Second Chance Summer (Blue Harbor Book 2)

by Olivia Miles

  “Candy!” She smiled. “If I didn’t say it last night, that was a really nice party.”

  Candy, for once, was not smiling. She lunged forward and grabbed Amelia by the wrists, squeezing hard. “I’m not entirely sure it was so nice. I’m told that there was some nefarious business going on right under my nose!”

  Amelia peered at her. “Nefarious business?”

  “That Matthew Bradford!”

  Amelia felt her cheeks flush. So perhaps they hadn’t slipped away unnoticed as she’d hoped. And perhaps when they’d returned to the party, it had been noticeable, along with their shared absence.

  “Oh,” she said. “That.” She pulled her hands free and went behind the counter to start a fresh pot of coffee. She would have thought Candy would be happy to know that she and Matt were…She pulled in a breath and released a happy sigh.

  “Yes. That!” Candy looked most put out. “You know he has terrible plans for this town, Amelia!”

  “Well, now I wouldn’t call them terrible,” Amelia said, feeling a little bad that she had implied such a thing to Matt when he’d first shown her the rendering. “And it’s entirely possible that the town council won’t vote it through.”

  “Well, I should hope not!” Candy scoffed. “I assume you’ll be there, to speak against it! I’m calling on all local business owners to do that.” This was quite a statement, considering that Candy was not a business owner. But then, Amelia’s father was, technically.

  Amelia turned from the coffee machine and looked at Candy. “Don’t you think that’s taking things a little far? Sure, it wouldn’t be my choice, but I don’t really feel I have much say in the matter. And he raised a very good point that this resort could be good for the town.”

  And maybe, it would be good for her, too. She’d adapted to change before, and this kind of change could bring Matt back to town for longer than his current stay.

  Candy blinked at her, her mouth a perfect oval. “Amelia Conway! I cannot even believe my ears! That man intends to tear down this lovely café of yours and you don’t plan to stop him?”

  Amelia felt the blood drain from her face. “What do you mean, he intends to tear down this café?” She spoke slowly, but her mind was in overdrive as she tried to play through the details of her conversation with Matt. “He said he wanted to plan it for the other side of the beach. Over near the cliff.”

  “Well, that’s not what I’m told.” Candy folded her arms across her chest with a huff. “I was over at the town hall today, getting more votes for your contest entry, and I happened to get into a conversation with the assistant to the mayor.”

  Amelia raised her eyebrow. Happened to was probably a stretch.

  “As soon as she heard me mention your café, she asked me how you felt about moving up to Main Street. Well, needless to say, I had no idea what she was talking about!”

  Main Street. Was that what Matt had been getting at the other night when he’d asked her about the location of her business?

  “I own this half of the building,” Amelia said. “They can’t just make me leave.”

  Candy pinched her lips. “The other businesses along this path are all too happy to sell, and with the space next door being empty, that just leaves you.”

  Amelia’s mind raced. “They can’t force me out?”

  “Apparently, they can!” Candy looked mad enough to punch something.

  Amelia’s hands were shaking when she reached for a mug, and she set it back down.

  Candy brushed past her and took her by the shoulders, led her over to a seat near the window. It was the very seat she had sat in with her mother all those years ago. Back when life felt full of so much hope and possibility. Back when Matt felt like a glimpse into her future, not a look back at her past.

  Candy reappeared a moment later with two steaming mugs.

  Amelia gripped one in her hands, letting it warm her skin. Even though it was August, she suddenly felt cold.

  “Tell me everything, Candy, because I still don’t think I understand what you’re saying.” Only she did. She just wished it was a misunderstanding.

  Candy pursed her lips. Her nostrils flared slightly. She took a big breath: energy for what was to come.

  “Martha and I go way back. She lives right on the town line between Blue Harbor and Pine Falls. Believe it or not, I actually used to babysit her when I was younger. Now, I know, I know, you are probably wondering how on earth that was possible, given how young I look…”

  Martha was somewhere in her early forties. And Candy…Well, Candy was dating Amelia’s father.

  “I was a very young babysitter,” Candy went on as she added spoonful after spoonful of sugar to her coffee absentmindedly. “Very trusted. Always good with the little ones.” She beamed.

  Amelia dipped her chin. “Candy. What happened?”

  Candy gave a little start, and then cleared her throat and set down her spoon. She straightened her shoulders, giving Amelia a long, hard look. “That young man has bad intentions, Amelia. You know I have your best intentions at heart, but I’m sorry to say, I can’t be sure that I can say that same for Matt Bradford.”

  Amelia stared out the window, shaking her head. “I can’t believe this. This café means everything to me.”

  “We have to fight!” Candy said firmly. “If we have to, we’ll tie ourselves to that tree out there.” She flicked her chin to the big maple. “I’ll chain myself to your front door if it comes down to it.”

  Despite the conversation, Amelia felt her heart warm. “Thank you, Candy, but…this is something I need to sort out for myself. I…need to run out for a bit.” She didn’t need to hear anymore. She’d heard enough. And she knew that Candy meant every word that she had said. She did have the best intentions for her—for all of them.

  Just like Matt had said, she thought, narrowing her eyes.

  “But it’s raining!” Candy said in alarm.

  A little rain didn’t matter right now, and it wasn’t going to stop her either.

  She needed to find Matt. She needed to hear him say it, right to her face. And then… Then she didn’t even know anymore.

  Matt Bradford had come back to town and turned everything upside down.

  Including her heart.

  *

  Amelia tried Jackson’s house first, even though it was all the way on the edge of town. She knocked on the door, knowing that it was early enough in the day that Jackson might still be home if Matt wasn’t. But no answer came, and when she looked through the windows, she could see that it was dark and still inside.

  She hopped on her bike, maneuvering it over the increasingly muddy path, trying to avoid the puddles. If she’d been thinking more clearly she would have brought her car. But she wasn’t thinking clearly. Her mind kept snapping back and forth from the memory of that kiss to the words that Candy had spoken.

  She pedaled faster, ducking her head against the falling rain, and headed back into town. Matt wouldn’t be outside. Not on a day like this. And that left only a few places in town. The inn, which his aunt and uncle owned. Maybe he and Jackson were having a bite at the pub. Or maybe…

  She pulled in a breath and circled back around to the building at the far end of Main Street. Like so many others, it was wood sided, only instead of being painted white, it was red, with crisp black shutters. The town library had always been a sanctuary for Matt, after school, and she’d often meet him there. He liked to pour over the big, hardbound books that showed photographs of buildings all across the world. He wanted to travel. He wanted to see everything.

  But he didn’t want to leave Blue Harbor. It was clear back then. And it was clear last night.

  She parked her bike at the medal stand alongside a few others and hurried into the building, which was warmly lit by sconces and lamps. The floors were scuffed, covered in fading rugs, and the tables were dark wood. At the front desk was Helena, the town librarian who had once been a classmate of Amelia’s.

  And Matt�
��s.

  Amelia’s heart stalled as she approached the counter, where Helena seemed to be taking great pride in tallying up late fees.

  Helena tutted when she saw Amelia approach. “You have to tell your stepmother to stop checking out so many of those romance novels. She has a late fee on fifteen of them!”

  Amelia pulled in a breath. She knew that Candy devoured those books. Britt even heard her reading them allowed to their father before he got the arm cast removed and could finally pick up his own books again.

  “She’s not my stepmother,” she corrected. But that was the least of her problems at the moment. She darted her eyes to the room on either side of the lobby and lowered her voice. “Listen, have you by any chance seen Matt come through?”

  Now Helena looked up at her with interest. “Matt Bradford?” She blinked, letting this soak in. A smiled curved her mouth when she leaned forward, speaking in a low whisper she had mastered over the years. “I didn’t know he was back in town. Are you two…?” She waggled her eyebrows, and Amelia shook her head, forcefully.

  “No. I mean… No.” Only yesterday, if Helena had asked her the same question, she might have said yes. And she wanted to say yes. Nearly as much as she wanted to believe that Candy had just gotten mixed up, or misplaced the truth somewhere along with the library books.

  But if there was one thing she had learned over the past few years, it was that her family had her back. And Candy was part of the family now.

  “Honestly, I’ve been so busy sending out these bills that I haven’t picked my head up for a few minutes. He might have come through. I was busy with story time earlier…” Helena opened her eyes wide and shrugged.

  “Thanks, Helena. I’ll just take a look-see.” Amelia pursed her lips at the bill spread out on the counter. She dug around in her purse until she found her overstuffed wallet, full of receipts she still had to enter into her spreadsheets for her accountant. “Let me cover Candy’s late fees.” It was the least she could do for the woman, after all, considering that Candy might be chaining herself to a tree at this very moment.

  With that settled, she began walking through the rooms of the library. It still smelled the same as it always had, a little musty, even a little dusty, though she knew that Helena ran a tight ship and kept things clean and tidy. She went positively pale if she saw a book shelved incorrectly.

  The rain pattered against the long windows that framed the rooms along the perimeter, and Amelia did a round, darting her head between shelves, before deciding to go downstairs, just to be sure.

  She never went down there. Never had need. It was where all the town records were housed, because there wasn’t enough storage at the neighboring town hall.

  And that was where she saw him, standing over a table, a map of downtown Blue Harbor spread in front of him.

  Guilty as charged.

  He looked up, startled to sense someone behind him, and his expression changed from surprise, to pleasure, to concern, to knowing, all in a matter of seconds.

  Yep. Guilty.

  “Tell me it isn’t true,” she said, but her voice caught in her throat. She was shaking, and not just because she was half wet from the long bike ride over here. She didn’t want to hear the truth any more than she knew she needed to hear it.

  His shoulders sagged as he released a breath, telling her everything she needed to know.

  “How could you?” She shook her head bitterly. “You knew what that café meant to me!”

  “No,” he said firmly. He stepped toward her, but she took a step back. She set a hand on the banister railing to steady herself. “I swear, Amelia. I didn’t know until last night just why that café meant so much. You have to believe me that this was never my plan.”

  “So you’re going to tell me that standing here, studying that map isn’t all part of your grand plan?”

  “It is. But…it’s not what it looks like.” His eyes pleaded with hers, but he said nothing more for a moment, just shook his head, set his jaw. “You have no idea what it took for me to come back here, Amelia. I wanted to make things right.”

  “Well, you got it all wrong,” she said scornfully. “And now it looks like all that anger has finally found an outlet. You never got over what happened all those years ago, you were angry, and jealous, and now you’re bringing us all down with you.”

  “That’s not fair, Amelia.” He flashed her a warning glance, one that went straight to her chest, but she too was too angry to apologize right now.

  “My parents lost their business.”

  “And now I lose mine?” She stared at him.

  “It wasn’t my idea,” he said. “It wasn’t what I wanted. But you don’t have to lose your business, Amelia. You might do better on Main Street!”

  She closed her eyes, shaking her head. “You don’t get it. It’s not about a big profit to me. It’s not about that to any of these businesses in town, and it wasn’t about that to your parents either. It’s about community. About traditions. About pulling together when times are tough, not tearing each other down. You know that Robbie and Jackson’s parents tried to help your father. But he didn’t want their help.”

  Matt blinked. His eyes looked hollow as he stared at her. “What do you mean?”

  “People pitched in. They knew the business was struggling, but they wanted to help get it over the hump. Wanted to help it succeed. Your father wanted to do it on his own.”

  Matt was quiet, too quiet, and she knew she’d hit a nerve. It was a truth that was long discussed, after Matt’s family had left town, when the rift between the brothers seemed to be permanent, and when Bonnie Bradford lamented over losing her sister-in-law and dearest friend.

  “Why are you looking at that map of Blue Harbor, Matt?” Her voice was almost a whisper, choked with fear of what he might say, even though she needed to hear it. No more hoping for the best or pushing aside her concerns. No more fooling herself. Or being made a fool of, for that matter.

  He closed his eyes for the briefest of seconds. “I’m looking for alternate sites.”

  She knew that there weren’t any. The town was built up, and the open space was meant to stay that way.

  “And if you don’t find any?”

  His lips thinned. “Amelia, this isn’t personal.”

  “You’re wrong, Matt. This is personal. This town is personal. That café is personal. That…” She almost didn’t say it. “That kiss was personal.”

  She shook her head, backing away.

  “But you’re right about one thing,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t belong in this town.”

  Tears blinded her eyes and she turned and hurried up the steps before he could see them fall. She wanted to run, down the street, through town, and all the way home. But not to the home she shared with her sister. To her childhood home, the one she’d shared with her mother.

  She felt lost, and scared, like a part of her was being taken away forever and she didn’t know how she’d get through it. She’d felt like this once before, when her mother had left this earth. And that day she’d run straight to Matt.

  The one person she couldn’t turn to now.

  13

  Amelia never tired of coming into her café each day. Never grew bored of the view of the fishing boats bobbing on the water, or the brightly colored sails dotting the horizon. She loved the counter, lined with glass-dome covered cake stands that were piled high with the daily dessert offerings or quick breakfast options. She loved working in her kitchen, planning new recipes, and she loved walking through the dining room, greeting the patrons.

  The tourists were her bread and butter, sure. But the locals…they were her family.

  She wondered how they would feel about this place being torn down. If they would miss the back deck or the scuffed floorboards, or remember how it used to be, back when Dorothy still owned the place. She wondered if they held onto the memories the way that she did, or if it was just something replaceable to them. Maybe that would be
best. She’d need their support at a new location if she intended to stay in business.

  By Thursday morning, Amelia did feel tired. Not of her café, but from putting on a smile, going through the motions, pretending as if nothing were amiss when her heart felt like it was breaking. On the walk home the night before, she’d forced herself to stroll down Main Street, and consider her slim options, but she’d grown immediately anxious and upset, and hurried home where a batch of fresh ice cream was waiting for her in the freezer.

  Now, as she turned the key to the front door of the café and flicked on the lights, she felt herself tear up at the sight. There, on the far wall, she’d hung a photo of her mother, standing in her apron. It was the first personal belonging she’d brought to the café when she’d first taken over it nearly six years ago. And there, on each table, was a votive candle in a small globe of sand and pebbles—she loved creating a small bit of seasonal decoration, especially during the holidays. Her blackboard still bore the specials from yesterday, and she yearned to feel the usual excitement to erase them and write today’s specials. Now, she wasn’t even sure there was much point. By tomorrow, her fate would be sealed.

  With a heavy heart, she walked around the counter and into the kitchen, startling at the sight of all of her sisters, gathered around the work station.

  “What are you all doing here?” she asked, her eyes flitting from one sister to the next.

  “We’re here to cheer you up,” Britt said. She reached into her bag and revealed two bottles of wine. The newest blend. “I brought spirits.”

  “And I brought flowers,” Cora said, handing over a beautiful cherry blossom wreath that Amelia could nearly imagine hanging on the door to the café. Or maybe, it would be better suited for the door to her home.

  “And I brought pie.” Maddie held out a large, lattice crust pie that smelled as if it were fresh from the oven and probably was.