“Two glasses of wine will do that to you.”
“Three, but who’s counting.”
“The hammer in my head was counting.” Carrie thanked a patron who dropped a couple of books on the desk and left. “One reason I seldom drink anything stronger than espresso.”
Hayden Winters flashed through her head again. Bold. He liked his coffee bold.
Nikki was nodding, her face repentant. “I don’t think Julia was particularly pleased that I’d brought wine in the first place. After we poured Valery into her bed, I understood why.”
“She did get a little crazy.”
“A little? Carrie, she was smashed. Having a glass of wine is one thing, but Valery didn’t seem to have a cutoff point.”
Carrie bit down on her bottom lip. “You sound as if you think she has a drinking problem.”
Nikki’s shoulders arched. “I’ve heard rumors, but you know how people like to talk in Honey Ridge.”
Yes, Carrie knew. She’d been the object of those rumors at one time, and the experience had made her cautious. The memory pressed in and caused an ache beneath her rib cage.
“If Valery has a problem, gossip won’t help. Nor will friends who come bearing wine. So, to be on the safe side, no more vino at our get-togethers.”
“Which means we have to have more.”
“Wine or get-togethers?” She beeped the wand across a bar code.
“Get-togethers, silly. Pedicures, weird hairdos and that hilarious Reese Witherspoon movie. Did I ever tell you about the time I saw her in Knoxville? We were in the same boutique, and she bought the exact scarf I had my eye on?”
“About a million times,” Carrie said, glad they’d moved away from the rumor mill topic.
She didn’t want Nikki rehashing the incident, which always brought on a painful slew of sympathetic hugs and the false assurance that nobody remembered anymore. She remembered.
“Some things are worth repeating.” Her sister hitched a purse Carrie recognized as a Coach only because it said so right on the front. “So are you in for some more fun?”
Carrie’s hand stilled on the two books she was now checking in. “Shoot! I let Maggie get out without paying her fine again.”
“Are you listening to me?”
“What? Oh, sure. Reese Witherspoon.”
Nikki exhaled in a long, beleaguered sigh. “Fun, Carrie. You know, something besides this musty library.”
Insulted, Carrie drew back. “My library is not musty.”
But that was the way things went with her sisters. Carrie’s choice in clothes, occupation and lifestyle was stodgy and musty. Theirs was perfection.
Most of the time she even agreed with them but not when they criticized her library.
“Bailey and I think we need a break, all three of us,” Nikki was saying. “Chad’s on board and Ricky doesn’t count.”
Ricky was her longtime on-again, off-again boyfriend who pretty much let her do anything she wanted and was always waiting when she returned. That she took advantage of the easygoing man never crossed Nikki’s mind.
Carrie beeped a book and added a worn copy of Laura Ingalls Wilder to the cart. “What are you talking about?”
“Let’s plan a winter getaway to somewhere warm and wet. A Christmas gift to ourselves. What do you think of Hawaii?”
“Christmas is still months from now.” She beeped another book.
“Plans, darling. Plans.” Which in Nikki’s world meant planning her wardrobe.
“Hawaii sounds beautiful,” Carrie said hesitantly. “But it’s a long way from here with water in between.”
“That’s the whole point. Water, beaches, shirtless men, getting a tan in the dead of winter.” Nikki circled a finger in the air. “Water’s not a problem. You can swim.”
“Not hundreds of miles across the ocean.”
“Don’t start with that. Flying is safer than riding in a car.”
“Crashing isn’t.”
“We won’t crash. I promise. So what do you say?”
“You know how I hate flying.” Carrie’s pulse got all rickety at the mere mention of stepping on a plane. She’d flown once. Once. And thrown up twice, an experience she never wanted to repeat. “Besides, I don’t think I can take the time off.”
Nikki snorted so loudly, Carrie had to shush her.
“You probably have a hundred years of vacation time coming.”
Tawny whisked past, pausing long enough to say, “Go, Carrie. I’ll cover.”
“Eavesdropper,” Carrie groused.
Tawny tilted a shoulder and grinned.
Nikki’s lips curved in triumph. “There you go. No excuses. The three of us will have such fun. You might even meet a hunky Hawaiian who’ll teach you to surf.”
“Sharks eat people who surf.”
Nikki pursed her lips and got serious. “What’s the deal, Carrie? You don’t want to hang out with your big sisters for a week of fun in the sun?”
Carrie dropped her head back.
“I love the idea of the three of us doing more things together.” She touched her sister’s hand. “Really, Nik. I just...” Hated the idea of hanging over an ocean for hours in a plane held up only by invisible air. Hated the unknown and unexpected, where men lied and people assumed things that weren’t true and left you with a hole in your heart.
She preferred her predictable world of Dewey decimals and alphabetical order.
“I’m saving for a house. A trip to Hawaii is not in my budget.”
“Oh.” Nikki looked deflated. For once, the whirlwind sister had no argument. “I didn’t know you were planning to buy a house.”
That’s because she’d only this moment decided to start saving. Maybe it was time to move forward and stop looking back and dreaming of something that was never going to happen. She was a career woman now. She had a stable, steady income. She certainly wasn’t going anywhere else. Not even Hawaii.
To ease the disappointment on her sister’s face, she said gently, “You and Bailey go. I’ll help Chad with their kids while you’re gone.”
Nikki pouted pink lips. “The whole sister bond thing. Come on, Carrie. Nearly four years have passed since—”
Carrie pointed a finger, expression stern. “Do not go there, Nikki.”
“Then get over it. No one even remembers anymore.”
“You do.”
Nikki huffed. “I wouldn’t if you’d move on and get a life.”
“I am over it. I have moved on. That’s why I’m saving for a house.”
Hers wasn’t Nikki’s or Bailey’s idea of a life, but Carrie had learned to be content. She’d accepted the fact, thanks in large part to “the incident,” that she was as ordinary and uninteresting as a slice of plain white bread. And she was okay with that. Most of the time.
“Go to Hawaii,” she said. “Get a great tan, see a real volcano and a rain forest.” All the reasons Carrie would love to visit Hawaii. “You can Skype me from Waikiki Beach with