The Magnolia Sisters (Magnolia Sisters #1) - Michelle Major Page 0,44
belong here.”
“Oh...well...” Avery kept her smile even. The words were spoken in a lilting accent, the type she imagined Scarlett O’Hara would have had back in the day. And while Avery might agree she didn’t belong in Magnolia, somehow the words still cut. “Obviously, I’m here temporarily.”
“Obviously,” the woman agreed. “I’m Annalise Haverford. Of the Charlotte Haverfords.”
“Of course you are.” Maybe Avery shouldn’t have been so quick to appreciate the woman’s friendliness. Apparently there was a thin line between Southern hospitality and latent hostility.
An adorable girl with intricately curled hair ran up to the woman and hugged her leg. “This is my daughter, Margo.”
“Margo,” Avery repeated, eyes narrowing. Violet’s kindergarten tormentor was named Margo.
“Hello,” the girl said with a smile that mimicked her mother’s. “Your dog is ugly.”
Avery gasped and glanced down at Spot, who had flopped on her back at the girl’s feet.
“She is a bit odd,” Annalise confirmed. “I’m guessing she’s one of Meredith’s reject mutts. That one is always taking in the most hopeless strays, then trying to foist them off on people. You seem more a purebred type although...” Her tinkling laughter filled the air. “I guess looks can be deceiving.”
Red splashes of fury danced in front of Avery’s eyes. She bent to pick up the dog. “Spot is perfect just the way she is,” she said, clutching the wriggling dog to her chest. “And any day of the week, I’ll take a sweet mutt over a purebred...” She stopped and drew in a breath.
Annalise watched her, a smirk playing around the corner of her mouth, as if she relished the thought of Avery going off on her. It was difficult to believe that was possible. Why would this stranger goad her into lashing out?
A wave of affection for Violet Atwell rolled through Avery. No wonder the girl had been obsessed with braids. If precious Margo was anything like her mother...
“It was nice to meet you,” she said to Annalise, taking a step away.
The woman’s gaze shuttered, clearly disappointed in Avery’s lack of reaction. “I’m sure we’ll meet again.”
Not if I can help it, Avery thought as she turned and fled through the crowd. A few people greeted her and several others tried to make eye contact, but she kept moving. Annalise’s veiled slights had somehow made a crack in the wall she’d erected to barricade her emotions. Now she couldn’t seem to stop the flood of feelings surging through her. Sorrow. Regret. Anger. Bitterness.
But the one that really hurt was the humiliation at where her life had ended up.
She didn’t belong in Magnolia.
She didn’t belong anywhere.
CHAPTER TEN
GRAY MADE HIS way through the already thick crowd gathered for Summer Fair, waving and saying a few words to friends and acquaintances without stopping for any lengthy conversations.
It wasn’t exactly that he was on a mission to track down Avery...except he was determined to find her.
His gaze had locked on the elegant blonde as soon as the station’s ladder truck turned the corner onto First Avenue. She’d stood between Carrie and Meredith, shoulders back and features composed, like she was some sort of ancient queen surveying the troops as they rolled by on the way to battle.
But Gray understood she was the one under siege. He’d seen glimpses of her soft underbelly and understood that vulnerability was rare and precious. Maybe he was projecting what he wanted to see, but today couldn’t have been easy for her. Not for any of Niall’s daughters. On display in front of the town, representing a father who’d betrayed each of them in separate ways.
Avery’s distress affected him at some bone-deep level he couldn’t seem to shake. It was more than the incendiary kiss they’d shared, although he wouldn’t mind more of that. The connection went further than physical attraction. He knew her, or at least he wanted to, idiot that it made him.
He checked the animal shelter booth but didn’t find her there. Carrie was deep in conversation with Josie, most likely brainstorming ways to save the downtown businesses that Niall had supported even after his circumstances changed. He admired his old