Her Secret Life

“I’m so sorry, Michael,” she said, quickly. “Please don’t be offended. I just... Since you haven’t seemed to want anyone to know we’re friends, I didn’t tell Lacey how close we are. She wouldn’t insult you for the world by trying to infer that you’re no more than a business associate...”

“It’s all good,” he told her, as though that’s all that was going to be said about it.

“So...did she pay you?”

“Of course not.”

And then it occurred to her—she’d have been really hurt if Michael tried to pay her for a favor, but what if... “It won’t offend me a bit to get a bill, Michael. You know that, right?”

“You want me to send you a bill.” Statement. Not question.

Wait. Was that wrong? Oh, hell, again. She just wasn’t good at the nuances. She spent her days pretending to be something she was not in a world where what seemed right one day was suddenly twisted into wrong the next. “Honestly?”

“Wasn’t that our deal? What you asked me for? Honesty?”

“Yes.” She’d needed to have someone to tell if she drank too much. Someone to be accountable to so she’d feel like crap if she screwed up. “Honestly, it never even occurred to me that I would pay you for helping me. I mean, if you asked me to do something and then tried to pay me for it, I’d be hurt. But I don’t mean to assume, or impose or...”

His chuckle stopped her. “You’re fine, Kace. It never occurred to me that you’d pay me, either, and it would have offended me had you tried. I just wanted you to know that the issue came up, because I have a pretty good feeling your sister is going to mention it to you.”

He’d covered her ass and was still doing it. He knew how important it was to her that she not screw up or look like a loser to her sister. Ever again.

“Okay.” She watched a group of about four older couples stop and look in the window of the tourist shop. “So...for now...”

“For now there’s nothing for you to do. I’ll do my checking, but I want you to know that I’m not sure I’m going to find anything.”

“What do we do then?”

“There’s not a lot we can do. Except that I’ll keep a tight monitor on that account. If a crime had been committed, we could call the police and try to get a warrant for surveillance video from the internet café for the date and time the photo was posted, but we don’t have any evidence of a crime. One Photoshopped picture of a celebrity is not going to get anyone’s attention in LA.”

He was right, of course. “Nor should it,” she said, thinking of the rise in violent crime that was taxing a police force that was thinner than it had once been. “But what if it happens again?”

“In a way, I hope it does. Then we have more of a chance of catching whoever did it.”

“And if it doesn’t, I really don’t have anything to worry about. Lacey and I can just close that account...”

“No.” He didn’t leave room for discussion. “I’ve already told her the same thing. For now, I want you to keep sending each other emails, just as you would normally do. Just do so knowing that someone else could be seeing them.”

“Don’t say anything private,” she translated.

“Right. That way I can monitor the account. I’m not comfortable with the fact that someone went to the trouble to Photoshop a recent picture of you and then used your email account to post it. I’d like to have a shot at finding out who and why.”

Tears sprang to her eyes.

Because she’d screwed up at work. Hadn’t slept well the previous night.

But they weren’t tears of sorrow. They were tears of relief.

“You’re good for me, Michael.”

“You’re good for me, too.”

Now wasn’t the time for platitudes. “No, I really mean it. You...you’re special. Unlike anyone else in my life. I just want you to know...I don’t take you for granted. At all. I appreciate you so much...”

His long pause was no surprise. What came out of the blue, after a full thirty seconds, at least, was a response.

“I meant what I said, too, Kacey. You are good for me.”

&nb