“Don’t you worry yourself. You live your life and leave it to us. We’ve got your back, honey.”
“I’m trying to live my life, Hilda, but people keep—”
“Caring.” Hilda patted her hand. “It’s the least we can do. Protecting our own is one of the perks of island life. Welcome home, pumpkin. Your grandmother would be proud.”
Feeling eight years old, Brittany gave a weak smile. “Thanks, Hilda. You take care now. And please don’t worry about me. It was a long time ago and I have no feelings for him.” She fled and took refuge inside Harbor Stores.
Holy crap.
No wonder so many people left and moved to the mainland. If it carried on like this, she’d be joining them.
If there was one thing she hated it was pity. She’d all but drowned in it after Zach had left her. And what did Hilda mean when she said they were watching him?
She had visions of the islanders setting up a roster to monitor the exact movements of her ex-husband. If it hadn’t been so frustrating it would be funny.
Dropping soap into her basket, she glanced into the street to check no one she knew was about to come into the store.
“Well, if it isn’t Brittany Forrest Flynn.”
Recognizing the female voice, Brittany closed her eyes.
She should have stayed in bed.
Pinning a smile on her face, she turned. “It’s just Forrest these days. I dropped the Flynn.”
“No one would blame you for that, seeing as he dropped you first.”
Definitely should have stayed in bed.
“Hello, Mel. How are you?”
“Better than you, I should think.” Mel Parker, who had been at school with her and now ran Harbor Stores with her parents, eyed her wrist. “I heard you were injured. I’m guessing that’s what happens when you do a dangerous job. I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark a while back. And Lara Croft. Looks like an exciting way to earn a living, archaeology. And dangerous.”
“Well, those are both movies, obviously, and movies remove most of the boring parts. Weeks of people excavating the same piece of earth and finding nothing doesn’t make for gripping viewing.”
“But you broke your wrist.” Mel looked at Brittany’s cast in awe and admiration and Brittany decided she’d better spell out the detail or the next time she came into town she’d be hearing stories about how she’d been chased by natives with a massive boulder rolling towards her.
“I was talking to someone and tripped.” In fact she’d been laughing so hard at one of Spyros’s jokes, she hadn’t looked where she was putting her feet. “I fell into the trench.”
Mel’s eyes went round. “That sounds awful. Were there snakes?”
“No. No snakes. And no angry natives.” Just Spy, also laughing so hard that it had taken him a moment to realize she’d actually broken something. “Sorry to disappoint. And anyway, I don’t mind snakes. Just spiders.”
“We were all real sorry to hear the news.”
“That’s kind of you, Mel, but it will heal.”
“I wasn’t talking about that news. I was talking about Zachary.” The girl’s voice lowered and she glanced around the empty store, even though both of them knew that a store crowded with people wouldn’t have stopped her gossiping.
Deciding it was time to move this reunion on, Brittany dropped several cans of tomatoes that she didn’t need into her basket. “Everything is fine, Mel.”
“Can’t see how it can be fine when you’re living with your cheating ex under your nose.”
Brittany frowned. “He didn’t cheat.”
Why did everyone keep saying that?
“Oh, that’s right, he just upped and left. I guess that’s almost worse.” Clearly not in any hurry to return to the demands of her job, Mel pondered the severity of the crime. “Mom always says that when a man leaves you for another woman, then all it means is he met someone he liked more and you weren’t right for each other, but when a man leaves you for no one in particular, it means he didn’t like being with you enough to stay. That’s got to hurt.”