“I’m kind of surprised you answered, actually,” her younger sister said. At thirty-five, Kylie couldn’t properly be considered Diana’slittlesister any longer… but Diana was pretty sure she’d always think of Kylie that way. “I know it’s working time for you.”
Kylie didn’t mean any harm by that comment, Diana knew, but she still had to bite her lip against the grimace that wanted to appear on her face. She valued her business and her career, of course. But sometimes she wished her family didn’t act so much like they thought a businesswoman was theonlypart of Diana worth recognizing.
Kylie, clearly happy, kept chattering along. “I couldn’t resist calling, just in case you were free, because…” She let out a little giggle as she trailed off.
“Because?” Diana prompted, finally deciding to drape the scarves around some of the mannequins, while leaving others folded on the table. It was the best of both worlds, she decided. It let customers see how the scarves could be paired with the shirts while still giving them an easy look at the scarves’ ornate, beautiful patterns.
“Because I think Doyle is going to propose!” Kylie burst out on an excited squeal.
Diana felt a slight lurch in her chest, but she sounded cheerful when she responded to her sister.
“Oh my goodness, that’s amazing!” she said. “Tell me everything.”
Diana felt a little guilty for half tuning out as Kylie explained that she’d noticed one of her rings was missing for a day or so last week. At first, she’d assumed she had just left itsomewhere, or missed it in her jewelry box, but then her long-term boyfriend, Doyle, had asked about her plans for a Friday night three weeks in advance.
“I wondered if he had a business dinner or something, one of those social-slash-work things where partners are invited. So I told him I was free, but asked where we were going. He got super evasive, like, ‘Oh, no place in particular, I just wanted to know about our schedule coming up. Maybe we’ll go out to dinner.’” Kylie laughed. “It wasn’t really subtle.”
Kylie’s boyfriend was a kind, sweet man, but he was not good at secrecy. Every time he’d bought Kylie a present, whether for her birthday, anniversary, or Christmas, he’d managed to spill the beans before she opened it. Diana smiled at the running family joke that had emerged around this.
“Poor Doyle,” Diana teased. “It’s good that he never wanted to be a spy.” Her soon-to-be brother-in-law, if Kylie’s suspicions were correct, was a high school teacher. His students probably teased him for his total lack of a poker face too.
“Seriously,” Kylie agreed. “Anyway, that’s all the information I have, so I’ll let you get back to work, but I just needed to do the little shriek of excitement bit.”
Diana dutifully made some excited sounds alongside her sister before saying goodbye and hanging up the phone.
Without her sister’s joyful voice permeating the space, however, Diana felt a little sadness creep in. She felt guilty feeling anything but happiness at her sister’s good fortune, but Kylie was likely getting married. Diana’s older sister, Astrid, was already married, she and her husband had a son.
And Diana was single. Again.
Or, actually, she wasn’t sure she could even call it “again” when she’d barely gone on three dates in the past year. Maybe “still” was the right word.
Diana Madsen, still single. Maybe forever, she thought glumly.
Fortunately, before she could get too deep into her malaise, the door to her shop opened, triggering the motion sensor on the light chime that Diana had installed in lieu of one of those old-fashioned bells above the door. As someone who often worked alone in her shop, since she only had part time help, Diana needed to know when someone came in or out, especially if she was working in the back room. But she didn’t want a clanging sound ruining the carefully curated ambiance of her beloved boutique.
She looked up at the delicate sound and immediately broke into a smile, her sadness banished.
“Hey, there!” she greeted her best friend, Cadence Meadows, and Cadence’s adorable, totally perfect six-year-old daughter, Isabelle.
“Hey, sweetie,” Cadence greeted, giving Diana a peck on the cheek.
“Hi, Aunt Diana,” Isabelle added, hugging Diana tight around her legs.
Isabelle was theonlyperson whose hugs didn’t even make Diana worry that her pristine outfit would get rumpled. She still accepted hugs from her friends, of course, but the thought did cross her mind. With Izzy, Diana was too busy soaking up the affection.
“How are my two favorite ladies today?” Diana asked.
Cadence blew out a breath, causing a strand of strawberry blonde hair that had escaped her customary loose braid to flutter.
“It’s been a day,” she said, cutting her eyes toward Isabelle, who was looking at Diana’s new display with interest. She was holding her hands behind her back, in accordance with her mom’s rule that “in Aunt Diana’s store, no touching withoutpermission.” Just the sight made Diana smile. Isabelle was such a responsible, sweet kid.
But the darting gaze from Izzy’s mother meant that today’s stressors were about Tyler, Isabelle’s father, and Cadence’s… maybe husband? Diana wasn’t sure where things were heading. Cadence and Tyler were in the midst of a separation, but Diana wasn’t sure if her friend wanted that separation to be permanent or not. She was even less sure how Tyler felt about things, since Diana was far closer to Cadence than she was to her spouse.
One thing on which neither parent wavered, however? They adored Izzy more than anything and were determined to never bad-mouth the other in front of her. Which meant that Diana was left uncertain if Cadence wasannoyedwith her daughter’s father or merely feeling some kind of way about the situation.
Since they couldn’t discuss it now, she just reached out a comforting hand to squeeze Cadence’s shoulder and went for a topic change.
“Work okay, though?”
