Chapter One
Dressed in a coral seersucker blazer with a white silk tank and white jeans, Paige Wheeler sat ladylike on the edge of her couch. She’d already set the scene with an artfully arranged turquoise throw on the back and a gorgeous white and ivory chenille pillow propped just so against the arm. The turquoise would make her blazer pop, and the pillow added a nice texture.
Her hair and makeup were done, her accessories carefully chosen. It was a good look. One she was pleased with, especially because she’d pulled it together from her existing closet.
She had her knees together with her legs extended to the side, ankles crossed. Her ring light and tripod were set up and ready to go, her phone in the center holder.
The little Bluetooth remote that would start her camera recording was hidden in her hand. She rehearsed what she wanted to say once more in her head, then put on a big smile, and pressed the remote.
“Good morning, all you lovely people. I wanted to share a thought for the day.” She glanced at the sheet of paper she’d taped below her phone. It bore the thought she’d come up with in a large, easy-to-read font.
“Intelligence is quietly solving the puzzle while stupidity is loudly eating the pieces, choking on the corner bits, and demanding a trophy for ‘participating in the game.’” She arched her brows ever so slightly as her smile took on a wry edge. “Let’s all work on solving the puzzle today, shall we?”
She pressed the button again to stop recording, her smile flattening. That was aimed at Sophie, the stepdaughter of one of Paige’s new friends, Essie Rodrigez-Holt. Sophie was a complete and utter fool who’d decided to sue her father, Essie’s husband, Frank, and Essie because Frank had threatened to end Sophie’s allowance.
Why had he threatened to end it? Because that little ingrate was using her TikTok account to publicly badmouth Essie. Accusing her of spending all of Frank’s money, making snide little comments about Essie, and just generally using her as the butt of jokes.
To Paige’s way of thinking, Sophie had a bigger problem than Essie, who was doing nothing she’d been accused of. In fact, Essie was one of the sweetest women Paige had ever known.
Sophie’s real problem was that she was thirty-two years old and getting an allowance. How was she not ashamed ofthat?
With a shake of her head and a little sigh at the insanity of it all, Paige grabbed her phone, and uploaded the video to TikTok, did a few quick edits, and published it.
She hoped this new idea was well received. Adding a Thought For The Day video every few days would give her more content and something new to post. She’d already posted what she was wearing as her Outfit Of The Day, but she didn’t like to do an OOTD every day because, frankly, she didn’t always want to put this much effort into what she was wearing.
When she went to the gym, which she’d done first thing this morning, she’d been in standard but cute workout gear, hair slicked back into a high pony and wearing minimalmakeup. Could she share that? Yes, and sometimes she did. But those posts were more like filler. They didn’t get the sort of engagement she liked. She understood. A plain-faced woman about to sweat wasn’t that exciting.
She checked the time. She was meeting Graham for lunch at The Queen’s Arms but she had a few minutes before she needed to leave. Just enough time to call her daughter, Randi.
She leaned back on the sofa, put her bare feet up on the coffee table, and dialed.
Randi answered right away. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“Just had a few minutes. Thought I’d check in with my favorite child.”
“Um, I’m youronlychild.”
“True, but you’re still my favorite.”
Randi laughed. “Good to know.”
“What are you up to today?”
“Working. Thinking about how nice it would be to lay on the beach all day instead.”
Paige smiled. “You should come hang out with me this weekend. You could definitely get some beach time in. All you wanted, really. We could have breakfast together, go to the gym together…”
“Mom, I have a husband and a son to look after.”
“Can’t Sean look after Liam for the weekend? When’s the last time you came to visit?”
“I don’t know. Liam has a birthday party to go to tomorrow. Although I did already buy and wrap a present.” She let out a soft breath. “I guess I could ask Sean. It would be fun.”
“Ask him. And if helps sway him, tell him you’ll take Barkley with you. That’s one less soul for him to look after.” Barkley was Randi’s adorable little toffee-colored dog. He was some kind of shaggy mutt who’d gotten all the cute genes from each breed in his lineage.
“Okay, give me a minute to call him and I’ll call you right back.”
Randi called back six minutes later. “I can’t believe this, but Sean’s fine with it. Are you sure about me bringing Barkley?”
