The Girl in the Mist (Misted Pines 1)

“Yes, I think,” I replied firmly.

She turned fully to me. “You know, we’re all happy you’re with him. A good man needs a good woman just as much as that works the other way around.”

Yes, even though I wholeheartedly agreed, she probably shouldn’t read We Pluck the Cord.

And yes, this was a small town and news traveled very fast.

“And Grace was not a good woman,” she continued. “I knew that even before she left. Everyone noticed how she treated Celeste.”

Now she had my attention.

“And how was that?” I asked quietly.

“Like she was a nuisance,” she told me frankly.

As my heart squeezed, I looked at Aromacobana.

Which was where Celeste was right then, on a coffee date with Will Pulaski.

“Grace was liked only a little bit more than Audrey,” the woman shared. “I know Cade loved her.” I looked to her. “She treated him and her boys like gold. Dedicated to them. So I, for one, am glad she took off. Because if she hadn’t, Cade would have eventually had to make the decision to cut her loose so he could get Celeste safe. And that would have killed him.”

“Yes,” I whispered. “That would have killed him.”

“I’m Megan,” she introduced, holding out her hand.

I took it. “Delphine.”

She gave me a squeeze, we let go, and she invited, “We have a book club. We meet once a month. Romance only. I get that we’re just townies, but no one will be weird with you, and we’d love to have you.”

“That’s really nice. I think I’d like that.”

Her expression shifted, her regard of me did too.

She then dug in her purse, came out with a little, monogrammed, leather covered notepad, slid the small pen out of the attached holder and flipped it open.

She tore off what she wrote and handed it to me.

I took it.

“I’ll leave it up to you to call me.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“It’s not my place but I’m going to say it anyway, I know you’re worried.” She jerked her head to the coffee shop. “Will’s a good boy. But he’s a boy. And now he’s a boy who’s hurting. He has no business dating right now.”

I held her gaze steady.

I wasn’t sure what she meant by “he’s a boy,” but I was sure she knew why I was fretfully standing outside Aromacobana, staring at a mural.

“Also, you should know, this Alice thing?” She shook her head. “Anomaly. It’s safe here. I’ve lived here my whole life. I promise you. It’s safe here. If you need a place to disappear, be around real people, you found your spot. And we’ll protect that for you. You know how people are wherever Harrison Ford lives in Wyoming? That’ll be how we are for you. No one will breathe a word you’re here.”

“Thanks again.”

The things she was saying were making me feel good in all that seemed to be going bad.

Until she carried on.

“Except Leland. He’s running scared and you’re high-profile. Bigger media gets wind of Alice, and his bungling of that, no telling what he’ll do. Be careful.”

“I appreciate the warning.”

She nodded, glanced to the paper in my hand and back to me.

“I hope you call.”

I nodded this time and promised, “I will.”

She started to walk away but turned back.

“I don’t have to like it, and I don’t like it. But they got more signatures. Do you know what I mean?”

At that, I gave her my full smile.

“I know exactly what you mean, Megan.”

She gave me a full smile back, and she was very pretty.

“See you at book club,” she said.

“See you there,” I replied.

Twenty-Eight

Warm and Fuzzy

As a mother, semi-stalking your children was a highly sensitive operation.

As the new-semi-woman-in-a-kid’s-life, it was almost impossible.

However, after Megan left me, I did my best to saunter casually, and very slowly, in front of the windows of Aromacobana, glancing in to find Celeste and Will.

I did.

They didn’t notice me.

But I got a good look at him.

And…

Well.

Shit.

Let me take you back…

Last night, Bohannan got into my bedroom.

That would be to stand, leaning against the jamb of the door of my closet while I packed light to move to his house, doing it light because it was late. I was going to come back in the morning to pack heavier.

He did this after he whistled low when he saw the closet.

He’d been pensive and careful with his expressions since he’d shown up that night, but his eyes were twinkling when he said, “My closet is better.”

Even though I knew it was because he gave it to Grace, I still felt that sexually.

I had a feeling on the drive to his place, which was in my car, which meant I drove, Bohannan suffered a hit to his manhood that he wasn’t behind the wheel, but he let his brooding fill the cab of the car without making it verbal.

He also told me on the short ride to his place, “I want you in my bed because I want you in my bed, I also want you close. But you’re going to stay in our guestroom. Celeste knows we’re a thing. She’s nearly grown up. But it’s too soon. And we both got tension to release, and I’m far from high school, but you that close, I’m not feeling testing my control.”