Secrets Gone South (Crimson Romance) by Pace Alicia Hunter

Author:Pace, Alicia Hunter [Pace, Alicia Hunter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-02-23T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

It was Thursday night, almost two weeks since Arabelle had moved to the woods. The walk up the sidewalk to Tolly Scott’s front door was interminable. Not literally, of course. It just seemed that way because Arabelle did not want to go to book club. Will had made good on his promise to go to church and Rotary. Tonight, he had informed her he was taking Avery to the diner with the guys and the other kids while she was at book club—of course, without asking if she intended to go to book club. So here she was. Will had a point about giving Avery a normal life and she had come to terms with needing to be more social—but why did it have to be tonight? Today was Carrie’s birthday. No. It would have been Carrie’s birthday. And no one even knew that. If Luke remembered, he’d showed no signs of it when she saw him at the daycare apartment at lunchtime. He had picked up Emma at kindergarten and was in a fine frame of mind. She doubted if Lanie even knew it. And would Emma ever know when her mother’s birthday was? No, because it would be Lanie’s birthday she celebrated.

Tolly opened the door of her big, rambling, 1930s Tudor house. Her smile was sincere, if a bit reserved.

“Come in, Arabelle. I’m so glad you came.”

“Thank you for having me.”

So polite, so formal. She had seen the four of them greet each other and it was more like a middle school cheerleader reunion than lady of the manor admitting a tea party guest.

“It’s cold out.” Tolly led her down the hall to an inviting room with a fireplace and a wet bar. Two matching sofas flanked the fireplace with a large coffee table between. Missy and Lucy sat curled up on one of the sofas across from Lanie. The half empty wine glass indicated that Tolly had been seated beside Lanie. Cozy.

There was a chair at the end of table—a chair that did not belong there and was clearly meant for her. It had been dragged from a now empty corner and its present location upset the balance of the room.

“Arabelle,” Lucy said with some surprise. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Glad to be here.” She let herself down into the chair. At least it was comfortable.

“We were just getting ready to talk about the book.” Tolly put a glass of wine in her hand and settled back into her spot.

“Really?” Arabelle searched the faces around her. They never read a book. They used to, at least, pick out a book and pretend. They didn’t even do that anymore.

“No,” Lanie said. “But we were talking about how maybe we ought to get back to reading. You know, it’s January. Everyone is reasonably settled.”

That got a laugh from the room.

“Well, at least no one’s in crisis,” Lucy said.

“Speak for yourself,” Missy said, getting up to pour another round of wine. They were ahead of her.

Yeah, Lanie. Speak for

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