Page 73 of Hometown Girl

“Drew, this is Dina Larson. We went to high school together,” Beth said, patting her warm face dry with a gloved hand.

“You make it sound so clinical, Beth. We weren’t just classmates—we were besties.” Dina flashed her perfectly white smile as she reached out to shake Drew’s hand.

Besties. Beth shuddered at the word. It sounded so juvenile. They were grown women, for Pete’s sake.

“We’re friends,” Beth said.

Drew shook Dina’s hand. “Good to meet you.” He turned to Beth. “I’ll let you guys catch up.”

As he walked away, Dina gave Beth wide eyes while mouthingO-M-Glike a teenager.

“He works for me.” Beth stuck the trowel into the raised bed and clapped her hands together to remove the dirt from her gloves.

“Uh-huh. Send him my way when you’re done with him,” Dina said, watching Drew walk away. “Just kidding. I’m a married woman. But, good gracious, he is a fine-looking man.”

“Dina.”

She peeled her eyes away from Drew and turned to Beth, then burst out laughing. “You look so ridiculous right now.”

“Thanks for that.”

“Sorry.” She laughed. “It’s just quite the getup. Hold on, let me take a picture.” She took her phone out and snapped a photo so quickly Beth couldn’t have hoped to protest. “Nobody will believe you’re out here digging around in the dirt on your little farm.” She laughed again—loudly.

Beth pressed her lips together to keep from saying something she’d regret.

“So, how’s it been going out here? Seeing you like this, I’m starting to wonder just how brilliant this idea actually was. I mean, I was all for it—you know that—but I guess I didn’t realize how run-down this place had gotten.”

Beth didn’t dare tell her what it had looked like just a few weeks ago.

“It’s going well, actually. Slow, but we’re making progress.”

Dina’s smile looked forced. “Isn’t it funny?”

“Isn’t what funny?”

“How everything turned out. I’m living downtown with Harrison, running our own ad firm, and you’re ... doing this. It’s exciting, right?”

Was it her intention to condescend?

Beth took off the gloves and laid them on the side of the garden. “Do you want some lemonade?”

Dina’s face brightened. “Sure.”

In the kitchen, she poured two glasses of lemonade and handed one to Dina, feeling uneasy about her being there at all. She was embarrassed for Dina to see the farm like this. To see her like this. Dina represented everything Beth had tried—failed—to achieve.

Beth shook that thought off. She shouldn’t blame Dina for making something of her life.

She sat down at the table across from Dina, a stunted silence hanging in the air between them. They’d competed all through high school, always under the guise of friends, even if not “besties.” But they hadn’t kept in touch—so why was Dina here now?

She searched for something to say. Came up empty.

“I heard you have big plans for this place,” Dina said. “And you want to be open by this fall. That’s quite an undertaking.”

Beth took a sip of her lemonade, noticing her hands were still dirty despite having washed them before she’d sat down. “We have a good team. A solid plan.”

It was partly true. They did have a good team. Beth was still working on the plan part.

“I’m sure. You only surround yourself with the best.” She smiled. Her words were complimentary, yet somehow Beth bristled at them, expecting criticism.

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