“What if they stake out the cottage, trying to get pictures?”
“There’s no way for them to be safely off the road without pulling onto my property, and either way, Chief Rollins will run them off. They’re not welcome here, and we certainly won’t be giving them any tea.”
Lucy lifted her head. “You know that doesn’t mean actual tea, right?”
Helen gave her a stern look that made Lucy’s cheeks flush. “Yes, I know what it means. I think I spend more time online than you do, young lady. And you need to be done hiding from what other people say about you. Put your chin up, square your shoulders and live your damn life.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Lucy said, sitting up straighter, and Helen smiled.
“And you can’t go running off to Miami with everything you own strewn around like a tornado dropped down and only tore up that bedroom.”
She definitely had a point there. The plan to organize and repack her stuff for the car trip was taking longer than she thought it would. Maybe because, other than bringing it all in the bedroom and sorting it into something very loosely resembling piles, she hadn’t touched it. She also hadn’t messaged Sydney to make plans for her arrival.
“I never did buy those bins. I ended up visiting with Willow instead. And I also met Taylor out on the walking trail so we could take a walk together. Oh, and Cadillac Mountain with Nick. I keep forgetting, but I’m going to buy them right now.” She stood, determined to get moving.
“Can you run into the market for me? We’re almost out of sugar.”
She stilled, not because she minded doing errands for her grandmother, but because the hardware store was slightly away from the heavy tourist traffic, whereas the market was more visible. She’d been planning to sneak in the back way to Smith’s, and then sneak back out.
“Don’t let them stop you from living your life,” Helen said again, more sternly this time. “If you let them in your head, you’re going to end up on the couch with a blanket over your head.”
Lucy turned to face her grandmother. “Did Nick tell you?”
“Did Nick tell me what?” she asked, looking genuinely confused.
“Never mind. So, sugar. Anything else?”
An hour later, Lucy had found some plastic storage bins she liked at the hardware store and was in the market’s baking aisle, trying to talk herself out of buying an entire bag of dark chocolate chips, when she heard her name called in the next aisle.
“Oh, sorry,” the voice continued. “I thought you were somebody else.”
“That happens all the time,” she heard Taylor respond. “Actually a lot of people tell me I look just like that woman who got harassed because of that actress and her cheating jerk boyfriend.”
“Are you from here?”
“Yes, and it’s so annoying. Tourists have been confusing me with her since it happened.”
Lucy didn’t hear if anything else was said because she was already at the end of the baking aisle and turning away from where Taylor had been loudly speaking. She thought about making a run for the front doors, but she was halfway down the last aisle when she saw a woman holding up her cell phone as though filming.
And Kim Perkins, who looked right at Lucy.
Cursing under her breath, she ducked into an alcove that had several doors. The restrooms, which would be dead ends with no way to escape. And one that was marked for employees only. She had no idea where it went, but she was afraid it was just a break room with no exits.
“Lucy Macauley?” Lucy heard Kim ask, and she closed her eyes. She was about to go viral again. “Never heard of her.”
Lucy’s eyes flew open and she let out her breath in a ragged sigh of relief.
“Her car is in the parking lot. She’s a redhead and hard to miss.”
“We’re a tourist town. There are always cars I don’t recognize in the parking lot. As a matter of fact, most of them park in this lot because it’s easy, and then walk down the street to the arcade as if the people who live in this town don’t have groceries to lug out to our cars.”
“Arcade?”
“It’s quite the hangout spot. So whatever her name is might have parked here, but she’s probably not in the market.”
Calling the pizza place with three pinball machines and two Skee-Ball machines an arcade was a stretch, but Lucy appreciated the effort.
A few seconds later, Kim joined her in the alcove and didn’t look pleased about it. “You still have Nevada plates? And your car’s out front?”
