It was about exactly as stuffy an event as Davis had imagined. The appetizers were small and the tablecloths were long. Perfume and cologne mingled together in a cloud he couldn’t seem to avoid, no matter where he stepped. Elaine started out tense, shaking as she pressed against him, but now seemed better.

Their arms weren’t locked together anymore because so many familiar faces wanted to offer her hugs and handshakes. It was all kind words and condolences that Elaine met with dismissal and laughter. “I don’t rattle easily,” she lied and waved their pity off. “I’m actually thrilled to be starting a new chapter of my life. Sometime you need something to bump you out of an old rut.”

Her attitude and smile were widely accepted and turned quickly to relief on the faces of her old coworkers and clients. Every chance she had, Davis was introduced as her boyfriend and the man who’d swept her away to a beach town and convinced her to stay.

“So you aren’t coming back to the industry? I know a CEO interested in meeting with you. I had hoped to work with you again.” The offers and disappointments all blurred together, there were so many.

“I’ll be in Indigo Bay,” she replied. “My toes in the sand and the sun on my face. I’ve got everything I need. I’m done with this wild pace. Life is too short.”

Everything seemed to be going her way as the hours ticked by and the event began to draw to a close.

“Lainie,” Mick called, and she placed her champagne down on a passing tray. “I was hoping to catch you.” His eyes landed on Davis, and shock spread across his face. “Oh, you’re here.”

“I am,” Davis replied flatly, but cleared his throat as a small group of people seemed to gather around to watch what might happen. “I wouldn’t miss a chance to escort a woman like Elaine to such a beautiful event.”

“Escort is the key word,” a shrill and unfamiliar voice chimed in. A tall redhead, who was too much collarbone and not enough curves, elbowed her way to them.

“Elizabeth,” Mick said in a scolding tone but Elaine jumped in.

“How are you, Elizabeth?” Elaine asked, coolly.

“This guy must be an escort. Look at him. Do those pants rip away when the music starts playing? How much did he cost you to put on this show?”

“What show?” Elaine asked, twisting her face up in annoyance.

“Coming here with this guy on your arm like everything is all right. You got fired. You don’t even belong here.”

“We’re raising money for the children’s hospital, Elizabeth,” she countered. “I think we can all put petty disagreements aside and rally behind the cause.”

Nicely played. She would not sink to Elizabeth’s level, and in the process make the girl look like more of a fool than she already had herself.

“Is there a problem here?” a voice, rattling with old age, asked. A hunchbacked woman in a gold sequined dress and shawl approached, looking stern.

“Mrs. Wilmington,” Elaine sang happily as she closed the gap between them and kissed the old woman on the cheek. “How are you?”

“I’m so glad you came, dear. I’m well. I wanted to call you, but I thought maybe you would like some space. I just got word that you joined us tonight, and I was anxious to come see you. Tell me now, dear, what is happening?”

“Nothing at all, Mrs. Wilmington. Davis and I were just getting ready to leave.”

“I wish you’d rethink that,” the old woman said, holding Elaine’s forearm for support. “I would like some of your time to discuss a few matters.”

“Of course,” Elaine agreed. “Shall we sit?”

“Why would anyone want your advice?” Elizabeth cackled. “The old coot must not have the internet. Maybe she’s the only one on earth who hasn’t seen what an idiot you are. This guy is someone she hired to pretend to be her date,” Elizabeth said loudly and slow as if the old woman needed the accommodation of both.

“Why is this girl yelling at me?” Mrs. Wilmington asked no one in particular, and the crowd chuckled. “Is it that she doesn’t know who I am, or she thinks I don’t know who she is? Because I certainly do know.”

“Excuse me?” Elizabeth gasped. “I’m just trying to warn you. Elaine here did less than reputable things to get ahead. If you are going to ask her business questions, you might want to reconsider. I took over her job, I’d be much more suitable.”

“The only thing you’re suitable for,” Mrs. Wilmington replied so coolly it sounded like the chorus of a song, “is following my dogs around, waiting to fill some plastic bags with their messes. Outside of that, I can’t think of a single use for you.”

Elaine, and nearly everyone else, broke out into a hearty laugh as Elizabeth’s freckles faded into her fully red face. “Some old rich hag isn’t going to stand here with this loser and tell me where I belong. Do you know who my father is?”

“I do.” Mrs. Wilmington laughed. “We’ve done business together for almost forty years. I was one of the first investors in his company. We have lunch once a month. If he heard you just called me an old hag, I’d bet my summer house in the mountains you’d be cut off faster than a dead fish on the line.”

“Daddy would never cut me off,” Elizabeth scoffed. “You’re senile.”

“Elaine dear,” Mrs. Wilmington said sweetly. “Can you get my phone out of my purse? I’d like to make a call and see which one of us is right.”

“I wouldn’t waste your time, Mrs. Wilmington,” Elaine said, patting the old woman’s hand. “Elizabeth is her own worst enemy. We don’t have to knock her down a few pegs; she’ll do that on her own soon enough.”

“Ladies,” Mick cut in like he’d been timing an entry point into a jump rope competition. “I know that things between us—”

“Nope,” Elaine said sharply. “There were no things between us,” she corrected, gesturing between the three of them. “There is nothing there to discuss. I’m going to chat with Mrs. Wilmington, if you will excuse me.”

“I’m going to put in a higher bid for your guy,” Elizabeth said, inching closer to Davis. “He won’t be here when you get back.”

With that Elaine felt a lava of anger rise, volcano style, from her toes to her face. “Back off,” she asserted, handing Mrs. Wilmington’s needed support over to Davis and closing in on Elizabeth. “You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, and I’d appreciate it if you left.”

The crowd rumbled its agreement, and that seemed to set Elizabeth over the edge. Not being liked by the masses clearly did not sit well with her. “Make me,” she mouthed angrily.

“I’m not going to hit you,” Elaine sneered. “We aren’t children.”

“I’m going to take everything from you. What’s the name of that stupid town you ended up in? Indigo Bay? I’ll have my father flatten it, and turn it into a shopping strip. I’ll take him. I’ll take whatever you have left.”

“Hit her,” Mrs. Wilmington bit out, and Elaine couldn’t hold back her laughter. “Don’t laugh, whack her.”

“Mrs. Wilmington, I’m not going to—” The ice cold contents of a glass splashed across Elaine’s face and cut her words short. That shrew had just tossed a drink in her face. She blinked away the droplets and licked the champagne from her lips.

“I’m the bigger person here,” Elaine ground out and was met with a roll from Elizabeth’s cloudy gray eyes. “I mean I’m literally bigger than you,” she shouted, sweeping a leg out from under Elizabeth and sending her to the ground. She landed with a thud, her emerald green dress ripping at the seam, and her high heels flying off. “Get up and I will make you wish you hadn’t.”

A hardy round of applause broke out from the small group surrounding them, and Elaine positioned Mrs. Wilmington’s shaky arm back on hers. “Davis, would you like to join us while we chat?” Elaine asked so calmly Davis could hardly believe what he’d just seen.

“Sure,” he croaked out, lending his arm to Mrs. Wilmington’s other side and smiling warmly when she took it.

“You’re a better woman than I am,” Mrs. Wilmington offered. “I’d have at least stomped on her a few times while she was down there.”