“That’s because you just don’t know the highest bid.”
“I don’t want money from you to be quiet. Your secret is safe with me.”
Goldie sensed she’d insulted him, somehow. She was so used to the cutthroat world she’d been in for thirty years. She didn’t know how to operate outside it.
“I don’t even know you. How can I trust you?”
As soon as the question escaped her lips, a scream reached the truck from the direction of the back door of Nora House.
Goldie and Joe looked over to the source.
And there was J.J. Pawlak, running at top speed and screaming, “Malibu Barbie! She looks exactly the same!”
Goldie opened the truck door. She didn’t think about it but out came, “Growing Up, Ginger, you haven’t changed a bit!”
This was how they used to tease each other.
The two women were thick as thieves. They grew up together. They’d fought off her mother’s crappy boyfriend. Goldie taught J.J.’s little brother how to kiss.
And it had been thirty years.
Goldie and J.J. embraced. J.J. lifted her off her feet! And soon, Libby joined the melee.
Goldie reached a hand out to Libby. She hadn’t hugged Libby. She’d held back. She’d kept up that wall she had to have in public. J.J. had smashed it down in the space of two seconds.
Another woman followed Libby. She had a shock of white hair against thick waves of chestnut. She was striking. She looked like she took zero crap from anyone.
And then it clicked in Goldie’s mind.
“Oh my gosh, Hope!”
Hope smiled, and her eyes sparkled like they did in Goldie’s memory.
There were hugs all around now. Goldie had not earned this affection. She had not kept in touch with these women. They were really strangers. But here they all were. Together again, in the same place, with the same bond.
It was overwhelming, and Goldie thought she might cry.
For a moment, they all four stood there, without words, and held hands. What had their journeys been like?
Goldie was at a disadvantage. Her path was laid bare for the world to consume. They knew what had become of her. Though, they didn’t know the details. They didn’t know what it really took to make the dreams of Malibu Barbie real.
“Okay, let’s take this reunion to the back porch. My cheese is melting,” Hope said.
“That’s menopause for you. Mine’s always melting, even in February,” J.J. added.
“J.J. spare this nice man the details of our hot flashes,” Libby said.
“Oh, Joe, he’s not a nice man. He’s a rake, in the best possible way, of course,” J.J. said.
“Oh, Joe! Yes, Dean was singing your praises. We need to talk. We have a lot to talk about.” Libby broke up their little circle and zeroed in on Joe.
“See, I’m not a squatter,” Joe said, winking at Goldie.
She rolled her eyes. She didn’t really think he was, not after the washing machine rescue. But she was not going to admit she’d been wrong, dramatic, or totally ill-equipped to handle lake life.
What had happened to her? She used to manage the maintenanceof half a dozen of her family’s rentals. Now, she could barely wade into the lake, ankle deep.
“What? A squatter?” Libby said.
