“We do. And sometimes it works out.” She cocked her head to the side. “Look at Cinderella. She got the prince after one dance, and one day you’ll hear the name Chris and say, ‘Who’?”
“Let’s hope.” Seeing Trish happily married made Danielle happy, but it also made her miss the times when there was a man to warm her heart and her bed. “What are we doing today?” She cruised slowly down Trish’s street, waiting for the details.
“It’s Swap Meet Saturday in Cedar Bluff.” Trish bounced in her seat like a kid with front-row seats to a Taylor Swift concert.
“Thank God. I feared you’d set up another intervention.”
Trish twisted to look at her. “Gene wasn’t an intervention. He was a?—”
“A disaster. The man wouldn’t even look me in the eye, and you know how I feel about that. It’s a sign of disrespect or dishonesty.”
“Gene is shy, not dishonest.”
“It’s said that eyes serve as a window to the soul, which explains why I can be sure he’s missing one. I never once looked into his.” She steered onto the highway for Cedar Bluff.
“He’s got a soul. He also has an astigmatism, and that makes him self-conscious.”
“Too bad he didn’t have another ism like magnetism. The man was as exciting as a wet sponge. If this is what my dating life will be like, I’ll pass. How could you think I’d be interested in him?”
Trish let out an exasperated breath. “I’ll give you some isms. You’re going to give me an aneurysm with your criticism. Cut me some slack. I’d never met him, but Rob said he was nice and decent looking.”
“If you like trolls.”
“Okay, I promise to screen anyone Rob suggests.”
They pulled into the parking lot of Cedar Bluff High School and exited the car. “You need to promise to stop meddling in my life,” Danielle said.
“You don’t have one unless you call working around the clock a life. You never take time for fun. You know what they say … all work and no play?—”
“Keeps me out of bankruptcy. I’m saddled with debt, and fun doesn’t pay the bills.”
“Fine. What’s happening with the big takeover?”
“Argh, they’re starting with the sweeping changes already—instead of The Pines, it’s called Luxe Resorts.”
“Ooh, sounds posh.”
They paid, entered the flea market, and walked down the first aisle.
“Sounds scary to me. First, the name goes, and next, the staff.”
“You’re good at your job. I don’t imagine you’ll have much to worry about.”
Trish would never understand financial fear. She came from money.
Something caught Trish’s eye, and she took off like a dog after a bone.
Danielle chased her, grateful she was dressed in sneakers and jeans. “What are you looking for?”
“Inspiration.” She held up a lamp with a shade faded by age and bartered with the owner until she got him to accept five dollars. After completing the deal, she asked him to hold it until she finished her rounds.
Danielle picked up a heart-shaped box at the next vendor and opened it to find nothing but lint and dust. Is that what her heart looked like inside?
Trish snatched the box from her and set it down, leading her to the next seller, who had cross-stitch and paint-by-number kits by the hundreds.
“You’re thirty-five, not dead. Look at me.” Trish stomped her foot to get her attention. “I found love in my thirties.”
“I found it too, and all it got me was an empty bank account and heartache.”
