“I’ve just been doing a lot of skiing. This one got tired of hauling me back in when I dumped.”
“Never.” Keith stood up and now reached over to Libby. He kissed her on the lips.
Goldie was amazed to see these two gorgeous adults together after all this time. She remembered the details of their breakup better than the plots of some of the movies she actually starred in.
“I’ve got some towels in the seat,” Keith said.
Libby lifted the top of the bench seat and produced beach towels.
“You have my phone?” Libby asked Keith.
“Yeah. You want me to do a few slow circles?”
“I think it’s best if we stay on the water until we know the diversion did the trick.”
“Here, kiddo, dry off.” Libby handed Goldie a towel and wrapped one around her own waist.
“Keith,” Goldie said, “I can’t believe we’re all meeting here like this, again, after all this time.”
Keith was behind the wheel of the boat now. He turned and smiled at Goldie. “We’ve always been so proud of you. I brag about you all the time. My sons do not believe I knew you when.”
“How many?”
“Three boys. All smart as heck, their mom did a good job. Can’t take any credit,” Keith said.
Goldie noticed Libby smiling at the comment. “She sure did.The world owes her a debt. The boys are great. Braylon works at Hope’s place. He can make pastry that you’ll die for.”
“Margo had a heck of a sweet tooth.”
From the conversation, it was clear to Goldie that Keith was a widower. Her heart broke a little for him. They all had stories. They all had full lives between the lake of 1989 and today.
The sun was warm. It helped make up for the fact that she was soaked.
“Ah ha!” Libby picked up her phone. “Victor, what’s your vector?”
Goldie laughed. She wasn’t sure when she’d laughed this much. Or when she’d last peed in a lake. Libby put her phone on speaker.
“Well, they bought it,” J.J. said. “I had four cars trailing me. Hope is a speed demon. By the way, she is not authorized to drive the next time we road trip to Ann Arbor.”
“You’re exaggerating,” Hope said.
“No, it’s dramatic license. Look it up. Anyway, they followed all the way to the Lenawee County Airport. They helped us out of the car and unload bags at the airport. I made a real show of being in a panic. I am telling you, doing hair was the wrong career choice.”
“They followed all the way, took pictures, from the fence. They thought it was Goldie,” Hope said.
“Okay, so we need to be sure. You’re heading to town?”
“Yep, we’re checking the hashtag online. It looks like the pictures are showing up. The fanboys are trying to figure out where Goldie’s headed. But they’re sure she’s not here. They’re all theorizing. I think it worked.”
“Great.”
“I’m swinging by to pick up the dinner from the restaurant, and do you want to change?”
“Heck no, I’m going to dress like this for Dean. It’ll spice things up.”
“TMI,” Hope said. “We’ll do a circle around town, make sure no one is snooping there too. But things are looking pretty quiet, situation ghost town once again.”
“Okay. So, rendezvous at Nora House, ninety minutes or so? And make sure Joe knows he’s invited. He was critical to Operation Get Goldie Gone.”
