“I’m sorry I hurt you, Leah.”
She knew what I was apologizing for. I was sorry I kept a part of myself locked away. I’m sorry I didn’t trust our friendship enough to tell her the truth.
No wonder I didn’t have any other friends.
“Please, I’m far from perfect. You still love me even when I forget to text you back for weeks. We’re friendship goals. Not perfect. Not neat and pretty. But the kind that’s real. The kind that shows up with a shovel if you need it, kind of friendship.”
“I don’t know what it is about you Green Valley people that keep threatening to kill for one another . . . but I’m kind of here for it.”
“You’re from here too, lest you forget. It’s our way of showing love.”
I quirked my lips to the side. “I love you, too. Can we get out of the pantry now?”
Leah shook her head, giving a high snickering laugh. “Dear, sweet, innocent Pollyanna.” I glowered at my least favorite nickname, putting my first and second name together—a fact Leah fully knew. “No. I didn’t only bring you in here to interrogate you. You haven’t lived in Green Valley since another lifetime ago, so I’m going to give you the tea, the gossip,andthe dirty details.”
Leah was enjoying whatever this was way too much.
“Since all the Winston men went off the market years ago, Jace Vargas has become the town’s new Billy Winston.”
I furrowed my eyebrows. “Who’s Billy Winston?”
Leah waved her hand. “Never mind. My point is, Jace is the unicorn of all the young, single men in town. He’s a gentleman, great with kids of all ages, helps out his parents, and is easy on the eyes.”
I opened my mouth in disgust. “Are you telling me I hired the community bicycle to watch my kids?” I was more upset about this news than I had any right to be. I turned away, absently straightening cans of soup as Leah kept talking.
“Calm down. He doesn’t sleep around. I said he’s a unicorn, not a stud stallion. He’s like . . . the ungettable get. He’s always nice as can be to the kids at school and their parents, but when it comes to single women, particularly the single mommas in town, he’s friendly, but keeps his distance. He had to get permission to come and go through the back doors of school for a time because all the single moms would be out in the front of school, holding casserole dishes or baked goods, trying to get his number.”
Snorting, I looked back at Leah. “You must be joking. Single moms don’t have time for that. Speaking as one, we barely have time to cook for ourselves. We should be cooking food for each other, not for the single men in town.”
Leah laughed and started to straighten the pantry items with me. “I love you and can’t fault you there.”
“How do you know all this?”
“I work in a school. Gossip comes to me like osmosis.”
“I still don’t understand what this has to do with me?”
She lowered her voice unnecessarily. We were in a pantry; our kids would never hear us. They have trouble hearing me when I’m standing directly beside them. “People are going to talk. Jace is nice, but he’s laid back. He’s never shown . . . preference, best I can tell.”
Well, color me offended.
“If people think I’m an ogre just because the town’s unicorn doesn’t want me, then good riddance! I’m not interested in a relationship, either. Ever again! I didn’t get divorced just to hitch my wagon to another dead horse.”
I was panting by the time I was done.
Leah burst out laughing, knocking her elbow into mine. “You are on fire today. I love you and how smart you are, but sometimes you can be really obtuse.”
“Maybe I think you’re obtuse,” I retorted in a Ryla-like manner.
“People are going to assume somethingisgoing on between you two, not think you’re an ogre.That’swhat I’m saying. You’re an insanely attractive, single mother. And he’s going to be living here?—”
"Mooooommmmmaaaa! Where are you?”
Leah popped her head out of the pantry door. “It’s mine,” she called out.
As she was walking away, I whisper shouted after her. “If you think that the entire town is going to think that there’s something happening between us, just because I hired him to watch my kids . . .”
Leah was no longer in the kitchen.
