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Part of her wanted to figure out the fastest way to get to Carter’s Cove. The biggest, nicest inn on the island was the Heartwood Inn, and Blake had bragged about knowing the owners. They let him come hang out there and order food and drinks to his beach-side lounger even though he didn’t have a room.

Stop bragging, she typed out now.It’s not a good look for a man.

I’m not bragging, he said.I’m celebrating my accomplishments. There’s a difference.

Sure, she said. He’d been talking about his friendships, his relationship with his mom, how he handled some tough texts his son had gotten that day, and no, he wasn’t really bragging.

Lauren liked that he was somewhat of an open book. She felt closed off all the time. At the very least, she didn’t rush to tell others everything going on in her life. Sometimes she never did, and she simply dealt with everything internally.

She wasn’t sure which was better. Getting it all out and making other people worry over her, or holding it inside herself and dealing with the constant anxiety.

“Hey,” Joy said, and Lauren looked up from her phone. Joy wore a bright blue polo with the Hilton Head Library insignia embroidered over her heart. She looked bright and happy, and she carried a blue pastry box that made Lauren love her more. “Look what I brought.”

“That better have a chocolate croissant in it.” Lauren cocked one eyebrow.

“They were out.” Joy put the box on the table and sank into the chair Blake had used for his conference call earlier in the day. Since he’d left, Lauren hadn’t done much of anything. That wasn’t entirely true. She’d carried in a few more boxes, but they all just sat in her room, still full and taped closed. She’d made tea and sipped it to the tune of the ocean waves down the sand. She’d been texting Blake.

“But I got a raspberry fritter,” she said. “They looked incredible, and it was the last one.” She opened the box and pulled out the humongous doughnut. “How was your day?”

“I set off the alarm here,” Lauren said. “The cops came.”

Joy froze with the mammoth fritter in her hand. “What?”

Lauren smiled and shook her head. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell it after we get food. What do you want?” She swiped on her phone to order delivery. She raised both eyebrows at Joy, who shifted in her seat. Something was going on.

“I, uh, ate after work,” she said. She did work part-time at the library four days a week. She went in one or two others as a volunteer, and that had been today’s shift.

“You did?” Lauren normally didn’t care. She wouldn’t tonight, if Joy’s face hadn’t turned a pale shade of pink that made her freckles pop out. “With whom?” She really enunciated the M on the last word, because Joy had some news to spill.

You do too, Lauren thought, and she told herself to tread carefully. In all honesty, she was surprised Joy hadn’t already sniffed out the fact that Lauren didn’t have a job. They’d been busy with the holiday, the wedding, and lastly, the moving in.

“There’s this man who delivers packages to the library every day,” Joy said. “He asked me what time I was done today.”

“Classic,” Lauren said, grinning.

“His name is Chester. He’s nice.”

“Nice.” She nodded. “A good quality.”

Joy grinned and shook her head. “Stop it. This is…terrifying and new. I didn’t really like the date.”

“You didn’t? Why not?”

“It wasn’t him.” Joy sighed and looked toward the house at something only she could see. “It was just…weird. I’m forty-seven years old. I shouldn’t be going out on awkward first dates.” She blinked, her gaze moving back to Lauren’s. She only held it for a moment before dropping it the doughnut in her hand. She tore it in half and wouldn’t look at Lauren again. That was a quintessential Joy move. She didn’t like looking people straight in the face when she felt vulnerable, exposed.

Lauren understood, and she looked past Joy too. A dog barked somewhere down on the beach, and Lauren thought it might be Beryl. He was still at the house three down, staying with Conrad while Cass and Harrison were on their honeymoon.

“I told Blake we could start dating,” she said.

“That’s great,” Joy said, and she sounded like she meant it.

Lauren nodded. “He came by with lunch while the cops were here. He stayed almost all afternoon.” She smiled then, because she couldn’t hold the gesture back.

“All afternoon?” Joy asked, faking her shock. “And what, pray tell, did the two of you do here—alone—all afternoon?”

Lauren looked at her and they laughed together. “Nothing,” Lauren said truthfully. The words she needed to say clogged her throat. “Joy, I have to—we talked about a job he has at his financial firm.”

“Not the job again.” Joy rolled her eyes. “You have a job, Lauren. A really good job. Why does he…?” She trailed off, as Lauren had started shaking her head a couple of sentences ago.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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