“But sadly, when the little princesses were still very young, a mean dragon came to their castle in the clouds and stole them away from their mommy and daddy.”
I continued on with the story, detailing the king and queen’s heroic effort to save their daughters and how they had slayed the dragon and finally brought the little princesses home. By the time I reached the part where the sisters had grown up into young women and met two handsome princes that they married, Renee was out like a light, her mouth opened slightly and her lips pursed into a pout in her sleep.
Carefully easing from her bed, I bent to press a kiss to her forehead. “Love you, doodle bug,” I whispered before flipping off the daisy lamp and heading for the door. Like I did most every night, I stood in the open doorway and stared back at my little girl snuggled beneath her fluffy covers. I counted my lucky stars at the same time the fear for her safety threatened to consume me.
For as long as I could remember, all I’d ever wanted was a family of my own. Growing up the way I had, having the most important people in my life stripped away, I’d clung to the idea of becoming a mother with both hands, knowing that when I had children of my own, I’d finally have someone to give all the love and affection I’d been carrying around inside of me. I remembered how wonderful my own parents had been before they died, and all I wanted was to give that to my own babies.
There wasn’t a day that passed that I didn’t thank the powers that be for giving me Renee. But with that feeling came an overwhelming sense of guilt. This wasn’t the life I’d wanted to give her: constantly hiding, the threat of having to run again around every corner. I knew the life I’d built for us was as unstable as a house of cards in the middle of a hurricane. What I’d wanted to give my child, the dreams I used to have, had gone up in smoke all because I’d been so desperate for love I’d picked the first man to spout pretty words.
“Yo, helicopter mom,” Luna called from the kitchen, pulling me from my melancholy. “Move your ass. These margaritas aren’t going to drink themselves.”
With a low chuckle, I pulled Renee’s door partially closed and headed down the hall where Luna was waiting to kick off our Margarita Monday.
“The little rug rat down for the count?” she asked as I rounded the corner. One of the reasons I’d fallen in love with this little cottage was because of how open and airy it was. From the living room, you could see right into the kitchen and dining area. There was a big sliding glass door to a deck that overlooked the beach and ocean that I could open up to bring the smell of the sea into my home. The whole place was great for entertaining, something I did pretty regularly here.
It was funny, really. In my old life I’d hated having people over. It was always such a performance. Fake smiles, fake laughter, small-talk that felt like pulling teeth with people I didn’t like all that much. And there was always an objective. None of them were friends, they were players in the game to help Graham get to where he wanted to be. I couldn’t stand any of them. But here, I loved when my friends would gather in my house, around my kitchen, on the deck, or kick back on the couch. The only reason for their visits was to catch up and enjoy each other’s company. No one expected anything from the other person.
“Yep. She’s out cold.”
Luna smiled big. The ice in the silver cocktail shaker rattled around as she shook it with a flourish before dumping the concoction between two glasses with salted rims. “First round is up. Time to get this party started.”
I grabbed the glass she slid across the bar and lifted it to my lips, taking the first sip. The tartness exploded on my tongue first, followed a second later by heat.
I gave her a wide-eyed look. “What is that? Why does it taste spicy?”
“Jalapeño,” she answered before taking a big gulp. “Wanted to try something new. What do you think?”
I took another sip. “I actually like it. The sweet and spicy works really well together.”
She gave her shoulders a little shimmy as she rounded the bar and headed for the sliding door. “Just like me.”
“Exactly.”
I left the door open so I could listen for Renee in case she woke up and flipped on the white twinkle lights I had strung around the deck before curling up on the small patio love seat facing the inky black ocean and star-speckled sky. Sliding off my flip-flops, I pulled my feet up and tucked them beneath me. I loved sitting out here during the summers, before the weather started to turn and the temperature dropped. No matter how hot it got during the day, there was a continuous breeze blowing off the water that kept things pleasantly comfortable.
She took the chair catty-corner from me and kicked her bare feet up on the glass coffee table. “So,” she dragged out dramatically, “I talked to Monica this morning, and she had some pretty interesting gossip.”
I rolled my eyes and took another drink. “For the love of God,” I lamented. “This town and its gossip.”
“Hey, don’t knock small-town gossip. It’s one of the reasons I love this place so damn much.”
“Of course, because you’re one of the worst gossips here. You and Monica both.”
She didn’t look the least bit offended as she decreed, “Amen to that, sister. And I think it’s funny you haven’t asked what it is I heard.”
“I haven’t asked because I already know, which means I also know for a fact that whatever you heard wasn’t interesting at all and definitely exaggerated.”
“So the new hottie wasn’t scoping you out at Drip a few days ago?”
“He just looked at me, that’s all.” Although, I did catch him looking at my ass, and it sure as hell felt like he’d been checking me out. But I wasn’t about to add fuel to Luna’s fire.
“Well, Monica said it was more than that, that the dude was ogling you like you were a three-course meal and he hadn’t eaten in a month.”
“Like I said, she exaggerated.”
Right?
Nope, I silently screamed to myself. I wasn’t going to start questioning it because it didn’t matter. Not at all.
She looked at me, her expression pinched with skepticism. “Was she also exaggerating when she said she thought you’d stroked out for a minute and lost the power of speech when he came up and introduced himself to you?”
I snorted and took a gulp of my margarita, smiling as I admitted, “No, she might have been spot-on with that one.”
Luna’s head fell back on a laugh. “At least you’re willing to own it.”
“It’s not my fault! There isn’t a woman on the planet who could help it,” I defended. “I mean, the dude had dimples, for Christ’s sake. Dimples.”
“No way,” she breathed, her attention rapt.
“Have you seen him yet?”
She let out a beleaguered sigh and poked her bottom lip out in a dramatic pout. “No,” she said grumpily. “And I’m starting to feel really bitter about it. It’s like I’m the only one in town who hasn’t spotted him yet. It’s not fair.”
“Yeah. Well, I’ll tell you, the rumors don’t do the guy justice. I thought I was going to swallow my tongue. I can’t even remember the entire interaction. I think I blacked out for a few seconds.”