Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Maude was halfway through a slow vinyasa when Darcy Lane crept back into her thoughts. Hard not to think about the woman while doing yoga, since an interest in yoga was one of the few things Maude had found out about her.
She held a low lunge, back knee hovering, hands braced on the purple mat. Breathe in. Breathe out. The instructor’s voice drifted from Maude’s earbuds, calm and encouraging, telling her to sink a little deeper if she could.
Maude ignored that part. She’d sunk deep enough. She stayed where she was, feeling the pull in her hip flexor and a faint tremor in her thigh.
What else did she know about Darcy besides she was from Atlanta and liked yoga? Not much.
Maude stepped back into downward dog and let her head hang, eyes on the mat, and tried to be mindful of her body. Yoga usually helped quiet her brain. Today it seemed to be forcing her to think.
Darcy Lane had the kind of careful online footprint that looked intentional without advertising that it was.
It felt very deliberate. Maude shifted forward into plank, held it longer than necessary so she could really feel it, then lowered slowly to the mat.
She didn’t trust people like that. At least not without context.
Sure, Paige’s online presence was managed and deliberate, but she’d turned herself into a brand. She’d gotten a sponsorship, for Pete’s sake. That wasn’t what Darcy was doing. With her, it felt more like she was trying to hide something.
Maude pushed up into cobra, shoulders rolling back, chest opening. The stretch felt good. With Robbie moving in, she’d neglected her usual routine. No more. She needed this. She stayed in the stretch for an extra breath, then sat back on her heels, exhaled, and reached for her water.
Her phone was on the floor beside the mat, screen dark. Still nothing from Cece about Darcy’s response to the interview request.
Maude wiped her hands on her towel and told herself to stop checking. Cece would respond when there was something to say. And Darcy would respond when it suited her. Waiting was part of it, whether Maude liked it or not.
She rose, positioned her feet, then moved into tree pose, one foot planted, the other resting against her thigh. Her balance wobbled for a second before settling.
Her phone buzzed. That figured. Maude stepped out of the pose and picked it up, expecting to see Cece’s name on the screen.
Instead, she saw Ollie’s. She smiled as she read his text. Beach walk? I just got home and Milo is eager to go. What do you say?
Getting out of the house felt like the perfect antidote to her thoughts, which had been circling around the same subject all afternoon.
I say yes, she typed. Give me a few minutes.
She set the phone down, rolled up her mat, and felt her shoulders drop another notch. Darcy could wait. Cece could wait. Whatever else was unfolding would still be there when she got back.
Right now, there was a walk to take. With her favorite guy. And his owner.
They reached the beach just as the sun was starting to slide lower, the light softer now, less punishing. Milo hit the sand like he’d been waiting for it all day, pulling ahead with happy determination before Ollie shortened the leash and laughed.
“Easy,” he told him. “You’ve got plenty of time. You don’t have to greet the entire beach all at once.”
Milo ignored that advice completely, nose down, tail wagging, already committed to whatever fascinating thing he might find next.
Maude smiled and fell into step beside Ollie. “How was the hospital today?”
Ollie exhaled through his nose, not quite a sigh. “Busy. Always busy. But I saw all the patients I needed to and there were no emergencies.” He glanced at her. “Still, it’s better on Mondays.”
“Because I bring my sparkling personality,” Maude said dryly.
“That, too,” he said. “But mostly because knowing you’re there changes the feel of the place.”
She raised an eyebrow. “The feel?”
“You make it feel less like a machine,” Ollie said. “People relax when you’re around. Patients. Nurses. Even me.”
Maude considered that as they walked, the surf washing up close enough to wet the sand underfoot. “I just do what’s asked of me,” she said. “Sometimes I don’t even do that much.”
“You do plenty,” Ollie said. “But it’s not about what you do so much as it’s about how you make people feel. You’ve only been there a short while and you already put them at ease. I’ve seen you do it.”
“Thanks. I enjoy being there.”
Milo stopped abruptly to investigate a clump of seaweed, then looked back at them as if offended they hadn’t stopped, too.
Maude crouched and scratched his chest. “You’re having a good day, huh? Happy to be outside?”
His tongue lolled, and his eyes went half-shut in a blissed-out expression, sand already clinging to his paws.
“He loves it here,” Ollie said. “I think he thinks the beach exists solely for him.”
Maude straightened. “Maybe it does.”
They walked on and Ollie let her take the leash. Milo weaved back and forth, content and busy. The sound of the waves gave them a nice background, and they were both content not to talk. Maude felt the tension from earlier ease.
Darcy was pushed to the back of her mind by the simple fact of being outside, enjoying the day and being with someone who made her extraordinarily happy. Two someones, really. Milo continued to be utterly perfect.
“This was a good idea,” she said.
Ollie smiled, eyes on Milo as he bounded ahead again. “I was hoping you’d think so.”
They walked a little farther, the beach widening ahead of them. Milo surged forward after a seagull, then circled back to join them, satisfied he’d kept his people safe from another potential attacker.
Maude was mid-sentence, about to comment on the hospital coffee, when she saw the flash of color up ahead.
Two women walking toward them along the firmer sand near the waterline. One of them in hot pink.
Maude’s attention snagged, the way it always did when her brain recognized a pattern before she consciously understood what it was. One of the women was unmistakable even at a distance. Wide arm movements. Big hair. Flashy sunglasses. And the hot pink one-shoulder swimsuit.
Gigi.
Maude felt her pace slow by half a step. Ollie didn’t notice yet. Milo obviously didn’t—he was busy trying to decide if the seagulls were regrouping for a second attack.
“You see those two coming toward us?” she said.
Ollie followed the line of her glance and squinted. He gave a little nod. “I recognize one of them,” he said. Then, after a beat, “And the other one?”
Maude didn’t answer right away.
The woman walking beside Gigi was slimmer, dressed in an ivory and gold tankini, a crocheted coverup overtop. Her stride was unhurried. She didn’t gesture or talk much. She kept her eyes moving, taking in the shoreline, the houses, the people ahead of them.
Then it clicked.
Maude had seen that face before. Not in person, but with longer hair in a slightly filtered Facebook profile photo. Then again in those event shots. She recognized that smile that felt like it was full of fake warmth.
Darcy Lane.
Everything in Maude sat up and took notice.
“Someone you know?” Ollie asked quietly.
“Yes,” Maude said. She kept her voice level, even as her attention sharpened. “Unfortunately.”
Gigi spotted them then and lifted her arm in an enthusiastic wave, smiling wide enough to be seen from space.
“Maude!” she called, her voice carrying easily over the sound of the waves. “Well, if this isn’t a small world.”
Darcy lifted her head to look, finally paying attention to what Gigi was saying. She made eye contact with Maude.
As Darcy drew closer, Maude thought the other woman looked exactly like her photos but also not at all like them.
Same face, same careful smile. Different energy.
A hint of cold curiosity sparked in her eyes, something just this side of calculating.
And her smile had appeared a second too late, like she had to remind herself to do it.
Milo chose that moment to pull forward again, forcing Maude to step closer to Ollie as they slowed to a stop. Gigi was talking, the way she always did, but Maude barely heard her.
All her attention was on Darcy.
So this was the woman who’d confronted Paige at the fitness center. The woman Maude had been researching, only to find bits and pieces. The woman Cece was hoping to interview in the name of information gathering.
Darcy’s gaze flicked briefly to Milo, then to Ollie, then back to Maude, polite interest firmly in place.
“Hello, there,” Darcy said, her voice smooth and measured. “You must be friends of Gigi’s? We just met ourselves.”
Maude gave a small nod, her expression neutral. “We know her.” And now, Maude thought, we know you a little better, too.
“Maude,” Gigi said, swinging an arm toward Darcy. “Have you met Darcy yet? She’s new to the Colony. We just ran into each other a few days ago and decided to walk together.”
“Darcy Lane,” Darcy said, offering her hand.
Maude took it. The grip was firm and practiced. Almost mechanical. “We haven’t met,” Maude said. “Maude Harrigan.”
“I know,” Darcy said, still smiling. “You do websites.”
Maude felt the smallest shiver go through her. Had this woman researched her? “That’s right.”
Ollie stuck his hand out. “Ollie Keen. Maude’s boyfriend.”
At that word, Gigi arched her brows and took his hand. “Hello, Ollie.”
That was the first time Maude had heard him use that word since high school, but this was not the moment to freak out about it.
Darcy shook his hand, too, her eyes sweeping over him like she was measuring him for a suit. “Gigi was telling me how close everyone is here. How people look out for one another.”
Gigi beamed. “It’s like a little family.”
“Is it?” Darcy asked lightly.
Maude answered before Gigi could. “It can be. Depends on the people.”
Darcy’s gaze shifted back to her, assessing again. Then she nodded. “Of course. Like with anything.”
Milo chose that moment to shake himself, sending a spray of sand in a small arc around his paws. Darcy stepped back a fraction, as if she couldn’t bear to get dirty.
“Well,” Gigi said, clapping her hands once. “We should keep moving before the sun gets any lower. It was so nice running into you.”
“Yes,” Darcy said. “Nice to meet you, Maude.”
“Likewise,” Maude said.
They stepped aside as Gigi and Darcy continued down the beach, Gigi talking again, Darcy listening. Or at least pretending to.
Maude waited until they were a few yards away before she let out a breath.
“I guess Gigi’s making new friends,” Ollie said quietly.
Maude shook her head. “I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”
She glanced back once, just long enough to see Darcy turn her head, too, as if checking to see whether Maude was watching.
Their eyes met again. Darcy looked away and kept walking.
Maude tightened her grip on the leash. “Come on,” she said to Milo.
The dog trotted forward, happy and oblivious.
Lucky him.