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Allison appeared out of nowhere just as Sara opened her mouth to speak, and soon the table in front of them was loaded with biscuits and gravy, bacon, and two dishes of fresh watermelon mint salad, as well as an alarmingly tall pile of chilaquiles for Sara.
Lily picked up a thick slice of crisp bacon and sat back, allowing Sara to answer when she was ready. She just watched as Sara took a moment to arrange the plates on the table, then sank back into the pillows beside her.
“I got my period a few days ago.”
Lily squeezed Sara’s arm but stayed silent.
“I told Sam last night that I don’t want to try again. I think I knew it was the last time for me, you know?” She took a bite of the chilaquiles and the tension showed on her forehead, as if she was searching for an explanation that didn’t exist. “I don’t know why I knew. I just did.”
“You don’t have to know why.” Lily paused, her voice gentle. “And you don’t have to explain it to anyone.”
Sara looked up at her, the tension in her jaw visibly softening. “I don’t, do I?”
“Nope.” Lily shook her head, a slow smile spreading across her face. “You don’t have to say one single word. This is your experience, and no one else has a right to details unless you want to give them.”
“Thanks. I just needed to hear that, I guess.” Sara let out a long breath. “Exactly that.”
The two of them suddenly remembered their food, and it was a few moments before Sara turned back to Lily to ask how the promotion was going for Embers into Fire. “I love that book, by the way.” Sara smiled, reaching for another napkin. “I read it twice in one week when you sent it to me.”
“It just landed in bookstores last week, actually. I sent you my copy, the one they call the author’s copy, so you got to read it before everyone else.”
“Oh, man.” Sara bumped her shoulder to Lily’s as they finished up the last of their breakfast. “I wish you would have told me that then. I lost like two months of quality bragging time about how I know the author.”
“Oh, good Lord.” Lily rolled her eyes and laid her silverware on her plate. “You’d better be joking.”
“I am, of course.” Sara smiled up at Allison as she came to take their plates, leaving them with just their coffee cups and cozy couch. The sun warmed the plate glass window behind them, and the sidewalk sounds of McCall were just audible over the clink of cutlery and scrape of chairs over the diner floor. “How’s everything going with that, by the way? Did you just leave the press junket for the book and hop a plane to McCall? Clyde has to be losing his ever-loving mind.”
??“You’re telling me.” Lily rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling. “I mean, Jesus. I know it’s not easy being my agent, but he’s really got to chill out before he has a heart attack.”
“Yeah, well, it’s good for him. Character building.” Sara refilled their cups from the carafe and sat back into the pillows. “How are you really doing? You had to be at the end of your rope if you just ditched LA and Clyde with no warning.”
“I was.” Lily shook her head to clear it. “I mean, I still am, really. I’ve got to find a way through this, but he wants to know when I’ll be back, and I don’t know how to tell him that I don’t know yet.”
“And how have you been since you’ve been here?” Sara looked over at Lily. “I know it’s only been a few days, but are the panic attacks getting better at all?”
“You know, I actually haven’t felt like that since I left LA, but I can’t really explain why. I’m still stressed about all the same things, but there’s just something about McCall that…helps, I guess.”
“Someone really wise told me once that I don’t owe anyone an explanation.” Sara elbowed lily softly. “And I didn’t have to understand what was going on all the damn time.”
Lily looked up with a wink. “Well, she sounds fantastic.”
“She is, as a matter of fact.”
Sara’s phone buzzed, and she had a short conversation while Lily finished her coffee, then dropped her phone back into her bag and leaned in, one eye on the front door of the diner. “So, I didn’t realize it was getting so late, but I need to tell you about Moxie. She’s coming in to meet me in just a few minutes.”
Lily glanced out the window and down the street to the coffee shop. “Java?”
“Nope. We have a foster kid who’s living with us, and that’s her name.”
“Whoa.” Lily shook her head to clear it. “I swear, your life has more twists and turns than my storylines. You have a foster kid? When did this happen?”
Sara’s face softened as she pulled a twenty-dollar bill from her wallet and laid it on the table. “She’s only been with us a few days, but she’s the sweetest, toughest girl on the planet. She reminds me a little bit of you, actually.”
Lily nodded, noting the slight, hesitant teenager walking through the double glass doors at the front of the diner as if on cue. She was wearing faded jeans with a rip in one knee, a threadbare tee that said Jasper Crystal Festival 2018, and a pair of black Chuck Taylors. When she caught sight of Sara in the back, her face brightened, and she walked toward them.
“Hey, Moxie.” Sara smiled, zipping her bag closed and glancing at Lily. “This is Lily, a good friend of mine who’s here from LA for a while.”
Lily smiled and said hi, but Moxie looked instantly nervous and stumbled over her words. When she finally answered, her voice sounded as if she’d sprinted from the resort to the diner. “You’re Lily Larimar. I have your picture.” She shook her head and tried again. “I mean your book. The one that you wrote.”
