hadn’t dated anyone since she met Scott in college. Was she ready for that?
* * *
The house was pretty quiet in the morning, the girls still tucked away in their rooms. Justine rushed through a few chores, tidying up, cleaning her bathroom and changing her sheets. Scott didn’t use the master bedroom when he spent time at the house, and she wondered how long it had been since the sheets and towels in the guest room and bath had been laundered. Since laundry had always been her job, she suspected not at all.
She had a third cup of coffee, browsed the news, dressed for the day. By the time she came out to the family room, Amber was up.
“Wow, you look cute,” Amber said.
“I’m going to Carmel for the afternoon. I’m meeting a friend. A guy I worked with a while back.”
Amber’s mouth hung open. “Is this like a...date?”
“Just friends, actually. I don’t have much interest in dating.”
“Who is he?”
“His name is Logan. He’s a private investigator I’ve used. My office uses them routinely. And he’s also divorced, though much longer than me.”
“But I guess you will date,” Amber said tentatively.
“I haven’t given it any thought till this minute. You know what I’ve given a lot of thought to? You and Olivia going to college. I think your college funds are enough to cover everything, but I’m prepared to have to add or use some of my retirement fund or borrow. And I hope when you guys graduate we can celebrate with a trip or something. And you know what else? I want to spend more time with your aunt Addie. It’s like we’re finally getting close enough in age to have a real friendship.”
“Addie is brand-new,” Amber said.
“I know. And I want to be brand-new, too.”
* * *
Justine parked at the edge of the restaurant lot and found Logan standing near the entrance. He wore jeans, a collared shirt and topsiders, no socks. He was in amazing shape, and she assumed it had to do with his years of being a police officer; by his physique, he probably worked out regularly. At forty-eight with a full head of hair and tanned arms and face, he would be drawing looks from the women all afternoon.
When she approached him, he surprised her by pulling her close for a friendly hug. “Good to see you, Justine. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing great,” she said. “In fact, I can’t believe how well I’m doing. Six weeks ago I didn’t think there was any hope I’d feel this good about my life. I mean, it creeps up on me sometimes, but I’m okay.”
“Good,” he said. And he took her hand. “Let’s take on this town.”
The street was closed off, with people crowding the sidewalks. In addition to the stores and shops, there were several booths erected in the middle of the street that led to the ocean. They passed a wood art booth, a couple of large booths filled with paintings and sculptures, a booth selling hummus in a wide variety of flavors, one featuring wraps and shawls and even a leather goods display. Several food booths sold corn dogs, slushies, taffy, cotton candy, ice cream, flavored popcorn and chocolates. They poked around, checking out the wares, and made their way all the way down the hill to the beach. It was such a beautiful June day, the beach was crowded with people from kids to grandparents as well as lots of dogs.
With the time they spent looking at art and crafts and other offerings, it took them two hours to get to the beach. From there, Logan pointed out a restaurant with a large patio and suggested a glass of wine and maybe a snack. They settled into chairs with a view of the Pacific and ordered.
“What’s on your agenda this week?” he asked.
“Well, I don’t have any appointments yet, so first thing in the morning I’m going to get on the computer, see if I can locate any more small practices in the area that I can visit. I’m staying in my friend’s guest room tonight, but I’ll check in with the