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Chapter
Fourteen
Lauren Keller’s headlightscut through the darkness, illuminating the clapboard white planks on the beach cottage.They glinted against the numbers on the front of the house—the same ones Bea had given her that morning.
She’d arrived.
Finally.
Lauren put the car in park but didn’t switch it off.She didn’t like walking up to a strange house in the dark, and she wanted her purse on her arm, one hand inside on her pepper spray.
Ridiculous, as it sure seemed like the whole island had gone to sleep hours ago.She had been traveling for a few hours now, after a full day of work.She hadn’t wanted to wait until tomorrow morning, because then she’d lose at least half the day traveling, and she wouldn’t be in Hilton Head as long as Bea.
Lauren had almost stayed home, because Bea had mentioned Grant in every single message that came to their group text, and that meant Lauren would be a massive third wheel this weekend.
Privately, Bea had assured her over and over that she wouldn’t be, and that she wanted her to be there.
I need your opinion, Bea had said.I need someone to meet Grant.Please, please come.
So Lauren had come.In truth, she hadn’t been sure she would, even that morning.At lunch, when she’d met Nash Hale for a quick chicken Caesar wrap at a fast casual restaurant, she’d even opened her airline app to cancel her flight.
She’d told no one that he’d called Wednesday about dinnertime, nor that Lauren had agreed to the Friday lunch.She herself hadn’t allowed herself to think of it as a date.She hadn’t held his hand, kissed him, or given him any indication she’d like to do either.
She didn’t know what she wanted.
A light snapped on in the house in front of her, and Lauren pulled her ridiculously huge handbag onto her lap.She didn’t truly need the pepper spray inside.She could just start swinging this, as it carried enough to be as heavy as at least four or five bricks.
Satisfied with her back-up plan should someone step out of the shadows, Lauren turned off the car and got out.She didn’t hesitate but stepped quickly toward the front door.
It opened before she reached the porch, and Bea trilled out, “You made it!”
Lauren ran up the last few steps, not sure why she was so dang happy to see Bea.She dropped her purse and flew into Bea’s arms, the two of them embracing tightly.
Lauren’s emotions surged and swirled, and she honestly didn’t know why.She’d seen Bea five days ago, and she didn’t spend every evening with one of her friends.Usually, she poured herself a glass of rosé, changed into a loose pair of pants, and sipped while she sketched, read, or tried to get her cats to do what they didn’t want to do.
“Are you okay?”she asked Bea, who stepped back and smiled at her.
Lauren saw instantly how much she’d changed in only five days.Pure joy beamed out into the world, the source of it Bea.She hadn’t looked like this since she’d won that bingo at the Sweet Water Falls Fair.
Then, she’d laughed and waved her arms above her head as an official came to check.When he’d deemed her the winner of the five hundred dollars, she’d danced up the aisles between the tables to claim her prize.
She’d been so full of life then.
Nort hadn’t liked that she’d been “gambling,” though she hadn’t been.Since his departure from her life, Bea had been fading.Day by day, she grew dimmer, the way stars did as they burned through their fuel too fast.
She’d become a shell of who she’d once been, that dancing thirty-something with a stamped bingo card in her hand.
Bea looked like that again.A healthy glow emanated from her, and while she’d always smiled with straight, white teeth, this one wasn’t meant to hide something.
“I’m great,” Bea said, and the only negative thing Lauren could say about her was how her expression held the smallest hint of exhaustion.
Lauren felt it pulling through her whole body.She knew how to cover things with smiles and giggles too, and she did exactly that now.“Great,” she said.
“Do you have a bag?”Bea asked, already moving to the top of the steps.“I’ll get it.”
Lauren wanted to call to her that she shouldn’t go alone, but Bea had already gone.Lauren dug out the keys and unlocked the car so Bea could get her carryon, and she waited for her friend so they could go into the cottage together.
“I have those pirouettes you love,” Bea said, leading the way inside.
