Hold Me (Fool's Gold #16)(15)
Starr looked more confused than reassured.
“Cute baby,” Destiny said. “How old?”
“Eight months.” Felicia beamed. “This is my daughter, Gabrielle-Emilie. She’s named after Gabrielle-Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, a French courtier who collaborated with her lover Voltaire on many physics projects. However, if you ever meet my brother-in-law Gabriel, please don’t tell him that the baby isn’t named after him. He made an erroneous assumption, and we’ve decided not to disabuse him of it.”
Starr looked even more confused, but nodded and touched the baby’s hand. “Hi, Gabrielle.”
“We call her Ellie for short. Humans bond through the use of nicknames, and my son, Carter, requested this one in honor of his mother.”
Destiny was having trouble keeping up. “You’re not Carter’s mother?”
“No. It’s complicated.” Felicia turned to Starr. “Mayor Marsha told me you were thinking of coming to the summer camp. I wanted to stop by and let you know that according to my son, it’s really great and you’ll enjoy yourself. He’s fifteen, too.”
Destiny was willing to accept that locals might know her and Starr’s names and maybe even why they were in town. But knowing ages and about the camp was a little strange.
“Thanks for the information,” Starr said shyly.
“You’re welcome. One of the things they do at the camp is assign you a buddy. That’s someone who’s been there before. She’ll show you around and introduce you to people. It can be difficult when you’re new. Or odd. I was always odd when I was growing up. I’m better now. My husband says falling in love mellowed me, but I think it’s more that our intensely personal interactions have allowed me to develop my social skills.”
Felicia touched Starr’s shoulder. “As a teenager, your natural emotional state is to feel alienated. It’s part of the separation process as you mature into adulthood. And while the concept is helpful for you to learn to be a functioning member of society, you can easily find yourself feeling out of step and alone. Which is less comfortable. I think the camp would be helpful in nurturing feelings of connection with peers.”
“Okay,” Starr said slowly. “If you say so.”
“Good. I’ll tell Carter to look out for you.” Felicia smiled at Destiny. “Several of the women in town will be having lunch today at Jo’s Bar. You and your sister are invited. I can’t go because I’ll be working, but I encourage you to attend. Making friends really helps a place seem like home.”
“Thank you,” Destiny said. “That’s very nice.”
“You’re welcome. Look for Shelby Gilmore. She said she knows you. She’ll be there. Now if you’ll excuse me, I heard there was a problem with the seating by the smaller stage. Someone didn’t pay attention to my plan. I must now go explain why he’s wrong.”
“Good luck with that,” Destiny murmured.
Felicia waved and walked away.
Starr stared after her. “She scared me.”
“Me, too. At the same time, I kind of want to be more like her. Talk about smart.”
“You’re smart. Look at the job you have.”
“I’m intelligent enough,” Destiny said with a laugh. “But not compared with Felicia.” She put her arm around her sister. “On the bright side, apparently we don’t have to worry about going gray.”
“I already wasn’t.” Starr snuggled close for a second then stepped away. “I’m hungry.”
“Me, too. Looks like we have plans for lunch now, but that’s hours away. Want to go by the bakery and get a doughnut?”
“Sure.”
They circled the park then headed up Second Street, maneuvering around families with strollers. Tourists or locals? Destiny wondered, thinking about her plan to sensibly marry and then have a quiet, calm marriage of her own one day.
In college, when she’d come up with the plan, she’d assumed she would have found a husband by now. But it turned out that calm, sensible men were more difficult to find than she would have thought.
Two men stepped out of the bakery. She recognized Miles and Kipling, each holding a silver-and-white-striped box.
She stumbled to a stop as her chest suddenly tightened. How strange. What on earth was—
Everything went still. She focused on her breathing then cautiously let her attention drift to the rest of her body. There was the aforementioned tension in her chest, plus a distinct quiver in her stomach and something almost like tingling in her thighs. If she hadn’t felt totally fine a second before, she would swear she was getting the flu. So if it wasn’t that, then what?
She looked at Miles. He saw her and grinned. He appeared self-satisfied, which meant he’d been successfully flirting with someone. As she studied him, she felt only pity for whatever woman had endured his attentions. Not that most of them seemed to mind. Many conquests had lamented losing Miles, but few of them regretted the short-term thrill of being with him.
Something she’d never been tempted to experience herself, so Miles wasn’t the cause of her reaction.
She turned to Kipling and instantly got lost in his dark blue gaze. He looked less happy than his new friend. Irritation tugged at the corner of his mouth and when he glared at Miles, she had a clear view of his chiseled profile.