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“Are you like the shrink-bartender?”
“Consider me your friendly cupcake-tender.”
“I am good,” said British.
“I know I am not Kenzie, but you can talk to me.”
More pity, British thought. “Trust me, Maggie, I am perfectly fine.”
“If you say so. I just know you came by this morning for cupcakes and here you are now.”
“Those were for the guest at Magnolia Palace.” British cringed just as the words left her mouth, remembering how the hotel once belonged to the Swaynes.
Maggie picked up a white rag and began wiping the clean counter.
“Don’t worry about me,” said Maggie with an indifferent shrug. “Once Kenzie and Ramon tied the knot last summer, the house basically returned to the family.”
“I am not sure that’s exactly how it works,” laughed British. “It’s still a hotel.”
Accepting that, Maggie stopped her cleaning and leaned against the counter, close to British. “So who is the guy renting the room for the month?”
Small-town gossip spread like proverbial wildfire and if Maggie Swayne knew something, it’d only be a matter of time before everyone else did. But if Maggie didn’t know by now, perhaps it was meant to be a secret. A heated flash of memory struck British like the bolt of lightning she’d felt when she’d first laid eyes on Donovan through the fabric tunnel of her sweatshirt. Now that she was clear of the space around him, British was able to think.
British recalled a time when she loved makeup just as much as the next girl. It wasn’t until college when she worked in labs that she realized how it served as a distraction for the other scientists. Men acted as if her perfect lipstick lowered her IQ. After a while she stopped wearing it as much. As a former beauty queen who’d often used cosmetics, she should have known. Ravens Cosmetics sponsored high-title pageants. Last year, one of the brothers had judged the big Southwood Beauty Pageant. And now that she thought of it, it had been Donovan. The family had also come to Southwood for Will Ravens’s wedding to makeup artist Zoe Baldwin. The Ravenses and their cosmetics were in every print fashion magazine as well as in ads on the internet. Donovan favored his brothers in photographs, but in person? The scar along the left side of his face gave him a dangerously dashing look. Well—British shivered—the man was larger than life.
“Wow!” Maggie exclaimed. “You just got that totally faraway look women get when they’re lusting after someone.”
British hadn’t realized her mouth hung wide open until she closed it. She shook her head and scoffed, “Oh, that is so not true. Whatever. Be quiet.”
“What’s going on?”
British’s eyes flashed Maggie a warning glare when the French doors to the kitchen opened. Out walked Tiffani Carres, British’s sister-in-law. Or was it former sister-in-law? Either way, the last person she wanted to find out about this was Christian’s younger sister. Since Tiffani’s birth, British had always been in her life. Christian had brought British to the hospital to meet her when they were in grade school. The idea of British getting involved with another man seemed like betrayal.
“Nothing,” British quickly said.
“Some man has British blushing.”
Tiffani, now twenty-two and grown, smirked mischievously. Her dark brown eyes sparkled under her raised brows. “Anyone we know?”
“Tiffani,” British said with a warning shake of her head.
“What?” Tiffani blinked innocently. “Don’t tell me you’re worried about what I would think?”
“We-ell,” British drawled.
With a shake of her head, Tiffani rolled her eyes. “Please. Mommy and I were just talking about this the other day.”
As if on cue “Mommy,” Vonna Carres, entered through the black-and-white French doors, carrying a cardboard box overflowing with green and red garlands. The only things visible other than her black apron with its pink-and-white trim of polka dots were her hands.
“I hear my name,” said Vonna over the box, a gold, sparkled star poking out from the top. Her soothing, melodic voice warmed British’s soul.
“British is interested in someone,” Tiffani announced.
British cut her eyes to Maggie, willing her to understand the thankless, sarcastic smile she flashed. She missed Christian deeply. She still wore her wedding ring to secure his memory. British missed everything about him, from their silly fights to their deep philosophical conversations over ’80s vs. ’90s music. British accepted she’d never remarry and had never come close to falling in love since. But she missed the company of the opposite sex, still not something her in-laws needed to know. The last thing she wanted to do was let Christian’s family think British had betrayed their son’s memory by fawning over some random stranger.
While British dated here and there, she never discussed seeing anyone else with her in-laws. Since she wasn’t looking to get married, she didn’t see the need to bring her dates around her family. Not one of the men she’d been out with had been special enough. No one could make British consider physical contact. But she had to admit, besides a good conversation over dinner every once in a while, the touch of a man’s hands might be nice, too. “No one said anything about my being interested in anyone.”
“Well, it’s about damn time.”
