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They both leaned in slightly again as I told them about Gage’s appearance in Mud Gulch what now seemed like a hundred years ago. I couldn’t help the curve of my lips as I pictured him and his friends standing in the doorway wet and steamy and streaked in mud…to him wiping a bite of crab cake off my mouth…to that pool table…
I told them the very condensed version of all of it and when I was done, Haven leaned back in her chair, patting the baby’s back when he started to fuss and wriggle. “Holy crap. No wonder he’s been acting so out of character.” Her eyes lit up, sparkling in the firelight. “Finally, someone who has managed to ruffle Gage Buchanan’s perfect feathers.”
Gage’s own words came back to me, floating through my mind—I’m not as perfect as I seem.
“He does come across that way, doesn’t he?”
“He’s almost suspiciously perfect,” Haven said, still patting the baby who’d fallen back to sleep. “You’re good for him,” she asserted, grabbing my hand and holding it up briefly as if in victory.
My heart did a strange little flop. “No. We’re just…temporary. And anyway, he’s moving to London to bring his father’s company international. And he might take a woman with him…he made a pact to marry if they were unattached at a certain point. That certain point being now, apparently.”
Bree gave her head a small shake. “Wait, what? He agreed to that? A marriage of…convenience?”
“Not yet, but…why shouldn’t he? It’d be as perfect as he is. His father would swoon with delight. Which is Gage’s main priority.” I brought my fingers to my lips as I winced. “Wait, that wasn’t nice. I shouldn’t say that.”
“But it’s true, isn’t it?” Haven blinked as though she’d just had an epiphany. “Ah,” she said. “He’s not perfect at all, is he? He’s a phony and he doesn’t even know it. Everything is far clearer now.” She twisted toward me. “But you’ve brought him out of that matrix. He’s glitching out because of you.”
I laughed. “Glitching out?”
Bree nodded. “Totally glitching out. The raccoons. The fire hydrant. Apparently, he’s been heard by more than one person muttering about applesauce.”
“Applesauce?” I asked.
“No one has any idea what that’s about. Oh, and then there’s the scruff,” Bree went on.
“Both towns are all abuzz about the scruff,” Haven agreed.
I laughed again. Gosh, I liked these women. And I loved the scruff. Unfortunately, glitch or not, there was no future between me and Gage Buchanan.
Averie had packed up her small, pink backpack as we’d been laughing and talking and now she came to sit on her mother’s lap, her thumb going in her mouth as Bree cuddled her and smoothed back her silken hair. “Listen,” she said to me, “if you want to know all the details, the gossip is that Gage is either imbibing a little too much or that you have put some kind of evil spell on him.”
I sucked in a breath of offense. Evil spell?
“What a crock,” Haven said with an exaggerated eye roll. “Bad or…unusual behavior is never a man’s fault? Never his choice? It’s either alcohol or a woman’s wiles that make him unpredictable? Give me a break.”
“Right?” Bree asked. “By the way, why didn’t you go with him to the big shindig at the Metropolitan Club?”
“The Metropolitan Club?” I asked, a sinking feeling in my stomach.
Bree looked over at me. “Crap. I’m sorry. I just figured you decided not to go.”
Gage had gone to a big party at the Metropolitan Club where, potentially, my father was still a member. Hurt made my skin feel suddenly prickly. But of course he hadn’t invited me. Like I had already figured, Blakely was probably going to be there, as would his parents. Sneaking around was fine, but public events? Not a great idea. “Like I said, we’re just temporary. It’s really no big deal. Gage has a life of his own.”
I felt their eyes on my heated skin for a minute, but they didn’t say anything. Down on the shore, it looked as if the guys were putting the finishing touches on their elaborate set up. Good timing because the sun had almost totally dimmed in the sky. “You don’t happen to have that drawing on the napkin, do you?” Haven asked after a minute. “Maybe it’ll look familiar to me.”
“Oh, sure,” I said, reaching for my purse, happy to move the conversation away from Gage. “I have it here.” I wished I’d thought of that.
I brought the diary out and removed the napkin, handing it to Haven first who studied it for a moment, brow drawn. She bit at her lip and then held it out to Bree. “I’m not sure…” she said haltingly. “Bree, what do you think?”
Bree adjusted Averie in her lap, whose eyes had drifted closed, and took the napkin from Haven, holding it so that the firelight illuminated it. She held it for several moments as she gazed at it, and I sensed her stillness. She handed it back, and I thought there was something that looked like concern on her face, but she shook her head. “I’m not sure either,” she said. “But, um, can I take a quick picture of it? If I see something similar, I’ll have it on my phone to compare.”
“Good idea,” Haven said. I held the napkin up as Bree picked up her phone and took a quick, one-handed picture. “I’ll let you know,” she said.
“Thanks. I appreciate it. The more people with their eyes peeled, the more likely it is that one of us sees something if there’s anything to see.” And if I hadn’t run out of time.
“Five minutes to fireworks!” one of the Hale twins who had been with Travis earlier called, both he and his brother practically running in circles with excitement.
Haven stood. “I’m going to go ask Travis where he put the earplugs for the baby. Bree, do you need a pair for Averie?”
