It didn’t come.
Instead, the woman smiled. “I hear you’ve had quite a day.”
Susan wrinkled her nose. “Which is why I’m desperate for a drink. I’m Susan, in case you didn’t already know. Are you a local or are you one of the many press who’ve suddenly decided I’m fatally interesting?”
The woman shook her head, and her blonde curls swayed with the movement. She held out her hand while Susan waited for bar service. “I’m Yvonne, and I’ve lived here for a few months now. My aunt owns the local bookstore—the one with the café—and I help her out.”
Susan noticed Yvonne’s almost empty wine glass. “What are you drinking? Sav Blanc or Chardonnay?”
“The house Sav,” Yvonne said. “It comes from one of the local vineyards.”
“I might as well buy a bottle.Ooh, look! There’s a table. Grab it and we can sit together—that’s if you’re willing to risk it. I am a fallen woman. The jury is out, but I hear it might be catchy.”
Yvonne barked out a laugh and slid off her bar stool. “I’m divorced with children. I believe I hit the floor before you.”
“Ah, thanks for breaking my landing. Since we have so much in common, would you like to share my bottle of wine?”
A strange expression flickered across Yvonne’s face, but after a brief hesitation, she smiled—a friendly one without barbs. “That would be lovely. If I sit alone, the local men think they need to keep me company. In return, they expect fringe benefits.”
“Ugh. Be there to save you in a moment,” Susan said.
A few locals whispered behind their hands when Susan joined Yvonne. Susan ignored their rudeness.
“I think I walked past your aunt’s store the other day when I came to town to buy a pair of gumboots. There was a queue out the door, so I figured you must serve good coffee.”
“You should have come inside. My aunt makes really good blueberry muffins and delicious cheese scones. She loves to bake, but hates serving customers. This works for both of us, because after spending a lot of time with my kids, I need adult conversation.”
“That’s what my friend Julia says. You need a balance, otherwise it’s easy to drift into crazy.”
Susan poured wine for Yvonne and sloshed some into her own glass. “Are people staring?”
“A little. The people who live in Clare are mostly nice and supportive. They’re only gossiping because Mrs. Penrith is stirring them up with a big, ole wooden spoon.”
The nuances in Yvonne’s tone snapped up Susan’s head. She eyed the woman closely. “You’ve had a run-in with her too.”
Yvonne pulled a quick face. “I went out with Nolan a couple of times. She didn’t think I was a suitable girlfriend candidate.”
“Nolan needs to grow a spine.”
“Not my problem,” Yvonne said.
Susan sipped her wine, taking in the other woman’s body language—her careless shrug and the contrasting tremor of her hand. The giveaway signs were subtle and most people wouldn’t notice.
“Ladies,” a masculine voice said.
Susan tipped back her head and smiled. Probably a bad move, but she couldn’t resist the naughty twinkle in Tyler’s eyes. “Is Josie babysitting tonight?”
“She volunteered. Hi, Yvonne. How are you?” He brushed a friendly kiss on the other woman’s cheek and a sliver of jealousy pierced Susan.
The touch of envy was still throbbing through her when Tyler pulled up a seat. “I hope you don’t mind me joining you.”
“Of course not,” Yvonne said. “David and Michael had a lovely time at Katey’s birthday party. Did you do the face painting?”
“Yes, I had as much fun as the kids.”
The two discussed their children and the party, and Susan started to feel left out, even though she’d attended. A local man asked her to dance, and she stood with alacrity. Yvonne was a nice woman—the type of woman Tyler should hook up with. Someone who had interests in common. Children. Roots in a community.
When she returned from the second dance, Nolan sat with Tyler and Yvonne.
