Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
“Yeah,” Ava agreed. “Crazy.”
“All this time, I knew something was wrong, but I kept thinking it couldn’t be Katrina. I thought somehow we would find out that she was innocent or being coerced into helping the others.” I sighed. “I just can’t believe she would knowingly sell that stuff.”
“Out of our hair salon!” Ava agreed.
Macy nodded, “I can’t believe this all went down in such a small town. I mean, this is something you’d expect in Austin or Nashville, but not here.”
Ava and I were silent. We had lived in Singer’s Ridge all our lives, and we knew that even small towns had their dark sides.
“Have you told Ava?” Macy perked up.
“Oh.” I turned to my best friend. “I’m pregnant.”
“That’s amazing!” Ava reached across the table to hug me. I laughed, trying to avoid sticky fingers in my hair. “When? How?”
“You see, when a man loves a woman,” Macy began, teasing.
“Stop.” Ava threw a balled-up napkin at her. “I meant when did you find out?”
“Two days ago,” I said.
“Congratulations.” Ava straightened in her chair. “What did Jason say?”
I winced. “I haven’t actually told him yet.”
Ava exhaled dramatically.
Macy pinched her mouth tight. “You have to tell him.”
“I know,” I said.
“Waiting is only going to make it harder,” Macy explained. “Take it from me, I know.”
I sighed again. “There’s just so much going on. There’s the salon, and now Jason’s wife is in town.”
“Who?” Ava asked.
“You know that woman…” I trailed off, something across the street catching my eye.
There was a laundromat and a bookstore facing the bakery. Two cars were parked in front of the laundromat, and as I watched, that same crazy lady from the grocery store snuck out of the laundromat and around one of the cars. I couldn’t tell what she was doing, but it didn’t look like either of the cars belonged to her.
“There she is.” I pointed.
Both Ava and Macy looked.
“Oh yeah,” Ava said. “I remember her.”
“Oh crap.” I pulled out my phone. The woman paced a drunken circle on the sidewalk and then popped back inside the laundromat. I dialed Jason, waiting an eternity before he picked up.
“Hey,” he said warmly.
“Your wife is here,” I cut him off. “I think she’s following me.”
“Where are you?” he demanded.
“I’m at Pax’s Bakery.”
“Don’t move. Go inside. Stay where others can see you. I’ll be right there.” He hung up.
I put the phone back in my purse, my hands shaking.
“Are you okay?” Ava reached out to wrap a strong hand around my fragile one.
I nodded, feeling tears just behind my eyes. “She broke into our cabin and trashed the place.”
“Oh my God, Lindsey,” Macy gasped, covering her mouth with one hand.
“Is she dangerous?” Ava asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. The more I thought about it, the more I was sure the answer was ‘yes.’
It was only a few minutes before Jason arrived. “Where did you see her?” he asked, storming up the porch steps.
I pointed across the street at the laundry.
He kissed me on the top of my head. “Stay together,” he told my friends before jumping down the stairs and racing across the street.
Together, we watched as Jason pierced the laundromat. The street was deceptively peaceful, and we wondered what was happening. For a moment, we sat in silence, until Jason reemerged, shaking his head. He came back to us, apologetic.
“She’s not in there?” I asked.
“No, I didn’t see anyone.” He lingered at our table, wanting to say more, wanting to sit down.
I pointed to one of the other tables. “You can grab a chair.”
He reached down to kiss me again. “I can’t stay.”
I nodded.
“Call me again if you see her.” His eyes were worried.
“I’m fine,” I assured him.
“Can you stay with her?” Jason asked Macy and Ava.
“Of course,” Macy said.
“I’ll try to get off early today, but I don’t want you alone at the cabin.”
“We’ll be fine,” I told him.
“We won’t let her out of our sight,” Ava promised.
Jason nodded, retreating back down the stairs. I watched him go with a mixture of pain and regret. It hadn’t been the right time to drop my bombshell on him, but the way things were going, it didn’t seem like there would be a good time. We finished our coffee, talking around the elephant in the room. Macy insisted on fantasizing about my baby shower.
“We could make goodie bags for everyone with all those cute little baby things inside,” she said. “Like Baby Ruth candies and Junior Mints.”
After coffee, I invited the girls back to the cabin and cooked grilled cheese for all of us. We sat in the living room and played Rummy for hours. I showed Ava my remaining wigs that had been hidden in the box in my closet and were therefore untouched. Macy went through my wardrobe, picking out things that she might like to borrow. Not everything had been destroyed, and I still had a number of presentable outfits.