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Janessa grinned. “Not all of them. Also, just know that Jackson is like Jay. Wade is a bit more like Gareth.”
“Is there a shortage of single women around here?”
“Not really. Wade’s actually been married, but his wife divorced him and left town, taking their daughter with her.”
“Whoa.” Aria frowned. “That must have been hard on him.”
Janessa nodded. “It just about broke him.”
“Does he get to see his daughter?”
“Yep. She’s almost fourteen now, and she usually spends summers here.”
“Fourteen?”
“Dakota got pregnant in their senior year, and they got married not long after graduation. But then she decided she didn’t want to be stuck in Serenity Point, and apparently didn’t want to be married either. Wade offered to leave Serenity with her, but she wasn’t interested. She’s since remarried and has a couple more kids.”
Aria dropped the sweats she was holding onto the bed next to Janessa. “Will these do?”
Janessa laid her hand on the piece of clothing. “Yep. Just check the temperature before you head out for a walk, and if it’s close to freezing, layer up.”
“That’s what Gareth said too.”
“Well, Dr. Gareth will definitely want you to avoid frostbite.”
Aria sighed. “It was such a stupid thing to go out walking when it’s this cold.”
“Not stupid at all, especially considering where you used to live. You just need to learn to dress appropriately.”
“Now that I’ve gotten that lecture from you and Gareth, I don’t think I’ll step out of the house without doing a layer check.”
Janessa bounced up off the bed and brushed her hands together. “My work here is now done.” She headed for the door before turning to say, “If you want to go to the service tonight, I usually leave around six. Or I can give you directions if you’d prefer to take your own car.”
Aria still wasn’t sure if she would go or not, so she just said, “Okay.”
Janessa pulled the door closed as she left the room. Aria sank down onto the bed and let out a long sigh. A crush wasn’t the same thing as falling in love, was it? Because if it was the same thing, Janessa’s warning was coming a bit too late.
As she thought back to her feelings for Tim, Aria frowned. She tried to remember how she’d felt during their first few dates, but everything was so overshadowed by the way he’d ended their engagement. When she thought of him now, there was definitely no positive emotion to reflect on.
Still, she’d take Janessa’s words to heart and not let the little crush she had on Gareth turn into anything more.
Deciding that she’d go with Janessa to church after all, Aria took a quick shower, then changed into a pair of jeans and a sweater.
Charli and Layla were in the kitchen with Janessa when Aria showed up. The little girl sat at the island counter with a sandwich on a plate in front of her. The two women were building sandwiches of their own from an assortment of food on the counter.
“Hey there,” Janessa said when she spotted her. “Want to make yourself a sandwich?”
“We usually go for light suppers on Sundays,” Charli said as she cut through her sandwich, then dumped a pile of chips on her plate.
“Sounds good.”
When Charli carried her plate over to sit beside her daughter, Aria took her place. There were plenty of options, and she was hungry, so it didn’t take her long to put together a sandwich for herself.
Janessa sat down on another of the barstools at the counter. “Did you grab anything for lunch?”
Aria knew she asked because when they’d been roommates, Aria had often skipped meals. It hadn’t been because she was trying to lose weight. Usually, she just had other things on her mind and forgot to eat.
More recently, however, her grief and anxiety had been robbing her of her appetite. She just wasn’t hungry a lot of the time.
