Page 40 of Return To You

My heart bangs, yet my blood runs cold. “What are you talking about?” Ethan was not at my wedding. He couldn’t have been. “Why would he care if I got married? Besides, Ethan was not at my wedding.”

Kiara raises her hand. “Not that it matters, but he was. I was there. Me and Colton and Craig carried him out. Well, Craig and Colton carried him, and I drove the car back to the farm.”

Ethan was at my wedding? And he didn’t say anything to me? I’m about to say something like, he certainly didn’t get drunk because I was getting married, when Ms. Angela leans her chair back toward us. Glancing at the card-playing team to make sure Mom and Lynn don’t hear, she whispers, “Oh yes! I remember that. Young love! We were hoping he’d save the day and convince our Grace to stay in Emerald Creek and marry one of our own, but no such luck. She got whisked away to Texas!” She takes a loud gulp of her Moscow mule. “Luckily, that didn’t last long. You came back,” she adds, then straightens her chair to resume her mystery game.

My heart constricts at the circumstances that brought me back home.

I don’t talk about it, and I don’t want to think about it. As if feeling I need emotional support, Damian jumps on my lap and starts kneading my thighs. I hand my glass to Haley. “That wine is wicked good, Haley. Hit me up with another?”

She stands to pour me another drink, then hands it to me with a small smile. “Here you go, sister.”

And her calling me that—sister—just about kills me. Kills me right there. My bottom lip shakes and tears overflow. Damian jumps off my lap while Kiara takes the glass from me before it shakes so hard I stain Cassandra’s gorgeous off-white carpet.

“Oh-kay,” Cassandra says. “Time for some retail therapy. Grace, honey, you’re up!”

Kiara pulls me out of the bean bag. I take a deep breath and look bravely at Haley. “I’m good, I’m good,” I assure my friends. “It’s your wine,” I add for Haley’s benefit. “You should call it the Tearjerker. I don’t know what happened to me.”

“You’re just tired, dear,” Ms. Angela offers, her sideways glance to her friends telling a different story.

Damian rubs against my legs, but he doesn’t follow me into Cass’s boutique. That’s the domain of her white angora, and he knows it instinctively.

“Get in the changing room and take your clothes off,” Cass tells me. Every now and then she’ll pull someone out of Game Nights without an explanation, and she’ll give them a piece of lingerie of her choosing. Alex, who moved here last winter, told me she had gifted her a beautiful bodice. Now, Alex is having this torrid love story with Chris, so that makes sense. But me? “Cass, you know, I don’t really need anything. I mean, I’m super thankful that you want to—”

“Tut-tut-tut.” Cass hands me a two-piece swimsuit through the curtain. “Try this on.”

I indulge her. The bikini top cups my breasts in the most alluring way, but it has enough coverage that it doesn’t look like I’m trying out for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. The bottom is cut high on the thighs, the back barely covering my ass, but I guess—covering it. The swimsuit is in hues of crimson with a sprinkling of gold. There’s a gold charm at the back of the bottom that’s repeated in the center of the bra.

“Does it fit?”

Not gonna lie, I look great. The best I’ve felt in a long time. “I think?”

She swipes the curtain open. “Holy mother of god. Turn around. Wowzer.” She swipes the curtain closed. “That was easy. It’s all yours.”

“Cass, I… I want to pay for it. I can afford it.” I slip back into my faded jeans and silk blouse and enter the shop, where Cass is wrapping the swimsuit in silk paper. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do but—”

“Mmm, darling. You have no idea what I’m doing. All I’m asking you, is to choose wisely who you wear this for. ’Cause it’ll do a number on them.”

I smile inwardly. Cass has a bit of a reputation as a witch, and she’s demonstrating that she feeds that legend. I point to her she-shed where I left my bag. “Lemme get my wallet.”

“You don’t get it, do you? It’s a gift.” She turns to a shelf behind her and pulls out a folded piece of fabric that matches the bikini. “I’m adding the matching wrap.” She wraps it in a gold silk paper.

I open my mouth to protest.

She stares me down and grabs flip flops that jingle with the same charm and places them on top of the two wrapped items. “We can go all night. I have a whole shop.”

My eyes widen. “Thank you.”

She places her gifts in a purple bag with a golden owl as a logo. “The best way you can thank me is to be happy. Truly, deeply happy.” She hands me the bag.

Baubles won’t make me truly happy. Cass is a lovely woman, but she’s wrong here. I’ll indulge her for now, and then I’ll talk her into allowing me to return the gift. Maybe donate it as an auction item for the Silver House.

Or for the spa.

I set her gift next to the door and return to my spot on the bean bag. The older generation is gone, and it’s just a few of us left here now. Haley takes my hand. “You gonna be okay?”

I squeeze her hand back. “Yeah. I always am. Not like I have a choice.”

She leans against me. “That bad?”

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