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“Maybe,” I said without confidence behind it.
The woman behind the counter came out with our two salads, setting them in front of us and leaving once she was sure we had everything we needed to enjoy our lunch.
“Speaking of the house,” I said before I took my first bite. “Do you know of anyone I could hire to help me with some of this demo? My best friend wants to come visit and I feel like there’s just too much work for one woman. Besides, whether I keep the house or sell it, the poor thing needs its own glow-up.”
I put the first bite in my mouth and moaned. “Holy crap,” I said around the food.
Char beamed. “Told you! And yes, I bet one or more of the local kids would come help for pretty cheap. But enough about that. Tell me more about this kiss with Dec yesterday. Or was it with Harley?”
I choked on some lettuce and needed a few sips of water before I could speak. “What?” I hissed.
Char laughed, but this time, the sound was sharp. “The rumor is you kissed one of them on Dec’s boat.”
I leaned over the table, probably getting salad dressing on my shirt, but I needed to keep my voice low more than I cared about the fate of yet another shirt. “How do you know about that?”
“Aha! You don’t deny it, then?” She set her fork down, eyes bright.
I looked left and right. No one was looking at us, but my face flamed anyway. “I didn’t kiss anyone on the boat. And definitely not Harley.”
Char let out a breath and picked her fork back up. Interesting.
“So you kissed someone not on the boat?”
I rolled my eyes. “Look, I don’t want everyone talking about it, because I’m not even sure what happened and I definitely know he wouldn’t want people talking about it, but Dec kissed me last night when he dropped me off at home.”
Char practically vibrated in her chair, eyes lit up and voice crackling with excitement. “I knew it!”
I frowned, shoving a huge bite in my mouth. “How?”
“I saw the three of you on the boat, but I just tossed the kissing thing out there. I love when I’m right. So how was it? Was it dreamy? Tell me every detail.”
I laughed, wiping my mouth with a napkin and shaking my head at my friend. “This feels like we’re preteens, discussing our first kiss.”
Char shrugged. “You’ve been married for twelve years, right? It’s almost like a first kiss after kissing one man for so long.”
Thoughts of Dec’s hand cupping my face, his tongue tracing my lip, the look in his eyes when he backed away. I tried to cool my cheeks but it was no use. “No, I won’t be embarrassed. I liked kissing him.”
I hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but there it was. And it was the truth.
“Good!” Char leaned over the table, eyes dancing. “You know Dec hasn’t been linked with a woman in Sunshine Key since he moved here, right?”
That didn’t compute. Dec was the hottest man I’d ever seen in person. He could be on billboards in New York City if he wasn’t so keen on hiding out here in the Keys. “Really?”
Char nodded, digging back into her salad. “Really, my friend. And don’t think I didn’t notice you didn’t give me the details.”
The grin took over my face, thinking over those details. “I guess I’m not a kiss-and-tell kind of girl.”
“Brat,” Char said, winking at me, so I knew she didn’t mean it.
We continued to chat as we ate our salads. My mind kept circling the confirmation that Dec hadn’t dated anyone in Sunshine Key. Did that mean he hadn’t dated anyone period? Or just not here? And why was he kissing me? I was a hot mess and in the middle of a divorce. Surely there were other women who’d be a better choice for him. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t try to pick it apart and just hope he did it again. Maybe a flirtation with Dec was just what I needed to get my mojo back after Justin nearly flattened me.
As we were finishing, the bell over the door rang out and Char lifted her hand in the air. “Hey, Laurie!”
A woman with long brown hair and a thin scarf intricately woven through it waved to Char. Her breezy skirt flitted over her bare feet. She smelled of patchouli and paint, an interesting combination.
“Hey, Char. You look luminous today,” the woman said, her voice deep and slow.
Char stood and hugged her, pulling away to introduce me. “Thank you. Laurie, this is my new friend, Kenna. Kenna, this is Laurie Eaton. She’s a phenomenal local artist.”
