You were in my dreams last night and I woke up this morning missing you like crazy, darling. Feel better for me.
—Kemp
PS, Ace sends his love.
Over the last few days, they’d called at night to chat when they had time, and she felt like she knew them better every day. She also felt a little better with each passing day.
Margot had gotten home from Dallas that Thursday morning and had been both dismayed by Summer’s predicament as well as slightly amused by it. She’d shown up at Summer’s door, had taken one look at her splotchy, calamine-painted face, and hugged her. “Aww! You poor baby!”
Margot had looked as pretty as ever, dressed and ready for her work day, her lustrous brown hair around her shoulders and down her back. The only resemblance between them was in their figures and their voices. People had often commented that they sounded alike.
As Summer had dished some of the ice cream Ace had brought for both of them, she’d said, “This is just par for the course. I may not have attracted assholes or freaks this time, but I definitely don’t consider myself lucky in love right now.”
Margot had widened her green eyes at Summer’s use of the L-word. “Lucky in love? Wait, did I miss something? I was only gone for a few days, damn it.”
Summer had smiled and slid the spoon between her lips. After the bite was gone she’d replied, “A lot can happen in a weekend.”
“Tell me first how you were exposed to poison oak.”
Summer had pointed to the wildflower bouquet on the kitchen counter.
“But you know better than to go picking wildflowers next door.”
“Sure I do, but Kemp didn’t. He was trying to do something sweet for me.” She’d told her the whole tale, and Margot’s eyes had gotten bigger and bigger. Margot was by no means a prude, and polyamorous relationships were common knowledge among the women of Discretion.
Margot said, “Well, this leaves me at a disadvantage. Besides Rachel, who, bless her heart, has enough man for two men, I’m the only one without multiple men seeing to her every whim. Do they have brothers or cousins, maybe? Mom and Dad are going to have a conniption when word gets back to them about this.”
“They’ve approved of very little you and I have done in the last few years. This won’t be any different. They’ll come by the shop, pitch a fit, and then go back to their busy social lives.”
“So what are your Romeos’ names?”
“Ace Webster and Kemp Whittier, our security and investigation specialists. Grace sort of introduced us this weekend.” Summer had gotten up and moved slowly with her empty bowl to the sink and then returned, sitting carefully. Margot hadn’t failed to notice, judging by the way she’d watched her.
Summer felt her cheeks get hotter as her eagle-eyed sister had asked, “Exactly how did you get the poison oak on you? And where all do you have it?”
“If you must know, I got it from Kemp, and it’s everywhere.”
Margot’s eyes had become as round as saucers. “Everywhere? Poor baby!”
Summer filled Margot in with the rest of the sordid details because there was very little that they didn’t share with one another. Later on that evening, Margot had stopped by again with a box of oatmeal bath for her.
Soaking in the oatmeal bath that morning had helped her symptoms below the waist. Once she felt like moving around, Summer used the forced time off to declutter her home in preparation for the eventual move. She also worked on future promotions and projects for the store. Rachel was doing a great job with the website, and it was becoming more popular, judging by the sales and number of visits.
Sitting gingerly at her dining room table, Summer turned on her laptop and opened her e-mail. She bit her lip when a Google Alert popped up. Rachel had suggested setting them up for her name and the name of the store. The ones Rachel had set up for their names and pseudonyms had turned up the defamatory, anonymous blog, Divine Morality, which made mention of the girls by name in very unflattering terms.
Summer groaned when she saw the web address and clicked on the link. She scrunched up her eyes, dreading what she was going to see when Divine Morality’s blog site came up on the screen.
At the top of the article was a photograph of Summer squeezed tight between Kemp and Ace on the front steps of Discretion. Her lips were parted and her head was tilted back against Ace’s shoulder, one hand on Kemp’s chest and the other with her fingers threaded through Ace’s short black hair. It was a lovely, intimate moment between the three of them, made sordid by the article beneath it.
“…as you can plainly see, Summer Heston, owner of Discretion in Morehead, is every bit as guilty of immoral behavior. We shouldn’t be surprised to see this kind of activity on the front steps of her sinful establishment. Clearly, her joining forces with Grace Warner and Teresa Martinez only strengthens the stronghold they have in that part of our community. Along with their close friend, Rosemary Garner, they continue in leading the eligible bachelors and other women of this community astray. If that so-called ‘boutique’ was erased off the face of the earth, not many would shed a tear. The infestation continues to grow and something has to be done about it…”