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“Yeah,” Brooklynn picks up as we continue to walk to the other end of Main Street. “And since it’s such a young town, there are several of us preggo women. We need you. Please tell me you can be our midwife.” She holds up her hands in supplication, and I’m rendered momentarily speechless as the idea swirls through my head.
I miss practicing something fierce. This past week, I filled out all the necessary applications and forms to get licensed in Maine. It’s insanely easy, and in Maine, I can work as a sole provider without physician supervision. Even though I did that, I haven’t applied, or even looked for a job because I don’t know how long I’m going to stay. If the paparazzi are already gone, I might not have to stay much longer.
But I never considered my own practice.
It's…
No way. Not possible. Starting a private practice means I’m staying. Lenox and I haven’t even discussed a timeframe for this. I’m only here because Ezra and Alfie are looking into contesting my marriage to Lenox, and we need to make this thing look real to everyone. I never thought of Maine as anything long-term.
But now…
I clear my throat. “I have to get my license here first, and after that, I have no idea what I’ll do.” It’s the truth. I can’t tell them that my time here is limited because no one knows my marriage to Lenox is fake.
We enter the coffee shop that has a cute little bell over the door and collectively groan at the blasting heat and the smell of freshly brewed coffee and baked goods. The store is just as cute as everything else in this town seems to be. Cozy-looking chairs and mixed seating areas with a gas fireplace in the back. The walls are more of the exposed brick that Lenox has in his shop, with a giant chalkboard affixed to the wall behind the counter boasting various drinks and sandwiches.
My stomach growls accordingly.
The people in the café are definitely staring while blatantly whispering about me.
“It’s because you’re married to Lenox,” Paige explains. “That’s all. He’s done so much for this town, and everyone here loves him and protects him, but he’s still a total mystery to us. Like Bruce Wayne to the people of Gotham.”
Clearly, they get the Batman vibes from him too. I shake my head. “I don’t understand what you mean by he’s done so much for the town.” This seems to be a recurrent theme I’m missing.
She gives me an incredulous look, but before she can answer me, a woman with brown hair and blue eyes comes rushing from behind the counter to greet us. She hugs each of the women one by one, and then grabs my hand and starts shaking it.
“Hi! I’m Heather. This is my place. I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Hi, Heather. I’m so glad to be here.” I hold in my laugh at her overexuberance.
“Heather, slow your buttered roll. You’re going to rip her arm off,” Miranda chastises.
“Right. Sorry.” Heather pulls back. “I’m just so excited to meet you. Everyone in town has been talking about you. In a good way, of course. What can I get you? On the house. Any wife of Lenox’s can have whatever she wants.”
What is with this town and loving Lenox so much?
“Um. I’ll have a cappuccino and a blueberry muffin, please.”
“Coming up. I already know what they’re having.” She waves the other women away. “Go sit with them, and it’ll be right out.”
“Thank you. You sure I can’t pay?”
“Your money is no good here.”
I blink, too perplexed to argue, and dumbly follow the other women to a corner sitting area that’s near the fireplace. Brooklynn pulls the reserved tag from the table and plops down on one of the couches.
“Like I said, this is our weekly thing, and Heather usually joins us when she can.”
I take a seat but shift to face them so I can speak in a low tone without the other patrons hearing. “Can someone explain the whole Lenox is the Bruce Wayne god of this town to me?”
The women all exchange looks and lean in conspiratorially, giving me curious expressions. “You don’t know?”
“Lenox and I didn’t talk for a while until we reconnected.” I’m getting more puzzled looks, and I feel like I have to explain, but how the fuck do I explain this? “We, uh, we were… together for a couple of years while I was in college, and then when we broke up, well, it wasn’t under the best of circumstances. So I didn’t talk to him for a while, and he’s certainly never one to boast or brag.”
The women exchange looks again, and then Heather is carrying a large tray loaded with food and drinks. She sets it down and then drops into the seat next to me. “What did I miss? Everyone is staring at Georgia like she’s a lobster crawling around the floor.”
That’s sorta what I feel like right now. I pick up my cappuccino, which is bigger than my face, and take a sip, then lick my upper lip to make sure I don’t have a froth mustache.
“She’s asking why everyone in this town is so in love with Lenox,” Paige informs her.
