Did Livy know which twin was which? It didn’t help that tonight they were dressed in matching outfits. Navy dresses with jackets over them, and each woman had a long strand of pearls draped around her neck.
“You two look festive,”Heather added. Might as well be polite. Seeing Jesse shouldn’t ruin her manners.
“Jackie found these dresses for us.”
Okay, the one on the left had spoken, so she must be Jillian. Perfect. As long as they didn’t move much.
“Your mother was in charge of this event, wasn’t she? Poor thing. It probably took her mind off of…well, you know…her—”Jillian looked around, then back at them.“Herproblems,”she whispered.
“Mom’s doing fine.”Heather smiled broadly at the ladies. No use fueling town gossip. It looked like her parents’divorce was going to get ugly, but the town didn’t need to know that.
“It’s just disgraceful what your father did. Leaving her like that.”Jackie shook her head.
“Oh, look. There’s Mom. We should go see her.”Livy placed her hand on her arm and Heather clutched it gratefully.
“Oh, yes. We should,”she said as if they hadn’t all walked into the gala together less than thirty minutes ago.
They hurried off toward Donna with brief parting smiles at the two women.
“Thanks,”she whispered to Livy as they walked away.“They were beginning to get to me.”
“They just like to gossip. Don’t pay them any mind.”
“I try not to.”
“Anyway, we must be losing our touch. We’re usually better at avoiding them.”Livy grinned.
Livy was right. They did usually manage to avoid the twins. She’d just been so engrossed in ignoring Jesse that she hadn’t even seen the women coming.
They walked up to Donna and Barry, who were just coming off the dance floor. Aunt Donna’s face was flushed, and her eyes sparkled. Yes, something definitelywasgoing on between those two.
“Hello, girls. Are you having a good time?”Barry had a hand at Aunt Donna’s elbow.
“We are.”Livy nodded.
“Yes, we are,”she agreed. Or at least she would be having a good time if they didn’t keep running into people she didn’t want to see.
Delbert approached Donna and Barry,who were chatting with Olivia and Heather. That seemed a safe group to join. He’d carefully avoided Camille as he’d circulated the room, greeting his guests.
It annoyed him that Camille had even shown up. He was certain he’d made it plain that they were taking a break. More than a break. And she’d flounced out of the hotel weeks ago saying it was over, though he knew she thought he’d apologize, even though he’d meantevery wordhe’d said. She would expect him to chase after her, but that wasn’t going to happen this time. It was a relief to no longer be a couple with her. He hadn’t realized how much work it had taken to have a relationship with Camille, and most of the work had been on his part, not hers.
But it shouldn’t have been surprising to him that she didn’t want to miss an event such as the grand opening gala. She did like her events.
He glanced over and saw her talking to the CEO of the main bank in town. She always wanted to be seen with who she considered therightpeople. He was certain she’d soon hook up with someone she felt was powerful andimportantenough for her.
He sighed. She would never change, and he was glad to be free from her. Though there was the little problem of her showing up here tonight…
He pushed thoughts of Camille away for now as he stepped up to the group.“So, are you all having a good time?”
“Fabulous time.”Donna smiled at him as she, too, glanced over as Camille’s look-at-me laugh filtered across the distance.
Emily came rushing up to the group, stopping short of what he thought was going to be a twirl in front of them.“Oh, Delbert—hi.”
“Emily, you look lovely tonight. I’ve heard quite a few compliments about you. You’ve been impressing people with your knowledge of the history of the hotel.”
The girl blushed.“Thank you. I’m having the best time. People are asking me so many questions about the hotel. There’s one lady who asked a bunch. She seemed really interested. And she had on the neatest dress. It was silver, covered in rows of fringe, and she had on this headpiece with afeatheron it. So cool.”
“I do love how people really got into dressing up in costume.”Olivia smiled at her daughter, obviously pleased with the girl’s enthusiasm.
