Karma's Karma Or What Comes Around Goes Around

On a recent visit to Boise I decided to see a few of my favorite people and escape my three teenagers. Naturally I went to Humpin' Hannah's—after all, there aren't many places my kids can't follow me. Thank God my kids are still under age and Karma cards. Well, here's what happened... 

I swung the door open to my favorite bar in Boise, Idaho, Humpin’ Hanna’s. My eyes went right to Karma Kincaid, manning—or is it womanning the bar.

Karma looked toward me and her face broke into a grin. “Hey, Robin! When did you get back in town?” She slid under the pass-through and gave me a big hug.

“Yesterday. It’s great to be back. I’m supposed to meet Jessie and Fisher here.”

Karma’s eyebrows rose. “What for?”

I tossed my bag on polished mahogany and claimed a stool while she scooted back behind the bar. “I’m here to interview them. My book, Call Me Wild, came out August 7th and I thought it might be fun to get their take on having their entire romance in print.”

“Hmm.” Karma wiped down the already clean bar.

“Hmm? Is there a problem, Karma?”

She shrugged and flipped her blonde curls over her shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re doing interviewing them. I’m the one who set them up. If it wasn’t for me, Jessie would still think Fisher was a stalker, and she still wouldn’t believe in love.”

“Really?”

Karma gave me her don’t-you-know-anything look, rolled her eyes for punctuation and planted her hands on her hips. “Yeah, really. Didn’t you even read the book?”

“I wrote the book.”

“Then why are you asking me instead of interviewing me? I’ll bet you twenty bucks that I’m way more interesting.”

“You’re on.” We shook hands and then Karma leaned toward me, placed her elbows on the bar and held her chin in her hand.

“So? Are you going to ask me questions?”

“And lose twenty bucks because I’m a good interviewer? I don’t think so.”

She smiled. “Ooh, so you’re gonna make me do all the work. Okay, that’s not a problem. I have plenty to say.”

“I’m waiting with bated breath.”

She poured me a snakebite and slid it down the bar toward me, stopping right before it hit my open hand. It didn’t even splash over the side. “Wow, Karma, you’re a beer slinging goddess.”

“That’s only one of my many talents.”

I took a sip of the snakebite and signed. “What are some of your other talents?”

“Matchmaking to name one. I fixed my bartender up with my college roommate; they’ve been married for a few years and have a little baby girl. I’m the godmother.”

“And you think you fixed up Fisher and Jessie?”

“I know I did.”

“But they had literally been running into each other all week, and Fisher had even asked her out more than once.”

“Sure, the first and second time she said no, after that, she thought he was a stalker. As if.” She laughed. “My brother, Fisher is a lot of things, but definitely not a stalker. It took me about five minutes to realize she really had the hots for him—no matter how clueless she was about it. But really, what do you expect? Jessie didn’t believe in love. All I did was make sure they both ended up in a place where she would have to deal with Fisher—at least for a little while.”

“Isn’t that a little conniving?”

“I was being helpful…”

“Okay, sure. So helpful that Jessie ended up having to tow her car back to Boise and Fisher ended up with a concussion.”

“Neither of which were my fault. Besides, haven’t you ever heard the term ‘All’s well that ends well’?”

“Sure, That’s from a Shakespearean tragic comedy or is it a comic tragedy?

 “I like to think of it as comedic romance.”

“No, that’s what I write.”

“Yeah, and how would you have gotten them together if I wasn’t around?”

“I would have figured something out.”

Karma poured herself a seltzer. “Sure you would. That’s why Jessie ended up in my bar talking my ear off about this hot blond dude who was a bum, and lived with his mother. Once she said his name was Fisher, and described my brother perfectly, what option did I have? It was all I could do not bust out laughing or do a Tebow—you know, stop, drop, and kneel. It’s not often I have one of my brothers at my mercy.”

I quirked a brow.

Karma shrugged. “Okay, not often enough.”

The doors swung open and Jessie and Fisher walked in. I pasted on a big smile. “Hi guys, we were just talking about you.”

Fisher put his arm around Jessie and gave Karma a if-you-said-anything-embarrassing-I’m-gonna-kill-you look.

Jessie elbowed him in the ribs. “Stop giving Karma silent threats. She gave up meddling, remember?”

 “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Yeah, Fisher,” Karma cut in. “I’m a proud member of MA—Meddlers Anonymous, it’s Gramps you gotta worry about. After all, he’s the one trying to figure out how to get you and Ben to make him a great-grandbaby already. Not to mention his problem with Trapper’s marital status.”

Jessie caught the beer Karma slid toward her and shot Fisher a worried glance. “What about your marital status, Karma? Isn’t Gramps trying to get you to settle down too?”

If I’m not mistaken, Karma blanched. “Heck no.” She waved the thought away. “He’d like to keep me his little girl forever.”

Fisher caught the beer Karma shot him. “Thanks, and yeah, we’ve all been protecting Karma’s virtue since day one.”

Karma didn’t look too happy about it. “See what I have to put up with—times four. Ben’s just as bad as any one of my brothers. I’ve been trying to marry them all off just so they’d leave me the heck alone.”

Jessie leaned back against Fisher—those two were so tight, if you stuck a piece of coal between them, it’d be a diamond in no time.

I sat forward on my stool. “So Karma, how’s that working out for you?”

Karma blew her hair out of her eyes. “Not real well, thanks for your concern.” She smiled at me and then turned her attention back to Jessie. “Hey, have you heard from your best friend Andrew lately? Is he coming for a visit any time soon?”

“I just talked to him yesterday. He’s working hard, you know writing for that soap opera of his. I wish he’d go back to writing his screenplays.”

I took a sip of my snakebite. “Hmm… maybe you should turn the tables and dare him to come out here on his next hiatus to write then next award-winning screenplay he’s always talked about. After all, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, right?”

Fisher’s eyebrows rose. “You’re not thinking of Karma and Andrew are you?

I shook my head. “Why would I think that?”

“Don’t.”

Oh, wow. Fisher looked hotter than usual when he was a little peeved. Jessie is one lucky girl. “What do you want me to do? Karma’s the only single woman he knows in Boise.”

“He’s not dating my sister.”

Jessie stepped out of Fisher's arms. “What’s wrong with Andrew? He’s my best friend. I’d trust him with my life. I think he and Karma would make a great couple.”

Fisher’s eyes went wide and ever muscle in his neck delineated.  

I nodded in agreement. “And you gotta admit, Karma’s a beautiful woman. Plus, we both know Andrew is straight.”

Karma laughed, took a twenty out of the till and passed it over to me. “Okay, game over. You win. Now tell Fisher what you were doing.”

“Me?” I shot him an innocent grin. “I wasn’t doing anything. But I think I’ve gotten all I need for the interview. Thanks everyone.”

I stuffed the twenty in my bra, hugged Fisher and Jessie on my way out and shot Karma a wink. Yeah, she was going to have a lot of fun cooling off her brother.