Page 5 of The Familiar Stranger

“It’ll be okay,” I said, and then I turned back to the man. “Can we make a new reservation for later tonight?”

He glanced at the schedule in front of him.

“I’m sorry to say, it’s a busy night,” he said, a pained expression on his face.

“It was afamilyemergency,” Maddie cut in, even though she had zero idea what my phone call was about.

“Mmmm,” was all he said as he went back to the schedule.

A voice behind me said, “How about you join us at our table?”

I turned to see a smiling Harmony, my masseuse from earlier, standing there, out of her scrubs and wearing a fitted, pale-pink dress with long, flowing sleeves. She was with a stunning woman she introduced as Almond, who was muscled to the maximum. It made sense when we learned she taught fitness training classes in her Asheville business, Hard Body Boot Camp. From the look of them, it was clear they weretogethertogether, with Almond’s protective arm around her shoulder as she fiddled with Harmony’s honey-brown hair.

Harmony and Almond. I wondered if these were family names, or if they were unique to these two women—one soft and one tough. At least on the outside.

Without hesitation, Maddie and I agreed to join them, and we were seated at a private table tucked into an alcove.

Almond swished a finger in the air and said, “Shots all around?”

The martini hadn’t made a dent, but I passed anyway, knowing it would be best for me to eat something first.

“I’m all in,” Maddie said, and the orders were made, along with a couple of bottles of wine for the meal.

While Maddie and Almond chatted about the fitness business, Harmony turned toward me and said, “Forgive me for saying, but you look a little down. I was hoping you’d be floating on air following your massage.”

“The massage was amazing,” I said. “It’s just … I received some bad news on the phone a few minutes ago.”

Maddie’s head flipped around. “What bad news?”

All three ladies leaned in, prompting me to share what I’d learned about Henry’s girlfriend, Kim, as well as the fact that Maddie and I both had careers that involved sleuthing and deducing.

“So horrible,” Harmony said when I’d finished. “Almond’s always trying to get me to take self-defense classes. After what you just said about your friend’s girlfriend, I’m thinking I should.”

“Yes, you should,” Almond said, accepting the shot from the waiter.

He placed the wine on the table and the other two shot glasses in front of Maddie and Harmony. “Appetizers, ladies?”

Harmony shook her head. “We’re not ready yet. We’re feeling chatty tonight.”

She smiled, and he bowed and walked away, saying he’d return in a few minutes.

Feeling parched, I took a sip of my water, then said, “I recommend self-defense classes, though that doesn’t guarantee you’ll be safe from people who are out to do you harm. It does guarantee you have a fighting chance. Looks like Kim was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes even the savviest of us can’t win, no matter how much experience we have.”

“You’re trained?” Almond asked.

“In martial arts,” I said. “Comes in handy.”

Almond shot Harmony a knowing look.

“There is nothing wrong with being trained in self-defense,” Harmony said. “But there is a lot to be said for mind and spirit training. Puts you in the right place at the right time, every time.”

“I love that,” Maddie said, raising her shot glass. “The right place, right time, every time.Salud!”

I raised my water glass, and the ladies downed their shots.

“Right place, right time … except for Kim,” I said.

As soon as the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back. Harmony had tried to lift my spirits, and here I was, pushing them down.

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