I shook my head. ‘ Except for Miss Cutie Pie over there.’

Brie agreed sadly, ‘ It’ s true, she’ s hotter,’  and tipped her chin toward the competition. Troy’ s eyes followed our gaze.

He grabbed a pencil from the table display advertising the nachos special. Leaning over the list, he drew a neat line through Be the hottest girl at Oasis. Then he returned it me. ‘ Not even close.’

Chapter 10

T he gas giveaway project was stalling since we couldn’ t find a single gas station that would work with us. Seems there’ s this little thing called ‘ liability’  they were worried about. One gas station manager wanted me to take out a million-dollar insurance policy in case anyone had a heart attack from excitement when we offered to pay for their gas. Even when I tried to explain that the total value of each prize would be fifty dollars tops-and that would only be for those big gas-hog SUVs-he turned me down. ‘ You never know,’  he said. ‘ My sister-in-law had a spider drop in front of her when she was vacuuming, and it gave her such a bad fright that, boom, that was all she wrote.’

I’ d been calling gas stations for weeks with zero luck. The date was set for April 16, two weeks away. I was the bride who’ d booked the band and ordered the cake but couldn’ t find a groom that would have her.

At Lizbeth’ s weekly department meeting, Martucci offered up a lead, a guy he knew by the name of Armando who managed an Umpco station in Burbank. The location had me drooling since it was close to where so many of the major news studios were located.

‘ What’ s in it for me?’  Armando said when I called him to ask if we could have the gas giveaway at his station. He continued working the register as we talked. I could hear the chinging of the drawer opening and closing.

‘ It’ d be great publicity for your station-plus we’ d bring in lots of business.’

‘ How do you figure? Didn’ t you say you were going to surprise customers? So how would new people be coming to spend their money at my station?’

‘ Well, yes, but-’

I heard him shout away from the phone, ‘ Not that pump! That one’ s got a broken handle& pump five! Use pump five!’  Then he was back. ‘ How much new business you figure we’ ll get that day?’

‘ It’ s more about goodwill. You see-’

‘ Goodwill! Unless it’ s green and has a picture of a president on it, I can’ t use your goodwill. Pump five, I said! Jesus, can you count? One, two, three, four, five!’

‘ The idea is that people will see your station on TV or hear about it on the radio and-’

‘ No shit it’ s not working, Sherlock! You’ re at the wrong pump!’  he shouted. He came back to the phone. ‘ Not interested.’

When I reported to Martucci that I’ d struck out when I called, he said, ‘ You called? Well, no wonder. You’ re not going to get anywhere on the phone. You’ ve got to go there in person and talk to him.’  He pulled a scrap of paper from his desk and wrote down directions to the gas station. ‘ And for Christ’ s sake, Parker, wear something tight.’

‘ WE’ RE ON!’  I announced jubilantly at the department meeting later that week. Thanks to those five pounds I’ d gained-and possibly more, but having dumped my scale, how was I to know?-virtually every item of clothing I owned was tight. I’ d gone straight from work to seal the deal. While I’ d like to say that Armando was no match for my charms, to be truthful, he’ d put up quite a struggle. In the end, however, I prevailed-especially after I assured him that I’ d do everything in my power to make sure he got on camera. That, and yes, I’ d wear the red top again.

Although I could have gone through with the event with just one gas station committed, Brie had come through with another as well. Some friend of a friend owned a Union 76 near the airport. Everything was shaping up just as I’ d hoped.

My confidence was such that I even had T-shirts printed up at Kinko’ s for the staff to wear. I held up a shirt, which was bright purple with white lettering: The Great Gas Giveaway on the front and our logo and phone number on the back.

Lizbeth managed a wan smile. ‘ Cute& although I don’ t know how ‘ great’  it is seeing as we only have the two locations.’

I wanted to jab her with a sarcastic, ‘ Oh yeah?’  but besides the fact that it was hardly the sort of witty retort that she had coming, I absolutely refused to let that woman get to me. This event was going to be a huge success, and that was the best possible revenge for her sour attitude.

After the meeting, Brie pulled me aside and gave me a teasing nudge. ‘ This might be worth a call to your traffic reporter friend. The one who thinks you’ re hot?’

‘ Shut up,’  I said, reddening. ‘ I practically begged for that compliment.’

But she had a point. I should give Troy a call to tell him about the gas giveaway so he could mention it on air.

But not yet.

Two weeks’  notice to ask for a ten-second plug sounded desperate even to me.

‘ LOOK AT YOU! How adora-’  I started to exclaim, until Deedee widened her eyes and shook her head vigorously at me to stop me from continuing. ‘ -ble,’  I finished on a much quieter note.

‘ Let’ s go,’  she said stiffly.

She’ d answered the door wearing one of Brie’ s outfits-jeans jacket over a striped Lycra top and pink pants that rode low on the hips. Sure, the clothes might have been a size too small for her, but it was a refreshing change over the huge shirts and baggy pants. Even though I can’ t say the outfit was entirely flattering, it begged for comment.

‘ Buenos días,’  I called to her mother as I always did as Deedee ran out of the house.

When we got into my car, I said, ‘ What’ s the deal? Does your mom not want you wearing stuff like that?’

‘ Are you kidding? She’ d love it. She’ s been on my butt to stop the sagging and dragging for forever.’

‘ I see.’  I remembered back to Deedee’ s mother complaining to Rose Morales on my first visit. Deedee’ s choice of clothes had obviously turned into a power struggle between the two of them. She wanted Deedee to dress more femininely, and apparently Deedee had wanted the same thing but wouldn’ t admit it.

‘ The way I figure it, she only needs to think I’ m wearing the big clothes.’  She had a triumphant grin. ‘ I gotta be careful, though, because she’ s not totally blind. I need to keep it low on the colors if she’ s around.’

‘ Clever. Too bad you couldn’ t hide those good grades from her, too.’

She caught my sarcasm and returned it in kind. ‘ Rose ratted me out on those.’

‘ You’ re probably the only teenager in America hiding her good behavior from her mother. Anyway, what I was going to say is that you’ re adorable.’

‘ Thanks. You’ re not going to tell her, are you?’

‘ How?’

‘ Oh yeah. Heh.’  Then she added, ‘ She can speak some English, and she understands a lot more than she lets on. They talk English around her at the restaurant where she works.’

‘ She works?’

‘ Yeah, she works. She’ s a cook. Real fancy restaurant.’

‘ That’ s amazing. I’ m a terrible cook, and I don’ t even have a disability. You’ d think she’ d burn herself, or-’

‘ She never burns herself. She’ s too perfect.’  Deedee picked at a button on her jacket. ‘ I hear every damn day how much she can do even though she can’ t see. She’ s always harping on how I need to make something of myself like she has. Not follow so many of the girls who start popping out the kids right away. She wants me to go to college first and make a lot of money.’

‘ Isn’ t that what you want?’

‘ Sure, but maybe I want kids first. You know, before I’ m all old.’  She must have realized what she said as soon as she said it, because she added hurriedly, ‘ Not that being old when you have kids is bad.’  A few seconds passed before she asked, ‘ You ever thought about having kids?’

‘ Sure. Even though I’ m so aged that I’ m certain my ovaries are shriveled and filled with dust, I may give it a shot.’

‘ Or maybe you can adopt.’

‘ I’ m thirty-four. You act as if it’ s hopeless.’

‘ I didn’ t mean it that way. It’ s only that where I’ m from, women your age are grandmas.’

WE MET SEBASTIAN and Kip at a laser tag in Pasadena. That hadn’ t been the original plan. I’ d set up lunch so that Sebastian could talk to Deedee about her writing. He asked if Kip could come along, however, and since it’ d be the four of us, couldn’ t we have a little fun? I’ d switched plans, and watching them together, I was glad I had. They had a blast. Deedee let loose in a way she rarely did-screaming back and forth in Spanish with Kip, making up Mexican mafioso games, and laughing hysterically.

Unfortunately, the whole concept of laser tag eluded me. The room was so dark that I kept getting lost in the maze. The gun didn’ t shoot anything I could see, and I never did catch on to how I was supposed to recharge. They made fun of me later because I’ d been killed and didn’ t even know it. Apparently, I walked around for three rounds already dead-nothing but a ghost pulling the trigger over and over with no effect on anyone.

We parted ways at the laser tag, and I took Deedee home. ‘ Good luck sneaking in without being seen,’  I called as I let her out of the car. ‘ And don’ t let me catch you doing anything good!’

She rolled her eyes.

The phone was ringing when I walked into my apartment, and when I picked it up it was Kip.

‘ Calling to gloat about your victory?’  I asked. ‘ Because I’ m wondering if the term poor sportsmanship rings any sort of bell for you.’

‘ I need to talk to you about Deedee,’  he said, his voice stiff.

‘ Did something happen?’

‘ I could be wrong about this& ‘

‘ Okay& ‘