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Unfortunately, staying away from anyone in this town was tough. Even though it was growing, it was still a small town at heart. With only one movie theater, a handful of shops, three banks, and one courthouse, eventually you ran into someone you were avoiding. It was inevitable.
3
Georgia approached the exit to the town’s only grocery store, Food Value, with a grocery bag filled with produce in each hand. She was cooking for a couple and a family that night—both were on the dude ranch mostly to ride horses.
Luckily, she’d just beaten the rush. Cupid Ridge was what was known as a bedroom community. There were very few jobs in this town, and only slightly more in the suburban area twenty minutes up the interstate. Most people commuted the half hour to the bigger city. That meant she was a couple of hours ahead of rush hour.
“Georgia Ludington.”
The voice behind her nearly made her jump out of her skin. She’d been so intent on making her way through the open doors that she hadn’t noticed someone behind her. A woman. A woman she used to call a good, good friend.
“Lucie Cooper!” Georgia said, turning to look at her former classmate. “Hi.”
“Your hair’s straight,” she said. “I almost didn’t recognize you.”
If Georgia hadn’t been carrying a bag in each hand, she probably would’ve self-consciously reached up to touch her hair. Yeah, she’d straightened it before going to see Clayton at his office. Weird, she knew, but some part of her had wanted to impress him.
A big part of her had wanted to impress him.
“What are you doing here?” Georgia asked, then kicked herself for asking such a silly question. Why was she so awkward?
The truth was, Georgia felt guilty for losing touch with her friend group after graduation. She’d thrown herself into her work at the inn, eliminating time-wasting activities like going out with friends and dating.
Only, as she got older, she was realizing those weren’t such a waste of time, after all. Maybe working so much wasn’t good for her.
“Your hair’s so beautiful, either way,” Lucie gushed. “But I’d die for curls like yours.”
Lucie was the ever peppy, always perfect girl next door. Not literally, of course. If she’d lived next door, Georgia wouldn’t have been allowed to speak to her. Which would’ve been tough, since they shared a lot of the same friends in high school.
The truth was, Lucie was stunning—then and now. She was the girl all the guys wanted to go out with in high school. In fact, she’d dated a certain gorgeous lawyer who’d shown up on Georgia’s property that morning. For most of sophomore year, in fact. Why they’d broken up was anyone’s guess, but she’d immediately started dating a popular guy in their class, so Georgia could only assume…
“Patty’s having her baby any day now, I heard.” Lucie shuffled the bundle of bags she was holding as the door swished close behind her, nearly hitting her in the backside. She stepped forward at the last minute with a fairly loud, “Ooooh.”
Georgia couldn’t help but smile at that. One thing about Lucie—her optimistic, sunny attitude was contagious. Georgia didn’t consider herself as a pessimist. She just tended to overthink things.
“Patty was your kitchen manager, right?” she asked.
It took Georgia a second to backtrack to what they’d been discussing before the door almost shut on her. Patty. Baby. Yes, right.
“She was,” Georgia said, then rushed to add, “Sheis. I’m handling things temporarily.”
“You know I went to culinary school.”
Georgia blinked in surprise. No, she didn’t know that. She’d been in her own world since graduating high school. The ranch pretty much took up all her mental energy. Every now and then a piece of town gossip would drift her way, but most of the time, she was completely oblivious to what happened to her classmates after graduation, including one very gorgeous attorney who’d been on her mind all day.
“That’s great,” Georgia said. Why did she have the feeling affirmation wasn’t what Lucie was looking for?
“I also run a very popular cooking channel online.” Lucie smiled, and it was clear she was proud of her accomplishment. “Forty thousand followers. I make an okay living, but it’s kind of lonely, you know? Just me and my camera in my kitchen. I’d love to get out for a couple of months and experience cooking for an audience who would actually eat it.”
Georgia’s eyes widened. Oh. She didn’t know what to say to this.
“Patty doesn’t actually cook,” Georgia said. “I mean, she does, but her job is mostly to supervise and make sure everything gets to the table okay and the customers are happy.”
Lucie chewed on her bottom lip. Her perfect bottom lip—not too big, not too small. Her nose was perfect, too, as were her eyes—her entire face. No wonder Clayton had dated her. She felt a little foolish that she’d spent the day thinking about him. After dating Lucie, he’d never even look at someone like Georgia.
“I think my viewers would love to see what it’s like in the kitchen of a real bed and breakfast,” she said. “It would be good for business, too. Maybe bring in some customers for your dude ranch.”
“Inn,” Georgia said.
