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A customer wandered over needing help, so I let her get back to work and headed back home. Seagull Lane wasn’t on my way, but I did a little detour and turned down the road without really thinking about it.
Lorna Rose’s house was easy to spot, mostly due to the signs about jam and the chickens. She had a beautiful coop for them that took up a lot of the yard next to the house.
I pretended I was stopping for jam and looked at the houses all around Lorna’s. One was basically abandoned and overgrown and looked like no one had been in there for ages. The one across the street had a FOR SALE sign on it and a bunch of workers replacing the roof. I didn’t think that was Honor’s house.
On the other side was a teensy cottage that had some peeling paint in parts but had Honor’s car parked in the driveway.
Shocked, I sat in my car in front of Lorna’s and tried to process this cottage with the image I’d constructed of Honor as a person with means to live in a much nicer house.
Not that this was bad, by any means. The lawn had been mowed and there were blooming flowers in the window boxes. Still, there were cracks around the edges and the place looked shabby, for lack of a better term.
In my mind, I’d pictured Honor in a huge house, maybe with lake views. Someplace white and modern and intimidating.
The cottage had been a bright yellow at one point, but the paint had faded and desperately needed to be updated.
Before either Lorna or Honor could come out to see why I was parked on the side of the road, I pulled into the driveway across the street and turned around, heading back to the guest house with way too many thoughts.
* * *
On Sunday,I made a nice big breakfast and then got ready to meet Liam and Gwen at the beach. I’d told him I was just stopping by, but I intended to spend at least a few hours with them if I could.
“Are you moving to the beach?” Liam asked as I dragged my ass and my stuff across the sand.
“Shut up and help me,” I said, and he rushed over to take some shit from me.
A beautiful girl with the biggest smile and short reddish curls got up from her chair.
“Hi, I’m Gwen. You must be Layne. I’m so happy to meet you.”
I dropped my crap next to Liam’s chair.
“It’s so nice to meet you too. I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things from Liam,” I said, and he glared at me.
“Oh, have you been talking about me?” Gwen said, smiling and turning to Liam.
“Bragging is more like it,” I said, and Liam smacked me on the arm.
“You knew this was going to happen when you invited me,” I said.
“And now I’m having regrets,” Liam said, slumping down in his chair as I got myself set up in the sand.
“So you’re saying nice things about me?” Gwen said, reaching out to squeeze Liam’s arm.
He made a grumbling sound and I shared a look with Gwen.
“Someone is being a grump today,” I said, pulling some snacks out of my bag. “Have some chips.” I handed him the bag. They were barbecue, his favorite.
“Don’t be a grump,” Gwen said, pushing his hair back from his face in a sweet gesture. They might have only been dating for a short time, but after being with them for a few minutes, their chemistry was easy and clear as day.
Liam warmed up after a few minutes and I chatted with Gwen about her work as a nurse and how she and Liam met.
“I can’t drink that much caffeine, so I kept just handing them out to the other nurses.”
“You didn’t have to keep buying coffee and matcha as an excuse to talk to me,” Liam said.
“I know, but I was trying to be subtle,” she said with a laugh.
“You came in four times in one day,” Liam said, chuckling.
