Love at First Flight (10 page)

“You know what might be fun?” she asked.
“What's that?” Michael said.

“I could do your hair for you, Rachelle.
I'm a stylist, and I'd be happy to give you a wash and blow dry if you want.”

Rachelle's eyes lit up. “Really? Like
now?”

Juliana glanced at Michael. “Thirty
minutes?”

With a grateful smile he gestured for
her to have at it and went into the adjoining room to talk to the other cops on
Rachelle's detail.

***

Juliana took the girl into the bathroom
to wash her hair in the sink. She gave her the full treatment with a scalp
massage and deep conditioning, making use of the products scattered about on
the cluttered vanity. “Feel good?” Juliana asked.

“Mmm. Really good. Where do you work?”

“At Panache in Baltimore.”

“I went there once with my aunt. It was
awesome. Is it a fun place to work?”

“It is. I like it.”

“I love your jeans. Are they Juicy
Couture?”

“As a matter of fact, they are,” Juliana
said, amused.

“How do you know Michael?”

“You won't believe it, but we met on an
airplane.”

“So are you guys going out?”

Juliana smiled at the jealousy she
detected from the girl. “No, we're really just friends.” For the first time in
two hours she thought of Jeremy and their mess. If she hadn't come with Michael
she would probably be home alone crying. “I have a boyfriend.”

“You'll have to tell me all about him. I
can't wait to have a boyfriend.”

Hardly anxious to talk about Jeremy at
the moment, Juliana rolled a thick towel around Rachelle's hair and helped her
stand up. “Have a seat at my station.” Juliana gestured to the closed toilet.

“Very classy.”

“Only the best. Which side do you part
it on?” Rachelle laughed. “I have no idea. It's totally out of control.”

Juliana grabbed a large-toothed comb and
a round brush from the chaos on the countertop. “Let's see what we can do about
that.”

***

Thirty minutes later Michael came
looking for them and stopped short in the doorway to the bathroom. “Where's
Rachelle?”

The girl giggled. “I don't know what she
did. It's a miracle.”

The curls had been tamed into flowing
waves that softly framed her face and cascaded down past her shoulders.

“You look beautiful,” Michael said. “Really,
really beautiful.”

Rachelle blushed at the compliment from
her favorite guy.

Juliana applied one last squirt of hair
spray. “You're all done.”

Rachelle gazed into the mirror for
another minute before she gripped Juliana in a spontaneous hug. “Thank you so
much. I love it!”

“My pleasure.”

“I wish I had a camera. My mom won't
believe this, and I'll never get it to look this good again in my life.”

Juliana laughed. “Just do like I showed
you with the round brush and the hair dryer. You'll get the hang of it.”

“Will you come again?” Rachelle asked. “Michael,
will you bring her with you again? We could do our nails or something next
time.”

Juliana glanced at Michael.

“Sure,” he said.

“I'd love to.” Juliana gave the girl a
quick kiss on the cheek. “It's getting late. You need to get to bed, and we've
got to get to Baltimore. I'll only come again if I hear you're being good, all
right?”

Rachelle nodded. “I promise.”

“Behave, brat.” Michael bopped her lightly
on the shoulder. “I mean it.”

“Again you force me to say bite me!”

“Go to bed,” Michael ordered as he
closed the door.

“How'd you make out?” the police officer
in the hall asked.

“I think we settled her down,” Michael
said. “But go easy on her, okay? This is tough on her, and our case is riding
on her.”

“You've got it, Michael. Don't worry.”

Michael shook his hand. “Thanks.”

“Are they Baltimore cops or D.C.?”
Juliana asked while they waited for the elevator.

Michael held the door for her and then
stepped in behind her. “Baltimore. They're all on special assignment, but the
District cops know they're here in case they need backup.”

“She's adorable.”

“I know.”

“She's got you firmly wrapped around her
little finger. You're aware of that, right?”

“Yes,” he said with a sigh. “I'm way
more involved with her than I should be.”

“It would be hard to stay detached from
her.”

“Thank you, Juliana. You did such a
wonderful thing for her.”

“I enjoyed it.”

“Yes, I could see that.” When he walked
in on them in the bathroom, Juliana had been totally engrossed in Rachelle. He
couldn't imagine Paige ever being so self-less. “I really appreciate it.”

“It was fun,” she insisted. “You don't
have to thank me.”

“I don't know about you, but I haven't
thought about any of my problems for a few hours.” She smiled at him. “Neither
have I.”

CHAPTER 10

THEY HAD THE USUALLY CLOGGED
BALTIMORE-Washington Parkway all to themselves on the way back to Baltimore.
The closer they got to the city, the quieter Juliana became.

“How're you doing over there?”

She shrugged.

“You should probably tell me where you
live.”

“Butchers Hill. Collington Street.”

He laughed. “You do
not!
”

“Why?

“I live on Chester.”

“You're kidding me! I can't believe
we've never seen each other in the neighborhood.”

“I know. How long have you lived there?”

“Four years. It used to be Jeremy's
mother's house, but she got remarried and moved to Texas. He bought the house
from her. What about you?”

“I lucked into an amazing rowhouse about
a year ago. I lived in an apartment across the street, and I got to be friends
with the guy who owned the rowhouse when he was renovating it. He got
transferred unexpectedly and needed to sell it fast, so he gave me a sweet deal
on it. He said he wanted it to go to someone who would take good care of it.”

“What a great story.”

“It's way too big for just me, but when
I bought it

I thought Paige would live there with me
eventually. Oh well.”

“You wouldn't be interested in...”
Juliana stopped herself with a shake of her head. “What?”

“Nothing. Just a ridiculous thought.”

“Tell me. Come on.”

“I was going to ask if you might be
interested in a roommate, but that's insane.”

“Why?”

“We barely know each other.”

“I meant why do you want to live
somewhere else?”

“With everything that's going on now
with Jeremy, I can't stand the thought of spending even one night in the house
he pays for. If I went to stay with one of my friends, I'd have to explain why
I'd left our place.”

“I'm sure you contribute your share.”

She looked down at her hands. “Here and
there. I pay my mother's mortgage, so I don't have a lot of extra money. That's
why I shouldn't have mentioned being roommates. I can't afford it.”

“Why do you pay your mother's mortgage?”

“It's a long story,” she said,
hesitating. “Basically it's either that or she ends up homeless. When my father
split, he cleaned out the bank account. We hired an investigator to try to find
him, but he's long gone.”

“For what it's worth, I'd love to have
you as my roommate,” Michael said, sensing she didn't want to talk about her
deadbeat father. “We already get along better than most of the people I've
lived with, and I'm hardly ever there anyway. I've got a big place, and I only
use a fraction of it. You're welcome to it if it would help you out for a
while.”

“You're sweet, but it's a crazy idea.
Besides, I really can't afford it.”

“I don't need the money, but I wouldn't
mind the company.”

She turned to look at him. “You're
serious.”

“Sure I am,” he said, taking the Inner
Harbor exit off Interstate 95.

“I'd have to pay you something.”

He shrugged. “Whatever. I don't care. So
is that a yes?”

After a long moment of silence, she
suddenly said, “Yes. Yes, I'd love that.”

“What's wrong now?” he asked when her
smile faded. “It's kind of... you know... embarrassing.”

“What is?”

“The reason Jeremy and I are taking this
break. I've decided not to tell anyone about it because then people would know
I wasn't... well... enough for him,” she ended on a whisper.

Michael reached over to squeeze her
hand. “He's a fool.”

“Maybe I'm the one who's been the fool.”

“I don't think so. Shall we go home?”

“Now?”

“Why not? You've got stuff with you,
right? Will anyone be trying to get in touch with you tonight?”

“No, we both have cell phones. We don't
have a phone in the house.”

“Cool. You can get whatever else you
need tomorrow then. And after work we can go get your car.”

She laughed.

“What's so funny?”

“I just feel better all of a sudden.'

“Good.”

***

“Oh, Michael, this place is amazing!”
Juliana ran a hand over the exposed brick wall in the living room. Like most
rowhouses, it was tall and deep. The living room fed into the dining room,
which led to the kitchen. There were gleaming hardwood floors and a fireplace
with a mahogany mantle.

“Thanks, but I can't take any of the
credit. The guy who owned it before me did all the work. Check this out.” He
opened a door where three stairs led to a small bathroom with dark red walls
and the tiniest pedestal sink Juliana had ever seen.

“It's so cute!” She did a double take. “Is
that a
phone
?”

Michael chuckled. “He put one in every
bathroom. You'll never miss a call in this house.” He led her to the kitchen
where cabinets were suspended from the ceiling over slate countertops.

“Oh, wow! What a great kitchen.”

“Isn't it?” He opened the stainless
steel fridge and peered inside. “I have beer, water, and beer.”

“Urn, I'll have a beer.”

“Good choice.”

He opened two of them and handed one to
her. “Don't feel like you have to entertain me. I'm sure you want to get to
bed.”

“I'm kind of keyed up, actually. Let's
go upstairs.” The stairs were in the living room. On the second floor, he
showed her to a guestroom with a bathroom. “The sheets are clean, and there're
towels in the bathroom.”

She dropped her bag on the bed. “Thanks.”

The second bedroom was a combination
home office and gym.

“Do you use the Bowflex or does it
collect dust like ours does?”

“I haven't used it much lately,” he
confessed. “Come see my view.”

She followed him up another flight of
stairs to his bedroom on the top floor. The room and adjoining bathroom took up
the entire third floor. “This is beautiful.”

“It's my favorite part of the house.” He
walked over to slide open the door to a deck and gestured for her to come out
with him.

“You can see the whole city!”

“It gets better.” He pointed to wooden
stairs and took her up to the roof deck.

Gazing down at the lights of Fell's
Point and the Inner Harbor, she said, “What a view.”

“Sometimes I still can't believe I live
here. I grew up in a tiny house crammed with people. I feel like I can breathe
here.” He stretched out on one of the lounge chairs and invited her to take the
other.

She kicked off her shoes and sat down. “Having
some-thing like this to show for it must make all your hard work in law school
and now with your job worth it.”

“Yes,” he said. “It does.” He took a
long drink from his beer. “Do you know what Paige said the first time she saw
this place?”

“What?”

“That the basement was smelly and the
carpet was ugly, but she could make it work if she had to.”

“And you didn't smack her?”

“She never would've seen it the way you
did, how having something like this makes all the hard work worth it.” He
picked at the label on his beer bottle. “She's never had to work for anything
in her life, so she doesn't appreciate anything. Sometimes I felt like I was
just another
thing
she had to have.”

“Seems like you did the right thing
calling it off with her.”