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It was silly, but a lump formed in the back of her throat and when she answered, her voice broke. “I thought I was, and I thought I was mad at all of you, but now I'm just feeling really loved.”
Dawn cleared her throat. “Sometimes it takes a crisis to really show us what we have in life.”
Cheryse thought about how hard it had been for Dawn the past two years, going through a cheating husband and a divorce. All of them had somehow made it back to South Port. She loved all of them so much. “You’re right.”
Ava nodded. “I never thought I would be back in South Port, and you guys know I wanted to literally kill Trey for a while when he forced me into being a partner with him at the inn.”
Reese let out a light laugh, and a tear leaked down her cheek. “You were so angry.”
The other ladies made sounds of agreement.
Ava took a turn now, reaching over the table and taking Cheryse’s hand. “It's been a hard year on the whole Stone family, especially Hunter.”
Cheryse nodded.
“That doesn't give Hunter the right to have a mental breakdown and hit you with his motorcycle, but maybe this can help all of us. A negative thing could turn out to be a positive thing.”
Cheryse hadn't thought about it like that. She had been too busy for her beach crew for the past couple months. Between running her salon and Roger coming in and out of town and dragging her to social engagements, she’d made excuses not to see the Stone family or her friends. Maybe it had something to do with being on the outs with Hunter, but she felt terrible about it now. “I've been horrible to you guys. I should've been there for all of you through this difficult year.” She took Kensi’s hand. “And I definitely should have paid more attention to what you need.”
Kensi waved a hand. “I’m fine.”
All the women got up and came around the table. They gathered around Cheryse and formed a group hug.
Lucy made a loud humming sound. “That's the thing about South Port ladies. We can always come home, and we can always come back to each other. Because all of you are my home.”
“Mine, too,” Ava said.
“And mine,” Kensi said.
“Mine,” said Kat.
“Definitely mine,” said Dawn. Her arms were on the outside of the group, and she squeezed everyone extra tight. “You know, anytime I try to avoid this town, my mother has a way of pulling me back in.”
They all laughed, and the group hug broke apart.
“Then I'm just going to be grateful Hunter hit me,” Cheryse said, and everyone laughed again.
The ladies settled back at the table and began eating. They fell into comfortable chatter about how Hunter was doing at the salon today and how he had asked Kensi about crock-pot meals. That touched Cheryse. He was trying really hard. He had apologized, and she couldn’t deny the butterflies she felt every time the man walked into the room.
Dawn told them about her students and their potential. Kensi told them she was tired of being on bed rest, and then she cried a bit, explaining how wonderful Tim was and how wonderful Pastor Henry and Lily were for watching baby Chloe.
Lucy pointed to her. “We are going to have a baby shower for you soon.”
Kensi shook her head. “No, you don’t have to.”
“We want to,” Ava said, taking a bite of a strawberry. “Baby showers are fun. Should we buy for a boy or a girl?”
Kensi shook her head. “Don’t use your tricks to get me to reveal the gender. Tim and I promised we’d wait to tell everyone.”
“Why?” Kat demanded. “We can’t help you decorate and get all the clothes you need if we don’t know.
“We just kind of think this might be our last baby.” Kensi sighed. “Especially with my high blood pressure and having to be on bed rest. We sort of wanted to keep it between us.”
Cheryse smiled. She liked that Kensi and Tim had secrets; shouldn’t all couples have secrets just between them?
Did she have secrets with Roger? No.
But she did have semi-secrets with Hunter. That was interesting to think about.
