Page 21 of Playing for Keeps in Starr's Fall
As soon as they were seated in a deep vinyl booth in The Starr Light Diner, with mugs of coffee and huge laminated menus in front of them, Elaine leveled her with a smilingly pointed look. “So, Maggie, what brought you to Starr’s Fall? We know about the boardgame café,” she continued, cutting to the chase, “and someone—Laurie, I think—mentioned you went on vacation here once?” She wrinkled her nose while Maggie took a sip of coffee, steeling herself for whatever coherent response she could come up with. “But how did you get from that to moving here?” Elaine finished, eyebrows expectantly raised.
“Well…” Was there any reasonable answer? “We needed a change,” she explained helplessly, knowing she needed to say more. And really, didn’t she want to be honest, for once? She couldn’t hide who she was or what she’d lived through forever. “My husband died just over a year ago,” she blurted. “A car accident.”
Elaine’s expression of good-natured nosiness morphed into pure apology. “Oh, I’m so sorry…”
“I told you it was something like that,” Liz stage-whispered. She made a face at Maggie. “Sorry. We are allsonosy.”
“It’s okay,” Maggie said, and surprisingly, itwas. She was amazed they hadn’t heard what happened from either Jenna or Laurie, but maybe her new friends could be discreet, even in a small town like Starr’s Fall. And also amazingly, after a year of dreading talking about Matt’s death and all the ensuing fallout, she found that now, sitting with these smiling women, she might be able to manage it. Mostly, anyway, and that was in large part due to the fact that unlike everyone back in Greenwich, these kind people didn’t know anything except what she told them. “It’s just been hard for my son Ben and me,” she continued carefully. “And our life back in Greenwich… There were too many memories there. So we decided we needed a clean break. A fresh start. And we remembered Starr’s Fall as such a happy place, so…” She trailed off, letting them fill in the many blanks.
“Sometimes a fresh start is the best thing,” Liz remarked sagely. “That’s how I felt after my divorce. I didn’t want to move, but I did start helping out at Midnight Fashion, and now I’m the manager.”
“Betty Steinfinallyretired,” Zoe interjected wryly.
“Have you been in there yet?” Liz asked, and Maggie shook her head. “Well, you should,” Liz told her with a smile. “It was all a little dated before, but I think I’m bringing it up to speed.”
“Oh, you definitely are,” Elaine assured her with a wink. “Why, even I’d buy something there now.”
“Say it isn’t so, Elaine!” Zoe teased. “I thought you were strictly couture.” They all laughed, subsiding into mutual smiles, and Maggie felt as if she had become part of something, as if she’d been accepted, with no more questions asked. It was a good feeling.
“All right,” Elaine said after a moment as she briskly picked up her menu. “Eggs Benedicts all around, and I think mimosas as well.”
It was ten o’clock in the morning, but Maggie knew better than to object.
“I’ll agree to that,” Annie said on a sigh. She’d barely spoken since they’d sat down, and Maggie’s heart ached for her. She knew all too well what Annie was going through. She hoped at some point she’d get a chance to talk to her more privately about it, although she wasn’t sure what wisdom she’d have to offer besides a commiseration that watching an aging parent’s health fail basically sucked.
A waitress sashayed up to them, a pencil tucked behind one ear, her tired peroxide-blonde hair scraped back into a bun. “What can I get you ladies?” she asked, and Elaine ordered for them all.
“Mimosas,” the waitress remarked with a wink. “That kind of day, is it? Alrighty. Good thing it’s after 10a.m. You know I can’t violate the new liquor laws.”
“Rhonda owns the place,” Elaine explained to Maggie. “Since forever. I don’t think anyone can imagine Starr’s Fall without her.”
“And she makes a mean mimosa,” Zoe confided with a grin. “This isn’t the first time we’ve had a liquid lunch, as it were.”
“It’s not liquid,” Elaine admonished her. “Remember the eggs Benedicts.”
Maggie smiled, just glad they’d moved on from her sad story. And, she had to admit, she was looking forward to her mean mimosa.
“Ooh, ooh,” Liz hooted softly, her blue eyes rounding. “Look who just came in. Starr’s Fall’s resident hottie.”
“Liz Cranbury, he’s half your age,” Elaine chided. “Now as for Zoe…”
Zoe shook her head firmly. “Not my type. I like more grungy guys.”
“As if you’ll find one of those in Starr’s Fall,” Elaine scoffed. All four women’s gazes followed the man who had just entered the diner, and somehow, Maggie just knew who they were looking at before she discreetly turned around.
Zach Miller, chatting to Rhonda with that oh-so easy smile before he threw back his head and laughed.
“Have you met our scrumptious Mr. Miller?” Liz asked Maggie, her tone playful.
Maggie felt her cheeks heat, and she reached for her coffee. “Um, actually, yes, I have,” she replied, striving to keep her tone casual. She had nothing to hide, after all. “He came into the boardgame café to ask when it was opening.”
“Did he now?” Elaine remarked thoughtfully.
“Maggie might be a bit old for Zach,” Zoe chimed in, before giving Maggie an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”
“I really don’t think—” Maggie began, before Liz leaned across the table and confided, “You might as well find out now, Zach’s kind of a player.”
Zoe nearly spat out her coffee. “Kind of?”
