She sniffed. “A woman has needs, Mac. And I know you don’t like hearin’ this, but Earl is pack—”
“Tell me about this dead squirrel,” Mac cut in. “And let’s maybe talk about something else constructive we could do today instead of committin’ a felony such as breaking and entering.”
Edna cackled. “Where’s the fun in that?”
She sighed. “Okay, here’s the deal—I promised Will we wouldn’t end up at the police station again, so I’m gonna need us to do something that won’t get us arrested.”
With a glance in Mac’s direction, Edna shook her head in disappointment. “You’re the oldest twenty-seven-year-old I’ve ever met, I swear.”
“You’re the youngest seventy-year-old I’ve ever met, so I guess we’re a good pair. And don’t think I don’t notice you drivin’ straight for Earl’s. Turn it around, Edna. Find us something else.”
She sniffed. “I suppose I could be persuaded to pause my revenge. For the right currency, of course.”
“What do you want this time, old woman?”
“You could tell me about lockin’ lips with our very own hometown hero yesterday.”
Mac gasped and snapped her gaze to Edna. “How’d you hear about that?”
A slow smile swept over Edna’s mouth. “You just told me. Guess this old woman got one past you, didn’t she?” She laughed, slapping her hand on the steering wheel.
“I hate you.”
Edna reached over and patted Mac’s knee. “We both know that’s not true. You love me. Now, how about you tell me about Hudson and his kissin’ skills? And don’t skimp on the details. I’d be happy to give the boy some pointers if he needs ’em.”
Mac lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t you think you’re a little old for him?”
“Not even a little bit, honey. Not even a little bit.”
The irony in Mac choosing to go with Edna toavoidthinking about Hudson was not lost on her. She wasn’t sure which was worse—being forced into it by her obnoxiously-in-love sister who only wanted the same for everyone around her, or by her always-in-heat senior BFF. Mac didn’t need anything fanning the flames of lust she had for Hudson. And she certainly didn’t need to fall in love with him again, especially knowing the kind of love they had was once in a lifetime. Heap ten years of want onto an already smoldering pile of desire, and yeah… She’d pass on that risk, thanks.
“Did you know he runs a circuit around Havenbrook every mornin’? If I time my route just right, I cross paths with him three times.” Edna shimmied her shoulders. “And if I’m real lucky, he’s shirtless for at least two of ’em.”
Mac slowly turned her head and stared at Edna, who just shrugged in response, completely unrepentant in her lust for a man forty years her junior. Though Mac certainly couldn’t blame her. Hudson was a damn fine specimen—there was no arguing that. In fact, she wasn’t so certain a picture of a shirtless Hudson wasn’t currently being printed in the dictionary next to “virile alpha male.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and shook the thoughts from her head. She absolutely did not need to have sex fantasies about Hudson and all the things he could do to her while she was trapped in a car with Edna.
“I did not know that,” Mac said, her voice tight. “Speakin’ of your route, spill the tea.” If there was one thing Edna loved more than attractive men, it was gossip.
“It’s been a fruitful day already, can’t lie to you there. Let’s see… I heard Hudson’s single. No serious—or not-so-serious—girlfriends waitin’ in the wings. I also heard he’s been helpin’ out at The Sweet Spot with the demolition.” She shot Mac a grin. “Also shirtless.”
Mac blew out a frustrated breath and rolled her eyes. “All right, you perv. Did you hear anything that doesn’t have to do with Hudson or him bein’ half naked?”
“Well, sure, but those things aren’t as fun.” She grinned and shot Mac a wink. “’Course you know about Earl and Betty Jo.” Edna cut off, mumbling something about getting that squirrel into his house one way or another. “Timothy DeBoer was awful far from home this mornin’—and awful close to his ex-girlfriend’s place. Also saw your daddy leavin’ the clinic. He looked fit as a fiddle, but have you talked to your momma lately? Things goin’ okay over there?”
Mac furrowed her brow. She’d just spoken to her momma yesterday, but she hadn’t mentioned anything about it. “Probably just a man cold. He turns into such a baby, I swear.”
Edna snorted. “Been like that his whole life, from what your gran tells me.”
The morning had, indeed, been fruitful, because Edna spent the next two hours filling Mac in on the comings and goings of the dear residents of Havenbrook while they delivered today’s mail.
“We about done?” Mac asked, glancing at the bin that held the mail yet to be delivered.
“Almost,” Edna said, snapping a mailbox closed. “Just have to head up to Havenbrook Lake.”
Mac’s stomach somersaulted at the mention of the lake where she’d spent so much of her childhood. Hudson’s family had a cabin on it, and they’d whiled away huge swaths of their summers there. A barrage of memories overcame her—races down the dock to see who could jump the farthest into the lake. Paddleboarding. Lazing in the hammock. Early morning fishing trips. Hundreds of games of hide-and-seek and too many bets to count.
They’d had two fights their entire lives, and they’d both happened at the cabin. The first had been almost twenty years ago, when Hudson had been playing with the marble her grandfather had given her before he’d died and then managed to drop it in the lake. He’d spent hours looking for it until his skin was wrinkled and pruny, but it’d been lost forever.
