“The next day, the family woke to discover a window broken in the parlor. Later they found her lifeless body in her childhood bed. She left a note explaining that she’d poisoned herself, but not before putting a curse on her betrothed and all of his male heirs. It doomed them to a lifetime of the same heartache that she had faced. Each of them would fall madly in love, only to have it end in tragedy.”
“Wow.” I glanced over to Nadia, who was still slumped down in the seat, and whispered, “Did you know about—”
She nodded. “Everyone knows about the Comfort curse.”
The Comfort curse?
I wondered if that had anything to do with the Comforts I’d met this morning. Specifically, Billy Comfort and his cocky half-grin.
“Legend has it that she still walks the halls, forever doomed to be a tortured soul.” Stew took a dramatic pause before continuing. “The Abernathys are one of the founding families of Firefly Island. Carlton Abernathy, whose family owned luxury hotels, purchased the island along with two fraternity brothers. Trenton Culpepper, whose father was an oil tycoon, and Benson Montgomery, who was heir to a shipping dynasty. The three attended Harvard together and bought the island to use as a private vacation destination. After graduating, however, the trio decided to move to the island permanently and develop it.”
I tuned out as Stewart continued reciting the history of the town. My mind wandered to the place it had been wandering to all day: Billy Comfort. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve said I was suffering from my own Comfort curse.
From the moment I’d seen that crooked smile, I’d fallen under a spell.
“On your right, you’ll see Firefly Pier, which is home to the tallest Ferris wheel on the East Coast.”
My first thought when I saw it was that I was impressed by its height. My next thought, popping into my head immediately on the heels of the first, was an image of Billy Comfort and me riding on it. He was holding my hand, leaning over and pressing kisses to my cheek, whispering things in my ear.
Third thought? I wondered how many girls and women he’d taken for rides on the attraction.
Stop it, I reprimanded myself.
This was insane. Until just one week ago, I’d had a ring on my left hand. My right forefinger rubbed along the base of my left ring finger. It might be my imagination, but I would’ve sworn that there was still an indention where my engagement ring had been.
Damn. It had been such a long time since I’d been single. Blaine and I had been together for eight years, and engaged for two of those. During all that time, sure, I’d found other men attractive, but I’d never pictured myself taking romantic Ferris wheel rides with anyone…not even Blaine.
Fantasizing and daydreaming had never been the way my brain worked. I was a realist. I always had goals to meet and I worked toward them. I’d never seen the point in wasting energy or mental space on things that weren’t real. Billy Comfort was nothing to me. He was a stranger.
So why can I not stop thinking about this man?
“Coming up on your right you’ll see Firefly Drive-in.”
As we drove past the retro drive-in that backed up to the ocean, again, I imagined how many ladies Billy Comfort had taken there in his truck. Not that I had any idea whether or not he had a truck, but in my fantasy he did.
“We are now entering downtown Firefly. First we’ll see the Arts District, home to the Firefly Opera House, which is known for its ornate vaulted ceilings, intricate metalwork, painted murals, and massive gold-plated dome.”
As soon as we drove into a more populated area, I noticed Nadia slide even lower down. I had to smile to myself. Seeing her this uncomfortable was amusing.
“Musicians from all over the world have performed beneath that dome, everyone from Taylor Swift to Elvis has played on that stage during our annual Firefly Arts Festival.”
Stewie continued waxing poetic about the festival when Nadia reached up and pulled the wire that hung above our heads, signaling that we wanted to get off.
“Thank you, ladies, for riding Firefly Island Trolley Tours. Hope to see you again real soon.”
As soon as the trolley stopped Nadia bolted off of it like her pants were on fire. I waved at Stew before disembarking. “Thank you!”
“Have a great day!” he enthused.
“And thank you.” I threaded my arm through Nadia’s and gave it a squeeze. “I know that was painful for you.”
“It really was.” Her tone was flat, but the corners of her lips were turned up in a grin.
We walked into the Dreamy Bean Coffee & Book Café, and the smell of coffee beans filled the air. The interior was as adorable as the name. There was exposed brick on one wall and a floor-to-ceiling bookcase on another. The counter was wrapped in distressed wood and large pendant lights dangled from the ceiling. We placed our orders and grabbed a small table, settling down on the spindly wrought-iron chairs.
We’d barely sat down when the barista delivered our drinks. I took a sip of the creamy coffee concoction and breathed in a sigh. It was nice to have an oasis of calm and normalcy in the middle of such a crazy day– the will reading behind me, accompanying Cheyenne to Southern Comfort still ahead of me.
“So where are you staying? I told you that you should just stay with me.”