the wedding. Your boss gave them to me.”
Sierra picked up her coffee. “He shouldn’t do that, but he does in order to not deal with the bottles.”
“Lucky me. What time did you finally get out of there?”
“We finished the cleanup about six. Rick gave me a ride home. I came by but didn’t see you.”
“I went for a drive.” Meandering down the long roads had felt a little less pointless than coming home and staring at the walls.
“At the reception, I was caught up with serving cake and didn’t get the chance to ask you, but did I see Jeremy at the wedding?”
“You did.” She took another sip. “In a nutshell, he came to tell me he’s getting married. Also turns out he and his soon-to-be wife are having a baby. In a few weeks.”
“Libby.” Sierra dragged out her name, etching sadness and anger into each syllable.
“Don’t do that voice. And don’t look at me like that. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. Those bottles were more than half-full, and you didn’t step outside yesterday. I thought you were tired, so I left you alone. But now I can see you were mourning.”
“I was not mourning. I’m a workaholic. You said yourself my energy is totally out of balance and too focused on work.”
“Why did he come to the wedding?”
“He was looking for me. He wanted to have this conversation with me in person, but I think he also wanted a public meeting so things didn’t go sideways.”
“It couldn’t have waited until you were finished shooting the wedding?”
“Guess not.”
“Well, old Jeremy just dumped a truckload of manure on your head, and I think that stinks.”
“I have to respect that he told me in person.”
Sierra tapped a red manicured finger against the side of her stoneware mug. “There are days when I rail at the universe for taking Adam from me. If I get really on a roll, I console myself with the idea that at least I’ll never have to see him with another woman. Selfish, but knowing we are both alone always does the trick for me. I don’t know what I’d do if he had married another woman.”
Libby washed down two aspirin with a gulp of coffee. “We got a divorce for a reason. And if your husband found another woman a tad too quickly, you would drink and work too much like me.”
“Too much of either is not good for you.”
“Like I said, I’m taking a break soon, and I can’t blame Jeremy. I left him. He’s not a bad guy.”
“Then why do I want to punch him in the nose?”
“What would you have him do? Send a text?”
“It’s what any self-respecting millennial male would have done.”
Libby smiled. “Not him. He’s not the bad guy.”
The eggs sizzled in the pan, pulling Sierra’s attention back to cooking.
“I met Elaine Grant at the wedding,” Libby said.
“What did she want?” Sierra lifted the edges of the egg so the uncooked middle could reach the pan.
“She’s talking about creating a website for the Woodmont Estate. She’s going to need a photographer.”
“And you might get the job?”
“Maybe.”
“Can you imagine if Woodmont opened for big events? It would drive all kinds of business into Bluestone.”
Libby made a mental note to take her laptop so she could show Elaine the shots from the wedding. She’d sent Ginger her link to her look book but was not sure if the honeymooning bride had passed it on. “It would be great for everyone in a fifty-mile radius.” She took a long sip of coffee, thinking it serendipitous that Ginger had found her own website. “What’s with the 1950s look?”
Her gaze sharpening, Sierra said, “I’m meeting with the bank today.”
“Ah, you’re going through with the loan to buy the old mercantile store in town.” The space had started as a mercantile store in the 1920s, and when the owner had died, the property had been passed through the family, becoming a hardware store at one point and an antique store in recent years until it had closed for good.
Sierra dished out eggs on two plates already decorated with freshly sliced fruit. “I went by the mercantile store yesterday. It has so much potential. Great bones.”
“What will it cost to buy and renovate?”
“A lot. Hence the loan. I have enough from Adam’s life insurance to pay for most of the building, but I’ll need bank money for working capital.”
“Reno is always more than you think. Whatever the contractor quotes, add fifty percent.”
“I’m trying to be positive here,” Sierra said. “I