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There’s nothing to be done about it now.
I tried to fix a smile on my face as I twisted the knob and pulled the door open. Three women stood there, wearing matching smiles: a curvy redhead with almond-shaped green eyes, a tall, slender woman with black hair and violet eyes that were expertly lined, and a perky-looking blonde with big blue eyes. Each woman stared at me, expectantly.
“Um, hello?”
Simultaneously, three sets of shoulders fell in disappointment. “Told you we should have worn scrubs,” the redhead said with a pout.
The blonde rolled her eyes and stepped forward, wrapping me in a warm hug that I didn’t want to shrug away from. “Megan, honey. I’m sorry some jerk did this to you. I’m Hannah. We’ve known each other for a very long time, but we only became friends after high school.”
“Hi, Hannah.”
She laughed and shook her head, hooking her arm through mine to usher me deeper into the house. “The redhead bombshell is Gus, or Augusta, and she works as a pediatric nurse. She’s new-ish to Jackson’s Ridge.”
“Nice to meet you, again, Gus?”
The redhead laughed. “You too, Megs.”
The tall woman with black hair stood in front of me, warmth in her violet eyes as she wrapped me in a tight hug. “I’m Persephone, but everyone calls me Persy. I work with your husband Casey, sort of. We’re all your friends and we’ve come to take you to lunch.”
I appreciated the effort, but I shook my head. “Casey will be home soon and—”
“And that man is so in love, he’ll wait until you get home,” Hannah assured me.
“Or he’ll find us and greet you with a kiss hot enough to set the restaurant on fire,” Persy added with a wistful smile. “We know the drill.”
My shoulders fell at how kind the women were being. “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember any of you.”
“Duh,” Gus offered with an affectionate eyeroll, “that’s why we’re here. To help you remember how much you love us and how much we love you.”
“You are?”
“Yeah, dummy.” Hannah grinned at my affronted look. “We hate that this happened to you, but that doesn’t mean we’re just gonna leave you be until your memories settle back in place. We’ll do what we can to help.”
“And if you can’t?”
Persy laughed. “Then I guess we’ll just have to become friends all over again.”
If that was how they felt, we really were friends. “We must be close.”
“Very,” they said at the same time.
“You gave me good advice and probably even meddled a little to help me and Antonio get together,” Gus offered with an adoring grin. “This is what we do.”
“Go out to lunch?” It was a ridiculous question, but I felt uneasy and warm, and a little overwhelmed.
“That, too,” Persy offered. “Grab some shoes because I’m starved, and we’ll answer any questions you have. Promise. I vote for Cowboy Café, because I want steak.”
I looked down at my bare feet and wiggled my toes. “There are some shoes by the door.”
“Oh no, honey.” Hannah grabbed me by the shoulders and guided me upstairs to the bedroom. “Today is not a stuck-in-the-bakery shoes kind of day. It’s a sexy, girly shoes day. Take your pick.” She slid open the closet I hadn’t bothered looking into and smiled.
I stared, mouth wide open. “These aren’t mine.”
“They are. Pick something and let’s go before Persy starts gnawing on Gus’ arm.”
“I heard that,” Persy said from her spot by the door, Gus right beside her. “I’d go for the red and white wedges, get that sexy cowgirl thing going that you love so much.”
“Sexy cowgirl?”
Persy nodded. “Something else I’ll happily tell you over lunch. Hungry, remember?”
I grabbed the red and white wedges, slipped them on, and smiled, feeling a little more confident than I did before I opened the door. “Ready.”
The Cowboy Café was pretty much what I expected based on the name alone. A slightly high-end restaurant with plenty of café and western-style décor, and a welcoming staff with wide smiles and sympathetic eyes.
“Don’t worry about the looks,” Persy whispered as we followed a hostess to a booth. “Everyone in town loves you and they hate what happened to you.”
I looked at her with wide eyes. “All these people know me?”
“Honey, the whole damn town knows you.” Hannah smiled as we all got settled in the booth with menus. “You’ve lived here forever, and no one is immune from your sugary creations.”
“That’s true,” Gus offered with a laugh. “You lured me in with a whipped peanut butter croissant. Who ever heard of such a thing!” She shook her head and smiled affectionately at me. “The second day I came to town, you asked me a thousand questions and then declared we would be friends.”
I laughed and tried to picture myself doing that. “Sounds like what Casey did to me.”
