Notorious: The Seaclusion Series Book Two

Chapter 1-2

Kelly shuffled her feet, twirled her wine glass, and watched the liquid spin, anything to avoid looking around. She was being stared at, even whispered about. And she wasn’t being paranoid. Groups of women were looking at her and talking as they nodded her way. She was a giraffe, standing in a flock of birds. She was the tall, freakish outsider who was always in the public eye; therefore, it was okay in people’s minds to talk about her. They often did it while she was standing right in front of them. Like right now.

“You’re not looking so glamorous now, standing there all alone.”

Kelly spun around to find Sarah Langston walking up to her, in a short sun-dress, with her dark hair bouncing on her shoulders. Was Sarah going to talk to her? Anything was better than standing there alone. Sarah was dating John when Cassie showed up in town over a year ago. John ended up splitting with Sarah and falling back in love with his old flame, Cassie. The weird part was that Sarah disliked Kelly being in town even more than she disliked Cassie. Sarah, as most citizens of Seaclusion, disapproved of her lifestyle.

“Why does the entire town have to be afraid of me?”

“What about all those paparazzi? You had nothing to do with them?”

“Of course, I didn’t. Have you ever seen me drag my work to town? Especially paparazzi?”

“Do you ever let anything be about your sister?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Sarah’s gaze traveled over her. “Well, you’ll have to forgive all us small town people of being weary of you. Paparazzi broke into our church! We’ve never seen anything like that spectacle before.”

“I didn’t plan it.” Kelly shuffled her feet, her high heel squeaked on the ground.

“Are you sure?”

Kelly rolled her eyes. “Of course, I’m sure. I had no idea they’d be out there until the back doors were opened.”

“You’re notorious, for everything from who you’re sleeping with, to what you’re wearing. You had to know they’d stalk you to such an important event as your sister’s wedding.”

Kelly flipped her long, red hair. “Believe what you want. I made every effort to keep this a secret. Come off it, you may hate my lifestyle, but you know how I feel about my sister. You know I’d never do anything to hurt her.”

“You might not plan it, but everything about your life hurts your sister. So, it’s hard to feel sorry for you. Try being a little less of a walking scandal, and maybe people would want you around more.”

“I deserve to have my life ripped apart in public because I’m famous, right? It just so happens to be a nasty side effect of my chosen profession, and not something I enjoy.” There was no sympathy for her. She deserved the invasion of privacy for having chosen to be a model. Kelly glanced at Sarah and asked, “So how was it watching my sister marry your ex?”

“You’ve been waiting to rub that in, haven’t you? And for your information, I was glad, to see a couple so happy. I was never in love with John.”

“You were just sore to lose out to my sister.”

“I was a sore loser for a while. But Cassie and I have moved past it.”

“So, what do you want anyways? You don’t like me.”

Sarah tapped her finger against her thigh. “I guess I could see where it might be awkward to be you, coming to this town. No one will even come up to you, will they?”

“No, they won’t. But you did.” She hadn’t considered Sarah much of anything, after Sarah’s blatant dislike of her. But maybe having someone besides Cassie and Tim talk to her in Seaclusion might be a nice change. She pointed toward Luke and asked, “Who is Luke hugging? I’ve met so many of their relatives, I can’t keep them straight.”

Sarah turned and glanced to where Kelly motioned.

“Those are Shelly’s parents.”

“Oh. Shit.” Dead wife’s parents. God, that couldn’t be easy for Luke.

“They moved right after the funeral and haven’t been back since.”

Kelly turned back to Sarah. “Did you know Shelly?”

“I knew of her.”

“What was she like?”

“She was ten years older than I. She was a real estate agent who was born and raised here. She left for college, where she met Luke. He got on at the high school, teaching math, and they soon bought Shelly’s parents’ home to start a family. Then…you know the rest. I was away at college when she was in the car accident. It was terrible. Everyone was so worried about Luke.”

“Are they still?”

“I don’t know. He seems better. He’s the most popular teacher at the high school. When Shelly died, Luke stopped everything for a while. When he came back, he was never the same. He keeps everyone at arm’s length.” Sarah paused, her eyebrows raised. “How come you don’t know all this?”

Kelly shrugged and grimaced. “Like you, Luke hates me. So, I don’t talk to him.”

“I don’t hate you.”

“You don’t?”

“No, just your lifestyle.”

“A lifestyle that I don’t live while I’m here. Why can’t you give me a chance? I’m really not all that bad.”

Sarah narrowed her eye, finally she nodded. “What do you have in mind?”

“I’ll be in town all week, taking care of Tim while Cassie is on her honeymoon. What if I stop by on your lunch hour and we can have lunch?”

“What makes you think I want to?”

“What time?” Kelly persisted.

“Noon, you i***t, just like every other working adult.”

“Great, see you then.”

Sarah groaned out loud but smiled, shaking her head while she walked away. Sarah owned a shop on Main Street in Seaclusion.

After standing alone for over an hour at her sister’s wedding, it was time she found some kind of friend in this stupid town beyond her sister. And since Sarah had come up to her, why not start with her?

Luke and Shelly’s mom were still speaking. He had his hand on her back as he bent close to her. It pained Kelly. How could it not? Luke was thirty-four and already a widower, and had been for three years. Each time she looked at him, she pictured what it must have been like the moment he got the call saying his wife had been killed in a car accident. Shelly was pregnant when it happened, which made it sickening to imagine.

And no matter how much Luke detested her, her heart ached for him. No one deserved that kind of loss. Luke didn’t like her, but he was good to her sister and wonderful to her nephew, Tim. Tim was the only person who Luke showed any real feelings toward. Luke was somehow too nice, too polite, too perfect acting for it to be real. He used it to deflect everyone’s pity. And everyone let him do it. Everyone stood there, pretending to be so glad for Luke to be moving into his new condo. They seemed to take the condo as proof Luke had moved on, as if a new address somehow represented Luke was doing fine. If Luke was busy, then he must be okay. Even his mother tried to believe it.

Too bad it was a bald-faced lie. It made everyone feel better to believe that lie, then to ask for the truth.

Except her. Luke didn’t pretend with her. He downright snarled at her. He gave her dirty looks, scowled, walked away when she entered a room, and had no problem telling her what he thought of things she said or did.

If she had to come to this small, judgmental, afraid to-talk-to-her town, then her one distraction was going to be Luke. She said things to set off his temper, sarcasm, and annoyance with her. Why not? It was too easy; he believed everything bad about her anyway. And for the five minutes he was annoyed with her, he seemed a little less tragic, a little less lost, and a little more normal. It was worth it even if it exacerbated his foul opinion of her.