Chapter 8
If Hayley thought that attending the Salmon Cove Lobster Bake the next day was going to be a relaxed and peaceful Sunday afternoon, she was sadly mistaken. The stress kicked in almost immediately, before they had even left the cabin, when Liddy was stood up by her date, the dashing Boston-based travel writer Jackson Young.
She was, to say the least, apoplectic.
“This is absolutely outrageous! Nobody has ever stood me up before!” she wailed, gripping her phone tightly, her knuckles a ghostly white, and texting him yet another angry message. “He confirmed last night and now suddenly he’s a no-show? What the hell is going on? Should I call him again?”
“You’ve already left four messages on his voice mail already,” Hayley said, trying to reason with her.
“And about a hundred and fifty texts,” Mona added, checking her watch, sighing. “Listen, can we leave? Corey is already there waiting for me.”
“That is so typical of you, Mona, rubbing my face in the fact that your date has been in constant contact with you all morning and my date has given me nothing but radio silence!”
“Corey is not my date! We are just two old friends meeting up to hang out together and eat some lobster and corn on the cob. That’s all it is! I’m a married woman, Liddy!” Mona barked defensively.
“You’re an unhappily married woman, and that’s a big difference,” Liddy spit out, madly tapping numbers into her phone and then clamping it to her ear before instantly shifting her tone to calm and unconcerned. “Hello, Jackson, this is Liddy again. I’ve still heard nothing from you so I am just going to assume we are no longer going to the lobster bake together today. This is the last message I will be leaving as my friends are begging me to accompany them, and I certainly don’t want to keep them waiting any longer. I hope this finds you well, and that you have the opportunity to enjoy some of the delicious seafood they have here in Salmon Cove. It was a pleasure meeting you, and I wish you a safe trip back to Boston. Bye now.”
She tapped the phone to end the call and then instantly returned to her high-pitched screeching.
“That bastard! I will kill him if I ever see him again!”
“Please! Can we just go?” Mona begged.
“Fine. I’ll drive,” Liddy said, scooping the car keys off the kitchen counter that Hayley had scrubbed and wiped down the night before because there was a thick film of dirt covering it.
Hayley snatched the keys out of her hand. “You are in no condition. I will drive.”
“Fine. But promise me if you see Jackson walking along the side of the road, you hit the accelerator and run him down.”
“No,” Hayley answered emphatically, heading out the door.
“I’m not suggesting you kill him. Just cause some long-lasting damage. I want him to suffer for his sins.”
“No!” Hayley called back from outside.
“I just thought I’d put it out there,” Liddy sniffed, following her.
Mona brought up the rear, shaking her head.
When they arrived at the Salmon Cove Lobster Bake, which was held in a town park near the waterfront, there was already a massive crowd milling about at all the food stands that were lined up in three different rows that cut through the middle of the park.
Parking was impossible so Hayley had to backtrack almost half a mile to find a space for Liddy’s Mercedes. After squeezing into a spot along the side of the road, they trudged back toward the park, Liddy complaining the entire way and Mona shouting at her to please shut up. Hayley was already tired of their constant bickering and needed a respite.
Corey Guildford came to her rescue. He swooped in from out of nowhere. He had been waiting for them patiently near the entrance, like his loyal golden retriever Sadie probably did by the front door of his house waiting for him to come every night. Sadie was at his side as Corey leaned in to kiss Mona. She jerked her head away and scrunched up her face, as if it was agony having to receive an innocent hello kiss from this sweet, personable, good-looking guy.
It just made Liddy even more irritable.
Where was her hello kiss from Jackson?
“You’re looking lovely today, Mona,” Corey said shyly. “Doesn’t she, Sadie?”
He looked down at his dog, who was hugging his pant leg, smiling and panting.
“If your friends don’t mind, Mona, I’d like to show you around, and introduce you to a few of my friends,” Corey said, glancing over at Hayley and Liddy to make sure it was okay with them.
“Why?” Mona asked.
“Why?” he asked, puzzled. “I don’t know. I think they’ll like you.”
“Seems awfully forward of you, introducing me to your friends. What are you trying to do here?” Mona asked accusingly.
“For Pete’s sake, Mona! Stop trying to scare him off and just go with him and enjoy yourself! Is that so hard?” Liddy said.
“I’m not trying to scare him off!” Mona yelled, mortified, a defensive tone in her voice.
“Wouldn’t matter even if she was. I don’t scare easily,” Corey said with a wink.
Hayley really liked this guy.
“Come on, Mona,” Corey said firmly, reaching out and taking her hand.
Mona jumped, as if someone had just hit her, and wrenched her hand free from his grip. “What the hell are you trying to do now?”
“I was just holding your hand, Mona, I promise I wasn’t going to slip a ring on it,” Corey said, laughing. “Let’s go. You can lead.”
Mona eyed him warily and then marched off in a huff.
“I can tell she likes me,” Corey said, smiling.
And then he followed her off.
“Why is Mona being so mean to that poor man?” Liddy asked, watching Corey run to catch up to Mona. “He’s just trying to be nice to her.”
“Because she likes him more than she’s willing to admit. And you know how she is. She’s already married to Dennis, and even though he’s a deadbeat useless loser, those are her words not mine, she still feels loyal to him, so she’s terrified of getting emotionally attached to another man,” Hayley said.
She noticed Liddy staring at her.
“I watch a lot of Dr. Phil,” she explained.
“I need a drink,” Liddy said, not listening to a word she had just said. “There is something to eat every which way you turn so I would assume there has to be a bar around here somewhere too if there is a God!”
Liddy wandered off, leaving Hayley on her own.