“You knowthe musicianclient I have?” Sienna always added emphasis on “the musician” when she spoke of the mystery man she sold houses for. Under a strict nondisclosure agreement, she wasn’t allowed to tell them who he was, but given his real estate budget, he had to be incredibly famous. Recently, he’d hired her to find a two-million-dollar house for his mother.
“Yeah?” Emily and Blair said in unison.
“I pulled a few strings and got his mom the house she wanted. To thank me, he offered me his private beach house along the Gulf Coast. It’s free all summer, since his wife surprised him with an impromptu trip to Mykonos.”
“Careful,” Blair warned, her tone lightening the mood considerably. “We’ll look up which country music star is in Mykonos and figure out who he is!”
They were always trying to guess.
Sienna made a face. “I’ve said too much.Don’ttry to look up who it is. I’d like to keep selling him houses, and I’d prefer not getting wrapped up in a lawsuit, thank you very much.”
“I’m just saying, if I get on Instagram and see photos, I can’t help that…” Blair giggled.
Emily couldn’t wrap her head around an impromptu trip to somewhere that fabulous. A trip like that would’ve taken her years of saving and preparation.
Sienna held back her dark hair to keep the breeze from having its way with it. “Originally, I thought we could all take our significant others. But after your news, Em, it should be a girls’ trip,” she said as they started walking again.
“It’s fine if Rocko and Tyson go,” Emily said. “I love them both.”
“I wouldn’t want to make you the odd one out,” Sienna said. “We should go, just the girls. It might be the therapy we all need—our own beach club for the brokenhearted.”
Blair’s face filled with life. “My holistic health guy did say I should be outside more,” she said.
Sienna linked arms with Emily and then Blair. “Let’s take our weekly meet-ups on the road. We’ll be The Broken Hearts Beach Club.”
“It might do me some good,” Blair said. “I’ll run it by Rocko. He’s got a few days off from building the apartment complex they’re working on while they wait for permits, and he wanted to have a boys’ weekend to go fishing. That might work out perfectly.”
“Blair and I can work remotely,” Sienna said, “and, Emily, you’re off for the summer. We could always do Monday throughFriday with the girls and then the husbands can come for the weekend or something.”
“That’s an idea,” Blair said. “I’m in.”
Emily considered the alternative: sitting alone in her apartment or the house she’d thought would one day be filled with the patter of tiny feet, happy family moments, and love between her and Will. Running away from her problems did sound enticing. She’d have some work to do to deal with the cancellation of the wedding, but she could do that anywhere.
Emily filled her lungs with warm air and let it out slowly. “The turquoise waters of the Gulf Coast, secluded from the world? Definitely count me in.”
“It’s open all summer. When would you all want to go?” Sienna asked.
“I can go whenever,” Emily replied, pushing her shoulders back defiantly. “I have no one to answer to anymore.” She dared not admit, however, that she’d gladly give up the freedom for the love of the man she’d lost.
“What about the sale of the house? Do you need to move things out to get it ready to sell?” Blair asked as they rounded the bend, the sapphire lake sparkling in the sunlight.
“Will can move the boxes to my apartment if he wants to sell the house right now. Why should I make things easier forhim?”
“Truth.” Blair pumped her hands in the air.
“Let’s talk to the hubbies and see what they say,” Sienna said. “Tyson will be fine with whatever.”
“I’ll let you both know this afternoon.” Blair leaned on the wooden railing overlooking the lake. “I could use some seclusion with just you girls. It would be therapeutic.”
“I think so too.” Emily tipped her head toward the sunshine. Maybe there’d be a silver lining in all this pain. She’d get to spend time with the people she cared about most. It could be a fresh start.
After her hikeand a run to the grocery store, Emily stepped onto the front porch and opened the door to the quaint, single-story home with a gabled roof. She was tired from the trail they’d chosen to walk, but she wanted to get some boxes out of the way that she didn’t trust Will with. She’d packed her grandmother’s dishes in one of them and had keepsakes from her childhood in another. It wouldn’t take her long to just stack the boxes against the wall in the garage.
The door creaked as she closed it behind her. She slipped her sneakers off her sore feet and padded across the original hardwood she’d refused to cover with large rugs so she could admire its charm.
The house was too quiet. Normally, Will was there chatting about plans or strumming a new song he’d written. She peered at the empty corner where his guitars had been, the hole he’d ripped in her heart breaking open again.
She went through the living room and into the kitchen, dropping her two bags of food on the counter because it was too hot to leave them in the car. The open shelving where she’d previously stacked the plates and matching coffee mugs they’d gotten as early wedding gifts was empty. She’d already packed all the dishes for the remodel, but since they were going to sell the house, she’d taped up the boxes and pushed them into the hallway.
