It gives me a surge of smug satisfaction. There’s no need for Mary Moore to know that my supposed “apartment in LA” is currently nonexistent.
“Itispretty great,” I say. “I justloveit there. Can’t wait to get back. I mean, it’s nice being home—it’s so cute around here—but LA has so much more going on. It’s so energizing! You’ve been, right?”
“Haven’t, actually,” Mary Moore says with a tight smile.
“Oh, you’ve got to come out! I’d love to have you.”
“Maybe!” she says brightly. “It can be tough to get away, what with Ethan and the girls and all. You’re so lucky you’re single! All that freedom!”
Point to Mary Moore.
“Yep. That’s me! Well, I’ve got to head to The Second Shop. I’m looking for some wedding centerpieces.”
I realize my mistake the minute the words leave my mouth. Now that Mary Moore knows, half the town will know by tomorrow.
“Oh! Who’s getting married?” she asks.
“Cooper,” I admit. “This… this is his fiancée’s brother.”
Nate waves, and I watch Mary Moore take in his cargo shorts and fish T-shirt. I feel a pang of secondhand embarrassment. Then immediately hate myself for it.
“How exciting!” Mary Moore says, her lips curling into a catlike grin. “The baby of the family all grown up, huh?” She starts heading toward a silver minivan. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’ll be your turn soon!” There’s a beep as her car unlocks, and she turns back. “Oh, and happy early birthday!”
The smile on my face is all teeth as I thank her.
Mary Moore pulls out of the parking lot with a wave, leaving me feeling prickly and thirteen years old again.
“I’ll see you later,” I say to Nate, then start heading toward the thrift shop.
“Wait up!” Nate breaks into a light jog to keep up with me. “So, she seems like a real peach,” he says as we pass the barber shop where my dad has gotten his hair cut for the last sixty years.
“She’s always been that way.”
“Bitter and jealous of you?”
I huff out a laugh. “Insanely competitive. I guess I was too. We were best friends growing up, but also always trying to one-up each other.”
Nate nods in understanding.
“You have any friends like that?” I ask.
“Totally. We used to race shopping carts in the grocery store parking lot. It was fierce.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” I say with a grin. “Many a friendship has been lost to competitive shopping cart racing.”
He smiles back at me. “We’re actually still really close. We do a monthly phone call to check in with each other. They’re more like family.”
“That’s so nice. I have that, too—with my college roommate, Sybil, and her friends from home. They kind of adopted me into their friend group.”
“You didn’t have your own friends from home?” Nate asks. He seems surprised.
“I did,” I concede. “But…” I pause, trying to think how to put it into words. “I loved growing up here, in this small town, but I knew I wanted to experience something more—something different. Most of the other girls my age didn’t have those same dreams.” I pick at a loose thread on the hem of my top. “And then, when I got into pageants, I met girls who were just as ambitious as I was—but could be totally cutthroat. I often felt I had to watch my back around even my closest friends. When I met Sybil’s friends, they weren’t like that. They were so supportive of each other—of me.” I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. “Honestly, I feel like I can be myself around them more than anyone else.”
“Even your family?” Nate asks.
I nod, thinking about how I lied to Dad about my apartment-
hunting progress—and then did it again to Mary Moore just now. For some reason, I don’t want to lie to Nate.
