Chapter Five
May
I rolled into Maine feeling in control and focused. Since I hadn’t flown this time, I wasn’t dependent on Kaylee picking me up and didn’t have to survive her chaotic driving. That was the only thing I didn’t miss about her. Surviving as her copilot left you with unseen scars and fun coping mechanisms. Plus, she was a busy bride who didn’t need to worry about me. It was the least I could do.
Last autumn, for the engagement party, I had stayed at Kaylee’s cabin with her and her fiancé, Harley, who I’d affectionately nicknamed lumber daddy since he was a forest ranger. But with the stressful nature of a wedding, I’d snagged a rental of my own to not be in the way, much to Kaylee’s displeasure.
The drive from Texas to Maine was a whopping thirtyish hours that I had broken up over the past couple of days, but I didn’t mind. I was doing some soul-searching, and I had some interesting baggage.
Arriving in town, I decided to check in and drop off my luggage before visiting Kaylee at her shop. I was wearing my favorite purple-velvet bell bottoms, a vintage Goosebumps shirt I’d found at a thrift store, and my trusty denim jacket covered in kooky patches. Bringing a bit of Texas with me, I made sure to wear my favorite cowgirl boots.
Pine Bluff was a beloved destination because of its dense forests, rock climbing, flowing rivers, and pristine lakes. According to Harley, after the lumber boom, the town had found a way to bounce back by creating an artsy Main Street along with some lodges and a winery.
It was early afternoon, and the late spring day was glorious, even by Maine standards. Golden light filtered through the lush trees, urging me to roll down my window for a whiff of crisp air that had the distinct pinch of pine. It was dangerously relaxing, to be honest. Maybe that was why people here were in no rush—they were literally pine-drunk.
I followed my GPS, pulling up to the small cottage nestled in a sleepy, historic neighborhood. It was bright white with dark green shutters with hearts cut out in the middles of the planks. Ivy grew up the side of the house while big, shady trees and tall pines surrounded the property, along with a tidy yard and two rocking chairs to the left of the front door.
When I got out of my car, a crow flew close to me, so close it created a slight gust as it landed on my hood.
“Hello, crow,” I said, feeling amused at how it tilted its head at my words.
I’d been dreaming of crows, come to think of it.
Feeling rude, I reached into my center console and grabbed a bag of Corn Nuts I’d been snacking on. The ranch-flavored kind was my go-to road trip treat. I placed four on the hood of the car for my new friend, who gobbled each one up and flew off.
My crossbody purse cut into my shoulder as I bent over, typing in the code for the lockbox. It beeped in denial with a red flash. I sighed and tried again. Denied. I pulled up the PadHopper app on my phone and sent a request for the host to help me. In the meantime, I sat down on one of the rocking chairs and replied to some work emails.
A rumbling made me look up from my phone just in time to see Dane park a classic muscle car by the front garden gate. Its shiny black hood mirrored his profile as he rounded it to make his way to me, his black T-shirt tight across his chest, his inked-up arms on full display.
“Oh my god, you’ve got to be kidding me.” I whimpered under my breath. Gesturing to him, I raised my voice so he could hear. “What in the Supernatural wannabe Dean Winchester shit is this?”
He glanced back, putting his hands in his pockets with a shrug. “It’s not a ‘67 Impala. It’s a ‘68 GTO. Plus, my dad had this before that show was even a thing.” His eyes flicked to my car in the driveway. “That’s pretty rich coming from a girl who just drove into town in a fucking hearse. Where’s the funeral, Maisie?”
“Don’t diss the hearse.” I shot up from the chair, pointing at my shiny ride that had a black cherry custom paint job. I used it as a cargo hauler. It was much cooler than a truck or some utility van. “Why are you here?”
He met me at the steps. “You tell me. You booked my cottage.”
“I did not!” I swiped on my phone to find the reservation, ignoring how good he smelled standing this close to me. A hint of leather mixed with oakmoss, if I had to guess.
“Yep, and based on your reputation, I know you’ve already run an FBI search on me. What’s my middle name?”
I was known for digging up dirt on people. I had receipts, files, and screenshots galore. Information was power. In a world where I had little, I’d take whatever I could get. But after my recent antics of cyberbullying senators, I’d laid off snooping because I was worried my nosy ass had landed on some watch list.
Plus, if I was being honest, I’d purposefully refrained from lurking on Dane because ignorance was bliss and I was already flirting with fascination. I didn’t need any more material to hyperfixate on this man. Now I wished I had. Surely, I would’ve found property records of him owning the cottage. I was kicking myself in the ass for not finding a way around it.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I hissed, staring at the email reservation. At the bottom was Francis Mac, the host's name. “Is Francis your middle name?” I asked, finally looking up at him.
He typed in 0404 for the code. “Yep.”
“Why did— Did you use my birthday as the code?” I sputtered, pointing at the lock. That wasn’t the code he’d given me in the reservation, the rat bastard.
“You’re not the only one who knows how to dig up dirt on people, Maisie Quinn Collier. Or did you revert to Adams after the divorce?”
I flashed him a fake smile. “Charming. Kaylee said you lived above your shop.”
“I do.”
“Why don’t you live here? It’s adorable.”
“Bad memories.” His eyes narrowed, the friendly demeanor clouded for a moment. “Both of my parents died here. Doesn’t feel charming to me.”
“Oh great, so not only does it have a shitty host, but it’s also haunted?” I blurted then winced, realizing how rude I was.
Dane just cocked an eyebrow, unfazed. Opening the door, he ushered me into the cottage.
“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. Listen, I don’t want to make things weirder between us. I’ll go—”
“Lodging is an issue right now,” he interrupted, stepping toward me so I was forced to walk backwards and even farther inside. “People are flying in from all over for the wedding. I think Kaylee’s dad claimed the last spot at Stonebriar Inn.”
“Oh, he loves me. Maybe he’ll switch.” I attempted to dodge back toward the door, but his arm was outstretched, bracing on the wall next to me. With it, his bicep twitched in a way that caused a flutter deep inside me.
“Stay. Please. I promise it won’t be awkward.” He was feigning being casual, but I could tell by how hard he swallowed after that sentence it was all an act. And goddamn did he look good. In the nine months apart, he had filled out more, in a good way. He’d put even more meat and muscle on his glorious body or something. The man dwarfed me in height and sheer size. I wanted to pull him down for a kiss and let him fling me on the couch and have his way with me.
His scruff still covered the little dimple in his chin I loved so much. Not to mention his lips. Oh god, there was also a little dent in the middle of his bottom lip. It made them all pillowy and kissable. I knew right behind them were straight, white teeth. Not your average white, but the kind you’d see on fucking Colgate commercials. I still remembered how they’d nipped my bottom lip before he’d whispered the sexiest things all those months ago.
Pushing myself out of ogling, I flipped back into outrage. “You wanted this all along, didn’t you? You wanted me trapped where you’d have access to me. It’s kinda creepy actually.”
He stepped in closer to me as he lifted his other arm to cage me, all but pinning me to the wall. “I don't mind that I know where to find you.” His lashes flicked as his green eyes darted to my lips and back up to meet my gaze. “I think you want to be found.”
And just like that, he set all the blood in my body on fire. I fought for a steady breath as I stared at him, not knowing if I wanted to drop the act or run.
With a smirk, he stepped back. “Now let me in the back door.”
“Pardon?” I shrieked.
He sauntered to my car. “Unlock your deathmobile so I can help you with your bags.”
“No need!” I chased after him.
“It’s the least I can do as a host.”
“I’ve got it. Really. I didn’t pack much. I’m only here for four days.”
“Maisie, let me help.”
I let out a horrified squeak as he lifted the hatch, freeing a waterfall of sex toys to spill out. We stood there staring as box after box bounced off the hitch and onto the pavement.
When the loot finally stopped pouring, he looked at me in bewilderment. “Let me get this straight. You rolled into town driving a hearse filled with vibrators to attend a wedding? What kind of bachelorette party are you planning exactly?”
A loud cackle ripped through me.
“Jesus Christ woman!”
“I warned you!” I said, trying to sober.
He eyed the carnage. “The real question is which one is your favorite?”
I lunged to grab a box and slapped his arm with it. “Stop! They’re for Harley’s mom! I’m hosting a workshop with her while I’m in town.”
Maxine was a sex therapist. If anyone needed discount dildos, it was her. I’d done the math, and by the time I’d bought plane tickets, a rental car, and shipped her the lot, it would’ve been double than just driving them to Maine myself. Two birds, one stone. Or rather, a bunch of dildos and one road trip to clear my mind.
“What kind of workshop? The care and feeding of your battery-operated boyfriend?”
“Pretty much. How to operate, clean, and store it. I have several models that are open so guests can decide which one is best for their anatomy and arthritic hands. It’s for senior citizens at the community center tomorrow. Maxine is buying the rest for her clients.”
“Grannies have needs too,” he said with a shrug.
Dane made a few more cracks at me while he carried my bags into the house while I restacked all the inventory. I could feel that my cheeks were flushed, and I wished he weren’t so funny. It would be much easier to hate him if he were dull. But I didn’t think Dane had ever been considered dull. Was he maybe a little surface level? Sure, but that was just because he didn’t want to pry. I got the feeling he was hiding his own shit.
He gave me a quick tour of the small cottage that had a certain shabby chic charm you couldn’t replicate even if you tried. It was from years of collecting, and if anything, it gave me more questions about Dane’s late mother because her style was flawless. Everything was soft pinks, bright whites, and white oak. No trace of a man, children, or anything practical in sight.
After showing me the bedrooms and bathroom, he stopped in the middle of the short hallway leading to the living room. “Why did you change your hair?” he asked, picking up a piece that swung just above my shoulders. I had to curl it every day into these beachy waves, and it was a real bitch. Along with it being longer, it was now back to my natural onyx black color. A stark contrast from when we’d met and it had been short and pink.
“I didn’t want to look like a neon highlighter in Kaylee’s wedding photos. You know, stick out like a sore thumb.”
“But you don’t look like you,” he whispered, tucking it behind my ear. I fought the buzz of his fingers trailing the rim of my ear.
“Kaylee said the same thing. She said she wanted me to look like me on her big day. Oh well, I don’t want her to regret anything.”
His brows pinched together.
“Chill, dude.” I sighed. “It’s just hair.”
He opened a linen closet. “Since you’re tiny, I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you run cold. All these blankets are clean. The warmest ones are on this bottom shelf.”
I rolled my eyes at the mention of my size as he turned to lead me back into the living room. I was barely five foot one, big fucking deal. Everyone liked the idea of being quite spritely until you were scaling your kitchen counters daily to get Cheerios. He already made me feel small in more ways than one. Hearing the observation just felt like another nail in the coffin that would be my ability to trust him.
He scratched his head. “Come to think of it, you might get cold at night. Do you know how to work a wood burning stove?” He gestured to the metal contraption in the corner surrounded by worn stones.
I dropped my shoulders. “Does it look like I know how to use a wood burning stove?”
We fought a laugh, staring at each other.
“No, you sure don’t,” he said. “It seems the guest before you used the last of the wood. Let me get you some and I’ll show you how to light it.”
“Wait.” I grabbed his arm to stop him. His muscles against my palm were so warm and dense. The slight contact felt like a current of electricity between us. Alive, strong, and undisputable. I knew he felt it too by the way he cast a quick look at the skin-on-skin contact. I gulped, jerking my hand back to shove it in my jacket pocket where I wouldn’t be tempted. “I don’t want to trouble you. I’m sure you have to get back to work. Don’t worry about me,” I offered.
Unperturbed by my objection, he made his way into the kitchen. “I want to know you’ll be warm. Hang tight. There’s Diet Coke in the fridge for you, help yourself,” he said over his shoulder before shutting the back door.
I opened the fridge wearily. He knew I loved Diet Coke. It was my vice. I didn’t drink alcohol that often because I’d had a bad experience in college, plus my mom was an alcoholic, so it was probably for the best. When we’d first met at the engagement party last autumn, he’d asked if he could make me a drink, and I’d said just a Diet Coke. Instead of making a huge deal about it, he’d put down his beer and drank soda with me. I found his social grace and adaptability sexy.
Snapping a can open, I brought it to my lips, reveling in the familiar tingle as it hit my throat. The fact that he’d thought of providing Diet Coke for my stay in his cottage made my head spin with possibilities I had no business considering.
Combating my urge to swoon, I pulled out my phone to text Dominque some details about Dane so he could dig up dirt for me. I’d taught him all my tips and tricks over the years. I knew I could do it myself, but quite frankly, I needed Dom to filter through any information that might be lurking out there. You know, like leaked dick pics, bad reviews about his auto shop, maybe an ancient Facebook profile with awkward photos of him sitting next to some dead deer like a trophy. I couldn’t go down that rabbit hole. I needed to keep my head in the game and stay in maid of honor mode.
Taking another sip as I turned around, I had to fight from spitting it out. Dane was heaving a huge round of wood out of a shed. In the process, his muscles shifted, bunched, and released as he plopped it on a stump. With his back to me, the sun lit up his broad shoulders as he reached inside the shed to produce an axe and chain. Turning back to the log, now almost facing the house, he wrapped the chain around it. I took another sip and pretended to look at my phone just in case he caught me ogling, but out of the corner of my eye, I continued to watch as he planted his feet and lifted the axe, swinging it down in an ear-splitting crack.
“Sweet baby Jesus,” I whispered under my breath, literally wiping the Diet Coke and drool off my mouth. “Now I get why women agree to live in this godforsaken place.”
He continued to hack into it with long, practiced swings, the wood splitting but remaining neatly together due to the chain around it. Each time he’d lift his axe, the long-sinewed muscles of his tatted-up forearms corded and veins bulged, creating a mesmerizing display of strength that I simply couldn’t look away from.
When he put the axe back, I scampered with my phone and Diet Coke to the family room, where I leaned against the wall, trying my best to play it cool.
“Ah, the log has a belt,” I said wryly as he walked past holding the load of heavy wood by the chain like it was nothing.
“It helps,” he said, unhooking it and dumping it into a wrought-iron holder next to the stove. “Okay, rule one of fire making is always start with dry and small.”
I crouched down with him in front of the stove. “Dry and small,” I repeated with a determined nod.
“This is kindling.” He held up strips of wood, and from there I zoned out because he smelled amazing, and our knees kept touching, and watching his calloused, working hands maneuver the wood was super distracting. I guessed I’d have to bury myself under the blankets if I got cold.
Could I ride a horse bareback? Sure. Had I passed advanced business calculus in college? You bet. But could I risk my chaotic Aries ass burning down this cute cottage because I didn’t listen to simple fire safety instructions? No way.
I pretended to understand, nodding along to appease him. When his spiel was over, he stood, brushing off some stray flecks of wood from his shirt. “And if you can’t figure out the stove, just let me know, and I’ll come over and keep you warm.” He flashed me a sexy wink.
I swatted his chest. “Very funny.” I took a step back, needing my space so his charm didn’t soften me. “Hey, but on a serious note, thank you for letting me stay here. This place is so lovely, and I appreciate you trying to make it comfortable for me.”
“It’s the least I can do,” he said with a shrug, making his way to the front door, stalling as he stepped onto the porch. “I want you to settle in, but I’d love to talk things over now that you’re in town. I’ll pick you up at 7 for dinner.” I opened my mouth to refuse, but he swooped in with another line. “And don’t say you have plans with Kaylee because I already know she has a meeting with Harley and their high priestess. Something about jumping over a broom during the handfasting.”
Knowing my bestie, that tracked. But I was super annoyed by his certainty that I’d cave and go with him.
“What makes you think I want to have dinner with you?” I asked.
His face pulled in a bright smile. “I’m delightful.”
“More like delusional.”
“You really don’t like me?”
“You literally can’t imagine someone not liking you?”
“No, people love me. I’m friendly.”
“You’re a bit too friendly.”
He leaned against the doorframe with an amused look. “One dinner, Maze. Everyone needs to eat.”
“I’ve been on the road all week. I should really take it easy tonight. Plus, I have some things to help Kaylee with for the wedding. Then the bachelorette party is tomorrow night.”
“Great, so we’re still acting like nothing happened. Fooling everyone with fake smiles and lies?”
I grabbed the door handle, officially over his shit. It would take more than a dinner date to repair what he’d done to me. “Yeah, you’re good at that.” And with my proclamation, I shut the door in his handsome face.
After settling in the cottage and freshening up, I visited Silver Springs Coffee & Crystals, the shop owned by Kaylee and her new friend, Rosie. It was located on the picturesque Main Street that was lined with mature trees wrapped in twinkle lights and speckled with wrought-iron bistro tables, colorful awnings, and quirky shops. The entire street was on a slight incline leading up to one of the bluffs encircling the town, giving it its namesake. It was the epitome of cutesy yet historic New England charm, and I wanted to soak up every second I could.
Eyeing the purple sign with moons, I couldn’t help but smile while opening the door. I heard Kaylee’s girlish squeals as she ran toward me with open arms. We clashed in a fierce hug, and just like that, a chunk of my heart was back with me. I breathed her in, tears filling my eyes as her familiar scent and energy permeated my being.
Kaylee and I were platonic soulmates. The second I’d met her, I’d thought to myself, There you are . We’d had countless lifetimes together, were thick as thieves. It was something you could feel. A familiar glint in someone’s eye, the easiness of their presence. I was pretty sure we’d been handmaids and harlots together. You know, birthing and bathing together over and over again until we were stardust. Our bond would survive beyond arguments, men, and far-off distances. I was her sun, and she was my moon. And one thing was for damn sure—I would always love Kaylee Waters.
“I missed you so damn much,” I said, fighting tears.
She hugged me tighter. “I missed you, too.”
“I can’t believe your wild ass is getting married.” I sniffled, breaking the hug.
Her gray eyes watered as she blinked back unshed tears. “Yeah, pretty weird, right?” She flipped her long blonde hair off her shoulder and fanned her eyes to prevent mascara rivers running down her porcelain skin. Today she was wearing a flowy tie-dye dress with cap sleeves and a long, beaded necklace that, if I had to guess, was sandalwood.
This was the longest we had been apart. The time before was when she’d gone to India for yoga teacher training. We’d gone to high school together in Texas, and then college together in Florida. When her dad had gotten in a motorcycle accident, she’d had to move to Maryland to help him recover, and by that time I’d been consumed by marriage and trying to keep Pretty Kitty afloat.
“Hey, Poe!” I said, greeting a barista I recognized.
She had locs that were dyed a lovely teal that complimented her deep umber-colored skin. A delicate choker with a pale blue sea glass charm floated over her clavicle. It jiggled when she spoke. “Hey, good to see you.” She finished watering a plant by the front window to give me a quick hug.
“How’s school? I bet having Maxine as a psych professor is entertaining.”
“Very. I actually just survived finals, so I’m in between terms. I decided to take summer semester,” Poe explained.
“I remember summer semesters were always a bitch, but worth it just to knock out credits. Major props for signing up.”
Her slender fingers wrapped around the brass gooseneck watering can as she sighed with a pensive look. “Yeah, I’m already regretting my decision.”
I couldn’t help but smile, remembering those exhaustingly hard college days.
Finishing an order, Azalea rounded the coffee bar. “I’m so glad the maid of honor has arrived! Now the real party can start!” She pulled me in for a hug. She was a tall, leggy brunette with sun-kissed cheeks. When I’d met her last autumn, I’d immediately liked her. She was so wholesome and warm.
“Hi, Azalea!” I said as her boobs smashed my cheek for a split second in the hug. “I don’t know how much of a partier I am now. You’re giving me too much credit.”
“No, she’s not!” Kaylee demanded.
I beamed at her adoration, feeling all my walls fall this close to Kaylee.
“How’s Stonebriar Inn?” I asked Azalea. “You’re still helping run it until you inherit it, right?”
“Yeah, I’m just waiting for my aunt to commit to retiring. I keep telling her to stay in Florida, but she comes back every summer.” She flashed a quick wide-eyed expression relaying her annoyance. “So I bounce between here and the inn in the meantime.”
“Well, that’s nice of you to help her.”
She batted away my compliment. “It is what it is. Can I make you a drink, hon?”
Kaylee interjected, “Oh, make her that new one.” She snapped her fingers, trying to recall the name of it.
"The Horny Hag?” Poe offered with an amused smile.
“That’s the one! Rosie came up with it last week. It’s so good iced!”
“Well, that’s an appropriate name because I sure feel like a horny hag lately. I haven’t gotten any dick for ages,” I quipped.
A middle-aged woman at the table behind me gasped. I peered her way over my shoulder. “Tell me about it,” I said, milking the joke as she buried her face deeper into her book, which made the other women giggle even more.
A mob of tourists in outdoorsy clothes streamed into the shop. Kaylee gave me an apologetic look as she followed some of them through the archway that led to the crystal shop side of Silver Springs.
“I’ve got all day. Don’t worry!” I said, waving her off.
Azalea set to work making my drink as Poe tapped her phone to change the music to something more upbeat to match the suddenly crowded energy of the shop before diving into taking orders.
Azalea slid the drink across the counter for me, committed to watching me try it.
“Oh, that’s dangerously good!” I said after the first sip.
“Right?” Poe agreed, pumping syrup into a cup. “It was an instant hit.”
I took another sip. “It’s like kettle corn at first then it morphs into that coffee taste.”
“I’m telling ya, Rosie is a total mastermind,” Azalea said. “She can make these drinks no one else can. It’s a gift.”
Hmm. I had my reservations about Rosie, but I couldn’t help but admit this gave her some brownie points. “Sounds like she’s in the right business,” I offered. My eyes darted up to the chalkboard above Azaela’s head. “Is the Wi-Fi password seriously FlickYourCoffeeBean?”
“Yep!” both baristas said in unison with a snicker.
“God, I love it here.”
I took a corner seat at a small table next to an intricate mural of a mystical forest. I checked in on some work stuff and got lost in my own little world. When I got up to pee, I tried to twist the handle on the bathroom door, but it was locked.
“Sorry!” I yelled.
Clomping and a bang sounded off behind the door before it cracked open. “Hey, I need help!” Azalea whispered, looking around suspiciously.
“Are you out of toilet paper?”
“It’s stuck!” she hissed in horror.
“Uh, I’m gonna need more context clues, babe.”
“My menstrual cup is stuck! Inside me!” She winced through the crack in the door. “Oh god! It’s my first time wearing it, and I feel so stupid.”
I wasn’t a stranger to menstrual cups. Or people frantically coming to me with things stuck inside them. My customers were fucking wild, and I always sent them to the ER for legal reasons, but Azalea was just a woman at work in a very real predicament.
“I . . . Can’t you just leave it inside you, and when it fills up with blood, it will weigh it down so you can reach it easier?”
She whimpered. “I have really impressive Kegels and a high cervix.”
“Okay, humble brag, love that.”
“I think it flipped inside me or something. It’s making my cramps worse somehow. I am in so much pain.” She sighed, bumping her forehead on the doorframe.
Her confession tugged at my heart. I eyed the small line at the coffee bar, knowing time was of the essence. “Listen, can I maybe help in some way? I can try to break the seal.”
“You’d do that for me?” she muttered.
“Yeah, you know, girl code.”
She made a little noise that sounded like a gasp or cry while I racked my brain . What would a doctor do? I dodged into Kaylee’s office for the first-aid kit to get some gloves and fetched my emergency pouch from my purse.
The next thing I knew, a pantsless Azalea was letting me into the bathroom that had a single toilet and a sink. The poor thing was almost in tears.
I reached up to hold her shoulders. “I’ve totally got you, and you’re in luck because I always have lube. I get tons of testers for my store. I’ll put it on my gloved finger so it won’t be as uncomfortable. Oh, and I have a pad for you to wear when we’re done.”
She gave me a small smile before bobbing her head with a determined nod. “Right, so, I guess I’ll crouch on the toilet?”
“And I’ll go fishing,” I said, putting some paper towels down to kneel on.
I distracted her by talking about the wedding, but the second I got up to a knuckle inside her, she murmured, “Dane was right about you.”
“Beg your pardon?” I asked shrilly. The last thing I expected from this trip was to be digit-deep inside a townie while talking about Dane.
She stared down at me, still squatting like some shark week version of Spider-Man as she braced herself on the handrail and the sink. “He said you’re a cool chick. I mean, I knew that. You’re friends with Kaylee, so that’s a good sign. But this is like next-level kindness.”
“Wow, you weren’t kidding. This little fucker isn’t going anywhere. It’s not upside down though, so that’s good news.” I couldn’t look at my hand or her face, so I stared at the ceiling as I blindly tried to push the side of the cup to collapse the wall and break the seal. “Bear down for me.”
With a loaded pause, she finally gasped. “You got it. I felt it. It worked.”
Not knowing social etiquette on what to do when pulling out a menstrual cup from an acquaintance, I slowly slid it down her vaginal canal, presenting it to her like a wedding ring during a proposal.
Azalea sighed in relief, grabbing it with a wad of toilet paper as she sank onto the toilet with a manic laugh. I joined her in the absurd moment before I stood to clean up, rolling off the glove and turning on the sink.
“Oh god! We’re definitely friends now! I owe you!”
“No offense, but I don’t know what would even be in the realm of period cup removal when it comes to favors,” I said, snatching another towel to dry my hands.
“We’ll consider it a running tab.”
“Sounds good.”
“Oh, and Maisie . . .”
I stood in front of the door to strategically open it. “Yeah?”
She ripped open the pad. “I’m really glad you’re here.”
I fought a clash of emotions and put on my friendliest smile. “Thank you, me too. And I hope you feel better.”
A few minutes later, Kaylee and I exited the coffee shop to get our official wedding nails. As we walked into the nail salon, the familiar scent of acrylic made me even more giddy. It was weird that certain smells were tied to certain memories.
Kaylee opted to abandon her usual dark polish for a pale pink set that would look timeless as a bride. I went with a pale cream color that looked better with my tan skin. We gabbed about every final detail for the wedding, and afterward, we ran some errands before she was supposed to meet her high priestess, formally deemed Lady Geneva Gravedust.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with? Lady Geneva Gravedust lives in a yurt. It’s really cool. She has a therapy llama. We’re using some of its wool in our handfasting cord.”
I’d learned to filter out about thirty percent of the unhinged details Kaylee gave me. If not, we’d get distracted with side tangents. This was one of those cases.
I stopped mid-stride on the sidewalk to look at her. “No, I’m okay. I’m going to call it an early night. By the way, did you know I was staying at Dane’s cottage?”
A mischievous smile lifted her face. “Maybe. But after everything I went through with Rosie, I’ve sworn off meddling when it comes to other people’s love lives.”
I playfully swatted her hip with my purse. “Okay, blondie! Abandon me when I need you most!”
She started to giggle, which meant I was on to something.
“Oh god, you didn’t have one of your visions, did you?”
Along with astrology, energy, and past lives, I believed in her visions. She was eerily intuitive. She’d known when things had gone sideways for me in the past without me even needing to send her a text. She’d just showed up on my doorstep with a plan and a cold Diet Coke. I’d never be able to fully thank her.
She scrunched her nose. “I haven’t had any visions lately. I can promise you that. I’ve been so stressed about the wedding and the shop that I’m barely dreaming, let alone getting intuitive hits.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Luckily, Harley’s been providing me with some stress relief, or I’d be a tangled ball of nerves.”
I started to buck my pelvis toward her in a mock attempt of air humping. “Oh yeah, lumber daddy is giving you some good wood .”
She joined me, gyrating right there on the street. “Yeah, girl! Morning wood, lunch break wood, good night wood.” She stopped mid-hump to hold up her pointer finger. “Oh, that reminds me! You can’t call him lumber daddy in front of his hella Greek grandparents. It will give his yaya a heart attack.”
I scoffed. “They have Maxine as a daughter-in-law. Hasn’t she broken them in by now?”
“Maisie! It’s a formal event. Please!”
“Okay, fine. But he better be thankful for me. Oh, that reminds me, I brought his favorite flavor of edible panties for you to wear on the honeymoon. They’re TSA approved, I checked.”
“Peach?” she exclaimed gleefully.
“Yep!”
Kaylee looped her arm back in mine, clearly pensive as we walked. “He can never know that you know that.”