Nevada could see the different colors but couldn’t have named them. She barely would have noticed the leaf at all, if Cat hadn’t picked it up.

Cat dropped the leaf back on the ground and put her hands around her coffee. “Sometimes I find everything so difficult. Not just the work, but living with these gifts.”

Nevada took a sip and did her best not to roll her eyes.

Cat looked at her, her green eyes stark with pain. “What I have, my talent, for lack of a better word, it separates me from everyone else. I can’t give up my art and live like you do, but the price I pay for that is that there is always a wall between me and everyone else.”

For the second time in about twenty minutes, Nevada felt like scum. It wasn’t pleasant. She’d always been so quick to judge Cat. At times the other woman was comical, but she was also a person.

“I can see where it would be difficult,” she said slowly. “You’re always on display. People want to know you because of your talent and your fame. How can you know when someone is being sincere?”

Cat’s whole face brightened. “Yes. I knew you’d understand. I want more, but I’m afraid of it, too. Of what I’ll have to give up. That if I find love or happiness, the rest of it will be taken from me.” She shrugged. “Or maybe I use that as an excuse. Relationships require effort and I can be lazy. I give everything to my work and when I’m done I want someone taking care of me. I want to be the important one.”

“They say understanding the problem is half the battle.”

Cat laughed. “I think they’re wrong. Because I’m not that interested in changing. I like being spoiled.” Her humor faded. “But sometimes I want more. I want a connection.” She leaned toward Nevada. “I came here because of you.”

Nevada wasn’t sure what to make of that statement. “You mean because I’d talked about my hometown?” She couldn’t remember much of what she and Cat had talked about ten years ago, but it made sense that she would have mentioned Fool’s Gold.

“No.” Cat’s eyes softened. “Although you did talk about it endlessly. I came because I remembered how much I liked you. I thought we had a connection I don’t find with many people.”

Nevada shifted in her seat. She had the oddest sense that this conversation was about to take an unexpected turn.

“We’re friends,” Nevada told her. “I think you need some friends.”

Cat stared at her intently. “We can be friends if you’d like. But I was thinking of something more.”

With that, she moved toward Nevada. Her head tilted and her mouth…

Nevada scrambled to her feet so quickly the chair went skidding across the sidewalk. Disbelief battled with a voice in her head saying she had to have misunderstood — that there was no way Cat had been about to kiss her.

“Nevada?”

Cat didn’t look the least bit upset. If anything, amusement teased at the corners of her mouth.

“I, ah, have to go,” Nevada stammered. “I have to be somewhere.”

She should probably say something else. Offer a less lame excuse. But her brain wasn’t working, so she turned and took off at a run.



“IT’S NOT FUNNY,” Nevada insisted, pacing the length of the trailer, which, considering how small it was, wasn’t very satisfying. “It’s not funny at all.”

Tucker sat on the corner of his desk, watching her. He was grinning like a sheep and really starting to piss her off.

“It’s a little funny,” he said. “Come on. Cat coming on to you?”

She spun on her work-boot heel and glared at him. “Are you saying I’m not worthy?”

He held up both hands in a gesture of surrender. “No. Of course not. I’m saying Cat is firmly in the guy camp. Trust me. I have proof.”

“I’m sure you do and I know what you’re saying makes sense.” She stared pacing again. “It’s just I would swear…”

She shook her head. Maybe she was going crazy. Maybe she’d misunderstood. But it hadn’t felt like a misunderstanding. It had felt as if Cat was going to kiss her. Right there in front of Starbucks!

After their encounter, Nevada had gone back to her apartment, only to find she was too restless to stay there. She’d phoned Montana and had been thrilled to learn that Simon had been called into emergency surgery. That made her a hideous person, because that meant someone was hurt.

Telling herself she wasn’t responsible hadn’t helped much, but spending the evening with her sister had. They’d packed up most of Montana’s small house for the impending move to Max’s place. She’d gotten home late and exhausted, and still hadn’t been able to sleep.

“We were talking about her,” she said, going over the material for the four thousandth time.

“It is Cat’s favorite topic.”

“You’re not helping.”

“Sorry.”

He didn’t look sorry. He looked like a man trying not to laugh.

“I could kill you, you know,” she told him. “This is my town. They’d help hide the body.”

“You’d miss me.”

“Not as much as you’d think.”

He crossed to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “I think Cat was just being her normal, narcissistic self. It was all about her, and somehow you read that as something else.”

“Maybe.” She’d been so sure at the time, though. Scared, even. “You weren’t there. She keeps talking about being in her feminine phase. Maybe this is part of that.”

His mouth twitched again. “Were you tempted?”

She slapped his hands away. “Did I mention I hate you?”

“Can I watch?”

“Yuck. What’s wrong with you? I have a serious problem.”

“A beautiful woman wants you. That is a problem.”

She grunted in irritation, then stalked to her desk. “You’re not taking this seriously.”

“And you’re taking it too seriously. Even if she did try to kiss you, this is Cat we’re talking about. She was just being her usual attention-seeking self. It doesn’t mean she’s serious about wanting to have sex with you.”

At last he was making sense. “I can buy that,” she admitted. “I was being sympathetic. I’m sure that’s all it was. Her responding to that.”

“Right. And if it turns out she is serious, are you making a video?”

She picked up the folder on her desk and opened it to study the compaction report inside. “Are you talking? All I hear is a buzzing sound. It’s the strangest thing.”

He crossed to her, turned her and kissed her. “I’m sorry she upset you. I’m sorry you were uncomfortable.”

She leaned against him. “I don’t have anything against girl kissing,” she whispered. “In theory. I just don’t want to share in it.”

“Cat was playing. She’ll have moved on to something else by the time you see her again.”

“I hope.”

“Trust me.”



WHEN A DAY OF MOVING lumber and walking the site that would be blasted didn’t make Nevada feel any better, she gladly accepted an invitation to join her friends at Jo’s Bar after work. Heidi had promised to call Annabelle and Charlie, and the other women were waiting when Nevada arrived — as was a very tall, very cold vodka tonic.

“You read my mind,” she said, slipping into the seat they’d saved for her. “Thanks.” She took a sip. “How are things with everyone?”

“Good,” Heidi said with a grin. “No recent goat escapes, which is working for me. And the feral cows are keeping their distance.”

Annabelle laughed. “You’re the only person I know who’s frightened of cows.”

“I’m not frightened. They’re a bad influence.”

Annabelle shook her head. “Keep telling yourself that. I’m fine, too. Loving the library, loving the town. Did you all see the leaves over the weekend? Talk about beautiful.”

“Leaves catch fire,” Charlie grumbled.

“Ever the romantic,” Nevada teased.

Charlie eyed her over her margarita. “Your sisters are getting married.”

Nevada took another drink, then sighed. “That sounds more like an accusation than a question.”

“I didn’t mean it to. I guess I’m surprised.”

Nevada realized the other two women were looking at her with identical expressions of concern. “Uh-oh. You’ve been talking about this.”

Heidi leaned toward her. “A little. Don’t be mad. We’re worried. You’re a triplet.”

“I kind of knew that.”

“What she means,” Annabelle said, “is you’ve always done things together and now they’re getting married. We’re worried.”

Nevada felt a rush of affection for the three of them. “Thank you, but don’t be. I’m fine. I love my sisters and I’m okay with the wedding.”

She paused, admitting to herself that she felt a little left out. “Maybe it’s a little strange, but I don’t want anything to change.”

Heidi wrinkled her nose. “I know I’m new and I shouldn’t have an opinion.”

“Don’t let that stop you,” Charlie told her.

“I like your sisters,” Heidi continued. “But it seems kind of mean to have a double wedding, leaving you out. Shouldn’t they have gotten married separately?”

“Yes,” Jo said, coming up to the table with a huge plate of nachos. “That would have made the most sense. But they’re in love and happy and people do crazy things when they’re in love. Dakota and Montana love their sister and would never want to hurt her. They really want to have a double wedding. There’s no way to reconcile the two.”

“I’m not hurt,” Nevada said. “I mean that. Sure, I feel funny about it, but I want them to have the wedding of their dreams. I’ll be part of it and that’s what is important.”

Jo put down a stack of napkins and four small plates. “You four are going to get drunk tonight, aren’t you?”

“Maybe,” Charlie admitted.

“Everyone walking?” Jo asked.