wondering at the fact that he was still fascinated despite all the complications screaming at him to stay far, far away.
Mary Vaughn Lewis couldn’t recall a time in her life when she’d been happier. When she’d married Sonny Lewis the first time, she’d been after respectability and security. He was the son of the town mayor and owner of a successful car dealership. Married to Sonny, she’d believed no one would ever look down on her again or bring up her less-than-respectable family.
They’d divorced because he’d tired of her taking him for granted. Or maybe because he’d tired of being second best to Ronnie Sullivan, who’d never even given her a second glance despite her very best efforts to catch his attention. It was hard to say just why Sonny had lost patience, but the divorce had been a shock just the same. She’d never envisioned Sonny leaving her. The one constant in her life had been his adoration from the time they’d been teenagers.
Only after they’d been apart for a while had Mary Vaughn realized what a treasure Sonny was. She’d found herself drawn to him in a whole new way. The passion that had been methodical the first time around had been rekindled into something that stunned her with its intensity. In their forties, they were like two kids who couldn’t get enough of each other.
As much as this new side of their relationship thrilled her, it was seriously cutting into her career as a real estate agent. She’d realized she was well and truly hooked on her new husband when she chose running home for a mid-afternoon quickie over showing houses or closing a deal. Her schedule, once packed with appointments she refused to change, was now subject to her husband’s timetable and the sudden impulses that might strike either one of them.
Which is why she was at home and breathless when she had a call from Travis McDonald inquiring about real estate downtown. Though she had no intention of stopping what she was doing, she couldn’t keep herself from listening to his message. Since moving a property on Main Street or anywhere in the vicinity was rare, she yanked the sheet up to her chin, pushed away Sonny’s roving hand and took notice, grabbing the phone out of its cradle before he could hang up.
“I have a few properties that might suit your needs,” she immediately told the man on the other end of the line. “When would you like to look?”
“How’s this afternoon?” he said, sounding eager. “I could meet you in a half hour.”
“A half hour will be perfect,” she said at once, ignoring Sonny’s resigned expression. She settled the details, hung up the phone and turned to her husband. “Five minutes to dress, another five to get there. That leaves us twenty minutes. You up to the challenge?”
Sonny grinned. “You ever know me not to be?” he said, already reaching for her.
A half hour later, Mary Vaughn’s hair was a bit more tousled than usual, her cheeks a little pinker, as she pulled her Mercedes to the curb. Even so, a glance at her watch told her she was right on time. Just one more incidence in her life when Sonny hadn’t let her down.
At the end of May there was a frenzy of speculation in Wharton’s when a SOLD sign appeared on the window of an empty space on Azalea Drive, just across the street from Town Hall and on the other side of the square from Wharton’s.
Once occupied by a small newsstand that had sold magazines, cigarettes and Coca-Cola in bottles out of an old-fashioned red cooler, it had been empty for several years. The dingy front window had been covered over with curling brown paper, the once-green door was now faded and the rolled up awning was so dry-rotted it would probably crumble if anyone dared to open it.
For once, no one seemed to be able to pry even a tidbit of information from Mary Vaughn, who was usually only too eager to tell the world about the local real estate sales, especially those she’d made herself.
“Sorry, I’ve been sworn to secrecy,” she told Sarah and Grace when they ganged up on her one morning when she stopped in to pick up a cup of coffee to go.
“Since when has that ever stopped you?” Grace grumbled with a huff.
Mary Vaughn didn’t take offense. “The buyer paid full price to keep my mouth shut. What can I say? Money talks.”
“Well, you’d think whoever it is would want to set off some free word-of-mouth,” Grace said. “Must not have much business sense.”
Mary Vaughn grinned at Sarah. “Maybe we should talk about something else. I’m hoping Rory Sue’s going to move back home. Maybe she could get together with you, Annie and Raylene sometime. I think once she sees there are some young people still around, she’ll feel more positive about settling in Serenity, instead of heading over to Charleston. Sonny and I are just sick, thinking about her so far away. And you should hear her granddaddy going on and on about it. Howard’s beside himself.”
As if Charleston were at the other end of the earth, Sarah thought. In her opinion, it wasn’t quite far enough. Still, she fibbed, “We’d love to see her.”
The truth was, Rory Sue had always thought she was better than any of them, Raylene included. It didn’t seem to impress Rory Sue in the least that Raylene was the only girl in town who’d had a full-blown debutante season over in Charleston, thanks to her well-connected maternal grandparents.
Like her mama, Rory Sue thought she was hot stuff because of her family, the most powerful one in Serenity. That Howard and Sonny Lewis were big fish in a very tiny pond didn’t seem to faze her. It had also apparently escaped her notice that her maternal grandparents—Mary Vaughn’s mama and daddy—were less than noteworthy. More like notorious for their frequent drunken brawls, if the truth be told.
“Then I’ll be sure she gets in touch,” Mary Vaughn told Sarah, picking up her coffee and heading for the door.
“Don’t be coming back in here till you have some news you can share,” Grace called after her, not entirely in jest.
“We’ll find out what’s going on soon enough,” Sarah consoled Grace when Mary Vaughn just waved.
“Not good enough. I pride myself on knowing things first,” Grace replied. “I don’t understand all this secrecy unless it’s going to be one of those shops that sells sex toys or something like that.” Her expression turned thoughtful. “Maybe porno movies, though we have an ordinance against that, I think.” She shook her head sorrowfully. “If it’s not something that’s going to cause an uproar, why would the owner want to keep it a secret?”
Sarah bit back a laugh because she knew Grace was serious. “I’m not sure there’s a huge market for selling sex toys in Serenity,” she said. “And if I were ever to consider such a thing, I certainly wouldn’t put the business right here in plain view in the middle of downtown, where it’d be bound to stir up trouble. There are plenty of back alleys where a place like that might be able to operate in peace.”
“Well, some people don’t have your good sense,” Grace grumbled. She stirred a straw around in her sweet tea, her expression despondent. Eventually she turned back to Sarah. “Maybe you could talk to Jeanette, see what she knows.”
“Why Jeanette?”
“She’s married to the town manager, isn’t she?” Grace said, clearly warming to the idea. “If anybody knows what’s going on, Tom does. He’s the one on this big campaign to bring new business into downtown Serenity.”
“Good point,” Sarah conceded. “I’ll ask her when I go over to
