the perimeter of the
floor only accentuated the memory. For a man whose arrogance she had
experienced firsthand, he looked surprisingly lonely. For a brief second, sympathy almost drove her over to talk to him.
“I’m not going anywhere near him,” she muttered, even as she began to drift
in his direction. When she realized where she was going, she added wryly, “I
obviously have the willpower of a nymphomaniac.”
“Who’s a nymphomaniac?” Lauren demanded, startling Hazel.
“Nobody, I hope,” Hazel retorted glumly, stopping in her tracks. She wasn’t
entirely sure whether she wasrelieved by the distraction, which was yet another
fact that was worrisome. Was it moths that couldn’t resist a flame and wound up
dead because of it?
Lauren followed the direction of her gaze, then grinned. “Ah, yes, I heard
about the kiss.”
“Heard about it?” Hazel asked, horrified. “How? From whom?”
“Half the town was at the rodeo. Word gets around. My source saysit was
more entertaining than anything that went on inside the arena.”
Hazel groaned. “Why did I do it? Why did I let him kiss me? And right out in
public, yet! Wouldn’t you think I’d learned my lesson about getting mixed up
with smooth talkers after what happened a few years ago in Rome?”
“Could you have stopped him?”
“Not at first,” she admitted. “He caught me by surprise, but later…”
Lauren’s eyessparkled with growing amusement. “Later? Then it did go on
and on, just the way I heard?”
“Okay, yes, it went on a very long time. It was a very good kiss. In fact, it
was a terrific kiss, which is why I am in more trouble than I ever thought it was
possible to get into. I want to kiss a man who—” She cut herself off before she
could finish the revealing thought.
“Who what?” Lauren asked, clearly fascinated by Hazel’s slip.
“Never mind,” Hazel said dismissively. “Have you seen Cassie? Did she
come tonight?”
“She’s here. She’s busy hiding out from Cole. Seemsto me she has her own
problems with steering clear of intoxicating kisses,” Lauren said. “And before
you ask, Karen’s on the dance floor, and Emma’s out in the hallway on her cell
phone. There’s some kind of emergency back in Denver. Hopefully she’s telling
her boss or her client or whoever it is to take a hike. The woman is in serious
need of a break. She’s stretched so tight I’m afraid she’s going to snap.”
“Emma can take care of herself,” Hazel insisted. “She’s always been totally
levelheaded and sane compared to the rest of us.”
“Take another look. I was out at the ranch with her and Caitlyn earlier. I
think even that little girl sensesthat her mother’s at the breaking point. Caitlyn’s
birthday is coming up, and she told me the only thing she wanted was for her

mom to move here because in Denver she never, ever sees her. How pitiful is
that?”
Hazel glanced toward the door and spotted Emma striding toward them, her
expression grim.
“What’s wrong?” Hazel asked, regarding her with concern.
“One of my major clients in Denver has a problem. He wants me back there
tonight.”
“Are you going?” Lauren asked.
“What choice do I have?”
“You could tell him that you’re taking the first break you’ve had in years and
that he can just wait until Monday,” Lauren retorted heatedly. “Sweetie, if you
don’t start looking out for yourself, who will? Certainly not those partners who
are raking in big bucks from all those billable hours you put in each month, and
certainly not the clients who see nothing wrong in tracking you down when
you’re supposed to be on vacation. How did he get your cell phone number,
anyway?”
“All my clients have my cell phone number,” Emma said defensively.
Lauren removed the offending item from Emma’s grasp. “Which is a really
good reason for shutting it off and letting me hang on to it for the rest of the
weekend. If you’d like, I can call this client of yours back and tell him that
you’ve consulted your schedule and you are tied up in a very important
negotiation and can’t see him until the middle of next week. If it’s a real
emergency, he can speak to one of the other partners.”
Emma stared at her in amazement. “You sound so convincing.”
Hazel chuckled. “She is an actress, Emma.”
Emma shook her head. “Of course, she is. I just can’t quite think of Lauren
as anything other than the girl who used to spend the night at my house talking
about boys until dawn.”
“I had to talk about them. I certainly never dated them,” Lauren said.
“Because you scared them to death. You were the smartest person in our
class,” Hazel said. “That was very daunting, even to the boys with a B
average.”“A fat lot of good that’s doing me these days,” Lauren grumbled.
“Most of
the people I deal with now don’t even realize I have a brain.”
“Which must mean that they underestimate you,” Emma guessed. “Surely
you can use that to your advantage.”
“Maybe you two can trade services,” Hazel suggested. “Lauren can fend
off your pushy, inconsiderate clients, and Emma, you can negotiate Lauren’s
deals. Nobody ever mistakes you for a pushover.”
“Not a bad idea,” Lauren said thoughtfully. “But we still haven’t resolved