Mom, can I just stay with Sheila and go to the track meet this afternoon? Then, after that, we’re all going out for pizza. I’ll catch a ride home. Okay?
Lila smiled. She was happy her daughter had a busy social life, even if that meant seeing less of her. That was how it was supposed to be at her age.
“Sure, that’s fine,” she tapped out. She told her daughter of her plans to go to the rodeo in Jackson, and then she headed for the grocery store.
Camille would be graduating from high school next spring. The thought brought a wave of melancholy. Her graduation ceremony would be one of many life events Aaron would miss.
Inside Western Drug and Grocery, she grabbed a grocery cart, then tossed her purse in the place where she used to seat Camille when she was a toddler. She reached for the printed advertisements stacked in a rack to the right of the automatic door and scanned the front page as she pushed the cart toward the produce section where she grabbed a rare fresh pineapple.
She hoped Reva and Kellen were enjoying their honeymoon in Maui. A tiny pang of jealousy hit as she remembered a time she’d shown Aaron some travel magazine pictures of the Road to Hana. “Oh, let’s go someday!”
A voice in her head rang out as clearly as if Aaron were right next to her.
“What’s up with your fascination with Maui?”
She closed her eyes and remembered gazing up from the pages of the magazine. “Are you crazy? It’s only the most romantic place on earth,” she’d so flippantly told her young husband.
Aaron playfully tugged at the sheet tucked around her bare waist. “Is that so?”
She quickly snatched the covering from his hands and secured it more tightly. “Yes, that’s so. In fact, more people honeymoon in Hawaii than any other state in America.” She held up the article as proof. “I can see why. Palm trees…beaches that stretch forever…sunsets to die for.”
Aaron ran broad fingers through his sleep-tousled hair. “Yeah, you see—that’s what I don’t get. Why would we ever want to go to Hawaii when we live in the Tetons? This is heaven if you ask me.”
She slammed the magazine against her new husband’s chest. “I agree. That doesn’t mean we can’t go to Maui someday.”
He laughed. “Okay, okay—look, I get it.” His eyes sparkled when he’d said that. “Tell you what. When I get back from Afghanistan, we’ll take a trip. I’ll rub sunscreen all over that pretty back of yours, and we’ll lay out on the beach for hours and soak up the scenery. How does that sound?”
Before she could respond, he pulled the magazine from her and tossed it to the floor, while at the same time lifting the sheet with his other hand.
She’d giggled as he buried his head against her skin. “Promise me,” she said in a muffled voice. “Now. Promise. Or I’ll?—”
“Or you’ll what?” His fingers dug into her sides, and he tickled, sending her entire torso into a fit of squirming. “Okay, I promise,” he said.
“Careful, Aaron Bellamy. Because I intend to hold you to that,” she shouted, laughing uncontrollably.
He immediately stopped tickling. Her new husband looked at her then, his eyes boring into her soul. “And I promise I’ll always love you.”
“Hey, watch out!”
Lila looked up in horror, realizing in her reminiscing that she had neglected to watch where she was going and had nearly rammed her cart right into the balding store clerk.
“I’m so very sorry! Goodness, I almost ran into you.”
Mr. Fouraker frowned in concern. “Lila, is everything all right? You seem a bit...”
“I’m fine,” she hastily replied, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “Just daydreaming.”
She picked up a head of crisp lettuce and dropped it into her basket, then added a bag of baby carrots with a gentle toss. The sound of the carrots rustling against the plastic broke the quiet tension. She glanced up at Mr. Fouraker, who still looked concerned, and gave him a quick wave and a tight-lipped smile. “Thanks, I’m good,” she assured him, steering her cart toward the cereal aisle to avoid further questions.
The grocery store was abuzz with shoppers, the sound of rolling carts and distant conversations filling the air. Lila kept her head down, determined to focus on her list. She passed by the colorful cereal boxes, scanning the shelves for oat flakes. When she finally spotted her favorite brand, she reached for a box. As she placed the cereal in her basket, she heard a familiar voice.
She turned the corner into the next aisle, surprised to see Nicola Cavendish huddled and in deep conversation with a cluster of women. “Yes, that’s what I said.” Nicola’s voice carried across the store, brimming with excitement. “A bestselling romance author. Staying right here in Thunder Mountain.”
8
Lila hurried home with her groceries and had just put the last can in her pantry when the sound of a car engine drew her to the window. The girls had parked in her driveway and were heading up her sidewalk.
One of them knocked. Before she could answer, the front door opened, and her friends pushed their way inside.
