We both watched the water as it reached our ankles, colder than usual and cruel coupled with the stormy gusts. The thunder sounded closer now, although muffled by the waves slamming against the sand.
“Can’t you get another job in publishing?” I said, trying to stay positive. “I mean, aren’t you some sort of big shot?”
“Maybe,” she mumbled through her fingers. “But I—”
The sky tore open with a torrential downpour, cutting Margot off. We started laughing, hands clutching our stomachs as we doubled over. By the time our sides hurt, we were both thoroughly drenched, hair plastered to our heads in whatever direction the wind had left it. A crack of lightning lit up the sky, followed by a bone-rattling roll of thunder only a handful of moments later.
“We need to get inside!” I shouted, jumping to my feet.
Margot followed, her makeup having completely melted from her eyes. “Wait!” she yelled, tendrils of hair slapping as she whipped her head back and forth. “My shoes!”
Another flash of lightning and a clap of thunder followed immediately after.
“Forget the shoes!” I shrieked with another laugh, tugging her along as we struggled through the sand and sprinted to Captain’s.
When we fell inside, chests heaving and puddles already forming beneath us, we burst into another round of giggles. It didn’t matter that the diner was full to the brim with everyone I knew, and we looked like a couple of wet lunatics half-dipped in sand.
It had been seven years since I laughed like this with my best friend. I didn’t care what anyone thought.
Chapter Thirty
The first thing I noticed that morning was the smell. Rain carried its own perfume, fresh and addictive, and it already seeped in through the old windows of Marigold’s. The sky outside loomed a strange shade of pewter, like someone had swirled dark grey and silver paint together.
Bluebell Cove didn’t get storms often—at least not ones big enough to have every neighbor on edge—but the weather alerts had been buzzing through town since last night. “A real one this time,” Ronnie, who lived through more seasons than the rest of us combined, had warned from his porch.
And if Ronnie believed it, we all did.
Which was why I had three packages of bottled water waiting at home, and every candle I owned displayed on my kitchen table. Now wasn’t the time to hunker in my living room with Easton and hope that my shutters did their job, though. It wasmyjob to make sure that, somehow, Marigold’s survived it.
Although it had rained all night and all morning, the eye of the storm hadn’t even hit yet.
Margot stood in the doorway of the shop in four-inch, knee-high boots, trouser shorts and matching blazer, and a turtleneck sweater up to her ears. She watched me with her arms crossed,looking more like my supervisor than someone who had, once again, offered to help.
“You’re kidding me,” I said, balancing on the step stool as I retracted the awning above the window, getting soaked in the process. “Thisis your storm outfit?”
She tilted her head at me, lips painted in a red that was an impeccable match to her turtleneck. “What? It’s cute. And technically weather-appropriate. A sweateranda coat!”
“And shorts!” I laughed, shaking my head as I eased myself down from the stepstool. “Those heels aren’t going to do much for you if we have to evacuate.”
“Please. If we have to evacuate, I’ll becarried.”
She glanced down at her phone. The screen lit her face with a pale glow, and for a second she wasn’t the glamorous, unbothered Margot I’d known since birth. For a second, she looked… somewhere else entirely.
I filed it away.
“Anyway,” she continued quickly, slipping her phone into her bag. “What’s the plan? Are we boarding up? Sandbags? Moving your brand-new floorboards to higher ground?”
“You’re making fun of me, but yes. All of that.” I gestured to the stack of wood panels leaning near the door. “Rhett’s dropping by to help all the shops. We’re covering the big windows.”
Her eyebrows rose, and I could practically hear the teasing tone before it left her mouth. “Rhett, huh?”
I ignored her, shaking the lingering raindrops from my coat before stepping inside. “Don’t start.”
Margot only grinned, sauntering toward the counter and gingerly resting her purse there. She waited for me to look before grabbing one of the sandbags and pointedly hobbling over to the doorway with it.
“See? I can do anything in heels.”
I rolled my eyes, but my lips twitched anyway. “Anything but run in the sand.”
