Think Twice

“To me, you do. Make a decision-for once.”

Ouch. Mary stood toe-to-toe with Judy, opposed for the first time ever. “Do you want me to tell her?”

“I dare you.”

“Fine!”

“Good!” Judy threw down her napkin and headed for the door. “This time, I’ll walk out on you.”

Chapter Seventy-four

Be

“It’s cool down here.” Tiffany exhaled a cone of Marlboro smoke, acrid in the humidity. “But you can’t park, and it’s way expensive.”

“Right,” Be

“There’s Caitlin.” Tiffany grabbed the glass handle.

“Let’s go in.” Be

“Get out, Tiffany!” she hissed. “I told you never to come here.”

“Alice wanted to see you, and I gave her a ride.”

“Where’s Alice?” Caitlin looked over at Be

“Yes, hi.”

“Jeez!” Caitlin glanced over her shoulder, slipped out the shop door, and hurried them both to the side, in front of a restaurant. “I thought you were dead!”

What?

“Where’ve you been? Why are you dressed like that?”

Tiffany interjected, “If she told you, she’d have to kill you.”

Caitlin ignored her. “Alice, wait here. I’ll tell Janey I got a call from Da

“See what I mean?” Tiffany frowned. “She has a thing against me. Use me, will you?”

“I’ll think about it,” Be

Caitlin reappeared, hoisting a Kate Spade purse to her shoulder and shooing Tiffany away like a roach. “Go, please. I’ll take Alice home.”

“Okay, okay.” Tiffany edged backwards. “See ya, Al.”

“Later,” Be

Caitlin was already hailing a cab, which pulled over immediately, thanks to her cute face and ski

“So, Alice, where were you?” Caitlin turned to her, tense. “We had no pickup, and we sold out of what we had left. Q called me at the shop looking for you, and he’s furious. He cursed me out when I said I didn’t know where you were. I had to tell Janey he was my brother and I don’t even have a brother.”

Be

“I didn’t sign up for that. I don’t want to deal with that. He scared me half to death. I have kids!”

Be

“Where were you? Kendra and I were worried.” Caitlin waited for an answer, and Be

She eyed Caitlin, coolly. “You weren’t worried about me. You were worried about your job.”

Caitlin blinked, one beat of her perfectly lined eyes. “Okay, right. What do you want me to say?”

“Try the truth.”

“I need the money, and I didn’t know what to do, with you gone. I didn’t know whether to take my cut, and you weren’t around to ask, so I did. I gave Kendra hers, too.” Caitlin’s tone turned lecturing. “We’re ru

“Okay.”

“You’re the one who came to me, saying you were ahead of the curve, that you saw this market that wasn’t being served. You said it was like any other business, but it’s not. Not when I have to answer to a gangster like Q, or whatever his real name is.”

Be

“You said you were a professional. So you can’t disappear for a week or sleep around. You think I don’t hear you on the phone with Jimmy, whoever he is? If you keep fooling around with him, you could both end up dead!”

“You finished yet?”

“One last thing. You pissed off our supplier, so how do you expect us to stay in business?”

“Leave that to me.”

“I can’t deal with this level of stress. I get constant grief from my ex, always late with the payments, and then he gives the kids the check on Sunday, which he’s not supposed to do.” Caitlin rubbed her forehead with French-manicured fingers. “It’s back-to-school time, and I had to take my cut to make a Staples run. You know how much those JanSport backpacks cost? And Book Sox are five bucks a pop.”

“Book Sox?”

“They’re things that cover the kids’ textbooks.”

“We always used paper bags.” Be

“So did we. Anyway, what happened to you last week?”

“I met somebody.”

Caitlin shook her head, disapproving. “Who?”

“Nobody you’d know, obviously.”

“What’d you do?”

Be

“Well, did you have a scratch party? Your legs are a mess.”

“Don’t ask.”

“And your hand? It looks cut. Did he cut you or something?”

“Of course not.” Be

Caitlin snorted. “So how are we going to get into your apartment? The super?”

“Obviously.”

“So you don’t have your car keys, either?”

“No.” Be

“You do, in your dresser. Remember, you lent them to me, that time my car was in the shop?”

“Oh, right.” Be

“So where’s your car?”

“Hell if I know.”

Caitlin rolled her eyes.

“You go

Caitlin smiled again, begrudgingly. “Anyway, we did so well that we were out of product by Sunday. Everybody’s crazy busy, with school starting. I’m not the only mom who’s stressed out. Look.” Caitlin slipped a hand into her purse and passed Be

“Good.” Be