After Dr. Snow"s farewell lunch, Liz went to visit Mia."Put this to chill…", Liz demanded with a big smile on her face from the door while handing a bottle of wine to Mia.
"Uuu… This is the good stuff.", Mia said while eyeing Kobalt Cabernet Napa, 2014. "Are we celebrating something?"
Liz put her arms akimbo, with a smug expression of a supermodel who is waiting for her glamour shoot, and announced: "You are looking at THE senior neurosurgeon!"
Mia"s eyes widened for a second before she grinned. "Congratulations! I have some cheese pastries in the freezer. By the time they bake, the wine will be chilled."
Liz laughed. Mia always thinks about food.
The two of them chatted about recent events and Liz told Mia about the fundraiser and how Dr. Snow is now officially out of Seattle.
Mia approved. "Good. That man was only a headache. Good looking, but still a headache. I can"t believe that even as he was leaving he tried to make a move on you."
Liz waved, indicating that it"s not a big deal. "He might be interested in me, but I am sure that he will find someone else and move on. As you said, he is good looking, and many women would be happy to throw themselves at him. Now that he is going to Oregon, who knows if I will ever see him again. Let"s focus on important things: the Fourth of July party. Is Bri coming?"
Mia confirmed. "About that… can she stay at your place?"
Liz shrugged. "Sure. I have no problem with that, but I need to ask, is there something wrong with your apartment? You have spare bedrooms."
"Yeah, but it"s not safe…", Mia told Liz how she is setting traps for Hunter as a preparation for meeting with her family.
Liz laughed. "I see that you are bored. Why don"t you go out and do something instead of setting traps in your apartment?"
"You don"t understand. It"s important for him to practice."
Liz didn"t approve. "I also think that it"s important for a person to feel safe at home and not to flinch at every sound and movement, worrying if something will explode."
Mia made a thinking face.
"Hey…", Liz nudged her. "Don"t tell me that I just gave you an idea!"
Mia laughed.
Liz told Mia about Jackson and Sabrina.
Mia was stupefied. She didn"t know that Jackson was. .h.i.tting on Liz in Hawaii and she never suspected that engagement between Rina and Jack is a sham!
"I thought that he is busy and working.", Mia said absentmindedly while processing the information Liz told her. "But now that you mention this… Other than in Hawaii, I didn"t see Jackson. Rina is always on her own and she doesn"t talk about him either. And that should be unusual, considering that they are both from Seattle."
Mia was lost in her thoughts for some time before looking at Liz. "What are we going to do about him? He is coming to the party, right?"
"Probably. And we should not show him that we suspect something is off. Actually, I"ve had a conflict in Hawaii with him after he made a move on me, so he will probably not come near me. But if he comes near you, be alert because he is a player and try not to expose that we are on to him."
"You are going to let Jackson use Rina like this?"
Liz shrugged helplessly. "Rina is fine with it and unless that changes, there is nothing we can do. However, I"m not letting him go. We are collecting data and if we find the evidence that he is lying, we will show it to Rina."
Mia agreed with this, and then remembered a point: "What kind of a conflict you had with Jackson?"
Mia dissolved into a puddle of giggles when Liz told her how she kicked Jackson where it counts and then bullied him.
"Well, after that, I am pretty sure that he will not talk to you…", Mia said when she caught her breath.
Mia"s expression turned serious. "How come you didn"t tell me that he made a move on you and that he hara.s.sed you later in the restaurant?"
"Sorry, Mia…", Liz said apologetically. "It"s not that I wanted to keep it from you, but with McKenzie pushing me off the cliff and Max ending up in the hospital, things were crazy, and I forgot that Jackson even exists."
Mia thought how that makes sense. Since Liz mentioned McKenzie, Mia remembered how that woman will also be at the party. "What is your plan for McKenzie?"
Liz"s expression showed that she is troubled. "I am still not sure."
"Are you planning to let her strike first again? Or you hope that she will not do anything? In either case, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage, and she is dangerous."
Liz waved her hands defensively. "No, no. That is not what I said. I am quite confident that she will do something. If she couldn"t hold it in Hawaii, now it will be several folds worse..." Liz paused and smiled. She almost said that if her relationship with Max was bothering McKenzie then, the woman will implode now when the air between Liz and Max is much more intense.
Mia noticed that Liz is contemplating if she should talk about something or not. "What makes it worse?", she urged Liz to continue.
Liz"s eyes darted around nervously. "What?"
"You said that compared to Hawaii, something is worse… what is it?"
Liz cleared her throat. "Well… it"s not really worse… it"s more…"
Mia observed Liz blushing while stuttering and she realized: "HA! You slept with Max!"
Liz didn"t want to deny it, no matter how embarra.s.sing it is to talk about it, it"s the truth. "Why are you making a big deal out of it?"
Mia observed Liz with glee. "When?"
"What?"
"When did you sleep with him? I mean… the first time?" Mia was unable to hide her enthusiasm.
"After the fundraiser.", Liz responded awkwardly.
Mia"s face lit up. Liz finally did it! And Max managed to go where no other man went before! Ah, it happened a week ago and she found out only now? Is it possible that they didn"t see each other since then?
Mia"s expression turned into a scowl when she connected the timing of events. "Soooo… you are telling me that while we were busting ourselves looking for you, thinking that something horrible happened, the two of you were doing the nasty on his boat?"
Mia observed Liz"s variety of expressions while her blush intensified, and Mia could not be angry at Liz. She burst into giggles. "No wonder you were offline. OK. I will know for the next time. If both of you are missing, you are busy."
Mia observed Liz expectantly before asking: "So? How is it? Olivia told me that Max has quite a reputation. Since you spent Sat.u.r.day night and most of the Sunday there, it must be good. Did you have enough condoms?"
"We didn"t use any." Liz responded flatly.
Mia blinked. "What? Are you having unprotected s.e.x?"
Liz smirked smugly. "I am not like you. I actually dated my boyfriend before we slept, and I started taking the pill as soon as we officially became a couple."
Liz"s words struck Mia where it hurts. Mia can"t deny that she slept with Hunter right away, actually, they slept first before confirming their dating status. But she will not give up just yet. "You taking the pill from day one, tells me that you were ready to sleep with Max as soon as you started dating."
Liz didn"t agree with this logic. "No. It should tell you that I am thinking about the possibilities. We are both healthy grownups and it"s logical that unless we break up, we will end up rolling in the sheets sooner or later. As a modern woman I am taking responsibility for my contraception and I don"t want to rely on a guy to be in charge of what will happen to my body. I will never allow myself to risk pregnancy and a lifetime commitment because of a few hours of pleasure."
Mia was surprised how Liz is resolutely defending her action. And it makes sense. But there was one more thing which caught her attention… "Few HOURS of pleasure!?"
Liz looked at Mia and smiled smugly in response. Ah, now she is missing Max!
Liz ignored Mia"s curious gaze because there is NO WAY she will discuss the details of what she and Max are doing during their s.e.xy time. In Liz"s opinion, she already said too much.
"Let"s return to the topic of McKenzie… Max found out that she took $5k in cash out of the bank yesterday."
Mia realized that the topic of Liz and Max sleeping together is over. And the topic turned serious. "That is a lot of money. People use cash only if they don"t want to leave traces."
"Max is confident that he will find out on what that money is spent, but I have a feeling that whatever it is, it will be for this upcoming party."
"What makes you think so?"
"A feeling, supported by facts. McKenzie is obsessed with Max and it culminated where she pushed me off the cliff. However, a person like her probably hates me even more after coming out of it unscathed while Max was in the hospital. It is in human nature that when you put an effort into something and it fails, you will continue pursuing it because if you give up, it means that your previous efforts are wasted. McKenzie put many years into following Max and she crossed the border of simple jealousy when she tried to get me out of the way… she is already deeply invested in her infatuation with Max."
Mia agreed with this. "McKenzie can do a lot of things with five thousand dollars; she can hire someone to seduce you or kidnap you. What if Max does not find out what she will do with the money? Are you back into a defensive position where you wait to see what she will do?"
"If she stayed quiet in Hawaii, that would be the case. But I know that she crossed the line once, and that means that she will cross it again. I don"t want to wait for her to strike first."
Mia approved. "What is the plan? You know that you can count on me. And I"m confident that Bri will help as well."
Liz"s expression softened. It is good to know that her friends will support her. "Thank you. No matter what McKenzie is planning with that money, I will shake her up. She will learn that I am not a person who will get bullied…"
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