“I suppose I’ll forgive you.”
Voices drift down the hall, followed by a short bark.
My entire body goes tense.
I know that bark.
And I know that voice.
Hannah jerks her head toward the door as Mom strides in, Tavi Lightly on her heels.
“Look at this,” Mom says. “So popular with the ladies today. You should hit your head more often.”
“Good plan,” I agree dryly.
“Dylan Presley Wright.”
Pretty sure I’d get whacked with a dish towel if she had one in her hand and I weren’t laid up in bed with a concussion. “What? You said it first.”
Hannah’s smile doesn’t reach her eyes this time. “Oof. Middle name. You’re dead to everyone today.”
“Please don’t be dead,” Tavi says. Her voice is softer and sweeter, like she’s putting on the Tavi Lightly Show, and it irritates me. She holds out a bag of oranges. “I brought health food.”
“That isnotdinner rolls,” Hannah says.
Tavi smiles at her. “Hi. I’m Tavi. And this is Pebbles.”
“I know who you are.”
Shit.
I’ve seen this before. Been a while—last one that clearly stands out was after the last football game of my high school career. Junior year. I was kicked off by senior year. And that day, I was dripping with sweat and anger and a mood after getting knocked out of playoff contention, and Hannah was sizing up the cheerleader from the other team who I’d been dating, probably to spite someone, and that’s the same look she’s wearing now.
I might have a headache, but I know what’s coming, and I can still leap into the fray to try to prevent the train wreck. “Hannah, this is Tavi Lightly, newest resident of Tickled Pink, and her dog, who’s the least amount of trouble of her whole family. Tavi, this is Hannah Thoreaux, who currently holds the county record for most snowshoe baseball strikeouts in a single season.”
“No way.”Tavi’s smile ratchets up thirty-five notches, and it’s so fake I wouldn’t pick it up in a department store if Oprah herself tried to convince me it was real.
I also might spend too much time watching Oprah specials with my mother.
“Total girl boss,” Tavi says to Hannah. “That’s the best.”
“Girl-bossing is when I make opposing counsel eat their briefcase in court,” Hannah replies.
“She got me out of a parking ticket once.” Mom beams at Hannah.
She, too, is sad that Hannah married Andrew.
Devastated, really.
Tavi joins the beam squad. “All of that,andyou have the most gorgeous hair. And I love your necklace. It’s such a unique design.”
“Oh, this?” Hannah touches the steel butterfly. “There’s a vendor at the Renaissance faire who makes them in bulk with premanufactured beads. Half the women in the state have one.”
“Renaissance faire?No way.I’ve always wanted to go to a Renaissance faire. Is there seriously one here too? What an amazing little community.”
“Yes, compared to the rest of the world, we havesomuch to offer. Eat your heart out, Milan and Tokyo.”
“It’s our own little slice of heaven,” I interrupt. “Tokyo doesn’t have the annual Christmas-light wars or ice fishing.”
