a standing appointment instituted when Beth had moved to the island. Curly had wanted the three of them to get to know each other, something about her not having had a lot of female friends, but tonight was a duo since Beth was working at Dempsey’s.
“What’s up with you?” Will asked, sliding Sid’s favorite cupcake and a sweet tea across the table.
“Nothing,” Sid lied, dropping onto the metal seat. “Why?”
“Because you have that look you get.”
“What look?” She kept her head down, hoping Will would drop the interrogation.
“The one you get when you’re debating something.” Will unfolded a napkin and draped it over her lap. “You had that same look the night Beth suggested we have these little meet-ups, and again when you wanted that new sanding thingy but couldn’t decide if it was worth the money.”
“The orbital sander.”
“Yeah, that thing,” Will said. “Spill it.”
This is why Sid had never minded her own lack of female companionship. Damn nosy wenches. She debated how much to tell. For a bartender who doubled as a barista and worked at nearly every business on the island, Will didn’t gossip much. And she seemed comfortable in her own skin. Maybe talking to another woman, one less than sixty years her senior, would help.
“Do you think I’m hot?”
“Whoa,” Will said. “Didn’t see that coming. I know I haven’t dated much since I got here but I don’t—”
“Knock it off. You know that’s not what I mean.”
“Right,” Will chuckled, then cut into her usual, rhubarb pie. “You’re probably the hottest chick on this island, but you know that.”
“Not really.”
Will froze, fork in midair. “You own a mirror, right?”
Sid shifted in her chair and pulled the wrapper away from her cupcake. “Curly asked me that same thing once. I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
“A lot. What do you
“I don’t know,” Sid shrugged. “Brown eyes. Round face. Normal nose. Brown hair. What am I supposed to see?”
Will set down her fork. “You remember that night at O’Hagan’s? What did you see that night?”
“I was smokin’ that night,” Sid said, sliding a fork through the cupcake. “But that was the dress and makeup and whatever Curly had done to my hair. A bunch of artificial stuff.”
“Are those boobs artificial?” Will asked.
Sid tilted her head and raised one brow. That didn’t deserve an answer.
“I’m just saying. It’s what was under the dress and makeup that had all those guys drooling and emptying their wallets to buy your drinks.”
She had felt pretty good that night. Maybe there was something to what the old ladies said. “Remember when you came into Dempsey’s the other day? When you met Joe’s brother for the first time?”
“You mean when it was obvious you have a thing for him? Sure.”
Her fork slipped. “How could you tell?”
Will swirled her straw. “For one thing, he called you sweet cheeks and you didn’t slug him.” Leaning her elbows on the table, she pushed her pie to the middle. “But mostly it was on your face. You were trying to look all bad ass, like usual, but when you thought he’d been flirting with me, I saw the hurt in your eyes.” She shook her head. “That’s how I knew.”
Silence fell over the table as Sid moved a bite of the cupcake around her plate. Even Opal’s chocolate buttercream couldn’t coax her past this feeling. Confusion mixed with fear mixed with hope.
“It started in high school,” she said, keeping her eyes on the dessert. “Dad died when I was fourteen and Randy brought me here. He didn’t own the businesses yet, but knew this would be a safe place to raise a teenager. Safer than Miami.”
“So that’s where you’re from? Miami?”
“Yeah.” Thinking of Miami brought memories and images, good times and bad. She didn’t want to think about those right now. “Anyway, I saw Lucas the first day of my freshman year. He was a sophomore and smart and gorgeous. Even then he had that hint of polish. Like he belonged in a display case, not buried in a heap of sand where no one could appreciate him.”
Sid looked up to see Will nodding. “I can see that. He is pretty.” She smiled with understanding. “Go on.”
“Of course I never had the guts to talk to him. These boobs everyone keeps yapping about hadn’t shown up at that point. But when they did, junior year, shit got crazy.”
“What do you mean?” Will asked, leaning forward again.
“I wasn’t invisible anymore, and at first I liked the attention. But one guy coaxed me out to the football field during a dance. I was so stupid.” Sid shook her head at the memory, then crossed her arms until she was practically hugging herself. “I thought he just wanted to talk and hang out, but he wanted more. We were too far away for anyone to hear me yell, but I kept fighting.”
Cold washed over her and her heart rate sped up. Stupid reaction to have more than ten years later. This is why Sid never talked about that night.
Will reached out and laid a hand on her arm. “Did he …?”
“No,” Sid said, shaking her head. “Lucas showed up. He never threw a punch, but he didn’t have to. The kid acted like it was no big deal and headed back to the gym. I was so embarrassed, I ran to my truck and drove home like a maniac.”
“Had Lucas followed you two? How did he know you were out there?”
Sid shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t stick around to ask. He’d looked really concerned, like he cared, and tried to offer me a ride home.” She looked up and met Will’s eyes. “But I ran.”
“Honey,” Will said. “Did you ever tell anyone?”
“Nah.” She forced herself to take a bite. The sugary confection helped to block the taste of humiliation on her tongue.
They ate in silence, Sid figuring she’d said enough, and Will presumably processing what she’d just heard. Once she’d finished her pie, Will pushed the plate aside and sat back with her lemonade.
“He was your knight in shining armor. He slayed the dragon, which still counts, even if your dragon was a seventeen-year-old jackass.”
Sid snorted, picturing Lucas on a white steed, lance in hand, and another of her romance covers came to mind.
“We need to do something about this,” Will said, propping one foot beneath her and leaning on the table. “We have to let him know how you feel.”
“No,” Sid said, any sense of the power to which Maggie had referred long gone. “That is not going to happen.”
“Oh, come on. This is your shot.”
“You’ve seen the type of girl Lucas likes. Do you see a single similarity between me and Curly?”
Will pursed her lips to one side. “Well, you’re both beautiful. But personality-wise, not so much.”
“Exactly.” Sid scooped up her last bite of cupcake. “He likes dainty and sweet. The girl next door.”
“And you’re more the boy next door trapped in a porn star’s body.”
Sid threw her napkin at Will. “Har har har. Besides, he’s only here for five more weeks.”
“So?” Will asked. “Give him a reason not to leave.”
Another snort. Sid had never seen a man more determined than Lucas Dempsey to get
“Then have a fling. Maybe he’s not all that and a box of bonbons.” Will threw the napkin back. “Try him out. Take him for a test-drive. Make the man see Jesus, then leave him wanting more while you get him out of your system.”
The idea had merit. Not that Sid had ever made a man see Jesus. In her limited experience, she was pretty sure sex with her had never been a religious experience for anyone. Forgettable, yes. Spirit moving, no.
