Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Michelle pulled her scarf up around her face, trying to protect her cheeks from the frigid winter wind that was blowing down the street.
She was on her way to get dinner at The Brick Oven, Coral Sands’ most popular pizza parlor, with her mother and Harper and Penelope.
It was a bitterly cold night, and she was starting to regret her decision to walk from The Birchwood House instead of taking her car.
The glow of the streetlights made the snow dusting Coral Sands glint and gleam like a thousand tiny stars, and she felt a pleasant ache in her chest as she thought to herself that it was worth it to experience the cold of winter in order to get to experience the beauty as well.
She reached the Brick Oven a few moments later and tumbled inside, instantly feeling relief as the warmth of the restaurant kissed her cheeks.
She pulled off her mittens and looked around for her mother and their friends, enjoying the spicy, mouthwatering aromas that filled the air inside the restaurant.
A second later she saw them, sitting at a cozy table in the back of the dining room. She waved to them, grinning, and hurried over to them.
“Hey, girl,” Harper said, standing to give her a big hug. “Glad you made it.”
“I thought the cold might get me for a second there.” Michelle laughed, hugging Penelope next. “It’s brutal out there.”
“Good thing we’re warm and cozy in here,” Penelope said.
Michelle smiled at her. Penelope was going through a divorce, but she was much happier than she had been before making the decision to leave her husband Robert.
A few months ago, she’d been bitter and distracted a lot of the time.
Michelle knew that Penelope was still struggling, going through something so difficult, but it was clear that a weight had been lifted from her friend’s shoulders and she was happy to see it.
“It’s my fault I’m so cold,” Michelle said with a laugh. “I decided to walk instead of drive.”
“Oof, you’re a Spartan,” Harper said.
“Hey, hon,” Audrey said, giving Michelle a sideways hug as she sat down next to her. “I can drive you back with me so you don’t have to walk again.”
“Sounds great,” Michelle grinned.
“And we’ve got cheese-filled breadsticks,” Penelope said, gesturing to a basket of perfect, fluffy, and golden breadsticks and two dishes of sauce. “Help yourself.”
“Oh my gosh.” Michelle’s mouth watered and she immediately dipped one of the breadsticks into the dish of marinara sauce.
For a couple of minutes, she let the other women talk as she savored the delicious breadstick. Once she’d swallowed the last bite, however, she turned to Harper.
“Mom told me about the adoption event you’re hosting,” she told her. “It sounds like a lot of fun. I definitely want to be there.”
“Yay!” Harper took a sip of her soda. “It’s going to be amazing, I just know it. We’ve got so many fun things planned. My goal is to get at least half the animals adopted, but part of me is hoping for some kind of Christmas miracle so that it can be all of them.”
“I hope so,” Audrey said. “It sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’ve never played games with puppies before, but I am definitely looking forward to it.”
Harper laughed. “Good. And you should bring Evan along,” she said, her tone teasing. “Who knows? You two might be inspired to move your relationship farther forward if you find the perfect fur baby together.”
“Oh my gosh.” Michelle shook her head, playfully covering her ears. “I’ve always been my mother’s only child, I’m not ready for a sibling. Don’t rush her, Harper.”
Penelope snorted with laughter, which made the rest of the table erupt as well.
“I don’t think I want another kid,” Audrey said, still chuckling. “A pet—eventually—maybe.”
Harper shook her head sagely. “You say that now. Once you adopt a pet, you love them like you love your kids. I mean, I don’t have kids—but I’m sure it’s not possible to love anyone more than I love my dogs and my cats.”
Michelle knew that Harper meant her personal pets, not all the pets at the shelter, although it was clear that Harper loved all of the animals under her care with a fierce adoration.
“Love is a crazy thing,” Michelle said. “You think you have only so much room in your heart, and then all of a sudden, you’ve got so much more.”
“So true,” Audrey said.
Their waitress came by, and they ordered a few pizzas. Audrey ordered a spinach and chicken alfredo pizza, Michelle ordered Hawaiian, Harper ordered meat lovers, and Penelope ordered a plain pizza, but they intended to swap pieces with each other and share all the leftovers.
“Be back in a jiffy,” their waitress said. “Anybody want more soda?”
They all answered yes, and she smiled and walked away. Michelle turned back to her friends and noticed that Penelope’s expression had become troubled. She was staring down at the center of the table as if she was seeing something else.
I hope that talk of love opening your heart didn’t make her sad, Michelle thought with a pang. Robert hardly kept his heart open toward her, and I’m sure that stings.
“How’s your hair salon doing, Penelope?” Michelle asked. “I’ve been thinking about getting red highlights in my hair for fun. You could do that, right?”
“Oh, sure.” Penelope smiled, but the expression looked a little forced, as if she was still upset but trying to hide it.
“You’d look great with red highlights, Michelle.
And the salon is doing well. I’m keeping busy, so that’s nice.
You’d be surprised by how many tourists want to get their hair done at Christmastime.
” She let out a laugh that sounded a bit fake.
“How are things going with Robert?” Audrey asked gently.
Penelope swallowed. “Oh, nothing much has changed there.”
Robert had been emotionally absent from Penelope’s marriage for quite some time.
All of Penelope’s efforts to repair their marriage had been rebuffed by him.
He was hardly ever home because of work, but even when he was, he’d made no effort to spend time with her.
Michelle remembered Penelope saying once that Robert would have made a terrible roommate, and calling him a husband was practically ludicrous.
The last thing Michelle had heard, Penelope had been trying to get Robert to sign the divorce papers, which he finally had.
“Is he fighting you on the divorce again?” Harper asked.
Penelope shrugged. “Not the divorce itself, just the specifics. Who gets what. Thank goodness we don’t have any kids to fight over.
He’s being petty, that’s for sure. He’s talked to me more in the past month than he has in the five years before that, but it’s all been with our lawyers present, so I don’t think it really counts. ”
Audrey made a sympathetic clucking sound and Harper sighed and rubbed Penelope’s back.
Penelope’s eyes grew misty as she shook her head. “I kept hoping for the longest time that things would get better, but I know now that they won’t. We’re on this road to divorce now, and I’m going to stick it out until everything is finalized.”
“You can do this, Penelope,” Audrey said warmly. “Stay strong, and this will be over before you know it.”
“And remember that we’re here for you,” Michelle said, nodding. “If you want to vent, or do something fun to get your mind off anything.”
“Or watch a sad movie and cry while eating ice cream,” Harper said. “I always find that gives me a good emotional release.”
Penelope chuckled. “That does sound pretty good, I have to admit. Thank you, guys. I’m hanging in there, but having more support would be great. I’ll try to do better at reaching out to you when I’m feeling particularly glum.”
“And we’ll reach out to you more often,” Harper promised. “It’s a busy season, but we’re never too busy to look out for our friends.”
Michelle was just about to voice her agreement when she noticed Theo Hartman walk inside The Brick Oven.
He was wearing a black knit hat and his signature black leather jacket with fingerless gloves.
Michelle’s chest did an odd somersault when she saw him, and she looked away quickly.
Three long seconds later, she looked back in his direction and saw that he was looking at her.
For a second, he held perfectly still, as if he was feeling as awkward as she was, and then he waved before sitting down at another table.
Michelle recognized the other people at the table as the members of Theo’s band.
One of them was a mechanic like he was, but the rest of them had been gathered together by Theo from other places in Coral Sands.
Together, they were a genuinely good band, although it had taken Michelle quite some time to be willing to admit that.
She and Theo had been enemies for as long as she could remember.
When they were kids, he’d teased her mercilessly, and she’d gotten her revenge through pranks, since she’d been too shy to spar verbally with him back then.
Once she’d moved back to Coral Sands with her mother, she and Theo had started an unlikely friendship, and it was proving to be the most complicated friendship Michelle had ever had.
She didn’t know how to behave around Theo if she wasn’t teasing him or sassing back to him.
She was doing her best to act in a genuine way toward him and let him know that she actually found him to be a pleasant, hard-working, funny guy with surprisingly incredible guitar-playing skills, but it was proving more difficult than she’d expected.
She felt extremely awkward around Theo, and he seemed to feel the same way around her.
In the past, they’d exchanged witty banter with ease and enthusiasm, but now that they both seemed to be trying to be nice to each other, they were as clumsy as a pair of boots that were put on backward.
It took Michelle several seconds before she realized that she was staring at Theo, lost in thought. As she’d been thinking about his change in behavior, she’d been studying the squareness of his jawline and the way his shaggy dark hair made him look kind of like a pirate.
Michelle glanced back at her friends and realized with a jolt that Harper had been watching her with a slightly amused expression. Michelle grimaced and rolled her eyes, hoping her facial expression properly conveyed, “It’s not a thing, don’t read into it.”
Harper shrugged and winked at Michelle before they both tuned in to the conversation about The Birchwood House that Audrey and Penelope were having.
Michelle did her best to listen, but she couldn’t deny that her interest in Theo was growing.
She was finding it harder and harder to not be intrigued by him.