She searched my face. “Okay. Will you at least promise to consider it?”
She looked so earnest, so hopeful, that I nodded. “Yes,” I lied.
“Thank you,” she said, smiling gently. “Then I guess it’s time for me to go. Thank you for hearing me out. It means a lot. Now move out of my way.” She said that last bit to Betty, who hadn’t stopped glaring suspiciously at her, and maybe moved an inch as Mrs. Withers passed her if she moved at all.
We watched her get into her purple Ford Fiesta—because of course it was a purple Ford Fiesta—and putter off. I gave my attention to Betty, who’d remained remarkably quiet during that last exchange. “You want some coffee?”
Betty shook her head, then sniffed in the direction of the departed Fiesta. “No, thank you. What was all that about?”
I thought, trying to put it in words. Finally, I gave up. “That old Mrs. Withers is complicated.”
Betty tsked. “As a snake, maybe.”
I grinned. “She’s got a few more layers than we were giving her credit for,” I said. “Samson was hers when he was a puppy.”
“With her for an owner, it’s no wonder the poor thing fled,” Betty shot back.
“Did you know she stole Gigi’s boyfriend in college? And married him?”
Betty rolled her eyes. “Gary? Old news.”
I poked her, grateful for how clearly she was letting me off the hook. “No one told me that old news.”
“Oh, please,” she countered. “If you don’t know the decades-old gossip, it’s not my job to educate you.”
I threw my hands up in mock exasperation. “Who else is my Yoda if not you?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Did you just compare me to a three-foot-high green creature with no teeth?”
My abs were getting a workout with all the laughter I was holding back. “No?”
“That’s it. Time to change my hair color. Pink isn’t cutting it anymore.” She turned to clomp back down the stairs, but stopped when she got to the bottom. “But really. Is there anything I can do?”
My heart squeezed. “No, Betty. I’m good. Thank you.”
I watched as she made her way across the yard, leaving a trail in the dewy grass. We waved at each other once she was on her porch, and together, we went inside our houses.
Well, Gigi’s house. It still didn’t feel like this place was mine. I was beginning to think it never would. All the love I’d had for it, all the memories, felt tarnished and out of focus. I slumped onto the couch and pulled the quilt that lay on the back of it over me.
How was my life being batted around by two old women, one in the ground and one very much not? Since when had this become my life?
And Aaron.
I pulled the comforter over my head. It wasn’t going to work. All the joy and warmth and safety he gave me, it wouldn’t last. He’d proven it when he went after his brother. Even as a paramedic, his job was risky. He’d get hurt, or worse, and I couldn’t be here for it. Couldn’t lose another.
The only question now was how long I was willing to stay in this town. This house.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened the email I’d gotten the other day wanting to schedule an interview for a job in San Diego. It was time.
27
DEVON 3 MONTHS, 11 DAYS TO GO
“A WEEK?” JODI looked at me in the empty coffee shop, her mouth open in shock. “You’re leaving in a week?”
I’d asked them to meet me here earlier, but it was closer to dinner time before Ceci could get away. Meaning I’d had all day to stew about the job offer I’d taken. But I was certain it was the right thing to do.
Ceci was a millisecond away from smacking me upside the head before I ducked. She sat back, unsatisfied, and glared. “I’m going to say this with all the love in my heart, so you should take it precisely the way it sounds: Have you lost your goddamn mind?”
Jodi pointed at Ceci in a silent what she said gesture.
“I never said I was staying,” I reminded them.
Jodi squeaked like she was about to say something, but then clamped her mouth shut.
“It’s not even been three full months.” Ceci’s blonde hair swung as she spoke. “Are you really going to give up on the house?”
I nodded, resigned. “You and Rick have made it clear you don’t want it. And it’s too much for me. Mentally and financially. It’s not home anymore. Gigi made it home, and without her, it’s not worth it.”
Ceci shook her head. “I thought this time it’d be different.”
“What about Aaron?” Jodi’s voice was low.
I looked at her, my chest aching at the mention of his name. “He knows it’s coming.”
“Have you actually told him?” Ceci asked.
“No, but it was always a matter of time. I’m certain he knows that.” I sipped the cold coffee in front of me.
