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“Aren’t you glad you dodged that bullet, baby?” Esme said, stroking Paige’s hair. Indirectly, Wyatt had been responsible for them getting together. Em had told me the story and sworn me to secrecy. Paige had decided the best way to get back at him was to try and get the girl he’d always wanted, a.k.a., Esme. It was only supposed to be a one-night situation, but then Paige caught feelings, and the rest was history. Not the most conventional meet-cute, but hey, it worked for them.
“Uh, yeah. I’m busy enough with the cat and the dog and the fish,” Paige said, putting her feet in Esme’s lap and blowing her bangs out of her eyes.
“And, I have it on good authority, that Wyatt bought his way back this time. Gretchen’s driving a nice shiny new car.”
“Wow,” I said, reaching for some popcorn. This story was getting good.
“Honestly, I’ve asked Em where he gets his money and she has no idea,” Paige said. Wyatt worked for the family insurance business, but “work” was a generous term. Even his sister didn’t know what he did, or how he got away with it. Like, sure, I worked for the family business, but I also busted my ass for my money.
“Sounds like a mess,” I said.
“Oh, it is. It would be much more entertaining if there wasn’t an innocent child involved. She’s so cute, I have to admit.”
I’d seen pictures, and yes, the baby was absolutely adorable, and it seemed like Gretchen genuinely liked being a mother, according to Natalie. So there was that, at least. Her taste in a father for her child sucked, though.
“I’m just waiting for the day he leaves her and then doesn’t pay child support, because that’s definitely going to happen,” Paige said. “Wyatt has never followed through with anything in his life.”
In addition to “working” at the insurance company, Wyatt had also started and failed several other schemes, and he was definitely due for another one. Messy.
“Ugh, enough about him. He’s the worst. What about you?” Both Paige and Esme stared expectantly at me.
“Do I have a sign on my forehead that says ‘ask me about my life?’” I asked.
“No,” Paige said. “Are a lot of people asking?”
I sighed. “I’m sorry, I just feel kind of under the microscope sometimes. I know everyone is just waiting for me to have another breakdown and it’s…going to lead me to have another breakdown.” I laughed a little. I was much better at hiding my breakdowns now, but they didn’t need to know that.
“Yeah, sorry about that. We’ll try to dial it back,” Paige said.
“I think my aunt has zeroed in on me as her next marriage project, so that’s why I’m a little on edge today,” I said by way of explaining why I snapped at them. Both Paige and Esme cringed.
“We know what that’s like, don’t we?” Paige said, looking at Esme. “Her dad and my mom are insufferable. But we’re happy the way things are, right?”
“Right,” Esme said, squeezing one of Paige’s toes and causing her to squeal. They shared a kiss and I pretended to be really interested in the floor. Being around affectionate couples was really going to give me a complex.
“Puzzle time?” Paige asked, her eyes lighting up.
“Sure,” I said.
We went back into the living room where Paige had a table set up just for putting puzzles together. I was one of the people who was happiest to sit and put one together with her as an activity. Esme preferred to read.
“There’s that missing corner piece,” Paige said, holding it up. She handed it to me and I attached it to the other two edge pieces. We’d filled the exterior and now it was time to sort the pieces to fill in the interior.
When finished, it was a picture of a lighthouse. Not the one in Castleton, though.
“Beth promised me this doesn’t have any missing pieces, but we’ll see,” Paige said, eyes scanning the pieces to put the ones with similar coloring together.
In addition to the used bookstore, the library also rented out puzzles, which was great because Paige already had an impressive collection and Esme had put her foot down on buying more.
I knew what that was like.
“Are you all prepared for Summer Daze?” Paige asked. The yearly sale was the summer kickoff in Castleton and included all the local businesses having sales and special events. Sweet’s was going all out, and I’d been planning for weeks.
“Everything is in place, I hope. I’ve got the signs and banners ready, and thank god I don’t have to do any of the baking.” My greatest shame was that I did not get the family baking gene. No matter what I tried to make, even if it was from a box, it never came out right. And especially never like Linley or my aunt or uncle could do. Fortunately, I was a pretty good cook, so I wasn’t completely hopeless.
What I could do was come up with a killer sales theme and marketing to match. Sweet’s was known for its seasonal items, so we’d leaned into that, as well as come up with new items that would just be sold during Summer Daze. Linley had wanted to test out some new recipes, and if the response was good, we could add them to the regular rotation. No better way to do market research. We’d also be handing out surveys so people could vote on their favorite cookie, donut, and cupcake. I was excited to see the response, and so far, the comments on social media were positive.
“Well, I hope you’re going to save us some extras,” Paige said. “I’m going to do my best to get there, but I have this damn deadline.” Esme snorted from her place on the couch.
