“This is important. You know, it’s so like you to assume that your life is more important than mine. That’s the definition of selfish. And immature. And self-absorbed. All things you never seemed to outgrow. If you?—”
“Goodbye, Lilith.” She hung up and closed her eyes, the tightness in her chest feeling like a knot.
Selfish.
Immature.
Self-absorbed.
She shook her head. No. She wasn’t letting the woman’s words affect her.
Inside the center, she scanned the crowd. Polly was in the center of the third row on the right-hand side. But no Ethan yet.
Quickly, she moved forward and dropped into the seat beside her best friend.
“Hey.” Polly frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Lilith.”
She scowled. “What did the old witch do this time?”
“Nothing worth talking about.” Maggie scanned the room. “Ethan’s not here yet?”
“I don’t think so. Did he tell you he’d be late?”
“I actually haven’t had a chance to talk to him today. I didn’t want to distract him while he was trying to locate the missing woman.”
“The town’s going to lose it when they find out.” Polly paused before leaning closer. “So…we haven’t talked about your staying at Ethan’s last night.”
Her cheeks heated. “This is not the place to do that.”
“Because you?—”
“Yes.”
Polly screeched.
“Shh!” Maggie slammed a hand over her friend’s mouth.
Basil turned from the second row to frown at them. The frown turned into a smile when he saw her hand over Polly’s mouth. “Finally, someone’s muzzled the woman.”
Polly yanked Maggie’s hand off her mouth, leaned forward, and whacked him.
“Ow!”
“Turn around, Basil.” When he did, Polly lowered her voice and leaned even closer. “So you?—”
“Had sex, and we’re back together. But that’s all I’m willing to share right now because Basil is in front of us, and Anika and Mark are arguing behind us.”
She’d heard the words “frying pan” and “head” a few seconds ago, so nothing good was coming from that argument.
Polly’s grin widened. “I’m so happy for you.” She slipped her arms around Maggie’s shoulders. “He’s so lucky to have you.”
“I’m the lucky one.”
When someone sat in the seat beside her, she smiled and turned, thinking it was Ethan. It wasn’t.
It was David Collins, the town recluse.
