So she blogged once a week and maintained a Facebook page, an Instagram account and a Twitter presence. Increasing engagement on each of those could be taxing—Sean used to complain about the amount of time she spent trying to cover every base—but she felt it was necessary.
And now she was glad she’d made the effort. Her career could’ve crashed right along with her personal life if she hadn’t maintained a relationship with her readers. Since Sean’s trial ended, and she suddenly found herself with hours and hours and nothing besides work to fill them, she’d been happy to have something she could devote herself to. Something that helped build her career but didn’t require the same level of mental acuity as writing. She didn’t have the focus and concentration she’d had before, hadn’t been able to make much progress on her latest book.
Although she hadn’t made her ordeal public, there were certainly people who knew what had happened, especially if they lived in her area. It hadn’t been reported in the news, but word quickly spread through the firm where Sean worked and leaked out from there. A couple of friends and neighbors had posted well wishes or questions on her social media pages that had sparked a bit of conversation, but she’d managed to minimize all of that by hiding those comments and ignoring those who posted them. Most of her followers had no idea what Sean had done and how his actions had impacted her life.
She was planning to let them know, however. She’d kept it as quiet as possible, but now that she was through the worst of it, it was time to address the scandal openly and honestly and then put it behind her. She hoped that would act as a purge of sorts, help her get back to writing.
But every time she sat down to tackle that particular blog, she came up with another excuse to procrastinate. What Sean had done was so despicable, so humiliating and embarrassing she didn’t even want to think about it let alone tear the scab off the wound.
“Serenity?”
Her name again. Pushing her hair out of her eyes, she blinked and then squinted, trying to bring the world into focus.
Lorelei was standing over her. “Someone’s at the door asking to borrow a shovel.”
“Who?”
“Says he’s your neighbor.”
“My neighbor?” She struggled to clear the cobwebs from her mind. “There’s only one other cabin near this one, and the owners are in Europe.”
“Maybe they rented the place out while they were gone.”
Serenity supposed that was possible. No one had been there last weekend, but someone could’ve come since. A lot of cabin owners used Airbnb and other services if they weren’t going to be in town. “Okay.” She covered a yawn. “Tell him I’m coming.”
After Lorelei left and Serenity heard her say, “It’ll be just a minute,” she rolled out of bed and pulled on some yoga pants, a Berkeley Cheeseboard sweatshirt and her favorite fleece-lined slippers.
She didn’t take time to brush her teeth or comb her hair. She planned to find the shovel, hand it over and be done.
But once she finally located the thing—in the garage, where it had fallen down behind her ski equipment—and brought it to the door, she wished she’d taken a little more care with her appearance.
At first glance, she thought the man at the door might be Kevin Love.
Celebrities did appear in Tahoe quite often, so it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility. The cabin next door had cost a fortune and would rent for one, as well.
Then he smiled and she realized he wasn’t the famous basketball player. It was only his overall body type and the shape of his face and nose that reminded her of him. But he wasn’t quite as tall as Kevin Love, and he had light brown hair with amber-colored eyes.
“Sorry if I woke you.” There was a hint of chagrin in his expression.
Afraid she had a waffle-like pattern on her cheek from the blankets on her bed, she raked the fingers of her free hand through her tangled hair. “No problem. Anything for a neighbor. You’re staying next door, then? Are you related to the owners?”
“Just renting for the summer.”
She hadn’t realized the McClouds would be gone that long. But she’d been walking around in a fog for months. Maybe they’d told her and she didn’t remember. “I doubt the snow we got yesterday will stick, so you’ve all but missed ski season. Are you a backpacker or...”
“I mountain bike now and then, but that’s not why I’m here.”
He didn’t explain any further, and although she wondered why he’d come to Tahoe, she felt it would be too nosy to ask. “Well, there are a lot of great trails in these mountains, if you get the time.” She handed him the shovel. “Here you go.”
“Thank you. I’ll bring it back as soon as I’m done.”
She peered out at the snow covering the walkways, the cars and much of the street. She and her new sisters had their share of shoveling to do, too, or they wouldn’t be able to get out. “No rush. We aren’t going anywhere today.”
A sexy grin curved his lips—or maybe she only thought it was sexy because it had been eighteen months since she’d made love, and her body was beginning to notify her of the neglect.
“Thanks,” he said. “You’d think there’d be a shovel where I’m staying.”
“I’m sure there was one,” she said. “Somebody probably left it out and now it’s buried under the snow. That’s happened to me. Start digging around the back door—or near the woodpile if you’re hoping to find it.”
“Good advice. I’ll give that a try.”
When he turned to go, she shut the door instead of watching him walk away like she wanted to.
“Nice-looking neighbor.” Lorelei spoke from the stairs behind her. She’d followed her back down to the front door. “I wonder if he’s married.”
“I didn’t see a ring.”
“You noticed?”
“Didn’t you?”
They exchanged a sly smile. “A woman would have to be dead not to notice.”
When Lorelei laughed, Serenity was impressed by the way it transformed her face. She’d thought Lorelei was pretty from the first moment she met her, but her new sister seemed a lot less tired and stressed today, which made her even prettier.
They climbed to the second floor together, after which Lorelei went to the kitchen.
Serenity was planning to go back to bed, but when she smelled coffee and saw that Lucy was up, she followed Lorelei.
Lucy sat at the table with a bowl of oatmeal.
“Good morning,” Serenity said.