box again?” On second thought, maybe that wasn’t such a great idea.
“Don’t you think I would if I could?” she cried, becoming ever more agitated. “But I don’t see anything about myself. Trust me, I’ve tried. So far, all my insights have been about you and Wynn. A lot of good my newfound talent has done me. You’re being romanced night and day, and I’ve just made a complete fool of myself.”
“LaVonne...”
“Even my cats are upset with me.”
“Tom, Phillip and Martin?” K.O. had never understood why her neighbor couldn’t name her feline companions regular cat names like Fluffy or Tiger.
“They think I’m upset with them. They’re all hiding from me, and that’s never happened before.”
K.O. felt guilty, but she couldn’t have known about the college reunion, any more than LaVonne did. “I’m sure everything will work out for the best,” she murmured. She wished she had more than a platitude to offer, but she didn’t.
“At this point that’s all I can hope for.” LaVonne expelled her breath and took another sip of coffee. That seemed to relax her, and she gave K.O. a half smile. “Tell me about you and Wynn.”
“There’s not much to say.” And yet there was. She honestly liked him. Vickie and John had, too. Never would K.O. have guessed that the originator of the Free Child movement she so reviled would be this warm, compassionate and genuinely nice person. She would’ve been happy to settle for one of those qualities. Despite everything K.O. had done to embarrass him, he was attracted to her. And it went without saying that she found Wynn Jeffries compelling and smart and...wonderful. But she was afraid to examine her feelings too closely—and even more afraid to speculate about his.
“You’ve spent practically every minute of the last two days together,” LaVonne said. “There’s got to be something.”
Shrugging, K.O. pushed her hair away from her face.
“You were with him until two this morning.”
“And I’m meeting him at the café in about an hour and a half,” she said as she glanced at the time on her microwave.
“So what gives?” LaVonne pressed.
“I like him,” she said simply. K.O. hadn’t been prepared to have any feelings for him, other than negative ones. But they got along well—as long as they didn’t discuss his book.
Overjoyed by her confession, LaVonne clapped her hands. “I knew it!”
K.O. felt it would be wrong to let her friend think she really believed in this psychic nonsense. She’d cooperated with LaVonne’s fantasy at first but now it was time to be honest. “Wynn said he asked you about me before you introduced us.”
LaVonne looked away. “He did, but it was just in passing.”
“He knew I lived in the building and had seen me around.”
Her neighbor shifted in her seat. She cleared her throat before answering. “All right, all right, I was aware that he might be interested.” She paused. “He asked me if you were single.”
Really? Wynn hadn’t told her that. “When was this?”
“Last week.”
“Was it before or after you discovered your psychic talents?”
“Before.”
Aha.
“Why didn’t he just introduce himself?”
“I asked him that, too,” LaVonne said. “Apparently he’s shy.”
“Wynn?”
LaVonne raised one shoulder. She frowned over at the phone on the counter. “You’ve got a message.”
It’d been so late when she finally got to bed that K.O. hadn’t bothered to check. Reaching over, she pressed the play button.
“K.O.,” Zelda’s voice greeted her. “Good grief, where are you? You don’t have a date, do you?” She made it sound as if that was the last thing she expected. “Is there any chance it’s with Dr. Jeffries? Call me the minute you get home.” The message was followed by a lengthy beep and then there was a second message.
“Katherine,” Zelda said more forcefully this time. “I don’t mean to be a pest, but I’d appreciate it if you’d get back to me as soon as possible. You’re out with Dr. Jeffries, aren’t you?” Zelda managed to make that sound both accusatory and improbable.
Another beep.
“In case you’re counting, this is the third time I’ve phoned you tonight. Where can you possibly be this late?”
No one ever seemed to care before, K.O. thought, and now her sister and LaVonne were suddenly keeping track of her love life.
Zelda gave a huge sigh of impatience. “I won’t call again. But I need to confirm the details for Friday night. You’re still babysitting, aren’t you?”
“I’ll be there,” K.O. muttered, just as if her sister could hear. And so will Wynn.
Zelda added, “And I’d really like it if you’d get me