She jams the sunglasses on top of her head and softens as she looks at each of her mother’s friends. “Bev, Sassy, Carol.” She kisses each woman on the cheek before turning back to her mother. “Mom, what the hell kind of emergency could you have at a bookstore?”
I squirm a little bit, feeling like I’m drowning in my striped sweater. Next to Grace, who’s wearing a shredded concert T-shirt with more holes than fabric, I feel every bit the bookish nerd that I am.
I start to tiptoe backward, hoping to slip unnoticed into the kitchen.
Sassy points a finger at me before I can get away. “That,” she says, narrowing her thickly mascaraed eyes at me. “That’s the emergency.”
Grace looks me over, and it feels like I’m in fifth grade again. I nearly lean against the wall for support under the confident, bold woman’s gaze.
Grace squints a little and cocks her head. “Who’s this?” she asks, not even addressing her question to me.
Yeah, if I felt invisible before, I feel like a piece of furniture now. “I’m—” I wring my hands together, then awkwardly stick one out toward Grace.
Lucia cuts me off before I can finish introducing myself. “Gracie. This is Ann’s niece. I’ve been talking about her all week, for goodness’ sake.” Lucia puts a hand on my arm, a thin stack of gold bangle bracelets clicking wildly with the movement. “This is Chloe Harkin.”
Grace twists her lips to one side, and a deep dimple marks her cheek. Grace is the kind of girl everyone wanted to be in high school. Cool, pretty, and completely indifferent to what anyone else thinks.
I can already see the family resemblance to her older brother. My heart thumps an excited beat in my chest as I picture Franco’s thick waves of hair and piercing eyes. His, though, were blue.
She eyes me curiously, silent for a moment, and then slaps the shredded knee of her black jeans and curses. “I got it now.” Instead of shaking my awkwardly outstretched hand, Grace turns to her mom. “This is the girl you were trying to set Frankie up with?”
“Look at her.” Lucia crows. “She’s a doll. Your brother could use a nice girl like Chloe. Before all the other dogs in this town come sniffing around wanting a shot at the new girl.”
I surprise myself by snorting at that. No dogs have ever come sniffing around me. I’m sure Star Falls won’t be any different. Not if the women look like Grace, and the men… Well, if the men look like Franco, I may as well put on a habit and turn this bookstore into a convent. I’ve got as much chance with a guy like that as a nun does.
Sassy puts an end to the conversation by swinging her oversized metallic silver purse over her shoulder. “Gals, I got to run. My boss is a real asshole if I’m late, and I’ve got to stop home for my uniform.”
“Asshole boss.” Lucia scowls, but it’s clear she’s not insulted. “You tell that son of mine to call his mother. Benito hasn’t called in days.”
“He’s sleeping with that new bartender he hired,” Grace says with a smirk.
Sassy grumbles. “This week, he is. And last week, it was another one, and next week, it’ll be someone else.”
Lucia shakes her head, sighing as if the weight of the world rests on her tiny shoulders. “Is it too much to ask that my children settle down and be happy? What is it with all this sexual freedom? When I was young…”
There’s a groan from one of the women.
“And that’s my cue to go.” Sassy air-kisses her friends goodbye and waves at me before breezing out of the store.
Lucia continues, undeterred. “And would it be so much to ask for grandchildren while I’m still healthy enough to enjoy them?” She looks at me, a sadness in her face. “Tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone, and I just want grandbabies I can push in their strollers. I don’t want them pushing me in mine.”
“So, you’re Ann’s niece?” Grace asks, completely ignoring her mother’s pity party as she finally holds out her hand to me.
I nod. “I’m Chloe Harkin. Nice to meet you.”
Grace seems to size me up as she takes in my sweater and cargo boots. She releases my hand with a nod. “I work next door at The Body Shop. You’ll be seeing a lot of me, as long as you keep making that kick-ass coffee your aunt used to make. I’m literally addicted to her peanut butter crisps too. I’m Gracie, and that one belongs to me.” She lifts one of those perfect brows impossibly higher and jerks a thumb toward Lucia.
Of course Gracie works at the town tattoo parlor. If she got any cooler, I might just collapse into a heap of dust on the floor.
“Just so you know,” she says, gesturing toward her mother. “My ma’s going to try to set you up with her oldest son until you tell her in no uncertain terms to lay the fuck off the matchmaking. Either you tell her, or my brother will.”
“I didn’t teach my daughter to cuss like a sailor,” Lucia says, sounding a little hurt. “And what’s so wrong with wanting to see my children happy?”
“Ma, what do you even know about this girl?” Gracie demands. She waves a hand at me. “Look at her. She might not even be into guys, for all you know. You can’t just go around trying to hook up your kids with anything that lives and breathes and hasn’t yet slept with Benito.” She whips her head, and her long black locks go flying. “You haven’t, have you? My brother does get around pretty damn quick.”
Lucia makes the sign of the cross over her chest and forehead. “The girl’s been here two weeks. Not even your brother moves that fast.”
“Yes, he does,” they say, and by they, I mean all of them—Bev, Carol, and Gracie.
