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“It’s hard of hearing,” Alice corrects. “Sorry, Palmer, this is a new resident, Neil. He’s our driver now.”
I wave and smile.
“Why did they give you the key?” Alice asks, nosy as always.
“Um…” I say, and Neil smiles as if I’m a toddler in the middle of a tantrum and using my words. None of them sign, so I have no choice but to speak unless I want to grab a piece of paper and write it all out, which I don’t. “I’m having a hard time writing.”
Neil’s smile grows bigger, and I become more irritated.
“Oh…so no problems with Hudson?” Jean asks.
This type of thing is one reason I almost didn’t move home after finding out I was pregnant with Adley, but I knew that even with Hudson’s help, I would need the help of my family as well. And truth be told, although they’re big and loud and nosy as all get out, I love them. I loved growing up in Lake Starlight, and I wanted that for Adley too. But everyone in town knowing everything can be a bit much sometimes. Especially with Buzz Wheel, an app that reports on the secrets of its town residents.
“Who’s Hudson?” Neil asks.
Jean stares blankly as though she’s already had it with him. “Her daughter’s dad.”
“Her husband?” Neil asks.
I slide on my coat, and Alice approaches, shaking her head. “No. No. We’ll leave. We just wanted to get out of the home for a while. They were trying to get us to do a Richard Simmons workout video. Where do you think they dug that thing up from?”
“It’s okay, I can head home.”
“I’m lost. She has a husband and a daughter, and she comes here? Sounds like trouble.” Neil chimes in with his two cents.
“They aren’t married,” Jean informs him.
“Who isn’t married?” Neil asks, talking louder each time he opens his mouth.
“Palmer and Hudson. They aren’t married.” Jean shakes her head and gives me an apologetic look.
“But they have a daughter?”
“Oh, you old fool, you don’t have to be married to have a child.” Jean crosses her arms and turns away from him.
“So, they’re divorced?” Neil continues trying to understand my life.
“No,” Alice and Jean say in unison.
“What happened to being an honorable gentleman and marrying the woman you get in trouble?”
“Oh jeez.” Jean sighs. “Hudson didn’t get Palmer in trouble. They slept together and conceived a baby as friends. Now, they raise that daughter and live side-by-side. It’s really a great situation for Adley.”
“Who’s Adley?” Neil asks.
“Don’t answer,” Alice tells Jean and turns to me. “I am glad I ran into you, though, because we picked your book for book club. Everyone at Northern Lights is going to read it.”
“Um…I’m sorry?” I had to hear her wrong. Why would they pick my book?
“We picked one of your books. We can’t wait! We’re just waiting for all of the paperbacks to arrive, then we’re going to read in chapters and have discussions. Would you be willing to come and talk?”
This has to be a joke. A group of senior citizens wants to read my romance novel? I mean, I know a lot of my readers are older, but I don’t know them personally. Just the mental image of Alice and Jean reading my sex scenes makes me want to cringe. People always think it comes from personal experience. It’s fiction, people.
“Please. We’ve never had an author at our meetings before,” Alice says.
Jean clears her throat.
“Well, we had that one who wrote a book on the habits of bird mating, but that isn’t the same thing as a fiction writer.” Alice widens her eyes at me, and I see the resemblance to her granddaughter, Aubrey, who is Calista’s best friend.
