Flynn was afraid she was in the way of being right.
~*~
Pru finished turning the room because then it was done and ready for the next guest. While she was up there, she did a quick tidy of the Talbots’ room, making the bed, replacing the towels. Then she headed down to the little office to check messages and emails, in case there were more reservations. She decided that didn’t count as paperwork but just good business. There were two email requests—one for a weekend in August, and one for a week around Labor Day. She emailed them both back, then tried to decide what to do just for her.
She had no idea. Going after Flynn was the first thing she’d done for herself in years. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She’d done small things for herself, maintaining little rituals and relaxations, when she’d lived alone. Those had mostly fallen by the wayside when she’d moved in to take care of Ari after Joan’s death. Everything normal had fallen by the wayside then. She hadn’t minded coming back to this house. Not really. The best memories of her life were here. It was, quite simply, home. She was comfortable here, and she prided herself on making guests feel the same. It wasn’t that far off from how she’d been when welcoming new fosters into the fold. She’d been the one to comfort, to find the little things to ease their difficult transition. Recognizing and anticipating those needs was simply second nature to her now. So why couldn’t she recognize and accept her own?
The sound of the front door opening drew her out of the office. The Talbots strode in. Kenneth had the phone pressed to his ear, talking a mile a minute. “No, no, you’ll love it. It’s perfect. Well, no there are some prospective issues with the spot…”
Michelle trailed behind him, giving a smile and an indulgent roll of her eyes when she caught sight of Pru. As he headed on up the stairs, she stayed behind.
“Y’all are back earlier than I expected. I thought you were headed to Blowing Rock today.”
“We were. Then he stumbled across a prospective location somewhat nearer and wanted to call his people about it, so we’re back here.” Michelle dropped her voice. “Between you and me, I’m not crying about not being in the car all day. I’ve been enjoying relaxing here.”
“Would you like a cup of tea or some coffee? I was just about to make some.”
“That would be lovely.”
The older woman followed Pru into the kitchen—not an area guests were usually allowed in, but as she hadn’t decided what she wanted to do with herself, entertaining someone else for a bit seemed like a good plan.
“Help yourself to the cookie jar,” Pru invited.
“Don’t mind if I do.” Michelle drew out one of the snickerdoodles from yesterday and sat on one of the barstools. “Quiet here this afternoon. Where are your husband and daughter?”
Pru put the kettle on. “Fiancé, actually. He and Ari area headed down to Gatlinburg for the afternoon.”
Well, look at that. She didn’t get immediately struck by lightning at the admission and didn’t start hyperventilating. Did that count as progress?
“I hope you don’t mind me saying, but he’s just delicious. That accent.” Michelle gave a little shiver.
“He is,” Pru conceded. “And yes, the accent is wonderful.”
“However did you wind up with an Irishman?”
Now was her chance to try on this lie for someone who didn’t actually matter. “He’s best friends with one of my sisters. She lived abroad for a decade, and I went to visit her in Ireland two years ago and met Flynn.”
With a dreamy expression that reminded her a little of Ari, Michelle propped her chin on one hand. “Was it love at first sight?”
“No. Lust, certainly—” That much was the absolute truth. “—But love came later. After I came home, we stayed in touch. Calls, emails, Skype. Kennedy had no idea. She just got married recently, and he was in town for that and stayed on after. One thing led to another and…engaged.”
“So, you’re newly engaged?”
“Very.”
“Congratulations! That’s so exciting. What did your sister say?”
“We haven’t told her yet. She’s still on her honeymoon. And we’re still trying to figure out how to break it to her, when the whole relationship has been a secret. To all of my sisters, actually.”
“They’ll be surprised, I imagine, but surely they’ll be happy for you. Anybody looking at the two of you can see you’re right together.”
Pru smiled a little. It certainly felt that way, and she had no doubt that feeling would only intensify, the longer he was here. And where did that leave her when it ended and he was free to go back to his gypsy ways? “He’s not at all what any of them imagined for me.” He was the last thing Pru had dared imagine for herself.
“Psh. It’s a rare thing that our family knows what we need in a relationship. My family thought I should end up with an accountant. Stodgy, practical sort. They were perfectly scandalized when I married Kenneth. The only mollifying factor for my mother was that he wasn’t an actor. You can’t let your family interfere with who you love.”
Pru wished it were that simple. That this was simply the course of a normal relationship and the lie about how they’d met was real. If it were merely her sisters’ disapproval of that, she could cope with it. But the reality…
As the afternoon wore on, worry continued to niggle her, distracting her from the movie she tried to watch and the book she tried to read. In the end, she took a glass of wine into the bathroom and had a long, hot bubblebath, then fell into bed for a rare nap. She woke, hours later, when she heard someone moving around in the kitchen. Her family was home. Rubbing sleep from her eyes and running a quick brush through her hair, Pru went to join them.