Rachel looked at Grace like she was crazy. “That gold digger? Don’t say that in front of Lydia Carlisle. She’d go ape. Presley Ann needs a wakeup call.”
Lucy Owen growled as she looked at the front door of the store. “At least she’s preferable to someone who needs a gigantic stick removed from her self-righteous ass.” She glared across the store at a woman who looked familiar.
“Who’s that?” Veronica asked Grace as Grandma Kate sidled up alongside them and craned her neck, trying to see who they were talking about.
“That, honey, is Tabitha Lester,” Grace whispered as she inspected the same bras Veronica had been looking at earlier. “And you need to avoid her as much as possible.”
“Oh,” Veronica replied with a cringe. “Hank mentioned her to me. Thanks for the heads-up. She was the one protesting Maizy’s wedding, wasn’t she?”
Lucy nodded. “She is mean and gossipy. You don’t want her attention.”
Veronica said, “Hank told me she’s already gotten wind of his relationship with me…and Travis. She makes us sound like depraved sex addicts.”
Grace said, “That’s exactly what she believes.”
Veronica said, “I couldn’t help but notice at the wedding that she seemed to direct most of her outburst at Maizy.”
Rachel got big eyes and looked at Grace. “See? It’s not just me. I noticed that, too, Veronica. And not only with Maizy. She’s hateful to Lucy, Emma, Summer, and any of the other girls she knows.”
Lucy looked confused. “You have a point. But then how come she’s always so mean to Beck? He’s one of the guys.”
Rachel snickered. “Uh, I dunno? Maybe because he’s the man most likely to stick his foot in his mouth?”
Lucy snorted and batted at Rachel good-naturedly. “No he isn’t. He’s my sweet honey pie.”
Rachel gaped. “Then why were you calling him an obnoxious jackass this morning when I called you?”
“It was a misunderstanding. He didn’t mean to take all the hot water before I had my shower. And he helped me warm up afterward,” Lucy added with a wink.
Grace waggled a finger and said, “People better not be hating on my sweet Beck. He can’t help it if he’s such a guy, bless his heart. And he doesn’t deserve the hell he catches from Tabitha any more than the rest of us do. Poor baby.”
Grandma Kate got a look at Tabitha finally and said, “I met her in Divine Drip when Seth and I took a ride on his Harley. She and I had a chat.”
All the girls went silent and looked at Kate. Grandma Kate chuckled and said, “There’s not a lot I could say that would change her mind, so I shared my thoughts on her campaign to ‘Keep Divine Pure.’ She gives nice, God-fearing Christians a bad name.”
They heard a giggle from behind them and Presley Ann’s petite sister, Leah, popped her head out from behind a rack and smiled at Grandma Kate. “So you’re the one she was ranting about on her blog the other day.”
Rachel growled. “She’s blogging? Another one is up to that bullshit?”
Leah nodded and smiled in commiseration. “Don’t worry. Her articles are so poorly written, and her rants are so repetitive, she doesn’t have much of a following. And if you look through her archives, she has as many negative comments about her blog as she does positive ones, or at least until she deletes them. She’s a very unhappy lady, I think.”
Presley Ann’s sister seemed like a patient and understanding person and Veronica took an instant liking to her.
Tabitha eventually caught sight of the group and gave them all dirty looks before imperiously asking for a dressing room.
Presley Ann helped her and came out of the dressing rooms a moment later grimacing and mimicking one of Tabitha’s diatribes. “Meh-meh-meh-meh-meh.” Veronica had to stifle her giggle.
The girls had been more than happy to avoid contact with Tabitha and wound up at Rudy’s for a late lunch before she’d headed back to Hank’s place with all of her purchases.
Pulling her back to the present, Hank and his deputy, Wyatt, greeted the group and began their instruction. Veronica did her best to pay attention but found herself continually distracted by the way Hank’s heather-gray sweats fit his hips and the way his black Divine County Sheriff’s Department T-shirt stretched across his chest and biceps. The two men gave them demonstrations in self-defense using the red floor mats and then asked them to line up to practice the moves and learn the steps to defending themselves.