Page 43 of Happily Ever After

Within leaves of crisp white tissue lay a folded silk scarf, the fabric cool and impossibly smooth against her fingers. The turquoise and green were accented with black and white. She recognized the pattern from Marco’s website.

There was a note, too. She took it out and read it.

With great appreciation - M

Blaise smiled. She hadn’t been treated like this in a long time. It made her oddly emotional. What a sweet man Marco was to take such good care of her.

She lifted the scarf and draped it around her shoulders before tying it loosely at one side. It felt right there and she was happy to wear it.

The car moved through traffic, blue sky and palm trees sliding past the window, the city unapologetically bright. Blaise opened one of the bottles of water and took a sip. The glass bottle was cool against her palm.

She rested her head back against the seat and closed her eyes for a moment, the scarf warming against her skin, the hum of the road steady beneath her.

Whatever nerves she’d had about doing this shoot were gone.

And whatever came next, she was ready for it, filled with the sense that she was exactly where she was meant to be.

Chapter Eighteen

Now that Peanut was fed and the coffee made, Cece was starting to feel marginally awake.

Actually drinking the coffee would help, though. She poured her coffee slowly, watching the dark stream fill the mug until it reached the top. She added a splash of cream and a little stevia, which she wasn’t sure she liked as a sweetener yet, stirred a couple of times, then leaned back against the counter and took her first sip.

Good. Hot. Exactly what she needed before a workout.

She took her coffee to the couch, along with her phone, and opened the podcast dashboard. The numbers had climbed again overnight. Maybe she wasn’t a viral sensation, but the traction impressed her. A lot. It was steady movement in the right direction and that meant new downloads, new listeners, and new subscribers.

Not to mention the thoughtful comments that told her people were actually paying attention and getting what she was doing.

She laughed softly, absolutely thrilled by it all. Being mentioned by Paige had done great things.

She set the phone down and sat there for a moment longer, the house quiet around her. Peanut finished her breakfast, wound between Cece’s ankles, then jumped into her cat tower where she could see out the window, tail wrapping around her feet as she settled in to monitor the local squirrel population.

“Good morning to you, too,” Cece said as she got up.

Peanut ignored her.

Cece grabbed her gym bag from the hall closet and slipped on her sneakers. The fitness center was part of her routine now, as much for her mind as her body. It gave her something solid to focus on, something she felt responsible about doing.

As she headed out the door, her phone buzzed with a calendar reminder.

Lab work — Tuesday 8 am.

It was just bloodwork. Nothing more. A follow-up, not anything to freak out about. Still, Cece felt the familiar tightening of worry, brief but unmistakable. She took a calming breath and dismissed the notification.

Yes, it would give her important results, but the test was routine, she reminded herself. And she had plenty of bigger things to worry about. Like her daughter, Natalie, who’d been oddly quiet lately. Maybe that was a good thing, but Joe, who was handling Natalie’s divorce, hadn’t said anything about the situation recently either.

Then again, Joe probably wouldn’t talk about what was happening with a client’s case, even if he was dating that client’s mother.

She did her best to put a smile on her face and headed out.

Outside, the morning air was warm, the sun bright but not yet overbearing. Cece locked the door behind her, got in her golf cart, and was off to the fitness center, coffee lingering pleasantly on her tongue.

Cece parked the golf cart in her usual spot and cut the engine. She glanced toward the fitness center and a new thought popped into her head unbidden.

Darcy.

What were the odds that Cece would run into her here? And why hadn’t Paige said a word about her? Well, obviously because there hadn’t been anything to say. No texts. No updates. No snarky little comments left on any of Paige’s TikTok posts.