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“I wasn’t planning ongoingto church tomorrow.”
“Well, change your plans, mister. We can stop at your place in the morning. But...” She walked to him and he slid his arm around her waist. “Do you think it might be time to start keeping more things here?”
“Why, Victoria Pendergast, are you asking me to move in with you?”
Her eyes went wide. Was she?
“Well...what would you think about that?”
“I won’t be a kept man, Vickie.” His eyes sparkled with laughter, but then he grew serious. “I know your place is bigger than mine. And fancier. And on the water. But my house is where my kids grew up. I don’t know if I want to part with it. I guess we could rent it.” He looked around the deck. “Or rent this...”
“Are you suggesting we move intoyourhouse?” He was a contractor, so of course he had a beautiful home. Smaller and simpler than the home Malcolm bought for Vickie all those years ago. Located in town, not far from the Taggart Inn. It would be a big change for her, but moving would be a big step for Gordy, too. She finally went on her tiptoes to give him a soft kiss.
“Sounds like we have some decisions to make, but they don’t need to be made today. We have all the time in the world, right?”
He pretended to think about that. “Well, youareseventy, so maybe notallthe time in the world...”
“Thanks, smart-ass. Go get the table umbrella, funny guy.” She smacked his shoulder, then headed into the house. She was shocked to realize she was actually considering leaving this place. Her heart belonged whereverhewas. In the end, this was just a building. And Gordy was the man she loved.
ZOEYSTOODONthe front porch as Mike’s Mustang came rumbling up the driveway with Hazel in the passenger seat. It was a sight she hadn’t prepared herself for—her two hearts together. Hazel had tried to explain why she had to meet Mike at Vickie’s place to apologize. She’d said she didn’t want anyone listening in, and she especially didn’t want to do it in front of Zoey or Chris. Hazel said that would make her nervous. But Zoey was glad Mike was here because she really needed to talk to him, and it had nothing to do with their relationship. A relationship she still had on hard Pause. A relationship she missed desperately, but was terrified to start again.
Hazel’s eyes were bright and shining, her hair wild around her face when Mike stopped the souped-up car. She saw Zoey and jumped out of the car.
“Mom!”she shouted. “Have you ever ridden in this? It’s amazing. Mike took me all the way up to the top of the hill by the waterfalls, and then we came down the hill so fast...”
Mike leaned forward, still sitting at the wheel. “Notthatfast...”
But Hazel was still going. “We went by Falls Legend Winery so fast it was ablur!”
Mike was still in the car, shaking his head. “Not a blur.”
“It was ablur!” Hazel insisted. She ran up the steps and gave Zoey a quick hug. “It was fun.”
“I’m glad. How did your talk go?”
Hazel paused, as if the car ride had erased her memory of the apology meeting that should have happened before it.
“Oh, that. It was good.”
When Zoey just kept staring at her, waiting for more, Hazel rolled her eyes and heaved a tortured sigh. “It wasfine. I apologized. He apologized. I cried a little, but he dealt.”
Zoey looked at Mike. He couldn’t possibly hear them over the rumbling car engine, and he tipped his head as if wondering what she was thinking. He had probablynotdealt that well with Hazel’s tears. He’d told Zoey years ago that he had an auto-response to tears and wanted to cry with the person, which he considered to be horrifyingly humiliating. He didn’t seem to be near tears now, though. He was smiling, even though she could see concern in his eyes. She turned back to her daughter.
“Why did you cry?”
Hazel shrugged. “I felt bad. Andhefelt bad, which mademefeel bad, and then we talked about the video and Ireallyfelt bad.”
“He shouldn’t have made you feel bad about that.”
That video had nearly given Zoey a heart attack when she first saw it. And she didn’t see it until Tani called her and said all the kids were watching it. Her first reaction had been white-hot rage, but she’d quickly cooled off. Hazel was thirteen. She’d needed to express her feelings about what happened, and that silly video seemed to have done that for her. She’d been more settled since she’d done it. But anyone local who saw it knew exactly who she was talking about. Everyone now knew that Hazel’s mom, Zoey, and herattorney boytoy, Mike McKinnon, had been naked together. That couldn’t have been great for Mike.
“He didn’tmakeme feel bad, Mom. I justdofeel bad. But I told him I came up with a way to fix it.” Hazel had a suspiciously gleeful look in her eyes.
“What do you mean,fix it?”
“Never mind. Just an idea I had.”
Mike turned off the car and got out, but he stayed on the far side of the Mustang. “Can we talk, Zoey?”
