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“For where?” Jenny asked after a few heartbeats of awkward silence.
“Not sure. He paid rent early and said he’d be gone for a couple of weeks. But considering the timing, I’d guess the boy went back to California for a little more time in paradise.”
“What?” Grace breathed. “More time?”
“He lived in L.A. for a couple of months when he was young,” Jenny said. “It was a long time ago.”
Grace’s mind was spinning. He’d lived in L.A.? That couldn’t be right. Why wouldn’t he have told her that?
Rayleen snorted. “There’s more to the story than that. Rumor has it he was shacking up with Ms. Madeline Beckingham in her Hollywood mansion.”
Jenny gasped. “What? I’ve never heard that.” Her gaze slid nervously toward Grace. Grace found herself looking blankly into Jenny’s worried eyes.
“Oh, the talk died down when he came back so quickly. I don’t even know if it was true. He said it wasn’t.”
“Then it probably wasn’t,” Jenny cut in.
Rayleen shrugged. “Maybe not. But he left with her last time, and he’s gone again. I’m just saying, it’s suspicious. That’s all.”
Suspicious. No, that wasn’t the word for it. Because Grace knew he was sleeping with Madeline. And now she knew why he’d never mentioned his time in L.A. He’d let Grace tell stories about her life there as if he knew nothing about L.A. He’d let her talk about it like a fool. No, the timing wasn’t suspicious. It was damning.
“Who cares about him?” Jenny said brightly. “All the more reason to go out and have fun with the girls. We’ll flirt with more men than we could ever need. Right? Let’s go!”
“No,” Grace said softly. Everyone froze. Even Aunt Rayleen lost her scowl and finally seemed to realize that her gossip might have been unwelcome.
“Eh,” she muttered. “I’m sure it’s not true. He’s probably camping.”
“No,” Grace repeated. She blinked her eyes, trying to clear the dizziness from her brain. When her vision cleared, she found herself looking at her aunt and seeing her with new eyes. Rayleen looked worried and a little guilty. And, truth be told, she looked frail without her scowl and her whiskey sour and her unlit cigarette. She was lonely. She was alone. Because she’d done too good a job of protecting herself from love and hurt.
That might be Grace someday, but even if it wasn’t, she could understand what Rayleen had done. She could admire that the woman had had a tough life, and she’d had to make herself hard. But Rayleen deserved more than that. She deserved to be happy someday, and not hurt. Just as Grace did.
“Grace…” Eve started, but Grace shook her head.
“That’s not what I meant. I meant, we need to do Aunt Rayleen’s makeup first. That’s all. She’s one of the girls, right?”
“Oh, poo,” Rayleen scoffed. “Nobody’d notice my makeup even if you made me look like a whore.”
“What about Easy?” Grace asked.
Rayleen’s eyes went wide as saucers.
Grace couldn’t help but smile, despite the hurt banging around inside her. “Would Easy notice if you looked especially whorish?”
Her papery cheeks flushed. “What?”
Jenny giggled. “Oh, come on. We’ve all noticed the way you two flirt.”
“Flirt? I wouldn’t flirt with that old cowhand if he was the last man on earth.” She cleared her throat. “Why? You think he’s flirting with me?”
“I think he is,” Grace said. “But even if he’s not, I’d love to do your makeup.”
“Makeup,” she huffed. Then she shrugged as if she didn’t care. “Sure. Knock yourself out. But don’t make me look like some old fool.”
“Got it.” She used a creamy foundation to hide fine lines without looking cakey, and a bit of concealer to brighten under her aunt’s eyes. But as Grace moved on to powder and blush, her mind wandered back to Cole. She’d felt betrayed before, and told herself she had no right to. But this…this felt worse. As if she’d known nothing about him from the start. He wasn’t who he pretended to be. She might not be a wonderful person, but at least she’d warned him right away.
Biting back the hurt, Grace smudged a neutral color over Rayleen’s eyelids to cover the pink that showed through her thin skin, then she carefully dusted a dark gray shade along her lash line and finished up with mascara.
“There. Easy as pie.”
