“Hell.”

“Yeah, well, like I said, sorry.”

Linda turned in the seat to look at her. “So, here we are.”

“Tell me about the job you interviewed for.” Don’t hold my hand, Marissa wanted to say. Don’t sit so close. Don’t lean toward me and kiss me, please, don’t do anything like that, because right now I couldn’t care less about the pain in my leg. Right now all I can smell is your cologne and all I can feel is the warmth of you. Right now I couldn’t find a no to save my life.

Linda dutifully launched into a detailed explanation, and that passed the time until Marissa saw her mother’s BMW streaking across the lot toward them. She rolled down the window and waved, then dug in her purse for her keys as her mother pulled into the next space.

“Shall I follow you? I’m not sure I could find your place on my own.”

“Sure.” She passed the keys over and her mother backed out again to re-park next to Marissa’s car. “Okay,” Marissa said to Linda. “Go out to the street and bear right.”

“If you get me onto Raven Canyon, I can find it from there.”

“Oh.”

“I had a lot of time to look at maps.”

“Right then. At the stop sign turn left.” She rubbed her arms and could feel nothing but cold and muddy.

“How about some heat?” Linda played with the controls at Marissa’s nod. “Poor thing, you’re shivering.”

“Just reaction.” Sure, it had nothing to do with the mud and icy water she could feel running into her underwear. “At the light turn left. Then you’re on the freeway.”

“I know where I am now, thanks. Just close your eyes, okay?”

Well this was a mess, Marissa thought. She wasn’t sure she wanted Linda in her life, and whoopee, she got carried up her own stairs by Linda and now Linda was surveying the wreck of her living room and the dozen years of Marissa finding new and interesting ways to fit more crap into the same space.

Plus, her mother was watching. Truth be told, her mother looked a little bit faint—she hadn’t seen the inside of Marissa’s place in years now.

Her mother recovered from the shock enough to say, “Carry my daughter into the bedroom and I’ll take it from there. Then you can drive me back to my car.”

“Bathroom, take me to the bathroom. I want a hot shower.” Marissa could feel that Linda’s heart was beating hard. She pointed.

Linda set her down in front of the sink. The room was quickly crowded when her mother joined them.

“I don’t need an audience to my shower, thank you. It was just an accident, a mistake, just like I was an accident.” She rolled her eyes at her mother.

“Marissa, sweetie.” Her mother looked at her in shock. “You might have been an accident but never, ever were you a mistake!”

“I’ll just leave now.” Linda quickly stepped into the little hallway.