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Chapter 5
Hope hugged Libby and Roni as if she hadn’t seen them for two years instead of two weeks.
“Is this you being excited over the school year starting, Hope? Because I can’t wait to ship my kids there tomorrow morning.” Roni flicked back her raven-black, smooth hair.
They perused the menus of The Mean Bean, as if those ever changed, and caught up on the last two weeks of the summer vacation.
“So, besides Six Flags, two movies, and the baking, crafts, and beach days I organized, they also spent two days with Eric’s parents. The prince himself was too busy but promised to come and get them on Labor Day.” Though she had her own issues with him, the girls loved spending time with their dad, and his new wife was kind to them. She stopped trying to understand how he could have moved away from them and focused on maintaining their positive connection with him.
“We had fun on the beach with you,” Roni said. “I wish Hannah was in Lulu’s class. They got along so well. Well, until it ended in tears. But it always does with kids.”
Louise, Roni’s eldest, was Hannah’s age. They clicked but never became besties.
“And this one over here”—Roni gestured with her head toward Libby—“looks like she had all kinds of fun with Luke.”
Libby glowed.
Hope wondered if over two years without sex and intimacy had dulled her into the opposite of radiant. That thought, and the mention of Luke, brought his brother’s image into her mind.
“How about that brother of his? Any hope for our Hope?” Roni suddenly asked, causing Hope’s heart to skip a beat. Was she a mind reader?
“Don’t remind me,” she muttered, trying her best to look unconcerned by concentrating on the menu, though she knew it by heart. She hoped the red heat that coursed through her at the mention of him didn’t show on her face.
“We’ll have to go back to Life’s A Beach at some point,” Roni said, “even with Josh there.”
Thankfully, it seemed that Roni had attributed her embarrassment only to Josh. Maybe because, when she had told her about it, she had minimized the mention of Jordan Delaney.
“Jordan said you were cute,” Libby said.
Hope hated that her heart skipped yet another beat. Why on earth would it?
“He did?”
Libby nodded.
Knowing her friend’s kind heart, Hope figured she was probably stretching the truth a bit for her. “He hasn’t seen my stretch marks,” she muttered, playing with the handle of her fork. “Besides, doesn’t he live in D.C. or something?”
“It’s uncertain when he’ll go back. He’s taking over Luke’s lease at the house in Wayford.”
“Go for it, Hope. Let him detonate you,” Roni encouraged in her usual nonchalance, citing the expression Hope had once used to describe her lack of sex life. “If I remember him, and I think I do, he looks the type. Then get back to the dating world with a bang.”
Hope blushed. Encountering him only once, she suspected that Roni was right. Jordan Delaney looked exactly the type. The type that the single Ronis of the world could probably handle, not her. The type that wouldn’t notice her, anyway.
“Nah. I’m not the type. And who said he’d be interested?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Crappiest coffee ever. You’d think the note I put in the suggestion box would help by now.”
Hope laughed. “You put a note, too? So did I! I guess they don’t take us seriously around here.” She faked a baffled expression, casting her glance over the other occupants of the teachers’ lounge who seemed preoccupied with their phones. No one paid attention to the two of them by the coffee corner.
Chris laughed, bumping his shoulder against hers. “Great minds …”
“I’m in charge of the science fair. I’ll make sure we have good coffee there, and I need volunteers,” she said. Why was it so easy to talk to someone you work with?
“Happy to. Avery put me in charge of the Model UN because she thought I could help with correcting their grammar, but since she’s micro-managing it, I have plenty of spare time, especially when Mason is with …” Chris stammered toward the end.
“I understand.” Smiling softly, Hope briefly touched his forearm in commiseration. She knew what being newly divorced was like, and Chris was an involved dad to his four-year-old.
