“Take a look at the new foot traffic. Notice anything?”
Libby clocked a group milling around the hardware store and others by the grocery store. The original group was now coming out of the restaurant.
“Wait, they all have superheroes on their t-shirts.”
“Yep. Wait, I’m getting a call from Jared. Hang on.”
“’K.”
“Uh, Jared told me Goldie was at the hardware store. She was with Joe; they bought stuff and mentioned the old hotel. They may have found her.”
“Okay, well, stand by. I’m going to figure out how to throw them off the scent. We can’t have them bothering her. I don’t want a repeat of that Comic Con thing or the whack jobs at her house. If they figure out that she’s there at the hotel, it will be miserable for her. I’ll text you in a minute.”
“’K, I’m over here on red alert.”
“Tell Hope, too.”
They hung up. Libby got on social media. She looked for the hashtag GetGoldieGone, and sure enough, there were pictures of downtown Irish Hills. Local fanboys were doing TikTok live in the restaurant. They were driving around downtown and on the prowl for Goldie.
Libby closed her laptop. She packed up her stuff and ran down to her Jeep. She speed dialed J.J. and then Keith.
If they were going to help Goldie right now, it would need to be all hands on deck.
Goldie
Goldie had to admit that she was having fun. It turned out she liked painting, talking with Joe, and hashing out ideas for Two Lakes.
Joe listened to her as she talked about anything that came to mind. He opened up a little about his son and his grandson. Part of the reason he’d come back to this part of Michigan was for them. Goldie learned that the tough contractor had a very squishy inside when it came to talking about his grandson.
And for a moment, Goldie thought maybe actually staying here wouldn’t be the worst thing. But then she reminded herself there was retribution to be had against Trevor for trashing her career.
But an afternoon spent with Joe turned out to be a good way to forget about her career dilemma. Even for a little while.
Joe wanted to continue to work while Goldie got ready for dinner with her friends. She showered and spent more time than she anticipated scrubbing paint off her hands. She’d officially not been this dirty since the time they threw her in a vat of mud for the last scene ofRancher Wife.
She was excited to have dinner with the girls. To kick back and also to tell them about her ideas for the hotel. Libby, Hope, and J.J. were incredible. And the amount of time she had missed out on their lives, well, it made her a little sad. That was time she’d never get back. She’d always thought of time as her enemy when it came to her looks. Maybe it wasn’t about that at all.
Goldie blew out her hair and did her face for the first time since she’d come back to Irish Hills. She entered the lobby to find a paint-covered Joe, finally ending his day as well.
“Wow, that’s a fancy get-up for Irish Hills.”
“Too much?” She was questioning her outfit choice all of a sudden. Was she showing off? It was so casual here; shedidn’t want to seem like she was too big for Irish Hills. It was a simple shift dress, but maybe it was over the top here.
“Well, I like the ball cap version of you, but gorgeous superstar works, too.”
“Thank you.” She was way too pleased to find out that Joe liked the way she looked in a ball cap. What was wrong with her?
A knock at the back window interrupted the flirting. Goldie was grateful for that. She did not need to start something with this contractor and then break his heart when she left town.
“Hey, let me in!”
Libby and a tiny blonde woman were at the back porch door.
“What in the world, I thought we were meeting at seven?” Goldie ran over and let them in.
“Listen, you need to switch clothes with J.J.”
“J.J.?”
