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I blink. I’ve been so caught up in my own life that I never even noticed Lee talking to Nora. Did they talk? Is this why he asked me here? Not about Iliana at all, but about his own issues?
Grinning, I lean back in my stool and pop another too-hot fry in my mouth. “Yeah,” I say. “She does.”
“I heard she met up with you last weekend. Something about you looking good in nothing but a towel?”
I can’t help it. I laugh. Clapping Lee on the shoulder, I shove him until he scowls. “You jealous?”
“Fuck off.” He bites into one of my fries and has the same reaction at the temperature of them, breathing out aggressively to stop his mouth from burning.
“I was at Lily’s place,” I finally say to put Lee out of his misery. “Nora brought some cake over. I think she was surprised I was there and was coming over to gossip with Lily about me.”
My mouth twists. Not much to gossip about anymore.
Lee’s shoulders relax ever so slightly. If I hadn’t been paying attention, I would’ve missed it.
Behind him, the door to the bar opens, and Hamish appears with Margaret on his arm. Her twin, Dorothy, trails behind them while my grandmother brings up the rear.
“Rudy!” Dorothy exclaims, gliding over to me. “You came here and didn’t even invite us to join!”
“Oh, leave him be,” my grandmother grumbles. “Why would he want to spend time with an old cow like you?”
“Go find a bridge to guard, troll,” Dorothy replies, keeping a bright smile on her face and her eyes on me. “Did you enjoy the housewarming, Rudy?”
“It was great, Dorothy,” I reply. “You ladies want a drink? It’s on me.”
“On the house,” Hamish corrects, ducking behind the bar to get us all a round.
“Hey, Hamish,” the bartender says from the other end. “We got a booking for one of the rooms.” He jerks his head toward a door that leads to the three tiny rooms on the second floor above the bar. To my knowledge, bookings are exceedingly rare. Only a few guests per year have stayed in them since the Cedar Grove opened over a decade ago—but Lee might have been exaggerating when he told me that. All I know is a booking is rare enough to be unusual.
Hamish still lets out a whoop. “How long are they staying?”
“Guy named Phil,” the bartender says, clicking something on the computer behind the bar to pull up the booking system on the screen. “He’s booked a week. Gets here next month—early September.”
Hamish glances over his shoulder, then nods. “I’ll get the cleaners to prepare the room.”
“Let’s celebrate!” Dorothy exclaims. “Shots! From one hotelier to another.”
“Dorothy, you’re an old woman,” her sister groans. “Don’t you think you should have stopped drinking shots fifty years ago?”
“She only pretends to drink them,” my grandmother cuts in. “Gets everyone else drunk and takes pictures for blackmail.”
“That was one time, Agnes,” Dorothy replies with a roll of her eyes. “It happened in the eighties, for crying out loud. I would’ve thought you’d let it go by now.”
I rap my knuckles on the bar and slide off my stool. “I’m out,” I say. “I can’t keep up with you ladies when you get going.”
“Don’t think we won’t corner you and ask you what’s going on with Lily,” Dorothy says, pointing a finger at me. “We’ll let you off easy tonight, but the interrogation is coming.”
I force a grin. “Can’t wait,” I lie.
When I step back outside, I suck in a deep breath and let it out slowly. I love this town, but sometimes its residents can be overbearing. I understand why Lily chose to travel the world for so long—and why she might not want to tie herself to a place like this—or a man like me. Maybe it’s better for me to be unattached too. I might be the one who needs to take off on an international adventure to escape the weight of this town, the gossip, the lack of privacy. It’s better to be unattached. I’ve known that for a long time.
But no matter how many times I tell myself she did us both a favor by breaking things off, it doesn’t help the fact that I don’t believe my own lies.
CHAPTER 25
Lily
My second trimester trundles on without me noticing. I have more energy than I did before, and I end up throwing myself into my work. For two weeks, I keep to myself, finding a few new clients from local businesses who need help with their accounts, plus a few other remote clients that should keep me busy until tax time comes around.
