Page 27 of Book Club Confidential

She nodded.

“I can send you links to each of the listings.”

“Perfect.” Tessa dotted the corners of her mouth with a napkin. “I’ll take a look, do some research of my own, then drive by any of the locations I’m not already familiar with.”

“All right.” Grant’s gaze moved to her left hand, as it had on the day he came to her office. “How have you avoided a tan line?”

She puzzled a moment before fixing him with a stern expression. “Are you trying to ask me about my wedding ring or my marital status?”

His eyes widened, then the startled expression fell into a cringe. “Sorry. That was out of line. It’s none of my business.”

Was it her imagination, or was Grant Gaines interested in her too? “It’s okay,” she said. “I can appreciate a healthy curiosity.”

He laughed.

“You’ll never know if you don’t ask.”

“You wore a wedding ring before,” he said. “I noticed. Now it’s gone. I noticed that too. I’m a noticer.”

“But you still haven’t asked a question.”

He wrinkled his nose and looked away. “I don’t think I should. Why don’t we pretend I didn’t put my foot in my mouth?” He turned back to her, an apologetic expression on his face. “I hope you’re not offended.”

“I’m not.”

“Married or offended?” he asked.

An indelicate snort came from Tessa. “Neither,” she admitted. “I don’t offend easily, because I tend to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, which sometimes comes back to bite me, but in any case, I’m not offended. And I’ve been divorced for quite a few years. We married too young. It was amicable.”

Interest glinted in Grant’s cool-blue eyes. “Now you’re just out here fighting the patriarchy.”

“Correct.”

They enjoyed the music and dancing children for a few more minutes, then cleaned up their lunches when the band called an intermission.

Tessa gave Grant another one of her business cards before they parted ways. “Thank you for lunch,” she said. “You’ll only catch me in the office from eight until five moving forward. But you can reach me by text or email anytime.”

“Noted.” Grant lifted a hand in goodbye.

Tessa walked back to the office feeling lighter and more carefree than she had in far too long. Partly because her thirty days of change were off to a great start, but also because a very handsome, successful businessman had spent the last hour flirting with her, and she shamelessly adored it.

Chapter Eight

Later that night, Tessa curled onto her couch with a glass of iced water and her phone.

Kate’s expression on-screen suggested she hadn’t initiated the group chat to deliver good news.

“You okay?” Tessa asked.

Hallie’s phone lay on its side in her kitchen while she chopped a pile of vegetables.

“No. Not at all,” Kate growled. “I knew this would happen, and I hate-hate-hate when I’m right about this stuff.”

“About what?” Hallie asked, her knife pausing briefly as she spoke.

“I’m already losing followers,” Kate said. “It’s only been one day. Only one post that deviated from my norm, and boom!” She mimed an explosion with her hands. “This is going to get really bad, really fast. I can feel it. No one even engaged with the new post. They didn’t like what they saw, so they left.”

Hallie set the knife down and picked up her phone. “Your posts were good today. They looked like the you that we know. I love that woman.”