“Are you a hacker?” Essie asked.
“Whoa,” Maude said, hands raised in surrender position. “Hacker is a strong word. Let’s just say I know my way around the web.”
But Cece caught the waggle of Maude’s brows. “We should exchange phone numbers.”
“Oh, yes!” Essie grinned. “We should all do that. We could start a group text.”
Cece had to smile. Essie’s enthusiasm was contagious and sweet. “Sounds good, Essie. That’s it about me. That leaves you, Essie.”
Essie clasped her hands together and glanced at Paige as if needing approval.
“The floor is all yours,” Paige said.
Essie’s smile stayed fixed in place. “As you might have figured out, I’m newly remarried. My first husband, Carlos, passed away nearly ten years ago. Cancer. Just awful. I still miss him very much, but I feel blessed to have met Frank. He’s a wonderful man. Reminds me of Carlos in a lot of ways, which is probably why I said yes when he asked me to marry him.”
“So that boulder on your finger had nothing to do with it?” Maude asked, her tone light, her smile big.
Essie laughed. “No, and if I’d had any input on the ring, I would have chosen something smaller, but that’s Frank. He’s a go-big-or-go-home kind of guy.” Her expression turned rueful. “Which doesn’t really explain him living here.”
They all laughed.
Essie shook her head. “We really just loved the idea of downsizing in a meaningful way, and it felt like a fresh start for both of us. We like to travel but mostly that means going out for a few days on our boat or heading up to our cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains for a week.”
Her brows furrowed and her smile disappeared. “Unfortunately, Frank’s daughter seems to think I’m trying to replace her mother. Or spend all of her father’s money. Neither of which I’m interested in. I came to this marriage with my own money. Not as much as Frank, but I don’t need anything. And he already owned that boat and that cabin. I didn’t talk him into buying those.”
“I imagine the whole stepparent thing can be really hard,” Paige said.
“Yes,” Essie said. “His son is lovely. But his daughter?” She made a face. “I hate to speak ill of my husband’s offspring, but that one is trouble.”
Chapter Thirteen
Essie worried that she’d said too much. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’m probably just overreacting.”
“What makes you think she’s trouble?” Maude asked.
Essie supposed she had to answer that since she’d started the discussion. “She posted on TikTok about me. And it wasn’t nice.”
Maude whipped out her phone. “What’s her username?”
“Oh, I don’t think?—”
“I want to see it, too,” Paige said. “I hope I don’t follow her.”
Blaise smiled and took her phone out. “Our first group activity. I thought it would be reading a book, but this is good, too.”
Cece laughed and leaned closer to Blaise. “Agreed.”
Essie realized there was no getting out of it. “She’s on there as Sophie Says. You know, with the little AT sign in front?—”
“Found her,” Maude said, staring triumphantly at her screen. “She dresses like a hootchie.”
“Maude!” Blaise laughed and kept searching.
“Is that not the right word?” Maude asked, looking up. “What do people say these days? Ho? Floozy? Bimbo?”
Blaise’s eyes went wide. “Found her and, yeah, okay, she definitely has a certain look meant to attract attention.”
Cece nodded. “She dresses for the male gaze.”
