He turned away, and I went back inside to take a shower and wash off the discomfort Lars had created in me.

Before the afternoon was over, Lars made three more moves on me, leaving me feeling completely uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure how the next weeks were going to go with having him work on the property. I’d spent five years being uncomfortable in a loveless marriage. The last thing I wanted was to be uncomfortable with a complete stranger.

Not only was I dealing with Lars seemingly coming on to me, but I was also still having plenty of ‘friendly’ visits from various townspeople.

People were still showing up at my house to introduce themselves to me, and frankly it was getting exhausting. The more they came, the more invasive they were becoming—asking me questions about my dating life, curious if I was interested in a date with their cousin Bernie who hadn’t dated a girl ever in his life, wondering if I was interested in donating to the elementary school’s autumn performance of Macbeth. That seemed a bit heavy for a kid’s show, but hey, who was I to say?

I somehow ended up writing a check for that one—those ladies were pushy.

If you thought the mothers of Havenbarrow were aggressive, wait till you hear about the daughters selling their Girl Scout cookies. Somehow I ended up ordering enough cookies to feed an army—or a sad self on a Friday night.

The worst of them all was still Louise and Kate, who found themselves more and more interested in knowing about who I was as a person and even more intrigued by digging up some kind of dirt from my past.

“Hey, sweetheart,” the two sang as they stood in front of my front door one Saturday afternoon. “We wanted to check in on you and see how you’re adjusting to little ole Havenbarrow. Lord knows it must be a big change from being a city girl like you were before.”

Fact: I never told them I was a city girl. I told nosy Nancy that when she stopped by the other day with muffins.

Another fact: Don’t trust nosy Nancy, no matter how good her muffins are.

“I’m doing good, ladies.”

“Oh, yes. That’s good and all,” Kate said, pursing her lips, “but if you don’t mind me prying, what are you going to do here?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean no offense, Kennedy,” she started, which meant something offensive was about to be said. but you can’t just sit around here and not have a job. Don’t you have bigger ambitions than that? I mean, you’re what, twenty-nine, thirty?” she asked.

The insult was loud and clear through her tone, and I wasn’t sure how I restrained myself from slamming the door in her face.

“Twenty-eight,” I answered.

They both frowned. “That’s a shame,” Louise said. “You’re too old to be doing nothing. Maybe you should come to the mani-pedi nights I host with a few other gals. We have one next week. Perhaps one of the girls in town can get you started with a job. You know what they say—network, network, network! And honey, I’m sure your nails will thank you for the pampering. Plus, what about dating? Mary’s cousin Bernie is single. He’s a bit odd, too. Quirky, I should say—like you. I bet you two would be a great fit!”

Not Bernie again. “Thank you for the offer, but I think I’m going to have to pass.” Part of me wanted to tell them about my novels. About how I’ve had a successful career. A bigger part of me knew I didn’t own them a thing.

“You should really consider having Bernie take you out on a date. At your age, you should settle down, don’t you think? I bet you want kids at some point, don’t you? Time is ticking, and it only gets harder the longer you wait.”

Wow.

They had crossed a line, and they didn’t even care that they had. More and more each day, I was becoming certain that I wouldn’t be able to stay in that house with these two women living right down the street.

“I’m sorry, that’s kind of a private question, and—”

Louise cut in. “Did you know you can freeze your eggs? I read an article that you can do that.”

Before I could reply, Louise was waving over at Lars, who was digging up some dead plants. “Hey, Lars. It’s good to see you,” she sang, eyeing him up and down like he was a T-bone steak she was going to devour. “I see you’ve still been working hard as always.”

He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and gave a devilish smirk. “You know I can’t keep myself from getting my hands dirty, Louise.” He then winked at me, and my stomach flipped fifty-seven times.

Louise fanned herself and blushed as if she wasn’t a married woman while Lars went back to work. “Wow, my gosh. If I were still a single girl, I would love to get down and dirty with that man.”