Page 48 of The Moment They Can't Forget

“I knew it.” Lil punched the air.

“Knew what?”

“That you and hot guy JD had a thing for each other,” her friend said.

“What? Absolutely not.”

“I know you, Zoe, and saw the way you and he were sending sexy glances at each other last night. That look on your face”—she jabbed a finger at Zoe—“confirms it.”

“No, we weren’t,” she protested. Hell, had anyone else seen those glances? “And shut up. Anyone could hear you talking like that. This town loves gossip.”

“Just tell me the truth. Do you have a thing with that guy?” Lil spoke softly this time.

“Zoe, well now, this is a nice surprise, and you looking so lovely in that blue dress,” June Matilda said, entering the shop with LouJean on her heels. Lil shot her a this-conversation-is-not-over look,which Zoe ignored.

“Morning, Zoe,” LouJean said.

The two women wore Lycra leggings and matching lilac square dancing shirts. After all, you never knew when you would be needed for a dance.

LouJean wore a visor, with her silver hair piled high on top of her head. She was one of those neat-as-a-pin women who always looked like they’d stepped out of a salon. Zoe’s mother often moaned that she could take hours to get ready and LouJean still looked better.

“I’m helping Mrs. C out,” Zoe said.

“Aren’t you a sweet thing for doing that,” LouJean cooed. “Hello, Lilith,” she then added.

It didn’t surprise Zoe she knew who Lil was. The elders in this town knew everything.

“Before we head to the fair, I want to order the new curtains for my bedroom, Zoe,” June said.

“Is this a new order?” Zoe asked.

“It is, and I have complete faith in you that you can do it,” June said with all the knowledge of a person who had known Zoe since she was a child.

“Right then.” There was no computer, as Mrs. C wrote everything in a series of ledgers. Zoe found the one with “curtain orders” written on the front and thought that was a good place to start.

They spent thirty minutes looking at fabric and finally selected a hideous shade of green with large pink flowers all over it.

“That’s lovely,” Lil lied without so much as a blink. June Matilda beamed.

“Here are the measurements Bart took, Zoe.” June held out a piece of paper. “See you at the fair later.”

“Have you made any of your caramel and peanut fudge, LouJean?” Zoe asked.

“Four batches, dear.”

She waved them out the door, her mouth watering at the memory of that fudge.

“That went well. Your first order, and you aced it, even if you couldn’t talk her out of that hideous material,” Lil said.

“Let me write this all down and make sure I have it correct, and soon we can lock up and head to the fair.”

“No way are we leaving here without moving some stuff around,” Lil said, clapping her hands together and looking like a child about to be handed a huge bowl of candy. “I’ll go get coffee to fuel us. You stay and fine-tune that layout you’ve drawn.”

Before she could stop her, Lil had gone, so Zoe sat and wrote neatly into the ledger and then moved on to tweaking the floor plan.

“Mrs. C needs a computer,” she muttered.

“I’ll make sure to tell her if I ever meet her.”

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