the world you’re talking about.” I slid into the chair across from her, holding the “hang on a minute” finger up toward the laughing Holly and Piper behind the counter. It was busy from the early morning rush, but they could handle it for a few more minutes while I dealt with my nosy Rosy Posy. The shoe was on the other foot for a change. It was weird.
“Sure, you don’t.” she snickered as she sipped her latte. “You looked pretty loved up, Miss Head-in-the-Clouds, floating here on the wings of your future wedding doves.”
I chuckled. “How’s married life treating you?”
“Ahh, deflection. I admire your strategery, though it’s not going to work. Married life is perfection since my husband is the sexy, hot-cop man of my dreams. I have no complaints, and now that I’m getting it on the regular, the time I used to spend on fruitless dating and horny moping is over. In other words, I’m feelin’ fine, so it’s time to start mixing into everyone else’s business again. Perhaps I’ll start with you.” Her eyebrows raised along with her cup as she mock toasted me.
“Uh, no thanks.” I grinned and swiped one of her tiny scones.
“I was going to wait to grill you about Jake out of respect for your divorce, older sister status, and children, but you look intriguingly happy, so all bets are off. There’s a spring in your step that only a session with a highly skilled dick can bring. Am I right?” she whispered.
My face had to be at least ten different shades of red. “Rose! People will hear,” I hissed. “Whispering in here is useless. You should know that by now.” People were on the lookout for lowered voices of any kind in my shop; a hand to the side of the mouth was not a deterrent to eavesdropping, and a red face acted like a beacon for juicy gossip. I needed to hide.
“Spill it—yes or no? I’ll keep your secrets and ask no further questions if you tell me.”
I inched closer to Rose. “Fine, yes. Not a home run, but yes. Bathing suit areas were involved. All of them,” I confessed on another whispered hiss.
She burst out laughing. “Oh my god. ‘Bathing suit areas.’” She snickered as she repeated my silly words. “Putting it that way is not an unbreakable code. But go you. Move on from that ass-face Tom in style.”
“Whatever.” I grabbed my tote bag. “I’m glad you’re here anyway. I have something of yours. I found it in your closet the night I moved into the house. I’ve been carrying it around to give to you.” I simultaneously cringed in sympathy and fought back laughter while at the same time selfishly happy to take the focus off myself.
“Oh yeah? What did you—” I held my tote open to show her the binder full of Jake’s old modeling pictures. “Oh, shit. Don’t you dare show that to anyone, Violet Marie Barrett. I couldn’t take it with me for obvious reasons and I didn’t want to throw it away, also for obvious reasons. I mean, look at it. It’s too hot to get rid of.” She chuckled, then covered her face with her hands.
“I would never show it to anyone, uh, deliberately. Rose, brace yourself.” I paused for dramatic effect. “Jake saw it. It fell to the floor and popped open when he was putting boxes on the top shelf for me.”
Her eyes got huge, and she shook her head. “No. That didn’t happen . . .”
“It did. He flipped through and got all nostalgic.” She closed her eyes and covered her ears.
“I don’t accept that. Take it to your office and hide it somewhere. Let us never speak of this again.”
“But—”
“Nuh-uh. Nope, no way. Hide it good for me, Vi.”
“Okay, fine. I have to get to work anyway.”
“’Kthanksbyeloveyou,” she shouted over her shoulder as she made a mad dash to the front door.
“Love you too, weirdo,” I shouted over my shoulder as I made my way toward my office. I passed Holly, saying, “I’ll be out front in a minute.”
She smiled. “We’ve got this. Take your time.”
A rough hand grabbed my upper arm, shoving me into my office once I got through the swinging doors. I stumbled through the doorway, whirling around as it slammed shut behind me. “What the—”
“It’s just me. We need to talk.” Tom stood there, towering over me, and blocking the way out.
“Get out of my way. I have nothing to say to you.” I