“Seriously?”
She nods. “Mike loves looking at real estate listings. It’s an odd little hobby. He enjoys watching HGTV too. I think if he wasn’t a firefighter, he’d definitely be selling or flipping houses.”
We go over the pros and cons until I almost can’t stand it anymore and before we know it, it’s after five and we still haven’t figured out our dinner plans.
“It’s starting to be that time, isn’t it,” Van says, glancing at the clock. “And I can’t believe Roxie’s not back yet. She’s been gone for like…” Another glance. “Almost two hours. That’s a lot, even for her.”
“Should we be worried? Do you think we should go out and look for her?” I ask, even as I’m already on the move to grab my cover-up and head down to the beach.
But I’m saved from doing that when, not five minutes later, we spot our friend walking up to the deck while being dragged by the dogs. She’s laughing and smiling and looking so much happier than we’ve seen her in ages.
“Come on, you guys!” she says as she steps into the house. “Let’s get some water!” Waving to us, she makes quick work of getting all three dogs settled, and when she’s done, she turns to us. “So? What’s the plan for dinner? Grilling? Sandwiches?”
I start to explain that we decided to go out, but Loren quickly interrupts with, “Why were you gone so long? And why do you look so happy? Normally you look tired when you get back. Right now you’re a little…glowy?”
“Glowy?”
“Yeah. It’s hot like fire outside and you’re not sweaty; you’re glowy. What’s going on?”
Now that I look at her, I can kind of see what Loren’s saying, and when I glance over at Vanessa, I can tell she sees it too.
“I was just…the dogs love the beach!” Roxie shouts, and yes, defensively. “What else would it be, huh? I was out walking and talking to people along the way, and it made me happy! Stop grilling me!”
When she storms off, I immediately volunteer to go after her.
“You guys pick a restaurant, and we’ll meet you down here in an hour, okay?”
I don’t wait for a response before trekking up the stairs to Roxie’s room. I officially moved all of my stuff up into Ash’s room before he even left, so I don’t have the excuse of needing to get clean clothes or anything, but when I find the door ajar, I knock lightly and let myself in.
“Hey. Are you okay?”
Her back’s to me at first. But when she turns around and quickly runs over to shut the door, I know my eyes go wide. Roxie leans up against it and whispers, “I met a guy! He has two dogs, and we’ve been out walking together the last few days, but you can’t tell anyone!”
“So, tell me what your plans are for the next few days. Anything big? Are the four of you going to go out for some big celebratory dinner or are you going to stay in and enjoy the house until the absolute last second?”
I laugh because the girls and I had talked about this exact thing way too much. “Staying in until the last possible second,” I say with a laugh. “We’ve been enjoying cooking together—although we went out to eat tonight. As for leaving, there’s no specific checkout time since we’re not at a hotel or rental, but we want to be on the road by noon on Saturday.”
“Saturday? Wait…I thought you were leaving on Sunday.”
“That was the original plan, but I fly home on Monday, and we thought it might be too hectic to pack up the house, drive back to Raleigh, and then have me leave the next day. Plus, we thought it might be fun to go out Saturday night for dinner at one of our favorite places from when we were younger.”
“Where’s that?”
“Promise not to laugh?”
I hear him snicker before he clears his throat and somberly says, “I promise.”
“The Cheesecake Factory.”
He’s quiet for a moment, so I’m sure he’s tempted to laugh. “Seriously? They have them everywhere.”
“I know, but we used to go there all the time—all the way back since high school. We thought it would be fun to go and just eat like we used to. It felt like the perfect way to end the trip.”
“Then I’m glad you guys decided to do it. Good for you.”
“Ash?”
“Hmm?”
