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“Awesome. Thanks, man. I’ll be in touch when it gets closer.” He started toward the produce section.
“Hey, Brad…”
He glanced at me. “Yeah?”
“Has Emily mentioned anything about me?”
“Not much.” He shook his head. “No, but I’m sure having your ex show up at the store isn’t a great way to prove that you’reboyfriend material.” Brad laughed. “I’m no expert, but my gut says that’s not good.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks.” I walked to the self-checkout and started scanning my items as I thought about Clara showing up on the island. I hoped Brad was only kidding about Clara’s intentions, but he seemed to know more about things than I certainly did.
As I made my way out the door with my groceries, I walked over to my car and heard the shrill sound of Clara’s voice ringing in my ears.
I popped open my trunk and put the groceries down, pretending I didn’t hear her.
That only made her louder.
Shutting the trunk, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she called my name again and wove through the parked cars.
“Luke,” she called.
My jaw tensed. The only person who called me Luke was my nephew. She’d ruined that name for me a long time ago.
I slowly turned to see Clara sliding along two cars to get to me, and I swallowed down the annoyance.
Great.
Just what I needed with Brad inside.
“I wondered if I’d bump into you,” Clara said, now only a couple of feet away.
“What are you doing here?” My voice sounded gruff, but she was lucky it wasn’t worse.
“Just wanted to show my son around, and I saw a lot of the pictures you’ve posted of Marigold Island. It looked beautiful.”
Okay. Maybe Brad was overreacting.
“And maybe on some level, I hoped I’d bump into you.”
I shook my head. “Why would you think that?”
“You had your location turned on, and you posted a pic this morning outside some coffee shop.”
I looked at the boy standing behind her. It was hard not to be taken aback.
“So you took a ferry ride this morning because I was here?”
She laughed, touching her chest. “When you put it that way, it sounds a little crazy.”
“Well, I’m sorry to be rude, but I have someone to pick up.”
“Is it your friend at the antique store?” she asked as I opened the door to my car.
“That’s really not your business, Clara.” I glanced at her son, not wanting to humiliate his mom in front of him. “But it’s good to see you again. Have a nice evening.”
I sat in my seat, shut the door, and turned on the car.
I glanced up to see Brad coming out of the store with a bag of groceries, and his gaze landed on Clara immediately before turning his attention to me as I pulled out of the stall.
