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thick boots. She quickly peeled off her coat and hat, hanging them as if she lived here. "Stace, have you...oh!"
    Without the outerwear, she looked a bit like Marilyn Monroe, except without the birthmark--white blonde hair and a big, friendly, almost innocent smile, as well as curves for days. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know...are you a customer?"
    "Stacy invited me," Tessa said, feeling awkward.
    "You must be Tessa, then." The woman held out a hand and Tessa shook it automatically. "I'm Kyla. I work over at Snoqualmie Auto Repair. I live right over it, too."
    Before Tessa could respond, the door opened again. "Son of a bitch, it's cold," the new woman said. This one was taller than Kyla--taller than herself--and it was emphasized by  her towering black hair. rolled up artistically in ornate, 40's styled rockabilly curls. She had pale skin, a generous mouth painted blood red, a black leather jacket straight out of The Wild Ones , black jeans, and motorcycle boots that looked like something from  Mad Max . "Who are you?"
    Tessa swallowed, panicking, intimidated. Can I go home yet?
    "This is the girl from work I texted you about," Stacy said, rolling her eyes as the woman took off her jacket and hung it by Kyla's.
    "Didn't look at my phone. They had me work a double shift today," the woman replied, then stuck her hand out, much as Kyla had. Her nails were painted the same crimson as her lips. "I'm Hailey, Hailey Frost. I live here."
    "I...see." Actually, she didn't know anybody lived here.
    "I'm sorry. I'm not normally this rude--" she glared when Kyla snickered, "well, not immediately anyway, but it's been a shitacular day." She turned away from Tessa, glancing around. "Where's Cress?"
    Stacy's face fell. "Cressida...um, wasn't up for company." She looked at Tessa.
    Now Tessa definitely felt terrible. What the hell was she doing here?
    Hailey sighed. "It's okay. I'll talk to her later."
    Kyla sighed, then sat up brightly. "So, are we going to watch this, or what?"
    "You know, I don't think I'm up for timey-wimey tonight," Hailey said, sinking into an armchair and putting her boots up on a coffee table.
    "What happened?" Kyla asked.
    "The usual. Guy made a pass at me, thought because I was working the casino that I must be a 'working girl.' Was so  tempted to kick his ass," Hailey said, her cat's-eye liner-framed gaze looking positively ferocious. "But then I remembered: we're already behind on bills and we haven't been having the Christmas business that we'd hoped for here at the bookstore..." She sighed. "And Rache told me that Weatherby was talking about raising the rent by February. Today just sucked."
    "Where is Rachel, anyway?" Kyla asked.
    Who was Rachel? And what was going on here? Tessa felt horribly invasive, invited to this...this "crew," which she had no background with, only to hear all their personal problems. She'd come to watch some TV, hang out a bit. This seemed like the opposite of casually hanging out.
    "Rachel's at the U-Dub library," Hailey said. "Said she wanted to get a jump before the next round of classes, and the university has better resources than her online school."
    "She's working so hard," Kyla murmured.
    Stacy sighed. "I'm sorry, Tessa. I forgot--you don't really know any of us. Rachel, Hailey, and Cressida are sisters. They own this bookstore together, and live upstairs. Hailey's a blackjack dealer at the Blue Moon Casino. Rachel works there, too, as an event planner. She takes business classes online. Cressida just works here." She glanced at the staircase, then whispered, "Cress is agoraphobic. She doesn't leave the house."
    "Oh," Tessa said. She pulled out her phone and glanced at the time. Maybe she could have Ani text her...find some excuse.
    You're going to have to deal with people in engineering , she reminded herself. People who have a shared history, people who not only don't like you, they're actively looking to shake you up . Adam was right--this probably was good