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“Jessica? What are you doing here?” Lauren blinked. Then she blinked again. Yep. It was Jessica Hart in the flesh. And currently exposing quite a bit of it. She wore a short white skirt and a red tank top that didn’t meet, showing about four inches of tanned toned abdomen. It also looked like she was sporting some very expensive cleavage she hadn’t had before. Add to that some three inch wedge sandals and Nate’s ex, aka Jessica Rabbit, fairly towered over Lauren, who, with her sundress and flip flops suddenly felt like a frumpy midget.
“I have the most wonderful news,” Jessica began. “I’m moving to Whispering Bay!”
“You…are? But what about your job in Miami?”
“Since I confided in you that day in the bathroom I feel like you’re my one true friend here in town, so I don’t mind telling you that I was wrong. I should have never put Nate on the spot like that. Demanding that he quit his job and everything. I guess it’s old-fashioned of me, but I’ve discovered that I have more respect for a man who doesn’t let a woman lead him around by the nose.”
“Um, yeah, I can see that.”
“And I missed him so terribly, but I didn’t know how to reach out to him without wounding my pride.” She reached inside her tote and pulled out a copy of The Gazette. “And then I saw this article on the Internet and my heart just went out to him. I knew my breakup would devastate him, but this bit about him getting comfort from a little dog? Nate doesn’t even like dogs! If Nate can let go of his ego and admit to the world that he’s lonely without me, then I can swallow my pride, too. So I convinced my law firm to open up a branch here in the panhandle. It’s a huge pay cut, but money isn’t everything, you know?”
Lauren nodded, too numb to speak. Her mind was whirling a mile a minute. “Does Nate know you’re here?” she heard herself croak.
“I just saw him! You should have seen the look on his face.” Jessica sighed dreamily. “I’d forgotten how incredibly handsome he is. I love him. And he loves me. And it looks like we’re getting our happily ever after, after all!”
“You saw Nate?” Lauren repeated like some dumb parrot who couldn’t form an original sentence on her own.
Jessica nodded. “I’m meeting him later tonight at his place. Good thing I still have a key to his house.” She lowered her voice. “I tried to return it, but he wouldn’t let me. That should have been my first clue that he was still clinging onto hope.” Her cell phone pinged. She pulled it out to look at the screen. “I’m sorry, but I need to take this.” She reached out and gave Lauren a stiff hug. “Thanks for listening to me ramble on about my love life. Hope to see you again soon!” Then she scurried off to take her call.
It was like a boulder had come plummeting down from the sky to land on her head. Jessica and Nate were getting back together? She wouldn’t believe it until she heard it from Nate himself. Lauren found him at the medical booth talking to a couple of the Gray Flamingoes about high cholesterol. He spotted her and excused himself away from the conversation.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he said. He took her by the elbow and led her away from the curious looks Bianca and Lola were giving them. “I just ran into Jessica.”
“Looks like it’s contagious. You don’t happen to have a vaccine for that, do you?”
“What? You saw her, too?”
She nodded.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “What did she say to you?”
“Just that she was moving to town and that the two of you were getting back together.”
“Jessica and I are not getting back together,” Nate said firmly.
“That’s what I thought. But…I wanted to hear it from you. She said she had a key to your house. That she tried to give it back to you, but you wouldn’t let her.”
“Not completely true. She tried to give it back to me after the proposal, when she said we were through. I told her to think about it. The next morning…I just forgot.” He suddenly looked uneasy. “I’ll demand that she give it back to me immediately.”
“She said she was meeting you later tonight. At your place.”
“She said that?”
“Nate, I think you owe it to her to hear her out.” He began to protest, but she cut him off. “She’s back in town now and you can’t avoid her. Not forever. So, just…go talk to her and either end it completely in a way she understands, or…get back together with her. Your choice.” It was all she could do to keep her voice from cracking.
He shook his head. “I don’t know what I have to say to you, but I’m not getting back with her. Ever.”
“Okay, good.”
His gaze flicked back to his booth, then to the rest of the festival grounds. He sighed heavily. “What do you plan to do tonight?”
She shrugged. “I’ve been on my feet all day, so Dhara and I will break down the booth and take the rest of the stuff to the shop. Then I’ll probably go home and crash.” She didn’t tell him that Henry wouldn’t be there. It didn’t seem to matter now.
“I’ll call you,” he said.
“All right.” In the background she could hear Harry Tuba and his polka band warming up for tonight’s performance. It was a huge let down from Billy Brenton, but then, the day had started out so promising on all fronts.
A brand new looking sports car with a Dade County license plate sat parked in his garage like it belonged there, and his house was lit up like a fucking Christmas tree. Nate killed the engine on his SUV and prepared himself to face Jessica.
