“What’s going on with you?” Stella asked.
“I needed girl time.”
Stella regarded her suspiciously. There was a plate of fried zucchini, one of Shabina’s specialties. It wasn’t just any old fried zucchini. This tasted light, as if it wasn’t fried and couldn’t possibly add a single calorie to your body. Shabina could fool you into thinking things like that with her food.
“Perfect. So do I. I’m going camping and need someone to camp with me.” Stella pounced. Zahra was a five-star luxury girl. She’d had enough of starving and roughing it to last a lifetime when she was growing up, but she did backpack and climb when Stella twisted her arm.
Zahra narrowed her dark brown eyes. “What does that mean? Camping in one of your cabins? Or in a tent? What exactly are you saying? Because it’s cold at night now, or hadn’t you noticed?”
“Tents by the lake. I’ve got the perfect spot already picked out.”
Zahra slumped over the tabletop dramatically, burying her face in her arms, groaning. “You’re not right in the head, Stella. No one wants to camp in a tent anymore. You have a beautiful house. Cabins. We can go anywhere. Tents by the lake?” She lifted her head and glared at Stella. “Tell me now, you’re getting me back for that time I was supposed to hike the JMT with you and I thought I was sick and backed out.”
Stella rolled her eyes. “No one believed you were going to hike the trail with me, Zahra. I didn’t believe it for a minute. I did think you might summit Whitney because you always talk about it, but no way were you actually going to hike the trail, especially when I was going out for a month. And you weren’t sick.”
“I could have done it,” Zahra stated, salting the zucchini fries, not bothering to deny that she wasn’t sick.
Stella took the salt shaker from her. “Not only could you have done it, you would have been far better at it than me. You just don’t like inconveniencing yourself.”
“I like showers. And toilets,” Zahra pointed out. “There’s nothing wrong with that. People in their right minds like those things.”
Stella laughed and then looked up at the young waitress as she plopped two plates in front of them.
“I ordered for you,” Zahra explained. “You always order the same thing. You take fifteen minutes looking over the menu and then you order the exact same thing. It’s annoying.”
“Um, honey. That’s you. You do that. I don’t ever look at the menu.”
Zahra rolled her eyes and then laughed. “Okay, I’ll concede that’s the truth. I like looking because everything sounds so good. It’s the same shopping for clothes. You go in and you want to be in and out of a store immediately. I like to look for hours. I don’t have to buy anything, but I like to look. Shabina’s like me. So is Harlow, although she does like to buy. Her mom’s a buyer so I get that. Raine is more like you. Just get with the program, she does her research ahead of time. She’s back, by the way.”
Raine’s job was loosely titled programmer. She “sort of” worked for the government, if one could call it that. Raine didn’t. Raine was in that first circle of close friends with secrets, which meant they didn’t ask too much and she didn’t volunteer. She mostly worked for the Marine training base that was about a five-hour drive away from them. Raine was scary intelligent. Wicked smart. Sam had caught on to her right away, and that was saying something because Raine tended to stay quiet and observe. At one time she had programmed missiles when she was in the military, but she was out and now programmed with a code few understood or knew. At least, that was what Stella thought she did. Who really knew?
“Raine likes to camp,” Zahra said, twisting her fork around homemade noodles. “She would probably come with us.”
Right there, that was why Zahra would always be her best friend. She might not like camping in tents in the cold, but she would do it. Stella smiled at her. “You think she would want to come when she just got back from a trip?”
“Girls’ trip?” Zahra flashed her little mysterious smile that men found smoking hot. “Of course she’ll want to come. We always have fun. We can ask Shabina too. It’s short notice for her, but she might get someone to cover for her. She has a good staff now.”
“Harlow has to work tonight. I wanted them to come to the Grill with us and dance. I missed coffee with them this morning.”
Zahra shrugged and then closed her eyes, moaning as she ate a bite of her pasta. “I swear I would marry Shabina if I went that way. No one cooks the way she does.”
Stella had to agree with her. Shabina kept the menu small, with a few daily specials, but every single thing was perfection. “Vienna may be able to come out. I’ll text Harlow and Vienna and see if they can meet us late tonight. I can set up tents for them. If not, maybe tomorrow. I wanted to camp three days.”
She hoped three days would be long enough. If the timeline went the same as the other two times there had been nightmares heralding serial killers in her life, then the murderer would be looking to kill in the next two days. She would have a dream for five nights straight and then two days later, the body would be found. That was how it worked. In this case, she hoped to interrupt the killer with her girls’ camping trip— hopefully there would be enough of them camping that it would derail anyone looking for a quiet fishing spot.
“We won’t be far from the resort, so during the day you can have spa time while I’m working if there’s an emergency or something.” Stella felt the instant impact of Zahra’s gaze. The woman saw too much. Had known her too long. When Stella went camping, she checked out of work. Put her phone away. Didn’t want anyone to even talk work.
“I love your spa,” Zahra said. “But I’m bringing the tarot cards so each of you can find your inner guide to empower you. The reading will help you find wisdom and guidance to connect with your true self.”
Stella kept eating, refusing to look at her friend, who was very serious. She wasn’t talking about the other women in their circle, she was talking about Stella. She knew something was bothering Stella, and her way of helping was to give her a reading and let her work the problem through with her own guides. Who knew? Maybe it would help. At this point, she’d take whatever she could get.
“You’re going to bring the tarot cards and Vienna is going to want to play poker and take all of our money.” Stella flashed Zahra one emotion-laden look, showing her affection briefly, but changing the subject.
“She will. I think she cheats at cards, but I can’t ever catch her at it,” Zahra declared.
Stella burst out laughing. “Vienna would never cheat at cards, but she is a card sharp. A serious one. She goes to Vegas and plays in some of the large-stakes poker games there. She wins too. Our sweet little surgical nurse has teeth. She looks like a supermodel and no one takes her seriously and that’s a big, big mistake.”
Zahra looked up, her dark brows coming together in that way that was so adorable men usually fell at her feet, but she never noticed. Stella and the others always did and secretly laughed because she seemed so clueless.
“Card sharp? I haven’t heard this term, Stella, and I’ve been in this country for many years. I play cards.”