“What about yours?” Alana asked. Marissa didn’t wear an engagement ring.
“The exact same ring, size four and a half,” she said, closing the box and stowing it safely away. “I don’t wear much jewelry, and when we’re done sailing, I’ll probably go back into construction work in one way or another. A setting will just snag on things, so I won’t wear it during the workday anyway. The more you take it off, the more likely you are to lose it.”
“Very practical,” Alana said, thinking of Freddie’s six-carat diamond from Harry Winston. Then she thought about Lucas’s grandmother’s missing ring, and Gunther’s stolen one. Tokens of affection given to mark momentous occasions, only to disappear. She’d ask Mrs. Battle to let her know if Lucas tracked down Gunther’s ring, but she didn’t know if she had the courage to ask Lucas to let her know if he ever found his grandmother’s.
Especially after last night—when Lucas appeared at her hotel room door, his mask of silent distance stretched so thin over emotions raging behind his eyes. She’d known he didn’t like the other men flirting with her. It made her uncomfortable, but she also didn’t know how to stop it. Every year thousands of girls fought for spaces at one of the elite boarding schools around the country. Attending a premier school had given her lots of educational opportunities, but learning how to deal with men on a casual basis wasn’t one of them. She’d been at a loss for how to tell Bill Garrett to ease up a little.
As a result, she’d hurt Lucas’s feelings because she’d assumed that his affectless face meant he didn’t have any for her.
Foolish girl. Foolish, foolish girl.
Now she really didn’t know what to do.
“What’s going on with you and Lucas?”
Alana’s eyes widened, then shot to Darla’s face. She smiled back and sipped her coffee. “You girls are really very sweet to be so concerned about my tender ears, but please remember, I became an unwed mother at seventeen. I do know people have sex. I’m very hard to shock.”
“But . . . no one in Walkers Ford is supposed to know,” Alana said.
“No one in Walkers Ford does know,” Darla replied.
“She keeps secrets very well,” Marissa said with a little smile.
“Nothing’s going on. Nothing permanent, anyway,” Alana amended. “I’m leaving as soon as we get back to Walkers Ford. My contract’s up, and I finished the work I did for Mayor Turner when I made the presentation to the town council.”
“Are they going to renovate the library?” Marissa asked.
Alana shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t pay much attention to what happens after I do the research. This is the first time I’ve pulled everything together to develop a proposal and make recommendations.”
“It was a lovely proposal,” Darla said. “Cody’s drawings really brought to life what you described. I could look at them and see exactly what your changes would do for the county.”
“It’s hard to believe your job is so specialized,” Marissa said.
“It’s more efficient. I do one thing, and I do it very, very well. Freddie does something else, and she does that thing very, very well. We have researchers, script writers, proposal writers, event planners.”
“Do you like that?”
“I like contributing to what the Wentworth Foundation stands for,” Alana said. “We make a difference on a global scale. I’m a part of that.”
Marissa made a noncommittal noise and finished her pound cake. “So Lucas was just a sabbatical fling. Do people have flings on sabbatical?”
“I did.”
“You don’t seem like the type,” Marissa said gently.
“And that’s why I did it,” Alana replied. “We should go.”
? ? ?
THEY CAUGHT A cab back to the hotel in plenty of time for a quick nap before Marissa knocked on her door.
“I’m actually getting excited,” she said. “Oh. You’re already ready.”
She’d showered, dressed, and done her hair and makeup shortly after waking up, mostly out of habit. Freddie’s routine always took longer than Alana’s, and she’d gotten used to keeping her own hair and makeup simple so she could help with Freddie’s far more elaborate preparations. She looked at the eye shadow compact in shades of dark blue and gray in her makeup bag. A sunset wedding on the beach was the perfect occasion for smoky eyes, but somehow it didn’t feel right. She slid the compact back into her makeup bag and used the more neutral shades of sand and pink she always wore.
Marissa took a shower and styled her hair while Alana double-checked all the arrangements with the hotel’s event staff. The sun was a ball of red fire hanging low in the sky when Darla knocked on the door, the dress in hand. Alana watched Darla zip Marissa into the dress, fussing until the folds lay just right. Then the older woman stepped back and swiped under her carefully applied eye makeup.