look so serious was after he and Hope had broken up and he’d made the decision to pack up and move across the country. “Come on. Tell me. What’s going on?”
He sighed and twisted a napkin as if he needed to keep his hands busy. “It’s my mom. She has the beginning stages of dementia.”
“Oh, no,” Grace said. “I’m so sorry. How bad is it?”
“Not terrible, but bad enough she can’t live alone. And please don’t say anything to anyone. She’s very concerned about being the talk of the town.”
“I understand.” But Grace didn’t know how she was going to keep any of this from Hope. She was one of her best friends and a coven mate. It just felt wrong. “Lucas, what about Hope?”
He pressed his lips together in a thin line. “I need you to let me talk to her first.”
“You told me on the phone that you wanted a house that she’d love. It’s not hard to work out that you hope she’ll be joining you there one day.”
Lucas stared Grace in the eye but didn’t say anything.
“I assume this means you’re ready to work things out?” Grace knew this wasn’t really any of her business, but he’d just asked her to lie by omission. If she was going to go down that road with him, she wanted to make sure it was worth it.
They stared each other down until Lucas finally let out a breath and leaned back against the booth. “Grace, do you think there is any chance that Hope and I could live in the same town and not end up together?”
“No. Not really,” she said honestly. “But you’ve been gone a long time. You’ve both changed. I’m just not sure you can go back.”
“I have no intentions of moving backward, Grace. I’m here to move forward. I’m sure you understand that better than most after this past year.”
She gave him a sad smile. “I do. But I’m moving forward on my own.”
“So am I. But that doesn’t mean I can’t try to start over with the only person I…” He glanced away as his face flushed pink. “Anyway. If there’s a chance Hope can be a part of my life moving forward, then I’m going to go for it. That’s all there is to it.”
“Okay then,” she said brightly, pleased to hear he still obviously cared for her friend. They were the type of couple who would always be finding their way back to each other. She just prayed that this time they’d stick. Grace pushed the folder across the table toward him. “I put together the homes that are on the market that I think Hope might be most interested in. I didn’t know your budget, so I just pulled what I could find. Let me know if there are any you’re interested in seeing. Or alternatively, you could give me a list of your must haves and your budget and let me do the vetting.”
He shook his head. “No budget. All I care about is that there are at least three bedrooms and it’s a place that Hope would like.”
“No budget?” Grace asked, forcing herself to not gape at him. “Business is going good, huh?”
“Something like that.” He chuckled and then waved the waitress over to take their orders.
By unspoken mutual agreement, they dropped the topic of Hope and talked about the changes in Premonition Pointe since Lucas had been gone, what areas of town he liked best, and Grace’s new life as a single woman.
They were having such a good time chatting that Grace didn’t notice Bill until she heard his voice.
“Well, isn’t this interesting,” he said, his tone full of irritation.
Grace jerked around to stare at her soon-to-be ex-husband. “Bill, what are you doing here?”
“Meeting with a client.” He waved at an older woman who was waving at him as she exited the café. “And what about you? Looks like you’ve moved on to dating someone in the appropriate age range.”
“You have some nerve,” Grace said, rising to her feet. “How dare you talk about who I’m dating after you went and traded me in for a woman less than half your age.”
“I didn’t trade you in, Grace. Our marriage was over long before I actually found the balls to leave. You and I both know that.”
Grace curled her hands into fists and contemplated decking the bastard. “We had sex two days before you presented me with your separation plan. Don’t try to gaslight me. You only left because