“Really?” The pretty blonde’s brow furrowed.
Sara laughed. “I guess, since you read the blog, you know I’m not really a spur-of-the-moment person.”
“Yeah.” The corners of Ali’s eyes crinkled as she smiled. “Your planner posts are epic.”
At the end of each month Sara posted snapshots of her daily, weekly, and monthly planner pages, with all of the personal information redacted, of course. She had no idea why anyone was interested in it, but they always got really great engagement. A ton of Sara’s posts were centered on her Type A personality and her love of organization and planning. She planned dinners a month out and had laundry, including sorting and folding penciled into time slots in her schedule.
Honestly, Sara didn’t understand why everyone didn’t plan as meticulously as she did. It was the only way she knew that nothing would fall through the cracks.
“So this trip wasn’t planned?” Ali seemed like she couldn’t quite believe it.
“No. It wasn’t.” Neither was selling my house. Sara figured that might be too much information to share with this virtual stranger.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here.” Ali smiled. “What made you decide to come to Whisper Lake?”
“I was going through some things and came across this picture.” Sara pulled the photo out of her purse and handed it to Ali. “That’s my grandma. She spent a summer here when she was sixteen and said it was magical. She passed away years ago and at the end, this place was all she talked about. When I found it again…I don’t know what happened, but one second I was looking at it, and the next I was packing the kids’ bags and hitting the road. I didn’t even know where we were going to stay.”
“Wow. Well, your grandma was beautiful. Your daughter has her eyes.”
Charlotte did have Grandma Betty’s eyes. Sometimes when she looked in them it was like having a piece of her grandma here on earth.
“And she was right, Whisper Lake is magical.” Her face fell slightly as she handed back the picture. “Wait. You said this wasn’t planned and that you just got into town?”
“Yep.” Sara wasn’t sure what had caused the shift in Ali’s demeanor.
“Things get a little crazy during festivals and the summer festival is starting tomorrow. The B&B has been booked up for months and I think the Castle has too. But, I have a friend whose mom had an Airbnb that I might be able to—”
“Oh thanks, but we got a room. There was a last minute cancellation at the B&B, which is where my grandma stayed when she was here,” Sara explained.
“That’s awesome. I just heard something about the B&B…” Ali tapped her finger on the counter as her eyes narrowed. “Oh right. Mrs. D came by and said she had an Austin sighting. Him being back is pretty big news around here. His grandparents owned the B&B and he inherited it from them. He was in the Marines. A sniper.” Ali leaned in and lowered her voice, not that the kids were paying any attention. KJ, Trev, and Charlotte were all watching a funny video on KJ’s phone. “And, fair warning, I know you’re married, but Mrs. D said that he’s got even better looking with age. She said he’s sexier than Brad Pitt, David Beckham, and Ryan Gosling combined.”
Okay, sexy she knew. Marines, she knew. Sniper was new information. Not that it surprised Sara. Between the domineering air of calm authority he exuded and the perceptiveness to notice a stranger’s tires were low, he fit the bill to a tee.
“We met.” Sara’s voice was so breathy she sounded like an out of shape phone sex operator running a marathon. Great. Austin didn’t even have to be in the vicinity to affect her. She straightened up. “And I’m actually not married…anymore.”
It was the first time she’d said that to anyone other than her brother and sister and she waited to feel…something. But she honestly didn’t feel any different at all.
“Oh.” Ali’s eyes widened for a split second, but then her look of surprise was replaced with a warm, friendly, open smile. “Right, I think Trevor mentioned…Well, I haven’t seen him in over a decade but he used to be really nice.”
“Yeah…he seems nice.”
Nice wasn’t exactly the first word that came to mind when Sara thought about Austin. Sexy. Dangerous. Hot. Tempting. Those all topped the list of words she would use to describe Austin Stone.
Oh, and off-limits. Yeah. She should probably remember that one.