Page 12 of Lakesides and Longing

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Abby, she’s the tall one, is an artist as well. I think she liked being the only one in town. But I could be wrong. I honestly have no idea what I did to them, but they spread vicious rumors about me. Avery always follows along with what Abby does.”

He grimaced. “I probably didn’t help that. Sorry.”

She chuckled. “No. It’s a good thing they saw you. Perhaps the gossip will be in my favor now.”

He chuckled and followed her to the next aisle. Several flavors of ice cream were spread out before him. He opened a door and reached for the Moose tracks the same time she did. Apparently they had the same tastes in ice cream.

“Maybe we should get two,” he said.

“I agree.” She reached for another one and then proceeded to get two more flavors—cookie dough and strawberry cheesecake. He appreciated both of them.

The summer might not be as lonely as he thought it would be. By the end of this they might even be good friends.

“What’s up with all the junk food? No adult woman eats like this.”

She chuckled. “Emery was a health nut and he was too tempted by this stuff, so I wasn’t allowed to have it in the house. After he died, I guess I overcompensated. I’m a little addicted to sugar.”

He picked up the things he needed for dinners. Chicken, beef, and spices for stir fry sauces. Paige found mostly junk food. By the time they headed to the checkout line, she had three different kinds of cookies in the cart.

“Oh shoot. I forgot milk. You wanna get in line, and I’ll grab a gallon?” She waved him on to the checkouts.

“Sure.”

His phone buzzed just as he was getting in line. He pulled it out of his pocket.

Lukas.

How are things?

Good. Getting real food at the store.

’Bout time. No idea how she was surviving.

You and me both.

“There is no way that man is her boyfriend.” The nasally voice floated out from in front of him, and he jerked his head up. The two women from earlier stood in line not three feet from him. Both were facing forward though and didn’t see him.

“I bet he’s her brother or something. I’d heard he looked like a rock star.” Abby sighed.

“I don’t know. Did you see the way he was touching her?”

“Ugh. Maybe. They said they just got back from Japan. I bet he paid for the whole thing just like Emery used to pay for everything.”

“Yeah, I’m surprised it took this long to find another sucker to support her crappy art.”

“Right. I don’t know how she landed Emery let alone a man like that. Did you see the muscles on him?” She made a low whistle sound. Blake rolled his eyes. Yes, he worked out, but it wasn’t to get attention from women.

“Oh, I bet you’re right. Maybe he’ll stay in town for a bit. We can get to know him.”

Abby waved a hand in her face. “That would be nice, but can you imagine having Paige as a sister-in-law? He has to be her brother. There’s no other explanation.”

He gripped the handle of his cart. These were the type of women who never grew out of that high school drama, who thrived on making others feel like crap.

He should defend Paige, but he knew nothing about her past marriage or much about her at all except that she was an amazing artist. The cart moved and he flicked his eyes down. Paige was dumping in a gallon of milk, a block of cheese, and several cartons of yogurt.

She gave him an apologetic smile. “It’s been a while since I had real dairy.”

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