Page 80 of Her Favorite Fumble
“Yes.”
Kim Perkins probably couldn’t have looked more unhappy if she tried. “Go through that door behind you. Don’t follow it all the way back to the loading dock because they might be watching that exit. There’s a door to the left that leads to the break room, and it has an exit door into the alley between the buildings. You can’t really see it from the sidewalk. I’ll meet you at the end of the alley in two minutes. You can figure out how to come back for your car later.”
Before she could ask any questions—likewhy?—Kim was gone.
She did as she was told, and a few minutes later she was on her way out of town in the passenger seat of Kim’s SUV. She took a winding path out of town, down back roads Lucy hadn’t even seen, checking her rearview mirror constantly. Finally satisfied, she navigated back to the main road that would take Lucy home.
“I really appreciate this,” Lucy said, because the silence wasincrediblyawkward. “I’m sorry to put you out. Did you leave Taylor at the market?”
“No, she has her own vehicle. The two of us being there at the same time was purely coincidence.”
“Oh, good.” They’d already been pulling away from the market when Lucy realized Taylor wasn’t in the back seat, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it.
The older woman sighed. “Taylor’s an only child. Obviously my marriage was pretty rough for a while, and by the time we’d moved past it as best we could, it felt like it was too late to have more kids.”
Lucy kept her mouth closed, determined not to apologize for her mother’s actions, no matter how bad she felt for Kim.
“You’re Taylor’s sister.” The words sounded dragged out of her. “She’s getting married and she’s going to have a baby. And she should have her sister.”
“I’m going to Miami,” she said out loud. ButI’m going to be an auntwas echoing in her mind, as it so often did.
“I know you’re leaving, but she’ll still have you to talk to.” Kim hit her turn signal and pulled into Helen’s driveway. “It’s not easy for me. I know it’s not your fault, but…”
“I understand.”
“I’m going to try, for Taylor’s sake. It might take me a little time, but you won’t need to smuggle her into secret birthday parties at closed bakeries in the future.”
“You knew?”
“Of course I knew. It’s Wayward Harbor.”
“For the record, it was a surprise party. I neither aided nor abetted the smuggling.”
Kim actually laughed as she came to a stop and immediately put the vehicle in Reverse to indicate she wouldn’t be staying. “Good luck with that Fairee mess. We’ll all do what we can.”
“Thank you. For everything.”
As she got out of the SUV, the screen door opened and Nick stepped out onto the porch. He gave a half-hearted wave to Kim as she drove off, but kept his eyes on Lucy.
“Are you okay?” he demanded. With his jaw clenched and eyes narrowed, Nick was drawn up to his full height and scanning the driveway and tree line, as if searching for a threat among the leaves.
Lucy had never seen him look like that, and it was a little scary. And also very hot.
“Some paparazzi or just random people wanting to go viral were looking for me, and Kim told them she’d never heard of me and told them to check the pizza place,” Lucy explained. “And then she told me how to get out to the side alley, where she picked me up. I couldn’t go out the front without being seen. Plus my car still has Nevada plates, so even with all the tourists in town, it still stands out.”
“Come on inside,” he said, but there was a tension in his voice that made her hesitate. He was probably thinking about the possibility of strangers taking photos through their windows.
“I should go stay at a motel because Gran—”
“She’s not worried about them. She’s worried aboutyou. Get inside.”
As soon as she stepped through the door, Gran pulled her into a strong hug, holding her until her breathing calmed. “I shouldn’t have sent you to the market.”
“No, you were right, Gran. I can’t not live my life. And honestly, I shouldn’t have run from them. I should have let them take pictures or videos of whatever they wanted and just told them I had no comment.”
“After what the internet did to you, nobody blames you for hiding,” Nick said.
“Why are you here and not at work?” she asked, just then realizing Nick being in the cottage wasn’t everyday life anymore.
