Thwarting Cupid (2 page)

Carissa took a deep breath. She had to get it together. Now was not the time to break down in hysterics. Or go overboard with the pity parties. She had friends. She had cousins. Her little pep talk fell flat when she considered that while she did have them, none of them would be devastated if anything happened to her. Not like she'd been when her mom passed a couple years ago, or even a few months ago when her dad succumbed to cancer. Without the two of them to anchor her, she felt totally alone. She wasn't part of anything anymore.

Carissa gave herself a mental shake. She had to get out of this morose line of thought. It wasn't going to help anything. Nor was it going to change anything. She reached for the stash of napkins she kept stuffed in the space between the passenger's seat and the arm rest to dry her tears. Much better. After a couple more calming breaths, she didn't feel quite so alone anymore. She frowned and looked at the passenger side. Of course it was empty, but still... She felt like something...someone sat there next to her.

She shook her head. This was silly. Except it wasn't. She'd felt the same presence before. It didn't feel like God so for the most part she feared it. The last thing she needed was an attack of evil spirits.

Flashing red lights caught her attention. Carissa checked her rear view mirror and saw a police cruiser ease to a stop behind her. Relieved, she hopped out of the car to meet the officer.

* * * *

Quincy remained where he was in the car. Poor Carissa. He hated to see her beautiful face marred with tears. Unless he knew the possibilities of her meeting a man were great, he tended to stay away from her when she was highly emotional. Which brought him to why he'd popped in just now. He knew how much women loved men in uniform. Speaking of which, he needed to check out this latest prospect.

Quincy remained in a seated position while he floated up through the roof of the car and turned around to watch Carissa's interaction with the cop. One look at Officer Smiley Face and he knew that the guy had serious potential. Carissa thought so, too, if the way she kept tucking her hair behind her ear was any indication. Quincy snapped his fingers and a thick file folder appeared in his hand. Keeping one eye on his charge, he leafed through the officer’s file.

Officer Jorge Garcia. What the heck kind of name was “Jorge” anyway? It sounded far too much like “Whore Hey” for Quincy's tastes. A definite strike against the man. He was thirty-two. Far too young for Carissa's almost thirty-five. After all, everyone knew women matured faster than men.

Quincy reconsidered the man. Why was he still on patrol duty at such an advanced age? According to his file, he'd joined the force just out of college eleven years ago. Ahh. Here it is. Insubordination. He'd been bumped back down to being a uniform after disobeying an order from a superior. It was just coincidence that his disobedience had saved the lives of twenty-four people. Quincy didn't want to split hairs. The man was an obvious screw up. Not right at all for his Carissa.

No wife. No kids. He'd put all his efforts toward his career and rose through the ranks quickly. Except now he was right back where he'd started. Served him right for putting so many eggs in one basket. Hmm. Maybe all wasn't lost. It seemed an FBI buddy he'd made during the incident that ended in his demotion was trying to recruit him over to the federal side of things. That was no good. They always had to travel, those federal agents. If he and Carissa fell in love, she'd always be alone. That wasn't right for her. Quincy wasn't going to put her in that kind of situation. She may as well remain single.

Quincy looked up from his file just in time to see Carissa share a smile with Officer Jorge. She held up her phone while he jotted something on his little notepad. Oh no, no, no. This would not do. He had to do something. Fast. Quincy unfurled his magnificent wings that no one outside the cupid plane could see, then planted himself between Carissa and Officer Smiley Face. Goodness. Didn't the man have any other expressions? No matter. Quincy pulled an arrow from the quiver on his back and tapped its tip against the cop's shoulder radio. The thing emitted a scratch, then a voice.

“All available units, we've got a robbery in progress at Verdugo and Whitnall. What's your twenty?”

The smile fell from the officer's face. He pressed the button on the handset. “This is unit twelve responding. Finishing up with a hit and run in the vicinity. Available to roll.”

“Copy, twelve.”

Officer Garcia turned to Carissa, his expression all business now. “I have your number if I need anything. The tow truck will be here in a bit.”

Carissa nodded. “Thank you, Officer.”

Quincy read through the report in the man's hand regarding the accident. With another touch of his arrow, the missing data filled itself in. There. No need for the man to ever contact Carissa again. He stood beside her and watched the policeman hop back in his patrol car. With lights flashing and sirens blaring, Officer Jorge sped away.

All in a day’s work.

Chapter 2

Carissa stared at the clock on the bookshelf in her living room. A little after two in the afternoon and she felt like she'd aged ten years. While waiting for the tow truck to arrive, she'd called her boss to let him know what had happened and that she wouldn't be in that day. She had AAA so she was able to have the car towed to her preferred mechanic with less hassle than expected. Now she was just waiting on the verdict.

She wanted the shop to get back to her before involving her insurance carrier. Given the damage, she knew that to be a whole lot of wishful thinking on her part. Still, if she could get the car fixed herself, she wouldn't have to worry about her rates going up. That was the suckiest part about this whole thing. The accident hadn't even been her fault. Yet she was the one being punished because the other driver was a jackass.

The more she thought about the man, the angrier she became. She was thrilled she'd gotten a picture of his license plate. With any luck, he could be tracked through that. The officer had told her that leaving the scene the way he had was a crime. Maybe they'd toss him in a cell and throw away the key once they had him in custody. Still, that didn't help her if she was without a vehicle.

Uncomfortable with her vindictive thoughts, Carissa decided that she had to do something. Anything. She shoved her feet into her tennis shoes and headed out the door. The day had been pretty sucky up to this point, but it didn't need to remain sucky.

She was fortunate enough to live in an area of the city that had a distinctly small-town feel to it. She felt safe walking almost anywhere at any time of day or night. She just never had the opportunity because she was always on the way to work, at work, or on the way home from work.

Then again, it hadn't been all bad. That Officer Garcia who'd responded to her call had been quite a cutie. She hoped he had forgotten to ask her something in his rush to leave so he'd have to call.

Then she shook her head. Who was she kidding? The man had to be happily married with a passel of adorable little kids. The thought made her more sad than jealous. She wished she had her own family. At least then she wouldn't feel quite so alone and, well....expendable all the time. She'd have a place to belong.

Her legs pumped faster along the sidewalk while the thoughts kept assaulting her from every angle. She'd expected to at least be married before losing one of her parents. She'd never imagined going through such heartache without somebody to lean on. And yet here she was. She'd not only weathered her mother's death, but her father's too without any kind of support system.

Losing her mom had been easier because she'd had to be strong for her father. She'd never forget the way he'd almost collapsed in her arms when they'd gotten the phone call in the middle of the night that her mom had passed. And that was after they'd known the day was coming since her mom had battled ovarian cancer for the previous three years. Her mom had been the love of her dad's life for over forty years. It had been a devastating blow for them both, but him in particular.

Watching her parents together those last few years had solidified what she wanted in a relationship if she should ever be lucky enough to date. Somehow, no one ever seemed to be interested in her. Or if they were, something would happen that would send them skipping merrily off in a whole new direction and forgetting all about her. It was really very strange. If she believed in such things she'd think she were cursed or something.

She shook off the melancholy thoughts and sat down on a bench overlooking the ocean. If her love life weren't going well, or at all, at least things were comfortable on the home front. She'd moved from her first apartment so she no longer had to put up with a crazy landlord. Her new apartment was much bigger and in a much nicer area of the city. And to top everything off, she lived within walking distance of the ocean. That was the biggest plus of all. Of course, this move cost her more in rent every month, but she couldn't be happier with her place.

The only thing that made her sad was that both her parents had passed before having the opportunity to visit her new digs. The thought made her sad all over again so she tried to shake it off. There was nothing she could do to change any of that. She needed to let it go.

Instead, she focused up the beach a ways on a small group of people in what appeared to be some kind of martial arts class. She watched, fascinated, while they kicked and punched and grunted in unison. They were all dressed in comfortable workout clothes except for one guy, who wore a dark suit. Carissa couldn’t stop looking at him. He looked familiar. She just couldn’t quite place him.

Deciding to get a better look, she strolled toward the class. She tried not to be too conspicuous, but it was hard to get a clear view of the guy because he kept buzzing around another man in the class. He nodded often and looked like he was encouraging the class member, telling him how good he was when his skills clearly sucked compared to his classmates’.

More than once, the man got out of sync with the class and would then glare at the suit guy.

“It’s okay, man. Shake it off. You can do this. Just hang in.”

Fed up, the class guy stopped and planted his fists on his lean hips. “Look, Kelvin. You were fired yesterday, you’re fired today, and you’ll still be fired tomorrow.” Carissa edged closer. She tried to pretend she wasn’t eavesdropping, but being on an open beach with not much else around to distract made it difficult.

“Robby, baby. You don’t mean that. We’ve been together for how long? Six years? You can’t just throw away your career like this…”

‘Robby baby’ got in Kelvin’s face. “You and my career have been mutually exclusive for a very long time now. I booked my last three pictures without you. That Hummer you’re so proud of? You didn’t do a darn thing to earn it.”

Kelvin touched the Bluetooth on his ear. “What are you talking about? I’ve been on the phone all morning. Lining up auditions and callbacks for you. I’ve earned every scrap you ever tossed my way.”

And just that like that, Carissa knew why she recognized him. This was the jackass who’d rear ended her that morning. Her focus zeroed in on the guy almost to the exclusion of everything else. Before rational thought returned, she stomped over to the two men.

“You!”

They both looked at her surprised. Kelvin held up his hands. He stepped between her and Robby. She had no doubt that the obtuse man had no idea who she was.

“My client is very busy. No autographs.”

His response served to make her that much more angry.

“This is what you were doing when you slammed into the back of my car this morning? Making phone calls for a client who’d fired you?” Carissa glared at him. It took a moment, but recognition dawned on his face at last. Coward that he was, he backed up a bit. Just enough so that Robby now stood between the two of them.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He cast a look around the martial arts students. None of them were even pretending to continue with their training. “This woman is crazy.”

Carissa cocked a hip and planted a hand on it. “I’m crazy? I’m not the one mowing down other drivers and then leaving the scene. Hit and run. Does that mean anything to you?”

Fear flashed over the man’s face. Robby frowned and looked at the guy.

“Loser. You wonder why I want nothing to do with you.”

“No, no. She’s making it all up. Robby, you have to believe me.”

The man was an inch from begging. Part of Carissa wanted to feel sorry for him. The other ninety-nine percent of her being wanted to make him suffer. She pulled out her cellphone and snapped his picture. She gave him a humorless smile.

“Perfect. I’ll see that Officer Garcia adds this to the case file. So he’s sure he’s tossing the right man in jail to rot.”

Panic settled on the man’s face. “Give me that!” He lunged at her. Carissa dodged away.

“What? It wasn’t enough for you to total my car? Now you want to steal my cellphone? Dream on.”

“Give me that phone!” he demanded. He looked as serious as a heart attack when he advanced on her again. Carissa decided to cut her losses. She turned and walked away. Kelvin followed.

“I am not playing with you.”

Carissa picked up the pace. So did he. She broke into a run.

“Get back here!”