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She took a sip of her coffee. “I’m doing okay. I feel silly about the whole catastrophe.”
“I’m glad you’re okay.” He shuffled through several more pieces of mail. “Huh.” He opened an envelope and unfolded the letter inside.
“What is it?”
“A class reunion…thing.” He adjusted his glasses. “A Rhine River cruise.”
“Wow.” Beth sat up in the recliner. “Like, the whole class is going?”
He flipped the paper over. Beth could see a bright yellow Post-it Note stuck to the front of the letter but couldn’t read the words.
Her dad finished reading the back page and picked up the slick brochure, read it, and stuffed it all back into the envelope. “It’s just a small group from high school.” He started to toss it into the recycle can. Paused. Set it back in the stack of mail. Pulled it out and looked at the contents again, then shoved them back into the envelope.
Huh.
The side door opened.
Her dad stepped out of the way to let Courtney and Vivien back in, grocery bags in tow. They plopped the bags unceremoniously onto the kitchen island while he exchanged his slippers for shoes.
“I’ll leave you girls to it.” He stood and tapped his hand on the stack of mail, as if his thoughts still lingered inside that envelope. “I’ll see you later. I’m off to a meeting.”
The door clicked shut behind him.
Beth would have thought Grayson pure imagination except that, from her vantage point on the gurney, she’d seen Robin step out of the bakery. She’d waved to her brother as he headed back to his truck while paramedic Jensen Atwood closed the doors of the ambulance. Grayson Fox, the man who’d left town in a cloud of dust, had driven away. Again.
Except, then he’d come to the hospital.
“So, back to this Lone Ranger rescue.” Courtney pulled a loaf of fresh bread from one of the bags.
“So handsome too.” Vivien rubbed her hands across her barely showing baby abdomen. “A six-foot dark-blond. Green eyes. Muscles.”
“Wait—when did you see him?” Beth asked.
“I was on my way home from the theater, and I saw him getting into his truck when the ambulance was pulling away. Of course, I didn’t know the whole story until you helped me put the pieces together.” Vivien winked and tapped her index finger on her lips. “He’s the complete opposite of Ly—”
Courtney clamped her hand over Vivien’s mouth.
Beth pressed her hands to her temples, the blade of a headache jabbing her skull behind her eyeballs. “Please don’t bring him up.” His name still made her chest ache a little. The last thing she wanted to discuss was her failed engagement to Lyle Fredrickson or how handsome Grayson Fox was.
Vivien pried Courtney’s fingers from her face, and three shades of realization transitioned across it.
Oh no. Beth groaned.
Vivien sucked in a breath. “Youlikedhim.”
Beth waved her off. “I more than liked him—I was engaged to him!” She flung her arms wide. “I loved him.”
“Not Lyle.” Vivien set her hands on her hips. “Grayson.” She lifted a perfect brow. “How did I never see it before?”
“What?” Heat crept up Beth’s neck. She hadn’t been friends with Vivien in high school. Of course she wouldn’t know their history. Unless she’d heard the rumors. But Beth doubted it. Vivien would not have resisted the mention of it.
Vivien leaned in. “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”
Beth rubbed her temples again. The pain had grown to an iron bar wedged through her temples.
Courtney and Vivien stood side by side, their heads slightly tilted in the same direction like puppy dogs.
“It was kind of romantic,” Courtney offered. “Joyce said he caught you when you passed out.”
