Lucy gave her a sweet smile. “Good morning.”
“How old do you think that guy is—the one staying next door?” Lorelei asked as Serenity poured herself a cup of coffee.
“Younger than we are.”
Lorelei had just opened the fridge. At Serenity’s response, she twisted around, a skeptical expression on her face. “Really? I didn’t get that impression.”
“Maybe it only feels that way. After what I’ve been through in the past eighteen months, I feel ancient.”
“You mean the trial?”
Serenity immediately regretted bringing that up. She’d told her sisters that she’d found something that shouldn’t have been on her husband’s computer and, as a result, she’d reported him. But that was all she’d said. Although she knew they wondered about the specifics, she’d promised herself she wouldn’t tell anyone she didn’t absolutely have to, wouldn’t force herself to hash and rehash the terrible details. When she was ready, she’d put it in her blog, let everyone read what would constitute her official statement on the ordeal and be done with it. That blog would be the period—or the exclamation point—at the end of the nightmare. “All of it,” she said simply.
Fortunately, Lorelei didn’t press her. “Want some oatmeal?” she asked as she put a glass of milk on the table for Lucy.
“Not right now. Coffee’s enough for me. But...” She sent Lorelei a teasing glance. “You seem pretty interested in the man who borrowed my shovel.”
“I guess the one thing I haven’t considered in everything I’m going through is...what else is out there, you know? My heart was sealed off. I thought I’d never have any reason to look at another man.”
“And now...”
“That hasn’t officially changed.”
Serenity arched her eyebrows. “Interesting.”
Lorelei blushed. “Stop. You’re the one who’s available. I thought he was cute. That’s all.”
“He was cute,” Serenity admitted. “But I’m not ready to start dating.”
“I don’t want to bring up a touchy subject or anything, but do you ever hear from Sean?”
Obviously, Lorelei was still thinking of Serenity’s offhand comment about the past eighteen months having aged her. She’d already brought the conversation back to Sean. “I’ve received a few letters.”
“Letters or email?”
“Letters.”
“And? What do they say? Does he apologize? Try to convince you that he’s innocent? Blame you for turning him in? What?”
“I don’t know. I’ve thrown most of them away without reading them.” She saw Lucy sneak more brown sugar into her hot cereal and grinned despite the topic of conversation.
“You have?” Lorelei persisted. “You’re not curious enough to open them?”
After adding a dash of cream to her coffee, Serenity took a tentative sip. “I’d rather forget him. I definitely don’t want to become pen pals.”
“I know but—”
“He’s probably just asking for money,” Serenity explained. “During the trial, he yelled out that he got ripped off in the divorce, since I got the house. But he spent everything in our retirement accounts on his legal defense, and that amount was equal to the equity in the house. So he got a fair deal.”
Lorelei wrinkled her nose in distaste. “I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.” Serenity jerked her head toward Lucy. “Let’s not discuss it right now.” She took another sip of coffee. “Where’s Reagan? Any word from her this morning?”
Before Lorelei could respond, Serenity heard her other sister say, “Right here.”
Reagan was just coming down the stairs.
“You sleep okay?” Serenity raised her voice so it would carry. The kitchen was open to the living room; she could see Reagan but received no response.
Reagan had paused before the wall of windows that looked out on the deck and the snow-covered landscape and trees beyond the deck to the lake.
“Reagan?” Serenity prompted.
Pulling her gaze away from the view, she finished crossing the living room to reach the kitchen. She was wearing sweats, her face was freshly scrubbed, and she’d taken the time to put some product in her hair, but she wasn’t wearing any makeup. “What?”
“Did you sleep okay?”
“Yeah.” The dark circles under her eyes contradicted her, but Serenity chose not to mention it.
“Would you like some breakfast?” Lorelei asked. “I made oatmeal.”
Reagan seemed vaguely surprised that Lorelei would be the one to offer her something to eat. “No, thanks. I’m just going to have a cup of coffee.”
“Any word from Drew?” Serenity asked.
After a slight hesitation, Reagan poured herself some coffee and carried her mug to the table. “He tried to call again last night.”
Serenity slid the cream and sugar in her direction. “Did you take it?”
When Reagan didn’t answer right away, Serenity sensed Lorelei going rigid at the sink behind them and wondered if Reagan was aware of the tension in her, too.
“What’d he say?” she asked, assuming the answer was yes or Reagan would’ve said no.
“I didn’t give him the chance to say anything. I answered, but then I panicked and hung up.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m afraid,” Reagan admitted.
Serenity scooted her chair closer to the table. “That he’s going to stick with his wife?”
After testing her coffee, Reagan glanced over. “No, that he’ll offer to leave her. I don’t want to be responsible for breaking up the family.”
Serenity let her breath seep slowly out. She liked Reagan, in spite of what she’d done. Reagan had made a big mistake, but she obviously regretted getting involved with Drew and wasn’t using their attraction to her advantage—wasn’t out to steal Drew from his wife or get a leg up at the agency, even though her career was clearly very important to her. “What are you going to do?”
“I told you. I have to quit. I can’t be trusted around him.” She rubbed her temples. “Do you have any painkillers? I have a terrible headache.”
Serenity got up to get some for her.
“I’ll look for another job online while we’re here.” She swallowed the two tablets Serenity handed her. “I doubt I’ll be able to get anything that pays what I’m making now. Along with a pay cut, I’ll have to start over and work my way back up. But...”