She woke her laptop up and started a deep dive on Emily Keen. There was no telling how long it might take. Maudedecided immediately that if nothing popped up within ten minutes, it was a sign that she wasn’t supposed to be doing this.
Emily Elizabeth Keen appeared at the top of the search list on Facebook.
Maude glanced at Pixel. “I kind of have to keep looking now, right? Or do you think it’s a sign that her initials spell EEK? I mean, that sounds like a warning.”
Pixel just stared. Probably wondering why she wasn’t giving him a shrimp pellet.
Maude clicked through to Emily’s profile. She was a pretty blonde who looked like she took care of herself the way a lot of women in their age bracket did. Regular highlights, regular Botox, maybe some fillers, plenty of water and exercise, limited carbs, lots of steps.
But was she maintaining herself for Ollie? Or for some other man? Maude wasn’t sure she’d be able to answer that. Especially if Ollie was the real reason the marriage had broken up. But she would do a little more digging. Not a ton. She wasn’t going to obsess over this.
Also, by ten, she wanted to log intoNightforgeand spend an hour or so playing. And she still hadn’t gotten anywhere in the book.
Okay, half an hour of looking, then that was it. She’d just wait for Ollie to tell her whatever she was supposed to know.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Paige didn’t want to sit home alone this evening, but she wasn’t about to go to a bar. To her, a woman alone at a bar just looked so sad. And desperate. Not that she hadn’t done that herself, once upon a time.
In the early days of finding out her husband had left her for his personal trainer, she’d spent too many nights sitting alone at a bar, trying to drown her sorrows in a glass. It seemed better than drinking at home, but too often, she’d ended up talking to men who were in worse shape than she was, physically, emotionally, and mentally.
It had served as part of her wake-up call. For that, she was grateful.
But tonight, she wasn’t going to a bar. That would never happen again, not alone anyway. Tonight, she’d decided her mood was too good to sit home alone. Tonight, she was going to the South Hall of the community center to play bingo.
She’d thought about reaching out to the Queen Bees, but Paige wanted the option of being able to leave early if it turned out to be boring.
She wasn’t really going because bingo was something that appealed to her, but because she had a feeling it would make great content. She was already imagining she could do a three-parter. If the crowd was good, maybe five.
To her, bingo was most definitely an old person’s game. She had to remind herself that, technically, she was an old person now. Even if she didn’t feel that way. Bingo wasn’t entirely new to her. She’d played it a handful of times in her life but tonight was more about coming up with new content.
There was no telling what might appeal to her followers. Or, for that matter, go viral. Anything was worth a shot and the crowd at bingo promised to be at least interesting.
As soon as she walked in and caught a glimpse of Luizy Defray’s pink hair, Paige knew she wasn’t going to be disappointed. There were some very interesting characters who lived in the Colony, and she didn’t mean interesting in the way the Queen Bees were.
There was a certain type of person that tiny homes appealed to beyond the average soul who was just looking to downsize or simplify their life. There was also the artistic, slightly left of center, old hippy sort.
Luizy was one of those. A painter who did landscapes that always contained some random element. Like the picture she’d put in the community center art show of the Gulf looking so beautiful at dawn. Except for the clown sunbathing on the beach.
Not even remotely to Paige’s taste. Tacky, if she was being honest, but clowns had never been her thing. Except for the one she’d married.
Anyway, Luizy was never boring, that was for sure. Paige was pretty sure she vaped marijuana, too.
Paige stood at the entrance, surveying the crowd and judging what seat might be the most advantageous. Bingo was a lot morepopular than she’d thought it would be. There weren’t that many open seats in the community hall.
There were more toward the back. Probably the seats up front were better for those with bad hearing or eyesight.
She found one between a man with only two bingo cards in front of him and a woman who was simultaneously playing twelve. Neither one looked like they’d be too chatty, which would allow her to take video footage and not have to worry about stopping for conversations or reworking the audio.
With her single bingo card clutched in one hand and her phone recording in the other, she made her way to the open seat. “Here we go, gang,” she said to the camera. “It’s bingo time.”
The man noticed her as she walked up. He got out of his seat and pulled her chair out for her.
Now that was new and different. “Thank you. Very chivalrous of you.”
“Graham Whitby, at your service.” He smiled and gave her a nod. “I was well-reared.”
“It shows.” She smiled back, charmed by his English accent, and took the seat. “Paige Wheeler, nice to meet you.”
