One Ring (Suncoast Society #28)(17)

“Hey, you’re friends with the club’s owners. Ask them to help you out. They can make sure you don’t run afoul of the wrong people. Derrick and Marcia do a good job of keeping their ears to the ground to prevent problems and making people with bad reputations feel unwelcome, if not outright banning them.”

“Marcia introduced me to Don and Carl.”

“Ah.”

“What?”

He smiled. “Nothing. But be warned, there are a few self-appointed matchmakers at the club. And they happen to have a damn good track record.”

“Is Marcia one?”

“Not usually, no.”





By the end of her second week staying in Marcia and Derrick’s guest room, her divorce had been filed, and Mike hadn’t even so much as called her.

She’d sent him several FYI texts, such as when the electric and water bills were due, but no response from him.

Okay, fine. He’s a big boy.

At Ed’s suggestion, she manually deposited half of the mortgage payment into their joint account at her next paycheck. He said she should do that, and pay for half of the homeowners insurance, property taxes, things like that.

But she already had her own auto insurance and had removed herself from their old policy, and from the utility bills.

The only thing she hadn’t done yet was to legally change her address, and that was only because she was still hoping to find a better solution than mooching off Marcia and Derrick. She greatly appreciated their help, especially coordinating the move, but she didn’t want to live there forever.

She needed a place of her own, that she could afford.

The next Saturday, Don and Carl met them all at Sigalo’s for dinner before going to the club. They’d just sat down with everyone when Derrick got a call that they were having an electrical problem at the club.

Dammit.

She really liked Don and Carl. She’d sat between them and really didn’t want to leave.

“Hey,” Marcia said, “Don, would you guys mind bringing Mel to the club with you after dinner?”

Her heart soared. “Sure,” Don said. “No problem.”

“Thanks!” Marcia dashed out after Derrick.

A little suspicion flitted through Mel’s brain, but then she started talking to the guys and it went right out of her brain again.

Kel and Mallory showed up a few minutes later. “Sorry, traffic,” Kel apologized. “Did you all order yet?”

Tilly looked up. “What about the electrical problem?”

“What electrical problem?”

“At the club?”

“No one told me about that. Hold on.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and walked out. When he returned a few minutes later, he said, “It’s fine. Derrick’s got it covered.”

She’d been set up and she knew it.

Not that she was going to complain.

On the way over to the club, out of the earshot of the others, she said, “I need to apologize to you two.”

“Why?” Carl asked.

“I think Marcia’s trying to set us up.”

Don glanced in the rearview mirror. “Why do you say that?”

“Because I bet there wasn’t an ‘electrical problem’ at the club.”

“Ah.”

She sighed. “I love Marcia and Derrick, but I need to find my own place. I can’t live with them forever.”

“I have an extra room you can rent.”





Don couldn’t believe he’d said it out loud, but the shocked look on Carl’s face meant yep, he probably had.

“You do?” she asked.

He swallowed. “Yeah. Pool and a hot tub, too. We could move you in tomorrow, if you wanted.”

“How much a month?”

He did some quick mental calculations. “Seven hundred, which includes utilities, plus groceries.” He could then drop Carl’s rent by three hundred a month.

“Can we go look at it?”

“Right now?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind.”

“Okay. Might want to call Marcia so she doesn’t worry when we don’t show up, though.”

“Good idea.”

While she was on the phone, he glanced at Carl again, who gave him a thumbs-up close to his body, so Mel couldn’t see it from where she sat in the backseat.

When she ended the call, she laughed. “Oh, no shocker, the electrical problem was no biggie, and we were told to take our time.”

“Yeah, we were set up,” Don said. “But seriously, it’s okay. And no pressure. If you don’t like the house, you can tell us no thanks, and no hard feelings about it.”

“No, this is probably just what I need. I love them, but I can’t mooch off them.”

“And since Marcia is likely trying to shove us all together, let’s make it easy on her,” Carl said.

Don fought the urge to smack his friend.

But apparently Mel hadn’t taken it the same way he had. “Yeah, true. I hope you guys aren’t mad at her for that.”

“No, not at all,” Don said.

“It won’t be weird for you guys, having me there?”

“Not if it’s not weird for you,” Don said.