“Tell me, Ginny, is Sugar Cove treating you as well as I suspect it is?”
Ginny sipped the Peanut Butter Bomb milkshake that she’d purchased from the Sugar Shack in Port St. Joe. Her old sorority sister, Molly, walked beside her, sipping her own shake—Oreo. They’d had lunch, brick-oven pizza, at Joe Mama’s and had decided to splurge on ice cream to top off their afternoon.
“Sugar Cove is treating me better than you suspect,” she confessed, answering her friend’s question.
Molly sipped her Oreo shake. “This is heaven.”
“I agree.”
“So…I hear you’ve been spending time with Aiden Hassell.”
“Oh?” Her brow lifted. “News travels fast, I see.”
“He’s a pretty big deal around here.”
Ginny paused mid-sip. “Is he?”
They stopped to scan the window of a clothing boutique. Molly nodded. “Hm mm. Everyone knows the treasure hunter. He’s a local celebrity.”
She couldn’t help but feel her cheeks burn at the mention of Aiden. “It’s not a big deal. We’re friends.”
“Who’ve gone out a few times.”
“That’s right. Molly, I’m not sure if I’m ready for anything.”
“I don’t blame you there. When I got divorced, it took a long time for me to feel like I was ready to even look at another man.”
She sighed. “I can understand that. I’ve had divorced friends say the same thing. But how do you know about Aiden?”
Molly shrugged before continuing to walk. “Like I said, news travels fast. A lot of women like Aiden, have been interested in him for ages, but he’s never reciprocated their feelings. So when you showed up and people started seeing him around with you…” Her lips curled around the straw, and she shot Ginny a knowing look.
“I get it—I quickly became the talk of the town.”
“That’s exactly right.”
She wasn’t sure if having that much attention was a good or bad thing. Ginny didn’t want to be known as the woman who was dating Aiden. But if that notoriety somehow got her more business, perhaps it wasn’t completely bad.
They rounded a corner and nearly bumped into a woman dressed smartly in a light blue dress suit and wearing tall white heels. Her blonde-highlighted brown hair was pulled back into a messy bun, and her face was made up much more than Ginny ever did to her own, with thick eyeliner, dark blush and nude-colored lipstick.
“Ellen,” Molly said, greeting the woman, “good to see you.”
“Molly, how are you?”
“I’m doing just fine. And yourself?”
Ellen folded her arms, her red-lacquered nails tapping her forearm. “You know, busy. Real estate is booming right now. Everyone wants to move to Florida.”
“They do,” she agreed. “Have you met my friend, Ginny Rigby?”
Ellen’s gaze snapped hard on Ginny, so much so that she nearly choked on a sip of her Peanut Butter Bomb milkshake.
“No, we haven’t met yet.” Ellen extended her hand. “Pleased to meet you, Ginny.”
She took it and smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
Ellen stared at her, but it wasn’t the sort of look that was simply curious. No, this woman was peering hard, sizing her up. It was unnerving.
“I’d love to stay and chat, but I’ve to be going,” Ellen snapped. “I have a showing.”
“Good seeing you,” Molly said.
Without another word Ellen stalked off, getting into a convertible Mercedes parked on the street. Her tires squealed as she peeled out of the spot.
“That was…interesting,” Ginny said, not wanting to insult Molly, seeing as she was Ellen’s friend and all.
“I’m sorry about that.”
“What do you mean?”
They continued on before Molly said, “I didn’t think she’d be at the office.”
She laughed. “What’s the big deal?”
They reached Molly’s consignment shop just as the door opened and a pretty brunette with a round face and full body emerged.
“Paige, you remember Ginny.”
The twentysomething woman smiled at her. “Of course, your sorority sister. Right, Mama?”
“You got it.”
“Have y’all had a good time?”
“We had a nice lunch,” she told Paige. “You look about the same age as my daughters, Chandler and Reece. You should meet them. I’m sure both my girls could use more girlfriends in town.”
Paige nodded eagerly. “That would be great, but Blake takes up a lot of my time.”
Molly’s face hardened at the mention of her daughter’s boyfriend. “Honey, girlfriends are often better than boyfriends.”
Her face fell. “I know. But I like spending time with him.”
“How long have y’all been dating?” Ginny asked in an attempt to smooth out the tension nearly cracking the air.
“Three years,” she answered proudly. “Going on four.”
“That’s great.”
Molly nodded. “Yes, they’ve been dating a long time.”
“Mama, not everyone jumps into getting engaged right off the bat.”
“Four years isn’t right off the bat.”
Just then an SUV pulled up and the window rolled down. A man with short dark hair called out from the vehicle. “Hurry up, Paige. We’re going to be late. Oh, hello, Molly.”
“Blake.” Molly’s gaze darted from the SUV to Paige. “You have a date?”
“It’s a work party,” he told her. “At my boss’s place, and we’re going to be late if Paige doesn’t hurry up and get in here.”
“Sorry.” The young woman ducked her head in apology. “See you later, Mama. Good to see you again, Mrs. Rigby.”
Ginny waved. “Bye.”
As soon as they were gone, Molly took a long sip from her shake until all that was left was the sound of the straw sucking up air. “That man.”
“You don’t like him.”
Molly sighed and sat on a bench outside of her shop. “He’s not right for Paige, doesn’t respect her the way that she should be respected.”
Ginny joined her on the bench and savored the feel of the warm sun on her face and arms. “Have you talked to her about it?”
“Plenty of times, but she doesn’t listen—or care. She says that’s just the way he is, that I need to get used to it.” Her friend bristled. “I don’t want to get used to it. I want her to find someone else. And don’t even get me started on the whole they’ve-been-dating-four-years thing. Actually you don’t have to, because I’ll go ahead and tell you my thoughts—he’s never once suggested marriage.”
“Does he want to move in with her?”
Molly gave her a flat look. “Let me clarify—Blake has never talked about moving their relationship to the next level.”
“Oh,” she replied, cringing. “Doesn’t sound like he’s interested in doing anything except stringing her along.”
“That’s what I’ve tried to tell her, but she won’t listen. And worse, I think she feels bad about herself, that she can’t get anyone else. But that’s just not true. There are plenty of men who come into the shop—dragged in with their mothers or grandmothers—who flirt with Paige, but she doesn’t see it.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to see what’s staring us in the face.”
Molly nodded. “I know. That’s the problem. I just wish that somehow I could show her that there’s more fish in the sea than Blake, and that she deserves to be with a man who really loves her, who wants what’s best for her and who also worships her.”
“She’ll find that man.”
“I don’t know. I’m afraid she’s going to waste her whole life on Blake and will only figure out that he doesn’t want anything more when she’s too old to get those years back.”
Ginny nudged her shoulder. “Don’t you think you’re being a bit dramatic?”
“No. Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. I just worry about her, is all.”
“Sure you do. Paige is your daughter. You wouldn’t be a good mother unless you worried about her. She’s lucky to have you.”
“Thank you.”
Time for a change of subject. If Ginny kept Molly on the topic of Paige, her friend would wind up in a funk over it. “You were going to say something earlier, about that woman Ellen that we ran into.”
“Right.” She winced. “I’m not sure if you want to know this.”
“What could be so bad that I don’t want to know?”
When her friend didn’t answer, a tingle of worry snaked down her spine. “Okay. It is bad.”
“It’s not bad, per se, just something that you should be aware of.”
“And that is?”
“Ellen is Aiden’s ex-wife.”
It felt like the world had fallen out from under her feet. He had told her that his wife still lived around here and worked in real estate, but Ginny never suspected that they would run into each other.
“I see,” she managed before realizing that her reaction was unfounded. “She’s very beautiful and well put together, but you have to be to work in real estate.”
“She is beautiful,” Molly said in a hesitating voice.
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing.”
Ginny nudged her shoulder. “Come on. You’re holding back. What do you have to tell me?”
“I don’t know. I’ve heard through the grapevine that she’s still in love with Aiden.”
“Oh.” He hadn’t mentioned anything like that to her. “But they’ve been divorced for years.”
“Apparently she still holds a torch for him. That’s what people say, at least, and you know how tongues wag.”
“They do wag.”
“They do.” They were silent for a moment before Molly gently slapped Ginny’s leg. “It’s nothing that you have to worry about. If Aiden was interested in her, he would’ve acted on it a long time ago.”
“You’re right.” She forced herself to smile. “Of course you’re right.”
Yet Ellen was beautiful. Any man would want her hanging on his arm. But Molly had a point. If Aiden wanted to work things out with his ex-wife, he would’ve done it a long time ago.
Even though she knew the reality of the situation, she still couldn’t stop the pang of worry that burrowed itself into her heart—no matter how hard she tried.