Page 54 of Trust

“I know how perilous an attachment with you could be and want to get out before complete devastation occurs.” She hitched her shoulder. “A woman only has so much Scotch tape, and a heart broken twice won’t have a chance at a third.”

“You saying that’s possible?”

“Yes, Zane. I am.”

Before he could say more, one of the owners stopped at the table, refilling their glasses. Was she as scared of him as he was of her? He rolled the possibility over in his mind and decided the idea was ludicrous.

“Zane?”

He looked between the women. “What did I miss?”

Grace patted his shoulder. “Nothing earth-shattering. I just wanted to know how the renovations are going.”

“Slow.” He closed one eye as the sun cut through the large window and bounced off the woman’s sparkly sweatshirt. “Which is to be expected from a three-story stone manse that hasn’t been touched in years.”

“We sure do miss your grandmother at our meetings. She was such a bright light of the Haven Ladies’ Society. I tell you, no one could concoct a better scheme than Nan Hawker.”

“Scheme?” Olivia asked, sitting forward. “What kind of intrigues are we talking about exactly?”

Grace pursed her lips. “It’s not called a secret society for nothing, young lady.” She patted her gray curls. “The only thing I can say is that we’ve cooked more than one lying cheater’s goose but good. And anyone who was in possession of the same facts would’ve done the same thing.”

“Interesting,” Olivia replied, squeezing Zane’s hand. “And whose goose specifically was cooked?”

“Oh, I better get back to the kitchen; my wife is giving the signal. Enjoy your lunch.”

Zane chuckled when he saw Liv’s displeased expression. “Maybe it’s best you don’t have the details.”

“I doubt that very much.”

“At least you have the comfort of eventually joining the society and having the chance of wreaking havoc to your heart’s content.”

“I suppose,” she replied quietly. “Not that I’m one to be interested in creating mayhem.”

He squeezed her hand and knew that was as far from the truth as possible because that’s precisely what she’d been doing from the moment they met. And he hoped she didn’t see a need to stop anytime soon since Olivia’s chaos was exactly what he didn’t know he needed.

Olivia waved to Zane and then walked into her mother’s store. “Anyone here?”

“Hello, Livy.” She gave her daughter a side hug. “Why didn’t Zane come in?”

“He’s got to run to the hardware store and pick up a special order he put in last week.” She dropped her tote on the counter. “Zane won’t admit it, but I know he and Allen have become friends, and their bi-weekly visits have little to do with paint and wrenches.”

“One can never have too many friends.” Elaine took Olivia’s hand. “Come and keep me company while I wrap up the tofu brownies I just made.”

“Alright,” she followed her mother through the store and slid into a pink chair at the lunch counter. She watched her cut the delicious treats into squares with a plastic knife. “Still don’t know why using plastic makes the cuts so neat and clean.”

“Plastic is the ultimate non-stick surface. Bad for our planet, but excellent for not tearing up brownies.”

“So…Mom…”

“If you’re going to bring up Gram’s ridiculous plan, please don’t.” She slipped a brownie into a wax bag and tied it with a red ribbon. “The sheriff and I are friends, and we don’t want to make it more.”

“I wasn’t going to, but it’s nice to know that our careful plans were for naught.”

“I think the word machinations is more fitting, but that’s just me.”

“Are you not interested in Mitch because you don’t find him attractive or because you think Dad was your only love?”

Elaine turned. “I think people get more than one shot at love.” She walked around the counter and sat. “I know what you and Thad had was special. But he was your first love, not your only one.” She cupped her daughter’s cheek. “I hope you have at least half a dozen life-changing entanglements before you leave this earth.”

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