Page 75 of I Love a Good Challenge

Before I can turn around, I hear Gladys yell, “Let’s go, Hallmark Hot G!”

“How do you know about that?” I call out to her incredulously. Already, I’m moving, trying to escape.

Suddenly, her hands are pressing on my back. She must have superhuman strength because she pushes me toward another high-top table with such force that my shoes slide across the floor. Sparrow laughs, and I will Gladys’ hands to stay on my back and not wander farther down.

Jumping in front of me, she hands me a plastic container filled with what looks like two cakes stuck together with cream filling, like the cake version of a chocolate sandwich cookie.

“It’s a whoopie pie! A New England classic!”

My eyebrows shoot up, and I want to disappear into the floor immediately. I know she’s harmless, but this is not how I imagined the evening going. I know Lily must be enjoying this spectacle too much, but when I look around to find her, Rafe is now talking to Liam by the piano, and Lily is nowhere to be seen.

Gladys leans closer and speaks in a conspiratory tone. “Listen, I need to tell you something about your girl.”

“I’m not certain she would appreciate you calling her that.” The hint of bitterness in my voice is highly detectable.

“Oh, she’s as stubborn as they come, that one. Wild child. Free spirit. She’s been wrestling with the world since she could talk. She wants to go on adventures but can’t seem to figure out how to get out of her own way.”

I nod, absorbing every single one of these words that give new insight into the relationship that has been wrecking my sleep for years.

“Her heart is softer than most,” she adds like it’s a secret.

“I don’t disagree with you.”

Gladys’ hand gently touches my arm. The gesture is uncharacteristic for her. But when I stop to notice the way she’s always supporting other women in this town, it isn’t such a surprise.

“She regrets it,” she informs me.

I search her face for any hint of amusement or jest. She’s serious. Her eyes are weighted with worry as her hand lightly taps mine.

“If I had to guess, she’s sick with it. And regret can make a person hard. It can also make them angry. But really, who is it they are angry at?”

“I thought it was me.”

Gladys nods lightly. “Ahh, that would make sense. But when you make a mistake—”

“She thinks she made a mistake?” The words are out before I can stop them, hope rising in my chest with a fierceness I’ve never allowed myself to feel before. Hope comes in levels, and sometimes it’s enough to push you over the edge into action.

“Dear, you’re a smart man. You’ve done well for yourself and probably worked yourself to the bone on more than one occasion.”

Her keen insight makes me feel strangely emotional toward someone who once asked me to help her raise money to repair the gazebo by posing in suspenders . . . without a shirt.

I shake my head to wrestle it out of the image of that declined request. Unfortunately, I didn’t get out of making an appearance at one of her upcoming group art classes in the park. Rafe laughed for two minutes straight when he heard what I agreed to do.

Gladys continues, “I know about the business. Nashville. The apartment for your mom.”

“How did you . . .?” And then I give up because I honestly don’t think I want to know.

“As I was saying, sometimes, when we make a mistake, the person we can’t seem to forgive is ourselves. And it can be a hard thing when you can’t escape yourself.”

“I think I may have made a mistake.” I sigh, knowing full well that I did make a mistake, and this isn’t news. “Gladys, I . . . when I first moved to town and saw her after all that time, I told her I couldn’t do it again, the back and forth, the push and pull between us. I didn’t think my heart could do it.” I’m reeling at the unexpected honesty between us, and I’m trying to hold it together. “I didn’t tell her my plans.”

“Hmm. Good thing I have a key to the newspaper office.”

“What?” Her cryptic message makes me wonder if I’m now an accessory to a crime or a world event. It’s a toss-up question—one that she doesn’t answer.

“Let me know if you need it. Regardless, the townspeople seem to be coming around to your presence.”

The way she says it, I know there’s more to the story. “I never did find out who submitted my name to the vote at the town meeting.”

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