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ponytail from ballet class, she could feel the brown frizzies that habitually escaped from it. Her hair was long, too. Really long. Of course no one could tell that except when it was wet. After it dried it kinked up into a puffy brown fuzz-balled mess. No matter how much brushing she did it never straightened out and acted right. Never. She’d even tried going to one of those cool ethnic salons filled with brown-skinned beauties with incredible hair and asking for straightening help. The stylist had been nice, but the stuff she’d put in her hair had just made it greasy, as well as frizzy. She really was the same hopeless mess she’d been forever….
    No! Pea shook herself mentally and stuck her nose back in the goddess book. She was done with that defeatist attitude. There was no way the Divine Feminine knowledge of Venus could thrive in such a negative space.
    But memorizing was difficult when the drop-dead gorgeous women were having such a fun, animated conversation. Pea couldn’t exactly hear what they were saying, but she loved watching them. She chewed a piece of raw broccoli, wishing she hadn’t eaten all of the imported cheese and prosciutto. Maybe she should go nuts and order another appetizer….
    Male voices pulled her attention from the two women and she felt a little zap of shock as she recognized the first man in the door. It was Griffin! Actually it was all of the firemen who had answered the call about Chloe. They were still in their casual navy blue uniforms with Tulsa Fire Department printed in faded gold across their chests and backs. They filled up the long bar, joking and flirting with the chic lady Pea recognized as Lola, the owner of the restaurant.
    Reluctantly Pea turned her attention from the firemen—Griffin in particular—back to the beautiful women. Rocklike, her heart sank into her stomach. Of course the two of them had noticed the entrance of one entire shift of firemen. And it was only a matter of time before the firemen, in turn, noticed the gorgeous women. Then what would happen next was more than predictable. The women would join the men and flirt and talk and laugh and probably get dates. The blonde was the most stunning of the stunning, and Griffin was her equal in masculine beauty. Of course they’d notice each other. How could they not? Beautiful people like that were made to be together. They’d probably fall in love, get married and have a litter of totally beautiful children. How depressing.
    In the meantime, no damn body would notice her.
    â€œPea, can I get you anything else?”
    The waitress’s question made her jump and Pea could feel her cheeks heating at being caught staring at the two women. It made her feel like she was a kid up past her bedtime stealing a peek at the adult world. Nervously she stood up and grabbed her purse. She’d cover her ridiculous embarrassment by going to the ladies’ room. Pea opened her mouth to tell the waitress that no thanks, she was finished and she’d just take the check, when, to her eternal mortification, what came out instead of words was the biggest, loudest, stinkiest burp in the history of the known universe. It seemed to echo against the glass liquor-filled cabinets that covered the wall behind the bar and hang in an odoriferous broccoli cloud around her. For a change, instead of being invisible, the entire restaurant turned to stare at Pea.
    â€œDamn, girl! That one sounded ripe,” said a fireman who had graying hair and the beginnings of a pot belly. He slapped his thick thigh and chortled.
    Pea wanted to die. She wanted to melt into the floor and slither under the door so that she could re-form outside in the parking lot far away from everyone who was still staring at her and then quietly and privately die. Naturally instead of doing something calm and cool and collected, like putting a couple of twenties on the table and sauntering out the door, Pea blurted,