Piper tugged on Audrey’s hand. “Audrey?”
The kid was impatiently waiting for an answer to her question. “Uh…” When she looked back at Cameron, he’d already diverted his attention elsewhere. “He’s busy right now. Maybe when you finish eating, we can find him.”
Piper pouted for about two seconds before they reached the long table where players were cooking up pancakes. Then she was bouncing on the balls of her feet again.
Audrey ordered another plate of pancakes, when someone bumped her left shoulder. She turned to excuse herself, but she bit her tongue when she got an eyeful of a gigantic, teased beehive.
Did people seriously still style their hair like that?
Apparently this woman, who looked like she hovered around the five-foot mark, thought the thing had never gone out of style.
“Excuse me,” Audrey finally said.
The old woman blinked her rheumy gray eyes. “Do I know you?” she asked.
Audrey’s brow furrowed. “Nope.” She turned to tug Piper back toward their table, when the old woman grabbed her arm.
“Yes, you’re that woman. The one with the kid.” Her sharp gaze dropped to Piper, who was hiding behind Audrey’s leg. Then the lady leaned forward, overwhelming Audrey with a cloud of Aqua Net. “Cameron Shaw’s baby mama,” said announced in a loud whisper.
Come again?
A wave of heat ambushed Audrey, which she hoped to hell didn’t show on her face, even though she didn’t have a single thing to be embarrassed about. She’d been in town less than a week and people thought Piper was Cameron’s love child? And Audrey was…what? Just one of many? Was she supposed to be some poor jilted ex-lover who couldn’t get over Cameron? Was that what his dating life was like? People saw her and Piper and assumed she was another one of his notches?
“Tell me something,” the woman went on.
Yeah, I’d rather pour a jug of syrup over my head.
She leaned closer, giving Audrey an up-close-and-personal glimpse of sun spots and deep grooves around her eyes. “How’d you get him to stick?”
Oh, dear God.
“Lois, will you leave her alone?”
Audrey melted with relief when Annabelle Carpenter rescued her from the nosy woman and her horrifying questions.
“Well, honey, we just want to know,” Lois said to Audrey. “You’re a looker, and the women of this town have been trying to pin that man down for years.”
Annabelle rolled her eyes. “It’s nobody’s business, Lois. But if you must know, Piper isn’t Cameron’s daughter; she’s his niece.” Annabelle slid an arm around Audrey’s shoulders. “Now, will you let them finish their breakfast in peace?”
Lois pinched her thin lips and leaned heavily on her cane. After a moment of thought, she shrugged her shoulders. “That’s all right. I’ll just get another shot of him mowing the grass.” Then she chuckled to herself. “The man can never keep his shirt on.”
Audrey opened her mouth to say something. Anything other than What the hell? But Annabelle was scooting them away, back toward the tables and far from the curious old woman whose beehive was almost as tall as Piper.
Annabelle sat beside them. “Go ahead and ask. I’m sure you have tons of questions.”
Yeah, but most were about Cameron, and Audrey didn’t want the other woman to think Audrey had taken an interest in him. “What’s with the hairdo?” she asked instead, because it seemed like the safest question.
Annabelle giggled and watched as Piper cut into her pancakes. “She’s part of the Beehive Mafia. She and her three friends do their hair the same way and go around causing trouble. It’s all harmless,” Annabelle expanded when Audrey looked confused. “They’re mostly just busybodies.”
“What did she mean by getting a shot of Cameron mowing his grass?”
Annabelle’s laughter grew. “The Beehives take up their spare time by taking pictures of the young, good-looking men in town and posting them on their Tumblr page. Most of their obsession has bounced back and forth between Stella’s husband, Brandon, and Cameron. But when Brandon and Stella got married, Cam got the full force of their efforts. Most of their shots are of men without their shirts on.”
Audrey resisted asking for the name of the Tumblr account. The last thing she needed was an image of Cameron in the buff. Her imagination was enough for her to handle, thank you very much. “Is that legal?” she asked.
Annabelle lifted her shoulders. “Like they care. The four of them are overgrown teenagers, if you ask me.” She shifted her focus to Piper, who’d already dusted half her powdered sugar on her shirt. “Are you enjoying your pancakes, Piper?”
Piper nodded because she was too busy shoving food in her mouth.
“Where’s your syrup?” Annabelle questioned.
Piper shook her head and brushed her hair out of her face. “Jellybean doesn’t like syrup. She only likes powdered sugar.”
Audrey rolled her eyes. “Her diet is based solely on what the stuffed cat likes.”
“Is that what it is?” Annabelle wondered. “I thought maybe it was a raccoon. I guess I need to learn this stuff.”
Audrey thought back to her conversation with Stella about morning sickness. “Are you expecting?” she asked the woman.
Annabelle folded her arms on the table and nodded. “I’m due in May.”
Audrey offered a grin because, even though she’d just met Annabelle, it seemed like the woman would make a good mother. “Congratulations.”
Annabelle smiled her thanks, and Audrey tamped down the hint of jealousy. Why should she be jealous? Annabelle was a lovely woman who’d befriended her. And it wasn’t like Audrey was dying to have kids right now,
