Careful What You Kiss For by Jane Lynne Daniels

them. If anyone was given to flights of drama, it was Tensley. “So you had fun with a cute, geeky guy. That’s not such a bad thing.”
    “As it turned out, it was.”
    Her friend’s bottom lip quivered. “Why?” Tensley asked carefully.
    “I shouldn’t be talking about all this.” Kate put her hand up, backing away. “It’s crazy. We haven’t even seen each other in years and all of a sudden, I’m telling you things I haven’t told anyone — ”
    “Stop,” Tensley ordered.
    She did, letting her hand fall back down.
    “Two days ago, you tried to fire Mary Sue for, I don’t know, the tenth time in the last year? And you couldn’t do it. Just like you couldn’t do it the other nine times. Even though she misplaced the supply order and didn’t submit it. Again.”
    Kate stared.
    “Who did you call to beat yourself up for being weak? Me. Your best friend. And I reminded you what kind of a person you are. The kind that is a very good vet, but has a hard time firing people.”
    “Oh.”
    “You need an office manager. I told you that then, for … hmm … I guess the tenth time. And I’m telling you it again now.”
    Kate crinkled her forehead. “I do need an office manager.”
    “And you need to remember, no matter what else you might think happened, that we have never stopped being best friends.”
    “If anybody should know things aren’t what they seem, I guess it’s me.”
    “Damn right. Now tell me what happened with you and who-knew-he-had-it-in-him Mitch.”
    Kate looked away. When she spoke again, her voice was small. “It was all so fast. We were dancing at the prom, then we were in the suite drinking champagne, then more champagne, then we were in bed … .”
    “Oh. My God.” This time, Tensley was the one to drop into a chair. Her friend wouldn’t look at her. “You mean — ” She lowered her voice. “Did you get pregnant?”
    In the several minutes it took for Kate to respond, Tensley flew through emotions at a dizzying speed — from concern for her friend to regret that Tensley must not have been there for her and then to anger that Kate hadn’t shared something so monumental — before finally landing on empathy for the upheaval one night of teenage hormones must have caused.
    “I got married,” Kate said.
    “You — what? When?”
    “That night. We’d just graduated, the whole world was open to us and it felt exciting and grown up, but so scary. We didn’t think anything would change. We’d still go to college, but we would have each other and somehow getting married felt like being adults. When we weren’t sure we could be adults.” She took a deep breath. “Plus, it felt so good to have someone love me. And to love him back.”
    “Wow,” Tensley whispered in disbelief.
    Kate’s gaze took on a faraway look. “Remember when we were little, how we would plan our weddings? The dresses, the flowers. The gorgeous groom. The houses we would live in, the cars we would drive? We always started with ‘once upon a time.’”
    “And ended with ‘they lived happily ever after,’” Tensley said gently. “I remember.”
    “Fairy tales should be banned.”
    “Maybe.” Beads of worry began to form around her heart, ready to roll.
    “Little girls turn into big girls who still believe in them.”
    Madame Claire’s powers apparently didn’t extend to erasing the remembered pain of a mistake. Tensley stood, putting her hand on her friend’s arm. “Kate — ”
    From the back of the clinic, a dog began barking, diverting the vet’s attention. She turned toward the door. “I have to go.”
    Tensley kept hold of her arm, not letting her leave just yet. “What happened? With Mitch. Before you went to Madame Claire.”
    “Early in the morning. Justice of the Peace. We had both just turned eighteen so we didn’t need anyone’s permission.” If Kate’s lip hadn’t been trembling, she might have been able to pull off the playful lift of her brows. “And you were