Page 32 of Almost True
Unless one’s name was Carolyn Carney. Then all bets were off.
“You two make a good team. Any chance we’ll see you tie the knot sometime soon?” The woman in question wiggled her brows at me and Dahlia.
I inhaled slowly, buying time before I said something insulting. I just wasn’t in the mood for this nonsense. We’d made clear time and time again that Dahlia and I were not onlynotromantically linked but had never been and never planned to be. And yet, Carolyn loved to continue insinuating that our friendship and cooperation meant we were secretly lovers.
“Funny you should ask, but we’re heading to Vegas for a shotgun wedding in about an hour.” Dahlia grinned and hooked her arm through mine.
Carolyn clasped her hands in front of her chest like this was a prize. “Really?”
Dahlia dropped my arm and crossed hers. “No. Carolyn, no. Aidan’s got his eye on someone else, and me? I’ve formed a love affair with several fictional men sure to never disappoint.”
The woman straightened. “There’s no need to be rude about it. It was only a compliment.”
She whipped out of the room, heels clacking down the hallway. We’d set up the meeting in the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau since they had a meeting room they generously let us use, and it was a more convenient space than having everyone come to the tree farm and more spacious than everyone cramming into the back of Dahlia’s shop.
“You’re having a love affair withmultiplemen?” I asked, appreciating her handling it this time. Very often, my protests fell on willingly obtuse ears who simply couldn’t believe I didn’t like—insert woman I worked with or stood near at any given time—or didn’t want to be set up with their daughter/niece/granddaughter/hairdresser/sister. Or themselves, if they happened to be one of the four divorced moms in Luca’s school who just couldn’t take no for an answer.
Dahlia grinned. “Oh, yes. All tall, dark, handsome, and independently wealthy, of course. Somequitea bit older than me. It’s rather scandalous.”
“Sounds it. And now I have to ask, who is it I have my eye on?” I waited for her to grab her last notebook and followed her out of the building.
“Really? You’re going to be shy about this? I know you’re not exactly a chatterbox, but come on.” She frowned enough that it looked like she might actually be disappointed.
“What do you mean?”
Her eyes widened. “Maddie Reynolds?”
My heart kicked. “You know about Maddie?”
She beamed. “Ha!”
I sighed and shook my head, realizing the mistake. “Seriously? I haven’t said anything. Who did?”
Dahlia was well-connected in town, so she often had the scoop before anyone else. Fortunately, she didn’t tend to perpetuate whatever news or rumors came her way.
“I guess you didn’t hear that Maddie came to our girls’ night Saturday before last.”
This hit me… strangely. It didn’t make sense, but I liked knowing this. “Why?”
She swatted me with her notebook. “Because we’re amazing and she’s new! Why else? Sarah invited her. They know each other from the—” She cleared her throat. “From Sarah’s work. And she fit in with us perfectly, I’ll have you know.”
A swirl of dread swept through me at the reference to Sarah’s work, Saint Security, which meant the whole stalker mess. As much as she’d assured me she was fine, I wanted to hear more about it. Maybe now that we were officially friends, I could bring it up again.
“I’m glad. And I think anyone who’s lucky enough to fold in with you all is genuinely blessed.”
She blinked a few times, then exhaled. “You know, you are kind of ridiculous. You’re exactly the hot single dad trope, with more than a little bit of cinnamon roll.”
My turn to blink at her. “I have no idea what that means.”
She waved me away. “Whatever. Point is, I know you like Maddie. I know she liked you, and she told us a bit about how you two met. But now seeing your reaction? Totally obvious. So? Are you taking her to Night in Bloom?”
I pulled out my phone and studied it, willing Luca or John oranyoneto call me. I didn’t want to say that I wasn’t taking her, because just the suggestion made my stomach twist with anticipation. Stupid, completely misguided anticipation, sure, but that didn’t stop my mind from racing toward the idea like it was made for me. Never mind the fact that she’d just asked me to be her friend.
Miraculously, my phone did buzz, so I gleefully held it up. “Sorry. Gotta run.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Oh, that’s mean.”
But she smiled, showing my evasive maneuvers were forgiven, and slipped into her car as I pulled the phone to my ear. “Hey, Rich.”
