Chapter One
TessG:Flick darling, please do something about Rufus. He’s gorgeous but I really can’t deal with the way he expresses his love for you, especially at two in the morning. Oh, and get well soon, Ms Gina. Hope to see you up and about soon!
HankPriceCheatedOnMe:For sale: 14 KT white gold engagement ring, size 7. Call Mickey at 555-6721. Selling it because Hank Price is a cheating bastard who can’t keep his zipper closed!
SawyersFutureWife: Waiting in the wings . . .
“Aunt Gin, you’re the topic of conversation on Mercy OnLine.” Flick Sturgiss booted herself up onto the high hospital bed at her aunt’s feet and waved her cell phone in her direction. “Well, you, Rufus, Hank Price, and Sawyer.”
“It’s only been live for a couple of days and Sawyer is already a topic of conversation?” Pippa grumbled, dumping her bag on the floor next to the visitors’ chair before kissing her mom hello. “Rufus I can understand—that dog is adorable—but Sawyer?”
“This woman has no sense,” Flick said. “She calls herself Sawyer’s future wife.”
Pippa looked horrified. “Good grief.”
“What on earth is Mercy OnLine?” Gina demanded.
“It’s a new community forum where the residents of Mercy can post their concerns, talk about local news and politics, sell stuff,” Pippa replied. “It’s an Internet-based notice board.”
“Oh.”Gina tossed her a brisk look. “May I at least rate a smile, Felicity? This is a hospital visit, not a visit to the morgue.”
Flick made a concerted effort to drop her hunched shoulders and look relaxed, even though she knew she wasn’t fooling her aunt or her cousin. She blew her aunt a kiss and was rewarded with a'yeah yeah'smile. She hated hospitals and was only visiting because Gina was her second mother and she loved her. Hospitals swept her back to a time she preferred not to remember—this hospital in particular. Her brother Andy had passed away just down the hall after countless visits for chemo treatments, and her mom had followed her youngest child a year later. Flick’s reticent father had been unable to deal with her emotional, pre-teen meltdown and her much older brothers had taken comfort in each other. Gina and Pippa had been the safe harbor she’d run to, and she adored them.
She’d left New York and her job as a sous chef in a popular restaurant to return to Mercy, smallish town quite close to Washington, DC in order to revive her grandmother’s bakery, to work and live with Pippa. To spend time with Gina. Being in the same town as Jack—her brother—and her cousins was an added bonus.
She’d do anything in the world for her family.
Unfortunately, anything included making hospital visits after dreadful car accidents. Two weeks ago, on a trip back from D.C., Gina had a close encounter with a big rig whose trailer had jackknifed, connecting with Gina’s little compact as she passed him. Gina’s car lost the fight. Flick was just eternally grateful that her second mother—actually, she’d been more of a mother to her than her own had been— suffered no more than a fractured pelvis and a broken arm and femur. Her injuries were bad and she’d be in the hospital for a couple more weeks but a couple of broken bones was better than her being dead.
Dead, as she knew, was so damn final.
Flick pulled in a deep breath and pasted a smile on her face. “As I said, lots of people have sent messages wishing you well.”
Gina took Flick’s cell from her hand and squinted down at the screen. “I can’t read this without my glasses. Read them to me.”
The First Lady of Mercy expected to be obeyed, so Flick took her phone back and swiped her finger across the screen. “Mayor Bob would like to wish our ex-mayor a speedy recovery after her accident and hopes that she’s back home soon.”
“I was the mayor’s wife, not the mayor,” Gina grumbled. Gina’s husband had been the town’s longest-serving mayor until his death six years ago.
“You took over Dad’s duties after he died, Mom,” Pippa told her, tucking a long strand of copper-toned hair behind her ear. Flick lounged across the end of the bed, head supported by her hand, marveling at the fact that, despite the neck brace and a wrist in plaster, Gina was perfectly made up, not a hair out of place. It didn’t matter that she’d been slapped by a massive truck—appearances had to be kept up, and order had to be maintained.
Pippa had inherited that trait from her, Flick mused. Gina was sociable and outgoing and Pippa was more reserved, quiet, and serious than her gregarious mother. But, like Gina, Pippa was utterly reliable and, in the best way possible, a control freak.
“Are you going to read the other messages or not, Felicity?” Gina demanded.
Oh, right. Flick swiped her finger across the screen. “DocMolly wrote, “Get well soon, Gina.” Gina sniffed her disdain. “Molly Wishlade. That girl never did have an original bone in her body.”
That “girl” was Mercy’s favorite female doctor. Gina was still mad at her for telling her that she was pre-diabetic and that she had to give up sugar. Judging by the candy wrapper peeking out from under the book on her bedside table, Gina still wasn’t listening.
Flick read the next message silently.Hunter4U: Gina has such a pair of brass balls that the truck probably just bounced off her.She decided not to share that message aloud. Jerk.
“Helen Smith and Lola Pearson—LolaP as she calls herself—both wish you well and a speedy recovery. HotNurse suggests that you not boss the nurses around.”
“I am not bossy! Gina retorted. “And why don’t they put their real names, instead of those silly ones? HotNurse? Who is that?”
“Some people use their own names, others choose to post anonymously or use names that describe them.” Flick exchanged a look with Pippa. They’d discussed the new forum on the ride to the hospital and neither of them liked the idea of residents being able to hide behind anonymous names. It was too easy to use, abuse, and slander others that way. Like any other smallish town in America, Mercy fed off gossip, but there were still rules to what could be said aloud. Behind a computer monitor, with anonymity guaranteed, fair play, respect, and responsibility tended to be forgotten. As evidenced by Hunter’s comment and the fact that neither of them had the faintest idea who Sawyer’s next wife was. If they did, they’d sit her down and explain that their childhood friend was a lovely guy, a charming flirt, and ridiculously gorgeous, but that he was not husband material.
Mostly because he had the attention span of cooked noodles when it came to women.