The day turned blistering hot, and by the time she got home that evening, she was a sweaty, sodden mess. She couldn't wait to get to the swimming hole. She pulled her polo over her head as she walked past the battered old table that held her jewelry supplies. One of the ecology books she'd borrowed from Ted lay open on the worn couch. In the kitchen, a stack of dirty dishes waited for her in the sink. She kicked off her sneakers and opened the bathroom door.
All the blood drained from her head as she saw what was scrawled across the mirror in a vicious smear of crimson lipstick.
GO AWAY
Chapter Fifteen
H er hands shook as she tried to scrub the words away, and queer little sounds escaped from her throat.
GO AWAY
Leaving lipstick messages on mirrors was the biggest cliché in the world, something that only a person with no imagination would do. She needed to get a grip. But knowing an intruder had sneaked into her house when she was gone and touched her things made her nauseated. She didn't stop shaking until she'd erased the awful words and searched the church for other signs of invasion. She found nothing.
As her panic faded, she tried to imagine who had done this, but there were so many potential candidates she couldn't sort through them all. The front door had been locked. The back door was locked now, but she hadn't checked it before she'd left. For all she knew, the intruder had gotten in that way, then locked it afterward. She pulled her damp polo back on, went outside, and walked around the church but found nothing unusual.
She finally took her shower, darting nervous glances at the open door as she washed. She hated being frightened. Hated it even more when Ted loomed without warning in the open doorway, and she screamed.
"Jesus!" he said. "What's wrong with you?"
"Don't sneak up on me like that!"
"I knocked."
"How was I supposed to hear?" She jerked off the faucet.
"When did you get so skittish?"
"You took me by surprise, that's all." She couldn't tell him. She knew that right away. His status as a certified superhero meant he'd refuse to let her live here alone any longer. She couldn't afford to live anywhere else, and she wasn't letting him pay rent on another place. Besides, she loved her church. Maybe not at this precise moment, but she would again, as soon as she got over being creeped out.
He pulled a towel from the new Viceroy towel rack, Edinburgh line, that she'd recently installed. But instead of giving it to her, he draped it over his shoulder.
She held out her hand, even though she had a pretty good idea what was coming. "Give me that."
"Come and get it."
She wasn't in the mood. Except, of course she was because this was Ted standing in front of her, steady and sexy and smarter than any man she'd known. What better way to shake off her remaining jumpiness than to lose herself in lovemaking that demanded so little of her?
She stepped out of the shower and pressed her wet body against him. "Give it your best shot, lover boy."
He grinned and did exactly as she asked. Better than she'd asked. Each time he took more care and postponed his satisfaction longer. After it was over, she wrapped a sarong around herself with one of the silk pieces she'd worn to his rehearsal dinner, then retrieved beers for both of them from the twelve-pack he'd stashed in her refrigerator. He'd already pulled on his shorts, and he took a folded piece of paper from the pocket.
"I got this in the mail today." He sat on the couch, one arm draped along the back, and crossed his ankles on an abandoned wooden wine crate she'd turned into a coffee table.
She took the paper from him and glanced down at the letterhead. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH . He didn't usually share the more mundane aspects of his mayoral job, and she sat on the arm of a wicker chair with faded tropical print cushions to read. Within seconds, she'd shot up only to discover her knees were too rubbery to hold her weight. She sank back into the cushions and reread the pertinent paragraph.
Texas Law requires that any person who tests positive for a sexually transmitted disease including, but not limited to, chlamydia, gonorhea, HPV, and AIDS, must provide a list of recent sexual partners. This is to notify you that Meg Koranda has listed you as one of these partners. You are urged to visit your physician immediately. You are also urged to cease all sexual contact with the above named infected person.
Meg gazed up at him, feeling sick. "Infected person?"
" Gonorrhea is misspelled," he pointed out. "And the letterhead is bogus."