Maggie hesitated. “I made a promise to my own dead husband, Jo. Going to Artie’s memorial service would be…beyond the pale.”
Jo Ellen exhaled, then nodded. “Okay.”
They were silent as Maggie slid her card through the machine and pushed the cart toward the exit, aching for air in lungs that were…yes, suffocating.
Was Lacey breaking a promise? Smashing it with both hands? Risking the best job, greatest mentor, and coolest friend she’d ever had?
Maybe, but she might also be giving the most amazing gift to Tessa Wylie.
Lacey couldn’t be sure until she met Roman Matteo in person. That was all she hoped to accomplish with this trip. It was a brief opportunity to meet the man Tessa had brought into the world—she couldn’t deny she was beyond curious—and determine his feelings about his adoption and birth mother.
And, possibly, it could be a chance to help two people who really wanted to know about each other but didn’t know exactly how to proceed. If they didn’t want that, she would let the whole subject drop after this rendezvous at a diner in the famously adorable town of Rosemary Beach.
She drove nearly an hour along the highway that hugged the Gulf. Nerves made her stomach twist like a knot, and she couldn’t help but glance at her phone on the passenger seat, half-expecting someone to call and catch her in a lie.
She’d told her mother and Tessa that she was meeting an old friend from college who was vacationing in Rosemary Beach. Ugh.Lacey hated lying, but what else could she do?
Guilt gnawed at her, but it wasn’t enough to make her turn around. Shehadto do this. In her deepest soul, she knew this was the right thing to do. She knew Tessa well enough to believe she would embrace the chance to come face-to-face with her son.
And Roman had jumped at the opportunity to learn more about his birth mother. He’d agreed to drive to the Panhandle all the way from…Jacksonville? She didn’t know where he lived, but that was the team he played for, so it was a reasonable guess. Hewantedto come.
So maybe Lacey was actually facilitating a lifelong dream for them. And not betraying her “second mother.”
Clinging to that hope, she navigated the wide, clean streets of a town so new, it hadn’t existed back in the days when her parents came to Destin as kids. The buildings were blinding white, with sloped roofs, darling shops, and plenty of tourists taking it all in.
She glanced at her GPS to see how close she was to the restaurant and decided to pull into a lot rather than try to push her luck with street parking. After a quick check of the time and a deep breath, she climbed out and eyed the side street that led to a place called Gloria’s Diner.
She had no idea how he’d picked the place, but he’d messaged her to meet him here at one o’clock. The location was far enough from Destin to avoid running into anyone who might recognize her, but close enough to not feel like she was going on a cross-country mission.
Strolling the wide, covered sidewalk, she passed a women’s clothing shop optimistically named Young at Heart. She barely noticed the cute clothes in the front window display, or themannequin being styled in a springy floral dress by a woman about her age.
She pulled the diner door open and took a deep, steadying breath.
“Hello, there, welcome to Gloria’s,” a woman greeted her from the hostess stand. “Table for…”
Lacey swallowed and looked around, her gaze falling on a man sitting at a bench in the entryway. She recognized him instantly, and not just because of the expectant look on a face she’d already over-studied on Instagram.
Holy…wow. Better in person, if that was possible.
Roman Matteo rose slowly to what had to be a few inches over six feet, pinning her with that lion’s gold gaze. “Lacey?”
She managed to nod, not yet trusting her voice.
He turned to the hostess and slayed her with a smile. “Now it’s a table for two, Liz. Thanks.”
Liz beamed at him, a soft flush in her cheeks as she gathered their menus. “Of course. Right this way.”
A moment later, they were sitting across from each other in a booth by the window that looked out at the busy sidewalk and charming architecture.
After they took Liz up on her offer of coffee, they just sat there for a long, slightly uncomfortable moment, neither uttering a word.
“So,” Lacey finally said on a sigh. “Thanks for meeting me. It’s a long way from…”
“From everywhere,” he finished with an easy laugh. “What can I say? I love a good adventure and this sounded like one.”
She couldn’t help smiling. Makes friends easily, loves a good adventure?
SoTessa.
