He’d drop me in a heartbeat if I moved. And he hadn’t even looked upset about it. Which was the real Heath? The one who was in love with me and wanted me to marry him one day? Or the one who’d just told me there was no way he’d move with me? It also seemed he hadn’t even considered the possibility of waiting for me if I did move.
Huh. I stood on the porch, holding my bag and feeling very let down for a few moments before turning to go inside.
When I opened the door, I heard the soft sound of someone’s low conversation. I frowned, but it was a testament to how often Tim and his siblings had been dropping in that I didn’t even consider that a killer could be waiting on me.
I rounded the corner to find Tim sitting in the living room, Anne and Gilbert walking all around him while he read them a book.
It took me a moment to realize he was reading fromAnne of Green Gables. I stood and listened for a while, grinning at how into it he was getting. “What do you think, y’all?” He asked the tortoises. “Do you like hearing about your namesakes? Do you think they’ll fall in love?”
“Hey.”
He jumped, startled, and caused Gilbert to pull inside his shell. “I didn’t hear you come in.” He stretched and I caught sight of his tanned abdomen. It was ripped. I remembered itwell, and of course I’d seen it on full display when we were tubing. He had an eight pack. It was crazy.
“I ended up spending the night over here. I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t want them to be by themselves.”
My heart melted.
And just like that, any progress Heath had made with me over the weekend evaporated.
***
It was October. My favorite month of the year. In fact, it was almost over. I stood in the Indigo Falls Country Club and observed all the changes Carrie Caldwell had made to it for the upcoming Orchid Ball. The gardening club put it on each year, and this was her first year taking over from her mother.
She’d done an amazing job. We were all there to help finish making her vision of a haunted night in the Garden District of New Orleans come true.
It was fun. We all just hung out and talked and worked. Carrie had it catered, so there was great food, too.
Carrie put Tim to work, and I couldn’t help but admire how strong he was. Harrison, who’d redeemed himself with Sadie after years apart, was laughing at how much stronger Tim was than him. “I can’t believe this is the same kid who I let beat me in h-o-r-s-e over the years.”
Tim gave him a grin. He was still having a bit of a hard time accepting Harrison back into the fold, but he was working on it, I could tell. He just wanted Sadie to be happy. “Let me win? You wish, man. I beat your ass regularly.”
“Hey, everyone!”
We all looked up to see Gemma Reardon come through the door. “I’m sorry I’m late.”
I glanced at Carrie and had to choke back a laugh. It was clear from the look on her face that she hadn’t invited Gemma tohelp with decorating. “I’m sorry, Gemma. Did you sign up for the decorating committee?”
Gemma, a pretty blonde who’d had a significant amount of plastic surgery over the years, had been divorced three times already even though she was roughly the same age as Sadie and her friends. She was rather well-known for being a gold digger. Though I wasn’t sure she needed to be anymore. The rumors were that she’d gotten excellent divorce settlements from all three of her older, rich ex-husbands.
She laughed. “Oh, no. This isn’t my thing, but I heard there was someone here I was interested in.” She boldly and unapologetically stared at Tim.
He got a ‘what the hell’ look on his face. Then he just gave her a kind of half wave. “Hey, Gemma.” Then he went back to working on setting up the wrought iron fencing Carrie had ordered for the event.
“So, Natalie,” Blair Hastings, one of Sadie’s close friends, said, “tell us more about this guy you’re dating.”
“Blair, leave her alone,” Carrie laughed. “You know she’s private.”
“Is it justoneguy?” Tim said, sounding aghast.
All eyes turned and stared at him, then swiveled to me.
My eyes widened. “Um… yes.”
Tim frowned. “You mean all those dates you’ve been going on have been with the same guy for months?”
“I guess I thought you knew that.” Not that it was really his business.
He didn’t say anything, but his mouth settled in a firm, thin line. As soon as he was done with the fencing, he started flirting with Gemma Reardon. He’d seemed completely disinterested just a few minutes ago.
