Page 39 of Lucky in Love
“Never mind,” she said. “It’s just that I already have plans. Juliet’s picking me up to watch our friend’s show tonight. You go ahead though.”
“Your friend’s show?”
“Maddie Reed. She was on our team and is one of our best friends. She stars in the comedy show,Chance of Rain.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve heard of it, but never seen it. That’s pretty cool. Small-town girl makes it big in Hollywood.”
“You should bring that up with the writers. They love a good trope.”
He gave her a funny look, but left. Daisy settled into the box and quacked at her. “He’s the one who built it,” Alex mumbled. “Thank him.”
Juliet arrived to pick her up, and they drove to Faith’s for their weekly watch party.
This would be their first time at Faith’s. Until now, Jenny had hosted the get-togethers at the inn. But with Jenny’s funeral scheduled for the following day, they obviously weren’t going to ask Max to keep up the tradition.
Earlier that year, Faith and Nick had moved into their recently remodeled dream home. It had a huge living room that easily accommodated their group.
“This is weird, right?” Faith asked. “Not being at the inn with Jenny.”
“Bittersweet for sure,” Juliet said.
“I feel guilty laughing,” Tess said midway through the show.
“Me too,” Alex said. “I’m torn between supporting Maddie and respecting Jenny.”
“Is it bad that I’m dreading tomorrow?” Faith asked. “I love Jenny, but I hate funerals.”
They nodded. Cancer had taken Faith’s mom a little over a year ago. That had been the last funeral they’d attended.
“Ditto,” Juliet said. “It’s especially hard to think about poor Max and Lilly.”
“Y’all want to ride together?” Tess asked.
“I can’t drive yet,” Alex said. “So if someone could pick me up, that’d be great.”
Juliet offered, and by the end of the commercial break, they’d made a plan to meet for breakfast and ride to the service together afterward.
Alex still couldn’t believe Jenny was gone. Because of the circumstances—being tied to the escaped prisoner—it had been all over the national news. For two days, journalists from all over the country had descended on Green Valley Falls. A hungry plague of locusts looking for a scoop. They’d done their stories and scurried away, leaving the town to mourn.
An hour later, she got a text from Brody.
You couldn’t have warned me I was heading into the lion’s den?
Alex bit back a smile, picturing Brody surrounded and heckled by women dying to discover what made him tick. Ithadbeen kind of mean. Especially after he’d built little Miss Daisy a home.
Sorry. They wanted a muse, and you need a purpose. Seemed like a win-win. Get any good writing tips?
As a matter of fact, yes.
Glad it all worked out then. She added a thumbs-up emoji before hitting send.
Juliet drove Alex home, and she fell into bed. As she replayed the day, she couldn’t help but smile, thinking of the cattywampus duck shelter Brody built.
It made her curious. Was his over-the-top altruism because he was a genuinely nice guy? Or did he justreallynot want to face his troubles? Not that it mattered to her. He was the renter in cabin twelve. Nothing more, nothing less.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Brody didn’t feel right about attending Jenny’s funeral. Not with this tight-knit community. As an outsider, he worried it would be seen as more of an intrusion than a show of support.
