Poor Zona. She was so pretty, with her father’s green eyes and that perfect figure and a bottom that still had plenty of curve (unlike Louise, whose caboose was starting to slide off the track). She was kind and hardworking and she deserved much better real estate in Love Land than she’d been allotted. She needed a good man, one like Harold had been.
Louise was keeping her eyes peeled for one, and she thoughtshe may have found one in her new neighbor to the left. Thank God, Louise’s earlier premonition about the new owner of the house next door had proved wrong. Alec James was tall and sandy-haired with deep-set hazel eyes. He was muscly, with a strong jaw and a neck like a bull. She’d seen theBetter Builderslogo on the side of his truck. Obviously a nice, solid man with a nice, solid job. Hopefully a nice, solid bank account. Zona didn’t need any more insecurity in the finance department.
Louise had stopped to say hello when she was walking Darling only a couple of days earlier. He hadn’t been very talkative, but then it was hard to carry on a conversation when you were holding one end of a leather sofa. And the man helping him had sported a jovial smile. That had been a good sign, because everyone knew that happy people hung out with other happy people.
They’d only gotten as far as a quick name exchange and a “Welcome to the neighborhood,” as he and his friend walked the couch from the moving van up the walkway to his front door, and that had been it. But she’d had a good feeling about him. He was going to bring good vibes to the house and their street.
Sadly, the man had moved in on a Friday, and Zona had missed meeting him. But Louise was sure it wouldn’t be long before they had their own meet-cute.
Maybe it was serendipity that Zona would be living with Louise while she got her feet back under her. The man next door could prove to be the perfect man for her. The third try, as the saying went, was the charm. It was about time Zona started living a charmed life.
Yes, Louise had a good feeling about this. And she had a good feeling about her cruise, too.
Unless... was that earthquake some sort of harbinger of things to come?
No, of course not.
Chapter2
FEN CLARKE SHOWED UP AT THEStarbucks where Zona’s daughter Bree was working just as she was about to end her shift. Fen had a habit of doing that.
“Guess who’s here again,” said her work buddy and roomie Gaylyn.
“I saw,” she said. She’d also seen Gaylyn flirting with him.
Who could blame her? Fen was a legitimate hottie, ultra cute with shoulder-length hair as blond as Bree’s and a tanned six-pack. He was easygoing and solid, and he had a nice family. Unlike Bree, he was already halfway through college.
Sometimes she wondered why she’d broken up with him. Then she’d remember. He’d been getting too serious, and they’d been too young.
Yet, here he was, back in her life again. And he looked good. But they were still so young. This wouldn’t end in something permanent, and they would both wind up hurt. It was stupid to hang out with him. And yet she was doing exactly that.
“Hey, if you don’t want him, I’ll take him. That man’s got aura,” said Gaylyn.
Gaylyn was a man pig. She wanted every man she met. And with her glossy dark hair and perky boobs, she usually got every man she met. And then got tired and dumped the poor fool. Even though Bree was never going to let things get serious with Fen, she sure wasn’t going to let him get gobbled up and spat out by Gaylyn.
“He’s not your type,” she said.
“Cute is my type,” Gaylyn insisted. “Anyway, I’m bored with being alone.”
“You’ve been alone for what, two weeks?”
Gaylyn shrugged.
“That’s the trouble with people,” Bree informed her. “They rush into relationships and then when everything blows up, they’re miserable.”
Who did that remind her of? Her mother had changed her last name three times already—once with each marriage and now she was back to her original one. Bree Knox wasn’t going to do any name swapping ever. Yeah, Knox was her dad’s last name, a lifetime reminder that most people never really lived up to their promises. But it was a cool one, so she was keeping it. And she was keeping her dad. Sort of. She hung out with him once in a while, even though he had a whole new family that he claimed was keeping him too broke to help her much with tuition. At least he’d paid child support when Bree was growing up. That was something.
She was sure glad Gary had never gotten around to adopting her. The last thing she wanted was any reminder of that loser.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you or your mother,” he’d said tearfully after she’d confronted him about depleting the savings that had been set aside for her college tuition.
“Gee, I’d hate to think what you could do if you ever meant to,” she’d shot back. Of course, he’d looked at her like she’d stabbed him in the heart with a steak knife. That had really made her mad. “And to think my mom thought you were so great.Ithought you were so great. But really, you’re as ungreat as a human being could be.”
That had been the last conversation they ever had.
“You’re scarred. You need therapy,” Gaylyn informed her.
“Why do I need therapy? That’s just talking to someone. I have you for that.”
