CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“I’m sorry, Faith,” Tess said. “I tried to warn you.”
“I know you did. It’s not your fault.”
“It” being Faith’s miserable mood. She and her friends had nursed many a broken heart together, but this one felt especially painful.
It had been two weeks since she’d walked away from Nick at the diner. It was time to return to normal, but she continued to drag her feet. Tonight’s dinner was an attempt to renew her groove. She’d hoped to avoid the topic of Nick, but her friends sensed her glumness and had to reanalyze it. Like they hadn’t talked it to death already.
“So there’s no chance he moves home someday?” Juliet asked, ever the hopeful one.
Tess shrugged. “If falling in love didn’t do it, I don’t know what would.”
“In love!” Faith exclaimed. “Did he say that?”
“Well, no,” Tess admitted. “But I’ve known him all my life. He probably doesn’t even realize it, but I’m pretty sure.”
“That makes it all the more tragic,” Alex said. “’Cause Faith obviously loves him too.”
Faith’s cheeks heated. Though true, she hadn’t publicly acknowledged it. With these three, that would be unnecessary anyway. The odds of hiding such a thing from her best friends were nil. They knew her as well as she knew herself, and there was no denying she’d fallen in love with Nick Walker.
“I’ll get over it.” Faith sighed. “Maybe. I mean, I hope I will.” Nick’s betrayal had been a gut punch. It hurt almost as much as burying her mother. But, like her mom’s death, time had taken the sting out of the initial heartbreak, and she was already rationalizing his behavior.
“You still mad at him?” Tess asked.
“Not really,” Faith said. “I’ve thought about it, and I understand the untenable position he was in. He used his work system to run my father as a favor and risked getting in real trouble for it. Tracking down Gary was his only option to avoid punishment.”
“Not to mention Gary’s a hardcore criminal and needed to be arrested,” Alex said.
“Sure. There’s that too.” Faith popped a fry into her mouth. “I’m still kind of perturbed he didn’t warn me, but I get that too. Anyway, I’m sorry to be such a downer lately.”
“You gonna go back to the internet dating thing?” Juliet asked.
“Don’t really have a choice, do I?” Faith lifted a shoulder and let it fall. She hadn’t been on the site since getting together with Nick but knew she’d have to move on eventually. Holding out for Nick to change was a fool’s errand.
“You’ll find someone soon,” Juliet said.
“In the meantime, I’ve got you guys,” Faith said, smiling. Moping wasn’t in her nature, and she knew it was throwing her friends for a loop. It was time for a curtain call on this pity party. At least on the outside.
And it wasn’t like she didn’t have practice putting up a strong front. When her mom died, hadn’t she kept the family together? Coddled her dad through his bereavement and helped keep Hope from a life of crime? And all while coping with her own grief. She’d been through a lot and would get through this too.
A week later, Tess popped into her office to ask about lunch. Faith had just finished a meditation sesh and felt pretty good. An orange and white ball of fur slept on his favorite chair in the corner.
“Wow, it looks great in here,” Tess said, glancing around. “Cleaning up the clutter makes this place look twice as big. Move, Tiger.” The cat shot her an annoyed glare but leaped gracefully out of the chair so she could sit.
“It’s been a project for sure.” Faith had cleared the desktop and drawers, sorted through all the random stacks of paper, and emptied or moved all the boxes. “I couldn’t focus with junk everywhere. A clear mind needs a clear space. Plus, I spend so much time here, I figured, might as well make it my own.”
“That explains the paintings,” Tess said, waving a hand at the wall where several of Faith’s amateur watercolors hung. “The photo of your mom is a nice touch.”
Faith stared at the portrait of her mother and smiled. “It’s like she’s watching over me.”
“She’d be so proud of you,” Tess said. “You’ve changed a lot in the last year. Grown up, ya know?”
Faith’s brows furrowed. “Against my will, but yeah, I guess you’re right. I feel as though I’ve matured ten years in the past twelve months.” Gone were the days of flitting through life doing hair, going on lousy dates, and hanging with her friends. Now, it was all taking care of family, running a business, and dealing with relationship problems. “I gotta say, this whole adulting thing is highly overrated though.”
Tess nodded in agreement. “How’s business?”
“You’re not gonna believe this, but guess what?”
“What?”
“I just finished crunching last month’s numbers, and we finally broke even! We’re on track to make a profit starting next month.”
“That’s fantastic news,” Tess said. “I knew you could do it. You had some great ideas that obviously panned out—the book swag and stocking bestsellers.”
“Stopping the employee ‘borrowing’ helped too.” Faith laughed.
They walked to the diner and over club sandwiches, she got a sell job from Tess about the dating app.
“I’m surprised you’re pushing that,” Faith said, pulling the crust off her sandwich. “I thought you hated the idea of meeting guys online.”
Tess shrugged, and Faith was immediately suspicious.
“It works for you,” Tess said. “I mean, maybe not that it’s found your soul mate, but it gets you dates.”
“Are you saying this because you feel guilty about Nick? Because you shouldn’t. That whole thing is on me, and I know that.”
“No. Never mind. Forget I said anything.” Tess looked away. “Let’s plan a dinner with Alex and Juliet to celebrate Page Turners’ foray into profitability.”
“Now that idea, I like.”
After lunch, alone again in her office, Faith opened her laptop, and the MatchMe app icon caught her attention. A little red bubble beside it indicated she’d missed several notifications. She opened the program and found multiple unread messages.
Still unsure she was ready to come off the bench and jump back into this game, she perused the messages half-heartedly.
“Your hot,” she read the first line aloud. “Not a good start. And you spelled ‘you’re’ wrong. Grammar matters, dude.” Delete.
Tiger jumped onto the desk and laid down to watch. Faith opened the next message.
“This is my first time on the site, and you’re the first woman I’ve contacted,” she read. “Do you believe that, Tiger? ’Cause I don’t. He did spell ‘you’re’ correctly, but honesty matters.” Delete.
She went through quickly and weeded out the clear losers. Anyone who used the term “looking for a good time” or listed “between opportunities” under employment was an automatic no. As was anyone whose picture did not match their stated age or physical status—i.e., the balding chubster who swore he was a twenty-something bodybuilder.
Just when she was about to give up, she noticed a few messages from the same guy. His online name was Stargazer, and he purported to like astrology, midnight swims, basketball, and bacon.
His intro paragraph talked about the importance of honesty, family, and community. He listed his turnoffs as judgmental, disloyal people and said he had a government job. Under physical description, he claimed he was six foot four, had an athletic build, and a head full of hair. Almost sounded too good to be true.
There was no picture, which would normally be a glaring red flag, but she’d gotten pretty adept at sniffing out the insincere bullshitters, and something about the message struck her as authentic. She moved it to a “maybe” folder and closed the app.
On the walk home, a burst of wind rustled the leaves in the yard of the old Ashford mansion, revealing a flash of red. She passed this place almost every day, sometimes without a second thought, many times dreaming about how great it would be to fix up and live in. Today, she stopped. The color that caught her attention was from a decades-old “for sale” sign that lay on the ground.
An hour ago, homeownership hadn’t been on her radar. But it was now. She pulled out her cell phone and called Jenny, the town real estate agent.
She’d always figured marriage would come before buying a home, but who said that was set in stone?
Jenny didn’t answer, so Faith left a voicemail. Once home, she unearthed her old vision board and plucked the Ashford picture from the cardboard.
Though she’d been thinking about this house for years, it had never occurred to her to actually do something about it. She’d saved a bunch of money, and with the store on the verge of being a steady source of income, why not buy it?
Faith glanced at the other “wishes” on her board, and Nick’s name jumped out to mock her. “Guess the universe giveth and taketh away,” she muttered.
She’d come to terms with the fact that Nick hated Green Valley Falls and would never move back. Apparently, she wasn’t a strong enough reason to stay. Or even consider staying. And he’d sure made it look easy, watching her walk away.
So, maybe Nick wasn’t in the stars. But she’d gotten the pink Beetle. And if she had anything to say about it, the Ashford house was next.