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“Seriously, Estella. He doesn’t give me creepy vibes, and you know I’m good at picking out a bad guy.”
“Thanks to Chet.”
Yep, one night, I talked to her about Chet. When you’re eighteen and never really dated—and a nerd about to graduate after only three years in college—a hot guy paying attention to you makes you lose your mind. Or at least it did to me. I wasn’t equipped to have one of the football players pay attention to me. By the time I figured out what a horrible person he was, I was damaged. Not physically, but emotionally. Now I know how to pick up on the cues I missed all those years ago.
“Yes, but learning how to handle men was an important task, and I did it in record time.”
We have that in common. Only Estella was married to her asshole. In those days, divorce wasn’t very common, and she would have been left with nothing, and he would have taken her children away from her.
“Good. You know how I feel about the rest of my grandchildren, but Nancy and Jon have always been good eggs.”
I nod as she glances over at Meredith.
“Is she settling in okay?”
“Yep. She still hates Josh, though.”
She hissed at him when he walked by today. We were sitting on the bench in front of the diner. I couldn’t go inside with Meredith, so I ordered food, and they brought it to me. Josh stopped to ask me how I was doing, and Meredith sounded like she wanted to kill him.
“That’s odd. I thought all females liked him.”
“Well, not every girl likes boys.”
She nods in that world-weary way. I get that there is even more beneath the surface of Estella that I will probably never know.
“I promise that Jon is annoying but not scary.”
“Annoying?”
“First of all, he keeps saying I stole his house.”
“Jon always thought that was his house.”
The tone of her voice is different. I can’t put my finger on what it is about, but there’s something about that house and Jon. And dammit, I love a good mystery.
“Second of all, he eats egg whites for breakfast.”
“It’s healthy.”
“I know. And yes, I know I have horrible eating habits compared to everyone over twenty. Still, I don’t like being judged about it.”
She nods again. “Understandable.”
“Did you need anything else? I need to get over to my sister’s for dinner. Mason is cooking.”
“No, dear, you go on. I’ll lock up.”
Little known fact. Estella owns this building. Most people in town don’t realize she donated it because she did it under an affiliate corporation. I bet Mrs. Petersen figured it out, especially when it seemed to be a place to gather right after all the LOLs complained about not having a building for their meetings.
I look over at Meredith. “Ready to go?”
She slowly rises as if she is one of the LOLs, then wanders over to me, first stopping to rub up against Estella.
Pleasure washes over the older woman’s expression as she leans down to pet Meredith.
“You should get a cat.”
“That’s exactly what I need. I already live in a big house by myself. Let’s add some cats to have people call me the crazy old cat lady.”
