Page 31 of The Wicked

Brooke and Paulo raised their hands, and I nodded too. Blue clutched her package of coffee to her chest and headed to the break room at the back of the store.

“So things are going well with Davis?” Brooke asked Paulo.

He turned coy, but nodded. “Is Darla back yet? She called me from the airport to say her flight was delayed.”

“Hey, don’t change the subject like that.”

“If it’s hot gossip you’re after, you should be asking about Darla, not me.”

“What? Why?” Brooke checked the door, and I knew why. Darla had called ten minutes ago to say she was on her way to the store. “Quick, spill the beans.”

Paulo lowered his voice conspiratorially. “I think she might have gone on a date.”

“Are you serious? Darla doesn’t date.”

She’d been through a bad breakup before she moved to Baldwin’s Shore, and I’d never seen her with a man in the four and a half years she’d lived here. When she was working as Grandpa’s nurse, she’d never brought anyone to the house, not a friend and certainly not a boyfriend. At first, she’d spent all her spare time in her rooms—she’d had a small suite in the wing my grandpa had called his own—and after she settled in, she used to go for walks on the beach before Grandpa woke up. In the evenings, she’d knit or crochet or play chess, mostly with Grandpa but occasionally with me. She rarely lost. Grandpa once told me that her mind was wasted at The Lookout. After he died, I’d wondered if she’d sell the house he gifted her and skip town because she’d never really put down roots, but instead, she’d started the Craft Cabin.

Despite the years Darla and I had spent living in close proximity, I didn’t feel as if I knew her that well—we were both loners—but if we had one thing in common, it was that the Baldwins, with the possible exception of Parker, disliked both of us intensely.

“A giant asked her out for dinner.” Paulo fanned himself. “And holy helianthus, he was a hottie.”

“How do you know?” Brooke asked. “I mean, how did they meet?”

“Bradley brought some friends over to help assemble furniture, and it was just a whole parade of deliciousness.” He made an exaggerated sad face, lips turned down at the corners. “They were all straight. Anyhow, I might have overheard the hundred-degree hulk asking her if she wanted to go get a burger sometime.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet. And she went?”

“She said that she’d probably call him, but I don’t know if she did because I accidentally ended up in New York earlier than I planned.”

“How can you accidentally end up in New York?”

“Alcohol was involved. And Bradley. And a group of rogue drag queens.”

Brooke giggled. “Well, I hope Darla did call the hottie.”

“So do I, sweet cheeks. So do I.”

“Who’s Bradley?” I asked.

“He’s investing the money to open the new branch of the Craft Cabin in Virginia.”

“He’s basically Paulo with better hair,” Brooke said, and Paulo gasped and clutched at his chest.

“How can you say that? My hair’s amazing. I got the ends frosted in New York.” Paulo gave a twirl. “What do you think?”

Brooke giggled. “Are you sure the two of you weren’t separated at birth?”

“I wish. If we were brothers, I’d never leave his closet alone. That man could clothe an entire drag queen convention.”

“You’re out of milk,” Blue called from the break room. The aroma of coffee drifted through the open doorway, and the fancy New York beans smelled no different from the regular stuff.

Brooke looked to Paulo, and he rolled his eyes.

“I suppose you want me to go to the store?”

“Either that or you can finish putting these paints back in the right places.”

“I’ll go to the store.”

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