Good for him!
The front door opens and a brown and black dog darts out, pouncing toward us as Nash steps onto the porch. Coffee mug in hand, he’s wearing a shirt covered with avocados, slim-cutshorts, and bare feet. His hair is wet, like he just got out of the shower, and the look on his face tells me he doesn’t have a care in the world.
Must be nice.
“Frank,” he tells us as the dog sniffs my hands.
“Hi, Frank.” I scrub his ears and let this new piece of Nash sink in. He has a dog he apparently remembers to feed. The jarring revelations just keep on coming.
Ms. Sunny the tour guide emerges from the house with the same wide smile she had yesterday. The braids covering her head are pulled back in a cherry-red headband. “Welcome home, fam!” she yells, arms wide like she wants a hug.
Nash and Ms. Sunny?
This . . . is unexpected.
Cap and I exchange a look but walk toward her, both of us grunting as she pulls us into a soft-bodied, nutty-smelling hug.
“I hear you about to play pirates,” she says loudly when we’re out of her grasp. At my face she adds, “Don’t look so scared, honey child. I ain’t gonna tell nobody. I’m the friend you call to help bury the bodies, know what I’m sayin’?” She looks Cap up and down. “We put an eye patch on you, and we got ourselves a real pirate. And a handsome one at that.”
Cap laughs, and—is heblushing?
“I am a captain,” he admits, puffing his chest a bit.
“Sunny here stopped by to help me rework the tour schedule for the next few weeks,” Nash fills in from the porch. “Free up my time.”
I’ll never understand why that innocent explanation relieves the building pressure in my chest.
“I’m Rue.” I smile and extend my hand toward her. “This is Cap.”
“Hell naw.” Sunny slaps my hand away. “We family, girlfriend.” She hugs me again, squeezing me tight.Tootight. In my ear so only I can hear, she whispers, “You love him?”
“What?” I whisper back, not hiding my shock. I fight her hug only for it to tighten. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you hurt that man and I’ll feed your scrawny white ass to the crabs at the bottom of the Ashley River. You hear me?”
I jerk back, and she smiles wide. Sunny is a psycho.
She turns to Cap and pinches his whisker-covered cheek. “I can tell you’re trouble, Cappy.”
He eats this up.
“Trouble’s what I’m known for.”
What is happening?
“Alright now, y’all have fun.”
Then Sunny’s in her car, driving away with a cheery wave through the window like she didn’t just threaten to kill me.
“I like her,” Cap says as he limps up the steps and into Nash’s house.
“Sure,” I mutter. “If you’re into the clinically insane.”
Nash chuckles, taking a sip of coffee as he looks me over in today’s khaki-colored linen overalls and navy-blue tank.
I almost wore one of the sundresses Reese forced me to bring while she criticized my wardrobe.“You can’t show up on the tatted-up teacher’s doorstep like a damn hick, Rue!”She had seemingly forgotten that I don’t care about thetatted-up teacheror looking like adamn hick.I’m here for a divorce, not a date.
Instead, I dressed for practicality and comfort—like I always do. The fact that my hair is in a loose braid, my bangs are swept to the side, and I wore mascara for the first time in months is simply because I woke up early this morning and was bored.
