Holiday In the Hamptons (From Manhattan with Love 5)

“And she pretended to be you?”

“No. She wouldn’t have allowed it. Harriet is straight and honest. I’m the manipulative one who thrives on deception.”

Matilda raised her eyebrows. “What was the deception?”

“I arranged a diversion so she didn’t know what I had planned. She didn’t know until she found me trying to wash blood out of my hair in the girls’ bathroom.” Fliss put the cookie down and lifted her hair to reveal the evidence. “War wound.”

Matilda reached for a piece of paper and scribbled some notes. “Sorry, but this has to go in a book. So if you haven’t done it in a while, why now?”

She’d been asking herself the same question.

Impulse. Lack of judgment. None of the answers sounded impressive, even to her. “I came here to avoid Seth. And even saying that out loud makes me wince.” She drained her coffee. “What sort of person is too much of a coward to say ‘hi’ to a man she hasn’t seen in ten years?”

“One who still has complicated feelings. But I don’t understand why coming here would help you avoid him. Seth lives here.”

“That crucial piece of information happened to be missing when I made my decision. I saw him in Manhattan. He was working as a vet in the practice we use all the time. I assumed he’d moved there permanently.”

“So you decided you’d get out of town,” Matilda said slowly, “and then you bumped right into him.”

“Within an hour of arriving here.” She finished the cookie. “Which proves that karma is a bitch.”

“Or that fate can be kind.”

It was exactly the comment Harriet would have made.

“I can see why you and my sister are good friends. You’re both romantics. And much as I hate to burst that little pink fluffy cloud you see the world through, I can tell you there was nothing romantic about our meeting. First, I thought I’d run over his dog—”

“Oh, that’s Lulu. She likes to play dead.”

“I know that now, but at the time I thought I’d killed her. Which almost killed me. There are plenty of humans I’d be happy to hit with my car, but I’ve never met a dog who deserved that fate. So there I was, shaking, when Seth steps out of the bushes. Instead of doing the adult thing and saying ‘Hi, Seth, how are things with you?’ I pretended to be Harriet.”

Far from being shocked, Matilda looked delighted. “Oh, this would make the perfect meet-cute.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t you watch romantic comedies?”

“My favorite movie is The Shining, with Psycho a close second.”

Matilda shuddered. “You’re right. You really are different from Harriet. Anyway, if you thought you’d hit the dog, then you must have been feeling shaken and vulnerable.”

“That’s an explanation I can live with.”

“Or maybe you just saw him and panicked because you weren’t prepared.”

“That, I find harder to live with.”

“Why? If you haven’t seen him in that long, it’s an understandable reaction.”

“Not for most people, but for me, yes. I have a long history of acting on impulse.” If it hadn’t been for that annoying tendency she might not have got up close and personal with Seth in the first place. “I’m working on it, but so far I’m a work in progress. And I’m not making much progress.”

“You’re too hard on yourself.” Matilda shot her a look. “I based my last hero on Seth.”

“You did?”

“Why not? He’s handsome. And hot. And he’s also a vet. That immediately elevates him to hero status for a lot of my readers.”

Fliss stared at her. “That’s all it takes? You can turn into a hero just by picking the right profession?”