The Devine Doughnut Shop(84)

“Why are you asking?” Macy answered with a question of her own.

“Because you’ve been upbeat and happy ever since we got here, and this morning you look like you’ve lost your best friend,” Sarah told her.

“I’m jealous,” Macy admitted, “and I’m ashamed of myself for feeling this way. I should be happy for Grace. Besides, jealousy is a sin that will eat away at your soul if you don’t get control of it.”

“Well, then, I guess we should both be ashamed,” Sarah said, “because if envy really turned a person green, I’d look like a leprechaun, for sure. Grace is the one of us who didn’t even care about a relationship, and it’s easy to see that she is falling in love with Travis. I want to start a family so bad that my heart aches, and all I ever seem to meet is men like Joel.”

“Yep, and I walked right into a con,” Macy said with a nod. “Do you think we just need to be content with the idea that we’ll never find someone to look at us the way Travis looks at Grace?”

Sarah shook her head. “Not me. I’m not giving up.”

“If you found someone, would you move out of the house and leave the business?” Macy asked.

“Maybe,” Sarah answered. “If it meant a choice between the business or love, I’d take love. I thought after a couple or three days, I would be ready to leave this place but I’m not, so what does that say about my commitment to stay at the shop forever? What about you?”

“In a heartbeat,” Macy replied. “All three of us don’t need the money, and the shop has had a good run for several generations.”

“Yep,” Sarah agreed. “But I’d sure miss seeing you and Grace every day.”

Macy sat up straight and removed her hat. “That’s the one thing I would miss, too, but I could sure get used to sleeping past three o’clock every morning. I wonder, though, if that drastic of a change for the rest of our lives would bring about regrets.”

“Or if not changing when we had a chance at a family would bring about even worse disappointments?” Sarah asked.

Grace set a tote bag beside the third chair in the row and eased down into it. “I’ve loved every minute that we’ve been here, but . . .”

“But you are ready to go home so you can see Travis,” Macy finished her sentence.

“There’s that, but that’s not my but for today,” Grace said with a smile. “I was thinking that maybe our next vacation could be over the girls’ fall break, and we could go to Colorado or Utah to learn to ski. Wouldn’t it be great to see snow and lots of it? When we do get it in our part of the world, it’s usually just barely enough to cover the ground, and then it’s gone the next day.”

“I love that idea,” Macy said. “And then over their Christmas break, we could come back down here for a few days.”

“Maybe by then Grace and Travis will be a couple, and he’ll invite us to stay in the beach house,” Sarah teased.

“I’d rather stay here.” Macy dug around in her tote bag and brought out a bottle of sweet tea. “It’s closer to the beach, and we don’t have to climb down as many steps, and . . .” She stopped for a breath.

“And that ain’t likely,” Grace finished for her. “I promised you both I wouldn’t get in a hurry about anything and that I’d go slow.”

“Has he kissed you yet?” Macy asked.

“Don’t answer that,” Audrey said as she set her hat and bag down in her chair and started out into the water with Raelene right behind her. “I don’t want to hear about any kissing going on between old people.”

“I don’t kiss and tell,” Grace called out, and then winked at Sarah and Macy.

Another surge of jealousy shot through Macy’s heart like a spear. Yes, ma’am, she was surely going to have to seriously work on that.



On Wednesday, Beezy announced that she was treating them all to lunch that day in celebration of their last day at the beach. She had chosen an Italian place in Pier Park, and she suggested that while they were there, they could all pick up suitcases. Grace was glad to have something to do that day. For the past two days, she and Travis had texted several times, but today he was in back-to-back meetings, and she wouldn’t hear from him until he called later tonight. She had figured the day would drag by like a snail slogging through molasses, and she really needed something to keep her busy. She hadn’t realized how strong the attraction between them had become until he wasn’t there anymore.

“You need something to take home all your new things in, plus the half ton of shells you’ve each collected,” Beezy reminded them.

“We could hit the thrift stores again,” Raelene said.

“Nope, you will not!” Beezy declared. “I don’t mind thrifting for clothes. You can wash them if they aren’t brand-new, but in today’s world, you never know what might have been in a suitcase. What if they’ve got drug-sniffin’ dogs at the airport, and the previous owner had that kind of thing in their suitcase? You’ve saved enough money on your wardrobe that you can buy new suitcases. Besides, now that you’ve all got a taste for vacations, you’ll be using them again.”

“Never thought of that,” Raelene said. “It would be so embarrassing.”