“Mm-hmm.” Anna gave me a knowing grin and shook her head. “We closed the place down, so it was pretty late. Your house was dark and I have a spare bed. All good! I’m so happy you two joined us. Maeve had a good birthday.”

I laughed. “She looked well on her way to a good birthday when I left.”

Presley came up to my side with a big donut box in one hand and a drink holder with two coffees in the other. “Thanks, Anna. You sure you won’t join us for breakfast?”

“I have a thing, so I need to go get myself pretty. You girls enjoy.”

We said our goodbyes and Anna backed out.

“I am dying for these,” Presley said. “The sugar smell…” Her eyes rolled back into her head. “I didn’t know what Holden likes so I got a variety.”

“He’s still asleep. We can leave a couple for him, and I thought I’d take you to the hotel. We can eat donuts on a balcony overlooking the lake.”

“Ooh, yes, please,” Presley said. “Let’s go.”

Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, and she wore cutoff shorts, a plain coral-colored tee, and a gray zip-up hoodie with flip-flops.

“You sure you don’t want to change into better clothes?” I asked. This was our long-standing joke.

“You sure you don’t want to get comfortable?” she replied, raising her brows at my tailored Capris, rayon V-neck, and wedges.

We both laughed, neither bothering to answer because this was how it usually was—I didn’t feel comfortable going out without being fully done up and dressed decently. Presley didn’t feel the need for the “armor.”

“I’ll leave a note for Holden, then we can go.” I took a chocolate frosted and a chocolate glazed from the box for my husband, knowing he would roll his eyes at the more sugary ones, like the fruity-cereal topped and the sandwich-cookie topped.

“I’ll wait in my car,” Presley said and headed toward it, parked in the street.

I went inside, scribbled a note, and put it on the microwave, where I knew he’d see it, then caught sight of my own flip-flops on the mat by the back door. They were simple black and… more comfortable than wedges. After a moment of hesitation, I traded them out and walked out the front door in my comfy, flat-soled flip-flops.

A few minutes later, Presley drove us up to the Marks Hotel at Dragonfly Lake.

“Wow,” she said as she pulled to the side I indicated. “It’s beautiful.”