Page 16 of Cozy Girl Fall
“Imagine that,” Angie mused as she settled behind the wheel. “Bumping into Terri Blake.”
Penny rolled her eyes and then jolted when her mom swatted at her. “Sure, you guys live in the sametiny town and go to the same stores but the chance of bumping into each other is astronomically small.”
The sarcasm in her voice didn’t go unnoticed.
“Well,actually, oh-wise-daughter-of-mine, Terri and Keith only moved back to Magnolia Springs this year.”
Now thatwassurprising. “I didn’t know they’d left.”
Angie lifted her brows in triumph as they joined the main road and turned left toward the bridge that would take them over the river and further out of town. “Yes, well, you miss a lot when you run off for ten years without visiting your mother.”
Ouch. “I’m sorry.” She genuinely meant it too, and maybe Angie could tell because she softened and reached over to pat Penny’s hand as the branches of the magnolia trees behind her swayed gently in the breeze beyond the window. “Why did they move back?”
A shrug. “I only know what I’ve heard, that Terri didn’t like the new town and they couldn’t settle.”
“Hang on.” Penny turned in her seat to eye her mom. “When you say they moved away, you mean they moved from the old town to the new town?” Penny snorted and then grabbed the oh-shit handle on the car roof when her mom took the bridge entrance at a speed that nearly had Penny flying out of her seat.
“Well the new town isn’t the same,” Angie defended. “It’s all condos and high-rises. It’s a completely different vibe.”
Penny wasn’t sure what was more disturbing, hermom using the termvibeor the fact that she didn’t seem inclined to slow down for their exit off of the bridge either. “Mom—” Her ass left the seat and her head grazed the roof. “Next time,I’mdriving.”
“Pssht,” Angie said. “I’ve been driving these roads all my life and you know what?”
I’ve never crashed, Penny mouthed and nodded when her mom said exactly that.
“I’ve never crashed! So you just mind your manners now.”
Dutifully, Penny shut her mouth and tightened her grip on the roof handle—but also silently vowed that it was the last time she’d let her mom have sugar before getting in the car and driving.
It wasn’t until Sunday night that Penny considered her mom might have had a point about Penny being out of touch with the goings-on in Magnolia Springs. She’d deliberately gone out of her way to avoid learning anything about her hometown while she’d been off in the city chasing her dreams, as if the shadow of the place might be able to reach her miles away. Or maybe she was just worried that she’d get sucked back in.
Small-town life, small-town gossip … It was a rabbit hole and Penny was diving in head-first in the way any girl of a certain generation would: social-media stalking in bed.
There had been a shockingly cold wind that day, making the trees outside clack against her windowloudly, and Penny had decided the best way to combat the chill was to stay in bed all day—barring breaks for snacks and hot chocolate. She’d also put on her thickest pair of fluffy socks and added a fuzzy blanket on top of her coverlet to ensure maximum toastiness.
Then, once cozy, she’d begun her deep dive.
In all honesty, Penny hadn’t had much use for socials before. She had accounts, but they were barely used, and while she wished it was because she was too busy living her life to photograph it, the reality was that she didn’t do anything noteworthy. Most of her time was spent either thinking about work, preparing for work or actually working. Maybe because if she’d stopped for two seconds, she might have lost her nerve and come running home to the cloistered safety of Magnolia Springs.
At first she’d felt silly logging on, because who would she care to stalk online? As it turned out,everyone.
Within an hour she knew that Coda Simpley had holidayed in Barbados last summer, that Mrs. Ashley had welcomed her first great-grandchild last fall, and that Ethan Blake looked distractingly,unfairly, hot with his shirt off.
She hadn’t intended to fall so far down the path of stalking her ex online. In her defense, she’d initially been looking at Shelby’s page filled with pouting selfies, French-tipped cocktail boomerangs, and tanned bikini pics, until she’d stumbled across a photo that had a lump rising to her throat.
The ring was sparkly, the stone large and appearingeven brighter against the light-orange tan of Shelby’s hand. Ethan wasn’t even in the picture, but she’d tagged him in the caption. Always a glutton for punishment, Penny had followed the tag to Ethan’s page and was surprised to find quite a lot on it.
Pictures of him at a desk, head bent low and shadows falling across his face in an arty style that was clearly part of a work portfolio. Then there were photos of him with family, friends, and Shelby, baking bread with Shelby’s niece, picnicking at the springs on the far side of town, at a concert for a band she didn’t recognize …
Penny scrolled further back, unable to take her eyes away from the bright colors on the screen as Ethan’s life unfolded before her: everything she’d missed. Would it all still be there if she hadn’t left? For some reason the pictures made her heart speed up and tears prick at her eyes. She’d been so caught up all those years ago in what she’d be missing in San Fran if she stayed in Magnolia Springs, but she had never stopped to wonder what she might miss out on if she left. Now the proof was there, right in front of her. Would that have been her face squeezed in next to Ethan’s at the top of a Ferris wheel instead of Shelby’s? Her chest tightened to the point of pain before she pushed out a strong breath.
Then there were the photos she spent an embarrassing amount of time studying: beach volleyball.
Ethan had always been athletic, but this was something else.
The majority of the photos were action shots, somein black and white like they were shooting forGQand not just Instagram, but there were a couple of photos of Ethan standing still, hand raised up to shield his eyes from the sun. Sand covered his chest, clinging to the droplets of water from the ocean spray, and his smile was wide, like he’d just finished laughing.
Hindsight was a bitch, and she would just have to learn to live with her regrets.
