Free One Little Thing by Kimberly Lang

sinking-rock feeling in her stomach, the one she’d lived with during the weeks that followed the outing of her father, seemed stronger than the normal, harmless nostalgia. She’d forgotten the feeling, but she’d recognized it immediately. She could almost feel the tension creeping into her shoulders. It was creepy and weird and hard to shake, and it left her feeling jumpy.
    The crowd for Mrs. Kenna’s retirement party, though, was pretty impressive, and that made Sophie smile. Mrs. Kenna had been teaching the teenagers of Magnolia Beach for nearly thirty years, and it looked like most of them had shown up tonight.
    Amazingly, Mrs. Kenna both remembered
and
recognized her—which was a nice stroke to her ego to think she was aging well. “It’s so good to see you back in town, Sophie. And so successful, too! I can’t wait to see what you’ve done with the old Palmer place.”
    â€œCome by anytime, and I’ll give you a personal tour.”
    â€œI’ll do that.” Mrs. Kenna beamed at her. “I’ve thought about you so often over the years. How are you doing? You look so beautiful and happy.”
    â€œI’m good.” The genuine caring in Mrs. Kenna’s voice warmed Sophie’s heart. “I’ve thought about you, too. I should have kept in touch.”
    Mrs. Kenna waved that away. “You were busy growing up. I understand. And how are your parents?”
    From anyone else, that question would feel prying, but Mrs. Kenna had been her ally, the one adult she had been able to talk to about the whole mess. “Good. Divorced now, but good. We’re all good.”
    â€œExcellent. I told you it would all work out, didn’t I?” she said quietly.
    â€œYou did. And you were right. It was tough for a while, but it got better.”
    â€œAnd you’re stronger for it.”
    â€œI like to think so. I also want to thank you. For everything. I don’t know what I would have done without—” She was surprised to hear her voice break.
    Mrs. Kenna stopped her with a squeeze of her hand. “Oh, Sophie, don’t thank me. I just shored up the walls a little when you needed it. You did all the heavy lifting.”
    â€œAnd it meant a lot to me.” Sophie was holding up the line and in danger of blubbering, so she left it at that, giving Mrs. Kenna a quick hug and a promise to take her to lunch to catch up before moving on.
    Spying Alyse across the room, Sophie headed in that direction. The woman Alyse was speaking to had her back to Sophie, but from this angle it didn’t look like a private conversation.
    When Alyse looked up and saw her, a strange look of worry, concern, and shock crossed her face. A second later the other woman turned around and Sophie understood.
    Amy Lee Huggins. The condescending, judgmental Queen Bitch extraordinaire who’d taken great pleasure in condemning her “immoral” and “unnatural” family to the fiery pits of hell using quotes from her daddy, the then-pastor of Grace Baptist, to explain the deep ugly sin of her entire bloodline.
    And the look on her face told Sophie that Amy Lee’s opinions hadn’t changed much in the intervening years.
    Good. That means I don’t have to like her now.
While she was a little shaky from all the other emotions buffeting her right now, the anger that welled up in her chest felt not only justified, but fortifying, as well.
    It still shocked her enough, though, to know that she couldn’t trust what might come out of her mouth if she got drawn into a conversation. But she wasn’t going to run away, either. Prudence wasn’t the same thing as cowardice.
    Sophie managed to nod in Amy Lee’s direction before turning to Alyse. “I just wanted to let you know that the package we were waiting on finally arrived today.” As far as cover stories went, that one was a little lame, but it was the best she could do