in briefly before taking his hand to continue up. “We both carry the patsy gene. It’s probably like a pheromone.”
“Speak for yourself. I prefer thinking of it as being considerate by nature and thinking the best of others.”
“Yeah. Patsy.” She laughed up at him, then jerked to a halt when she saw stupefied shock rush over his face. “What? What’s the—Oh God. Oh my God.”
She stood, as he was, staring at the tornado debris of her room. “I forgot. I . . . forgot to tell you I’m actually an international spy, a double agent. And my arch nemesis broke in earlier to search for the secret code. There was a terrible battle.”
“I’d like to believe that.”
“It’s Zen.”
“Your arch nemesis?”
“No. No, the ultimate goal. Look, just go downstairs until I stuff all this back. It won’t take that long.”
“It’s a small department store,” Carter said with some wonder. “It’s a boutique.”
“Yes, for the temporarily insane.” She hauled up an armful of clothes. “Really, give me ten minutes. It’s not as bad as it looks.”
“I applaud your optimism. Mackensie, I’m sorry what happened upset you this much.”
“How did you—”
“I have two sisters and a mother. I recognize the signs of an angry cleaning spree.”
“Oh.” She dumped the armload back on the sofa. “I forgot you have knowledge of the basic framework.”
“I’ll help you put everything back. Somewhere. Since I was part of the problem.”
“No. Yes. I mean, yes, you were part of the problem. Like the tip of the iceberg. But under the surface was the really massive . . . rest of the iceberg,” she decided. “Like Titanic’s. You know from my mother’s mortifying visit up to Corrinda—”
“You’re really going to keep calling her that?”
“Yes. Anyway, you know that part of it, but what set this off, the last twitch of the finger on the trigger circles back to Linda.”
She walked to the bed this time, took an armload. “She didn’t bring my car back. And, because she didn’t want to bring my car back, as that would have entailed bringing herself back when she was having a good time in New York, she didn’t answer her phone.”
She turned after hanging up the load and turned to find him behind her with another. “Thanks. She also neglected to leave me the keys to hers, so I couldn’t have used it if I’d wanted to. By yesterday morning I was ready to do murder, but then I had a pep talk from Laurel—who takes no crap from anyone. I so admire that in her. After that, I had my mother’s car towed to this garage, this mechanic’s place.”
“That was brilliant. Appropriate consequences for inappropriate behavior.”
“That sounds so Dr. Maguire. Appropriate maybe, but it’s mean, too, especially since the guy knows Del and agreed to charge Linda for the towing and the storage.”
“I take it, since your car’s out front, she finally brought it back. She’d have been furious about hers being towed.”
“And then some. It was ugly. Very ugly, during which I learned even when you stand your ground, do what’s right, it hurts. A fist in the face, you could say,” she added with a small smile for him. “And skipping over the details, I ended by calling her a cab and locking her out of the house.”
“Good. She’ll think twice before pulling something like that again.”
“There’s that optimism. It’s so shiny. She never thinks twice, Carter. It’s going to take a lot more of the same before we’re done. It’s on me to do it. To keep doing it, and to keep taking that fist in the face without giving ground.”
“But you will.”
“I have to. Anyway, I decided to work off the upset by cleaning up my mess. I made a bigger one first, but with the goal of decluttering and restructuring. Which became symbolic for tossing out old habits and mind-sets. So . . .”
She broke off as she turned with another armload and caught sight of herself in the mirror. “Oh Jesus, Jesus, I look like I escaped from the institution for the terminally sloppy and unkempt. Couldn’t you have told me my hair looked like a couple of cats fought in it?”
“I like your hair.”
She raked her fingers through it. “You know, this is just one more world of irritating. I looked really good the night I came by your place. Those MAC girls know their stuff. Plus I sprang for La Perla, and I was wearing it. My credit card had a minor stroke, but