The Secrets She Kept. Brenda Novak

years he’d been gone was a handful of calls, all instigated by him and all of which she’d ignored, and the car he’d tried to give her a few years ago, which she’d forced the driver to return.

      “That’s okay,” she said. “It’s not much farther.”

      If she was still in the same house, and he guessed she was, she lived just down the street in a small cottage she’d inherited from her late aunt. She was right—it wasn’t far. But she was already struggling to hang on to her dog. “Simba’s got to be getting heavy,” he said. “And he doesn’t look comfortable. Let us give you a ride,” he said again.

      “We’re wet,” she responded.

      “Avis will clean the car when I return it,” he told her.

      “Come on!” Maisey chimed in and, rather than say no to both of them, Nancy slowed to a stop.

       7

      NANCY COULDN’T BELIEVE IT. Maisey had stopped by just this morning to warn her that she might run into Keith and here he was—at the worst possible moment. Her hair was plastered to her head. She wasn’t wearing any makeup. She had on a jogging outfit that probably showed every extra pound. And she was breathing heavily from exertion.

      She told herself not to even think like that. She didn’t care if he admired her. She’d been crazy to believe he could ever give her what she needed. Maybe she wasn’t a svelte 120 pounds, like his mother, but she was done hanging on to his every word and feeling grateful for any scrap of attention. She was done starving herself in order to be something she wasn’t. She’d find the right companion eventually—or she’d continue to build a fulfilling life alone.

      “What happened?” Maisey asked as Nancy situated her dog beside her. “Why were you carrying Simba?”

      She held Simba back so he couldn’t stick his muzzle between the front seats. “He stepped on a piece of glass while we were on our walk, so I took him to the vet.” And here she’d thought she’d been fortunate that the incident had occurred only two doors down from the animal clinic. If she’d taken him home and looked after him herself, she wouldn’t have been on the side of the road at that particular moment, and then she might’ve been able to put off encountering Keith until the funeral. She told herself she didn’t care what he thought of her looking so bad, but being around him wasn’t exactly comfortable...

      “Poor baby. Will he be okay?”

      This came from Maisey again. Keith hadn’t said anything since she’d climbed in, but she could see his stunning blue-green eyes in the rearview mirror as he eased into traffic. She still dreamed about those eyes...

      Only because she hadn’t found the guy she was going to fall in love with, she quickly told herself. She was working on that; it was just a matter of time. At least ten new prospects from her online dating site had left her a message over the weekend. And more were coming in every day... “Should be. He cut his front paw, but the vet cleaned and dressed the wound.”

      Maisey held her seat belt away from her body so she could turn around and pet him. “You were trying not to set him down until you got home?”

      “I didn’t see any reason to let his bandage get dirty.”

      “He’s too big to carry,” Maisey said with a chuckle.

      Nancy refused to let her gaze shift back to that rearview mirror and what it revealed of Keith. She could smell his cologne, which was bad enough. “I do it all the time—pick him up and carry him over to the couch so he’ll sit with me, or to the tub out back for his bath. He’d never voluntarily get in the tub. But I’ve never tried to haul him several blocks. The distance makes a difference.”

      “I’ll bet,” she agreed. “I’m glad we saw you.”

      “So am I,” Nancy lied and turned her face toward the window so Keith wouldn’t be able to get a good look at her even if he tried.

      “How’s business at the flower shop?” he asked.

      She cleared her throat. “Better than ever.”

      “Who’s working today?”

      “Marlene Fillmore, a new girl. You wouldn’t know her. She moved to the island about a year ago. From Charleston.”

      “Did you train her?”

      “Didn’t need to—not really. She worked out of her house doing flowers for weddings, so she’s had plenty of experience.”

      “That’s good.”

      Why would he care? He’d left all of this behind...

      “I’m sorry about your mother,” she said to finally get that out of the way. “I...” She wasn’t sure what else to add. She knew how he’d felt about Josephine. She also knew that some of his problems revolved around the fact that he couldn’t completely hate her, couldn’t completely turn away from the woman who’d raised him.

      Or had he come to terms with cutting her off? Maybe that was why he was doing so well. “I was shocked and saddened,” she finished.

      “Thank you.”

      His response was polite, nothing that offered any clue as to how deeply he was hurting. But they’d arrived at her house. There was no need to make more conversation.

      As soon as he came to a full stop, she reached for her dog, but he spoke before she could take Simba in her arms.

      “Did my mom ever say anything to you that sounded like she might be contemplating suicide?”

      “No. I got no indication whatsoever.”

      “Would you say she was acting the same?”

      Mrs. Lazarow had been as irritable and caustic as ever. But Nancy couldn’t say that. Keith and Maisey had to be mourning, no matter how they’d felt about their mother. “I got the impression she was in good spirits. So I’m as stunned as everyone else.”

      Simba’s collar jingled as she lifted him into her lap.

      “Nancy?”

      Keith again. She waited while he turned to look directly at her.

      So much for avoiding his gaze...

      “Have you ever met Hugh Pointer?”

      She raised her eyebrows. “Who?”

      “Hugh Pointer. My mother was dating him. Did she ever bring him into the flower shop? Mention him to you?”

      “She told me she was going to Australia to see someone she was dating. Maybe that was Hugh. She asked me to complete the work schedule at the shop for the next few weeks so she could leave feeling confident that I’d be able to get by without her—having someone to take over on my days off and so on. That’s it.”

      She got the feeling that he would’ve liked to ask her more, but she didn’t give him the chance. She climbed out as gracefully as she could while cradling a sixty-five-pound dog.

      “Thanks for the ride,” she called and managed to close the door with her hip.

      Unfortunately, he got out, too—and hurried around the car. “Here, I’ll take Simba,” he said. “You go unlock the door.”

      She wished Simba would growl or refuse to be touched, but he was the friendliest Chow on the planet. Even if he hadn’t remembered Keith, he wouldn’t have balked. He lowered his ears and wagged his tail in greeting while Keith took him from her.

      Traitor. Cursing herself for ever going out of the house this morning, Nancy hurried up the walkway ahead of them—and nearly dropped her keys, she was in such a hurry to open the door.

      Several seconds later, she managed to get the key in the lock. “Go ahead and set him inside,” she