I didn’t have time for niceties, nor did I have time to freak out at Eddie hanging out in my kitchen with my Mom and Lavonne, nor did I have time to freak out general y at al that was my life.

“Hey there, Jet. Lookin’ good,” Lavonne cal ed.

“Hey Lavonne,” I smiled a greeting at Lavonne and turned to Eddie, “I have ten minutes to get to the bank. Wil you take me?” I asked him, not wanting to but having no choice.

I really had to find out what was happening to my car.

As an answer, Eddie stood which I guessed meant

“yes”.

“You haven’t had coffee,” Mom said.

I poured some milk and coffee into a travel mug and turned to Eddie.

“Let’s go.”

Eddie walked with long strides and I hustled in my high-heeled boots to the truck. Without a word, we got in. He started the truck and we took off.

We were halfway there, with only minutes to spare, when I nearly shouted, “Can’t you go any faster?”

“Relax, Chiquita, I’m already going ten miles over the speed limit.”

I gave his profile a look that said, “So?” Luckily, he missed the look.

“Don’t you have one of those flashy-lighty things like Kojak?” I asked.

“Yeah, but I’m not al owed to use it for trips to the Credit Union, just beer runs during half-time.”

See? My luck sucked.

He’d barely parked in the Credit Union parking lot when I had my door open and I jumped out of the truck.

Amy was locking the doors when I ran up. I’d worked with Amy for years, we were friends and used to hang out together, go to movies, spend time drinking margaritas and ripping apart Amy’s (many) ex-boyfriends. She was sweet, funny and I missed her. I only saw her now when I made a deposit.

As I walked to the doors, I put my hands into a prayer position, mouthing the word “Please”.

She opened the doors.

“Jet! I haven’t seen you al week.”

“Car problems,” I explained, sliding in beside her. “I’ve got a week’s worth of tips that need depositing.”

“No problemo, I haven’t counted my drawer yet.”

“Thanks, you’re an absolute gem,” I said.

I looked across the room, smiled and nodded to Jody.

Jody had close-cropped, straw-blonde hair and glasses.

Jody had been at Arapahoe Credit Union since time began. As far as I knew, Jody had smiled once in her entire life and that was when a long disliked customer had his car repoed.

Her eyes were at the door and Amy’s eyes moved to the door too.

“We’re closed,” Jody said, al guard-dog-at-the-gate.

“I’l do him,” Amy breathed, too enthral ed to realize her wording was not exactly tactful.

I didn’t have to look to know that Eddie had walked in behind me.

“I’m with Jet,” I heard him say.

Both Amy and Jody stared at me like I’d just won the three hundred bazil ion dol ar lottery.

See what I mean? People were going to wonder what Eddie was doing with me. Even my friends and acquaintances stared at me with wonder.

I snatched a deposit slip and walked up to Amy’s station.

Jody left her drawer, partial y to lock us in the building but mostly to lock everyone else out.

I pul ed out my wads of cash and Lavonne’s check and began counting expertly; my mind on my task, my hands sifting through the bil s quickly, automatical y placing the money in piles of hundreds. Eddie positioned himself beside me, his elbow on the counter, his eyes watching my hands.

“How’s your Mom?” Amy asked, picking up a pile and counting it to double check.

“She did a couple loads of laundry and emptied the dishwasher yesterday and she’s walking around a lot more.” I lifted my head and Amy and I smiled at each other.

I’d been giving her a bi-weekly update on Mom for months, we both knew how important this was.

Then I went back to counting.

“When she gets back on her feet, are you gonna come back to work for us? It hasn’t been the same since you’ve been gone,” Amy told me.

It took superhuman effort to keep my eyes off Eddie.

He didn’t know anything about my past life and I didn’t want him to.

Some way, somehow, by the end of the day, I was going to have to let Eddie know where I stood, which was far away from him once this al blew over.

I hadn’t figured out how to do that yet, but I’d find a way.

I’d decided in the shower that what happened that morning couldn’t happen again. Ever again. It al had to stop, and soon, or I’d likely lose my mind (not to mention my heart).

“Maybe,” I said to Amy. The answer was more like

“probably”. As much as it would hurt to leave Fortnum’s, Fortnum’s meant running into Eddie and that I couldn’t do.

Amy turned to Eddie and smiled.

“Jet was a hoot to work with. Not so much here. Can’t real y have much fun here. But…” She turned to me and her smile broadened, “remember that time when we went to visit Donna’s kid when he was getting chemo and you got al the kids on the ward together and pretended to have a shoot out in the elevator bays using your hands as guns?

That was hysterical.” She turned back to Eddie, “Jet even did a tuck and rol on the floor and accidental y knocked over a male nurse. I nearly peed my pants laughing.” Her face flushed as she realized she’d just told a hot guy she’d nearly peed her pants.

My face flushed as I realized Amy had just told Eddie about my tuck and rol in the hospital corridor. It was not a crowning moment of glory for me.

I stopped counting and stared at her in horror. It was definitely not the time for a trip down memory lane.

Eddie smiled at Amy. The effect was mesmerizing (even for me, and the smile wasn’t pointed in my direction) and it was al the encouragement Amy needed.

She forged ahead, turning to me, bright-eyed and firmly in the throes of a mini Eddie Daze.

“And when we played that practical joke on David when he had that new girlfriend?” Amy looked back to Eddie,

“She was a screaming bitch, by the way, she totally deserved it.”

“That was a good one,” Jody chimed in, licking her finger and counting bil s.

“Amy…” I started but Amy was warming to her theme.

“He was having dinner with her at Wazee Supper Club and Jet walked in wearing curlers in her hair, ratty slippers and an old bath robe and started shouting at him about going out with his floosies while she was at home with their six kids.”