Page 78 of A Summer Mismatch
He placed the phone to his chest. “Is that a good idea? You’re supposed to rest.”
“I’ll stay close,” she reassured him.
“Winnie—”
“Horace,” she interrupted. “I need some fresh air.”
They stared at one another, and then he nodded. “Don’t overdo it. Please,” he added, unable to hide the anxiousness from his tone. She felt bad for worrying him, but the ER doctor had said walking would be good for her, as long as she took it easy.
Winnie and Nancy left the house and turned toward the beach to walk along the water. Winnie inhaled the salty sea air, let it fill her lungs until she felt like she could float, and then let it out.
“You scared us last night,” Nancy said.
“I scared myself,” Winnie admitted. “I’ve been feeling off, but I didn’t know it was so bad.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
Winnie shrugged. Why hadn’t she told anyone? “Because everything’s a mess, Nancy, and I just didn’t want to make things even more messy.” Could she tell Nancy? Be vulnerable enough to admit it? “I feel like my whole life is coming apart at the seams.”
Nancy pulled her to a stop, and then to Winnie’s surprise, folded her into a tight hug. The kind of hug people don’t always get, where someone holds on to you so firmly, you don’t have to hold on to yourself anymore.
“And the worst part is,” Winnie continued with a shaky voice, “Logan and Julia are no closer to being together than they were when we started matchmaking them. I’m so stressed, I accidentally gave her a dress I’d made for Sweetie—and she wore it, because she’s so afraid of upsetting anyone.” Her voice was wobbly, but rather than being embarrassed or apologizing, she felt freer having admitted it. She’d failed. She pulled back from Nancy and swiped at her cheeks. Nancy tugged a packet of tissues from her purse and handed them to Winnie.
“What are we going to do?” Winnie asked after dabbing at her nose with a tissue. She hadn’t put on any makeup, or even brushed her hair. She was sure she looked a mess, especially beside her put-together friend. But Nancy didn’t seem to notice or care. Instead, she got that familiar problem-solving expression on her face, and Winnie started to feel hope.
“We’re going to fix this,” Nancy said. “You are not in this alone.” She lifted a challenging brow. “So you made a mistake with the dress. Julia rocked that outfit, and the purple really was divine on her.”
A small laugh bubbled up from Winnie. “You should have seen the dress I actually made for her out of the same material. It’s gorgeous.”
“Last night was… memorable.” Nancy’s diplomatic word choice tugged another smile from Winnie’s lips. “And memorable isn’t always bad. Sometimes we remember the things that didn’t go exactly right more fondly than we remember those supposedly perfect moments.”
Winnie had never thought about that before, but it was true. Like the time she and Horace had run out of gas in the middle of nowhere on the way to see their first grandbaby, Eric, but then spent an unexpected afternoon walking together to the closest gas station almost five miles away, talking about how proud they were of their children. She’d always cherish that uninterrupted time together.
And Cameron, with all of his challenging health problems, had been an unexpected miracle in their family as well, and she would move heaven and earth if it meant more time with him.
Even her own collapse had seemed to bring Horace back to the sweet man she’d always loved, instead of someone obsessed with besting Smitty Byrd at any cost.
With the bitter came the sweet. And that combination sometimes made everything more meaningful.
Nancy linked arms with Winnie. “We’d better turn around,” Nancy said. “I’m not supposed to lift more than ten pounds, so we can’t have you collapsing on my watch.”
Winnie laughed at the unexpected joke and patted Nancy’s arm. “Thank you, dear friend. I needed this walk desperately.”
“Winnie,” Nancy said seriously, “please don’t worry about Logan or Julia right now. We want you to take care of you and be around for the long-haul.”
Winnie’s bungalow came into sight, and Winnie squinted at an unexpected pop of color. Bright, neon pink. She squinted. It couldn’t be.
Over a dozen plastic flamingos had been placed on the sand around her bungalow. Someone had done this for her when she’d been sick a few months ago, and though she’d suspected the Secret Seven, she hadn’t been certain.
Additionally, Ringo, Paul, John, and George, The Palms real-life flamingos, had also migrated over to check out their new plastic friends—and the bag of shrimp Rosa had brought with her.
When the group of people mingling around her bungalow caught sight of Winnie, they all smiled proudly. Walt, Polly, Harry, Don, Rosa. And Nancy. Her friends.
As a group, they ushered her inside, each with bags of food and games and half-crocheted creations and cards and conversation. Polly and Rosa went into the kitchen to put away groceries and whip up some freezer meals. Harry dumped a thousand-piece, colorful, book-themed puzzle on her coffee table in front of her and started to sort through the pieces. Nancy, Walt, and Don engaged Horace in a card game at the kitchen table, the worry easing from his expression as he dealt the cards and chuckled at something Walt said.
And Winnie sat on the couch, wrapping herself up in her quilt—and in the warmth of what real friendship looked like.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
