Page 65 of Legacy

“Laurel? Lauren? What are you doing here?”

“Is that any way to say hello to your best friends that you’ve ignored for so long?” Laurel said as she threw her arms up and hugged me tightly.

She smelled of over-rich perfume and weed, but I hugged her back tightly.

“I didn’t know you’d be here.”

Or where she lived. What she did for a living. If she was married. None of that. Because I didn’t use social media anymore, and they hadn’t reached out beyond the few times the group chat had been used. I had tried at first, even though I still remembered the way both Laurel and Lauren had looked at me when the incident had happened. The other two girls had been kinder, but not them.

Or maybe I was just thinking too much.

“I’m just surprised you’re here. It’s good to see you.” I reached out and hugged Lauren, who just winked at me.

“We’re on our way to see a few friends up north, but we stopped by your little town.” She looked around my drab yet adorable office building and didn’t quite hide her sneer. “I see things are going well with you. I just love that you decided to come back to your small town and stay where things are just good for you. You know? It’s good to find where you belong.”

“You’re right. It is good to find where I belong. What do you guys do now?”

Lauren waved me off. “Oh, you know, this and that.”

I snorted. “Okay. That’s helpful.”

“She’s senior ad exec at Harleton and Carlton, while I just got promoted to VP of communication at Franklin’s.”

“It’s just one thing after another. You know. Oh, and…” Laurel held out her hand. The diamond practically had its own zip code.

“Oh, wow. Congratulations.”

“Yes, Tyler and I are really excited. He proposed to me when we were in Venice.”

“Venice? That sounds like a lovely vacation.”

“He takes me anywhere that I want, anywhere that we want.” She snorted, and I just blinked at her.

Had she been as bad as before? Probably. But I had been focusing on other things.

And while their titles sounded wonderful, each of them was technically working for their parents and hadn’t even applied for jobs once they got out of college. They had just walked into their family careers and called it a day.

And that sounded petty as fuck. And yet, their tones were just as fucking petty. Or maybe I was just tired.

“Anyway,” Lauren said as she clapped her hands. “We thought we would take you out to an early dinner. There’s a place called The Range? I don’t know how good it is, but it seems to be the best place in town. Kind of hard to find a decent restaurant in tiny towns, but that’s sort of what you’re going for, right? That at-home feeling. I just love it here.”

“Yes, I know The Range. And it is wonderful. The head chef is a friend of mine.”

“I would think everybody’s a friend of yours in town.”

I just shook my head. “I really already have plans tonight, but I’m so glad you guys came by to visit.”

“Your plans are with us,” Laurel said with a laugh. “I mean, what else could you be doing?”

“And on that note, you guys have a wonderful day. I should get back to work here.”

“Here? Here.” Laurel just kept saying it as if it was going to change where I was at.

“Yes. Here. In a place that I love.”

“You’re a glorified bookkeeper. I thought you were actually going to do something with your career. You always talked up a big storm, and yet, you’re back in Ashford Creek. I just don’t understand you, Felicity. We had such high hopes for you.”

I blinked at both of them, wondering what the hell was going on.