Love Next Door (Lakeside 1)

Her eyes flare as they move over me. “Dee Dee? Holy crap! I heard you were back in town but thought it had to be a bunch of bullshit rumors.” She comes out from behind the cash register and pulls me in for a tight hug.

The affection surprises me, so it takes me a few extra seconds to react in kind. Tawny’s hair is the same color as her name, but not the reason her parents named her that. She has deep-blue eyes the color of sapphires, a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, and a wide smile that pops a dimple in her left cheek. She’s tall and willowy, to the point that everyone was always worried she had an eating disorder back in high school. She didn’t. In fact, she could eat half the guys under the table. Not much has changed since high school. She’s still tall and lean.

She steps back, hands still on my shoulders. “Wow. You look amazing. The city agrees with you, doesn’t it?” There’s a hint of something like longing in her voice.

“I liked it. Always lots of action.”

Her eyes narrow. “Liked? As in past tense?”

“Still like. But I’m on a hiatus, you know, with Billy having that accident and all.” It’s not like everyone doesn’t already know why I’m here—might as well address the elephant in the room. And out of all the people in Pearl Lake, Tawny definitely wasn’t one to be judgmental.

Her expression softens. “How is Billy? Is he doing okay? When I heard about what happened, I sent a box of chocolate to the house. Those Big Turk things he always loved.”

We both make a face and laugh. We always joked they tasted like soap covered in chocolate, and he must’ve developed a real taste for soap, since he’d had his mouth washed out with it so much as a kid.

“What’d you do, drive all the way to Canada to get those?” As far I know, that’s the only place you can find them. We went to Niagara Falls on one of our rare family vacations, and Billy went a little wild in a candy store.

“Nope. Ordered them online.”

“Wow. That’s a heck of a lot more convenient. He couldn’t get enough of those chocolate bars, or Thrills gum.”

“Both so gross.” I always thought Thrills gum, like Big Turk, also tasted a lot like soap.

She smiles and tips her head to the side. “So does that mean you’re back for a while?”

“My dad needed some help with the books and managing his projects, and since that’s my jam, I said yes. Helps that I was in the middle of trying to find a new apartment and a new job, so the timing worked.” I don’t include that I’m unsure of the kind of job I would’ve looked for had I stayed in Chicago. Having some time to figure things out isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Oh, right. I didn’t know that part. It’s temporary, then?” She sounds disappointed.

“I’m probably going to be here for at least a few months.” Until Billy is out of a cast and back on his feet, anyway.

“Wow. How do you feel about that? You can usually only handle a few days here before you’re gone again.” A hint of hurt threads through her tone, and once again, I’m reminded of how awful I am for ghosting everyone here.

“Eh, I’ll survive. Lots to keep me busy, and there wasn’t much left to miss in Chicago after my company disbanded.”

She nods, as if she understands, but I’m not sure she can. “Well, if you wanna grab a drink with me and Allie, let me know.”

“What about Sue?”

Tawny makes a face. “She’s a hot mess these days.”

“Wasn’t she always?”

Tawny lifts one shoulder in a half shrug. “Worse than before. She got married a while back to Nelson Fry. You remember him, don’t you?”

“I think so. Lived and breathed dirt biking?”

“That’s the one.”

“Wow, he doesn’t seem like her type.”

That earns me another shrug. “Everyone was her type at one point or another. Anyway, that lasted all of six months, because he’s married to his dirt bike and can’t handle more responsibility than knowing where his helmet is. And that’s on a good day. So she went through a rough patch there. Then she started seeing someone new.” Tawny looks away and bites at the skin around her nail.

“Someone local?”

She nods.

“Are you gonna tell me who?”

“Tuck.”

“Tucker Patrick?” It’s my turn for my eyebrows to rise.

She swallows audibly and nods again.

“Wow, that’s . . . unexpected. Or maybe it shouldn’t be?” This is a small town, and Tucker was always smooth with the ladies.

“You know she always kind of had a thing for him.” Tawny bites the inside of her lip.

I nod, aware that Sue often wanted what I had. It was a weird, not entirely healthy friendship. I dated Tucker on and off for almost two years, and when I moved to Chicago for college, I ended things for good.