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“She’s great,”Megan said after they’d left The Shack, heading for the minimart.
Tione’s arm brushed hers as they walked. “Told you you’d have a lot in common.”
They crossed Marine Parade, the street running parallel to the beach, and she could already see the town square a couple of blocks away. Would it look the same in person as it had in her photographs?
“You should take her up on her invitation to the festival,” he continued.
“I will, if I’m still around.” She didn’t want to get ahead of herself. Anything could happen between now and then. They cut over another road and the street opened out into a cobblestone square. In its center, within a fountain, stood a life-size statue of a guy with a surfboard, just as she’d seen online.
She grinned. “I love this place.”
Tione grunted. “Just wait. It gets its teeth in you really good after a while.”
Scanning the buildings, she noted a jewelry shop to her left, and beside that, a blown glass studio. To her right was a building labeled “The Hideaway” with a sign proclaiming it to be both a gym and art studio. There was a minimart, a cafe, a library, and on the opposite side of the courtyard, two historical buildings. One looked to be a local pub—perhaps the one that hosted the men’s poker night—and the other was the town hall.
“So cool,” she breathed. “Exactly like I imagined it, but better.”
Better because she was out of Charles’s shadow. Free of her beautiful prison. If she wanted to sip coffee and people-watch out the window of Cafe Oasis for hours, she could. If she wanted to buy blown glass vases in every color of the rainbow, no one would stop her. Trevor nudged her leg, and she stroked his head.
“Dogs are allowed here?” she asked.
“Dogs are allowed anywhere in Haven Bay,” he replied, lips twisting wryly. “This isn’t the city. No one stands on ceremony.”
“I want to look at everything,” she declared. “But not right now. I don’t want to make you wait outside with Trevor while I browse. Shall we go to the minimart?”
They passed The Hideaway and she tried to peek through the window to see what a combination gym and art studio looked like, but was disappointed when the only thing visible was a staircase.
“The gym is upstairs,” Tione said. “Bex, who owns it, lives on the ground floor.”
“Is this the same Bex whom Faith mentioned?”
“Sure is.”
“So she’s a personal trainer?”
“And a painter.”
“Multi-talented.”
“She’s also mother to a monster.”
Megan stopped walking. “I beg your pardon?”
He grinned. “She has a five-year-old daughter, Izzy, who’s the cutest thing you’ll ever see but has an evil streak to rival a Disney super-villain.”
“Oh.” For some reason, that made Megan feel better. She’d screwed up her own life spectacularly, and it was comforting to know that other women had their struggles. Did that make her a bad person?
“I’ll wait out here,” he said, sinking onto a bench outside the shop. “Do you mind grabbing my things as well?” He handed her a list and a wallet. “You’ll be all right in there by yourself?”
Taking a breath, she mentally fortified herself. “I will.”
She stepped away from him, feeling like she was climbing out onto an exposed ledge, away from the safety rope she’d been clinging to. Ridiculous to feel that way when he wouldn’t be more than a hundred meters from her, and no one would be entering or leaving the minimart without going past him and Trevor, but if she’d learned one thing from her bad relationship, it was that emotions rarely made sense.
As she entered the minimart, cool air rushed down on her from an overhead fan and she paused to retrieve her personal shopping list from her pocket. She wanted to make cupcakes, and for that, she needed ingredients and equipment they didn’t have at Sanctuary. She wasn’t certain this little grocery store would have what she needed either, but she could improvise.
She slung a basket over her arm and gathered the first items on her list. She was investigating the contents of the chillers when a hand landed on her arm and she spun around so violently, she nearly fell over. It was fortunate she didn’t, because she would have knocked down the two little old ladies staring at her with wide eyes.
The one who’d touched her snatched her hand back and her wrinkled mouth formed a moue of disapproval. “Well, I never.”
