by Kay Correll
“Fun, right, that’s just how I was thinking tonight was going.” She took his hand and led him over to her family.
Her father stood, and the men shook hands.
“Hello, Benjamin,” her mother said. But without much warmth or enthusiasm.
“Ben, what’s this absurd idea about getting married at Christmastime? We were just explaining to Charlotte how difficult it would be for us to get away then.” Eva shook her head, her curls bouncing around, framing her face. She gave Ben a charming smile and a wink. “You’ll change it, right?”
Was Eva actually flirting with her own sister’s fiancé?
“Ah… well…” He looked at her questioningly.
“No, we’re still on for the first weekend in December.” She nodded to him, imploring him with her eyes to not encourage any more discussion about changing the date.
“Oh, good.” He smiled at her and squeezed her hand in solidarity.
“And we’ll all be there.” Her father sat down and took a sip of his drink, then looked at her mother and sister. “All of us.”
She gave her father a wide smile as Ben sat down next to her. She was really liking this new, supportive version of her father. Liking it a lot.
She wasn’t sure if she’d ever work things out with her mother and sister, though. And she might just be a horrible person because sometimes, just sometimes, she wasn’t sure if she cared if she did.
Robin was busy the rest of the afternoon and evening at the inn. She kept glancing at her watch, hoping Barney was doing okay alone at the bungalow. He wasn’t left alone very often, as near as she could tell. Mrs. Gleason usually brought him along when she did her errands. She had noticed that Mrs. Gleason was walking to do her shopping these days. She should have offered to drive her to the store but hadn’t put two and two together that Mrs. Gleason wasn’t driving anymore. Some neighbor she was.
She glanced around the empty dining room. It had been a busy night here. And though she usually dropped by the kitchen to check on things before she left, she didn’t really have time to do that tonight. Besides, Jay was being weird. Okay, he’d apologized, and she was sure they’d get back on better footing, but she needed to get home to Barney and was too tired to try and work things out with Jay.
She hurried down the sidewalk—walking home alone and convincing herself she didn’t miss walking home with Jay—and saw lights on in the bungalow as she got there which reminded her she’d forgotten to text Charlotte about Barney. She opened the door and stood still, looking around in amazement. Shredded paper covered the floor, and another chewed up shoe mocked her from the middle of the room. Where in the world had he found that? The pillows from the couch were scattered all around on the floor. She leaned down and snatched up the shoe. At this rate, she’d be barefoot by the end of the weekend.
Charlotte walked into the room with Barney trotting by her side. “Is there something you forgot to tell me?”
“Char, I’m sorry. Mrs. Gleason was going to the mainland for the weekend to stay at her daughter’s and needed a place for Barney to stay and I offered. Did you know she’s moving to a retirement place?”
“I did. She hasn’t been driving since her accident and her daughter wants her closer to her.” Charlotte bent down and petted Barney, who sat innocently at her feet.
“I must just be clueless. I didn’t notice she wasn’t driving. Just thought she was getting a lot of walking exercise these days.” She leaned down and started picking up the shredded paper. “I thought I had the place dog proofed. Guess not. Did he get into any of your things?”
“Nope.”
“He just must have a thing about my shoes.” She held up the tattered sandal Barney had chewed on. “Maybe I’ll start a new trend of chewed up shoes. It will be all the rage real soon now.”
Charlotte grinned. “All the rage, I’m sure.”
“I’ll make sure everything is out of Barney’s reach before I head to work tomorrow.”
“Good plan.”
“So, how did drinks with your family go?” She reached and gathered up the throw pillows on the floor and placed them back on the couch.
“It was… interesting. Thank goodness Ben got away from the marina early and came by. Eva insisted I change the date of our wedding because it was inconvenient for them. They are busy and important, you know.”
“Ah, your sister. Never changes, does she? So, are you going to move the wedding?” Her mind raced through other possible dates that might be open for a wedding at the inn.
“Not a chance.” Charlotte shook her head. “If anything, it makes me more determined to keep the date and make the wedding perfect.”
“That’s my girl.” She turned to look at Barney. “And you. No more eating shoes.”
Barney just looked at her with soulful, innocent eyes.
Jay kept watching the kitchen door, thinking Robin would make her usual check-in before she headed home. He wanted to suggest they walk home together and maybe he could mend fences with her after that Mason guy had butted into their conversation earlier today.
He turned when he heard the kitchen door swing open, but it was Lillian. “Everything go okay with dinner tonight?”
“Right as rain.” At least he wasn’t screwing up his cooking. Just his life.
“Good. Where’s Dana?”
“Sent her home. I’m just cleaning up the last of the dinner mess and getting a few things prepped for breakfast.”
“You do know that you’re supposed to be letting her—I don’t know—assist you? That’s usually what assistant cooks do…”
“I am.” But he knew he barely was.
“Try to let her do more.”
“Lil, I’m not leaving if that’s what you’re worried about.” He hooked the skillet he was holding on the rack above him.
“I’m not worried, though you’d have every right to. You’re making quite a name for yourself.”
“On this tiny island.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. Have you read the reviews for the inn? All of them rave about how great the food is here.”
“Really?” He narrowed his eyes. “It’s just… plain cooking. A lot of it is my grandma’s recipes.”
“There is nothing plain about your cooking. It’s flavorful and varied, and you’ve turned this dining room around. I’ll always be grateful I found you.”
His heart swelled in his chest, filled with gratitude. “I’m the one who’s grateful. Really, Lil. You taking a chance on me? Best thing that ever happened to me.”
Lil walked over and rested her hand on his. “Jay, you just needed to believe in yourself. And you told me you didn’t do what they said you did. I chose to believe you. And you haven’t proven me wrong. Life isn’t always fair to us. Sometimes we just need to make peace with our past and move on.” She looked directly at him. “I hope you can make peace with yours sometime.”
He didn’t know about making peace with his past, but he did know that he’d never let Lillian down. She was the first person—since his grandma—who’d ever believed in him without question. And he’d never forget that.
“Plus, you’re a wonderful chef. And I count you as a friend, too.” She smiled at him, turned, and left the kitchen.
He’d never met someone quite like Lillian. Somehow, her calling him a friend made everything even better. He’d just sort things out with Robin, and his world would fall back into place again. He needed that.
He turned to finish up his work. Maybe he would let Dana help out more. He really should… What could it hurt?
Chapter 8
The next morning Robin gathered her courage and went to check on things in the kitchen at the inn. She wanted to smooth things over with Jay. The awkwardness between them was silly. He’d been in a bad mood, apologized, and they could just move forward.
And Charlotte had been wrong about Jay, anyway. There was nothing between them.
Although, she would be watching him with new eyes to see if she
saw any signs of… anything. But, no, that was ridiculous.
Dana looked up and smiled at her as she entered the kitchen. “Morning.”
“Good morning, Dana. How goes things in the kitchen today?”
“Great.”
She looked around the room. “Where’s Jay?”
“He headed to the mainland to the open market to pick up fresh produce. He wasn’t impressed with the produce our regular supplier had this week and said the open market always has great items.”
So much for talking things out with him this morning. “I know he’s picky about his ingredients.”
“He is. But he’s such a great chef. I’m learning a lot from him.” Dana paused, looked down at the dough she’d been kneading, then back at her. “I just wish he’d let me do more. Give me more responsibility. I’m trying to take over more. Show Jay I can do things. About the only thing he lets me make without looking over my shoulder at my every move is this sourdough bread.”
“Jay is a bit… possessive with his kitchen.”
Dana grinned. “A bit?”
“Okay, a lot. But both Lillian and I have talked to him about giving you more responsibility.”
“You have?” Her eyes lit up. “You think I’m ready for more?”
“She does. I do. And you are.”
Dana let out a long sigh. “If only Jay believed that.”
“I’ll talk to him again. I think he should start giving you at least one dinner a week and one lunch to plan and be in charge of.”
“That would be wonderful.”
“I’ll talk to him.” Robin turned and left the kitchen. She would talk to Jay about Dana. She just wasn’t sure he’d listen to her.
She went about her busy day at the inn. They were completely booked this weekend, and she still had a few things she needed to check on regarding Lillian’s wedding next weekend. And she’d told Lillian to take next week off to concentrate on the wedding, but she was fairly sure Lillian wouldn’t listen to her any more than Jay.
She managed to find time to run back to the bungalow and check on Barney. This time she found he’d chewed up the book she’d been reading. At least it wasn’t another pair of shoes, but now she’d have to get the book again to find out the ending. She put all books up out of reach and returned to the inn.
Sara walked into her office early that evening. “You ready to go?”
Robin glanced at the clock. “Is it six already?”
“It is. Time to go.”
“It’s nice that Charlotte’s father invited us to Magic Cafe for dinner tonight, but I feel like I’m so behind on everything. And I feel badly leaving Mrs. Gleason’s pup alone.”
“I just texted with Char to let her know we’re headed out and she said she’d just let the dog out and she was leaving, too.”
“Oh, good.”
“And I’m sure we won’t be very late tonight.”
Robin stood and stretched. “I was going to go home and change clothes before dinner, too.”
“You look fine,” Sara assured her.
They headed outside and down the sidewalk to Magic Cafe. Tally greeted them when they arrived.
“Hello, girls. Charlotte and her family are already here. They have a table over at the side by the fans. I tried to give them that big table by the sand so they’d have a better view, but her sister insisted on the other table.”
“Eva doesn’t like the humidity and heat down here.” Robin shrugged. “Actually, I’m not sure there’s much of anything she likes about Belle Island.”
They joined Charlotte and her family.
“Mr. Duncan, it was so nice of you to ask us to join you.” Sara slid into a seat.
That left the only open seat, the one next to Eva, for her. She slipped into the chair. “Hey, Eva.”
“Robin.” Eva bobbed her head and her perfect curls danced across her shoulders. She gave Robin a once-over look and Robin could tell she’d failed miserably in Eva’s estimation.
She tugged her own hair back—a bit frizzy from the humidity—and wished she’d had time to go home and change. The Duncans—Mr. and Mrs. and Eva—were all dressed in what could only be called country club casual. Charlotte, though, was in one of her fabulous bohemian style outfits. The type of outfit Charlotte loved, and Mrs. Duncan hated.
“I’m glad you two could join us. The three of you used to be inseparable growing up. I thought it would be nice to see you together again.” Mr. Duncan waved to the waitress. “A bottle of champagne for the table. We’ll celebrate my daughter’s upcoming wedding.”
Charlotte leaned forward. “I let Barney out before I came. He’s doing fine. Nothing destroyed.”
“You mean since I checked on him this afternoon and he ate my novel?”
Charlotte laughed. “I guess since then. He does seem to like to destroy your things.”
“You two have a dog?” Eva frowned.
“We’re just dog-sitting for a neighbor,” Robin explained.
“Dogs are just so… messy.” Eva rolled her eyes.
She wondered how many times Eva would roll her eyes at them tonight.
“Barney’s a good dog. He just… chews things.” She didn’t know why she was defending the dog. The dog obviously had a thing about her possessions.
She didn’t miss that Charlotte smothered a grin.
The waiter poured champagne for all of them, and Mr. Duncan raised his glass. “To Charlotte. May her Christmas wedding turn out just the way she wants it.”
Eva rolled her eyes—that was number two—barely lifted her glass and certainly didn’t clink with anyone. Mrs. Duncan politely smiled… that kind of polite smile that a person knows is really fake. But Robin and Sara enthusiastically clinked glasses with Charlotte and Mr. Duncan.
“To our Char,” Robin said.
“Charlotte,” Mrs. Duncan said.
Robin wasn’t sure whether Charlotte’s mom was actually toasting or correcting her for shortening Charlotte’s name to Char…
The dinner went on… and on. Eva kept making snide remarks and was up to five eye rolls at last count. Mrs. Duncan’s stony look of disapproval never left her face, and Mr. Duncan tried hard to smooth things over. Charlotte wavered between quiet, mad, and forced jovial. She gave Charlotte a supportive smile from across the table. Charlotte raised her buttered roll in appreciation.
“How many rolls is that Charlotte? You’ll need to watch your weight now. Once you pick out a wedding gown, you can’t balloon up.” Mrs. Duncan shook her head. “I assume you’ll come to Austin to find a dress. I’ll take you to the best shops in the city. Oh, and I’ll get together a list of people you must absolutely invite. Business associates and people like that. Though, with the ridiculous choice of time of year, who knows how many will be able to come.”
Sara put a hand on Charlotte’s arm. “I think Charlotte is planning on a small, simple wedding, right Char? Just family and a few close friends.”
“What will I tell our friends? Your father’s business partners?” Mrs. Duncan pinned Charlotte with an incredulous look.
“That I’m having a small, family and close friends wedding?” Charlotte shrugged.
“Really, Charlotte, could you be more difficult? First the impossible choice of wedding dates and now you won’t even let mother invite any of her friends?”
“I think a small wedding is nice. More intimate. More romantic,” Robin chimed in, trying to throw in her support.
“Maybe we can all just come and wear swimsuits and flip-flops.” Eva shook her head and rolled her eyes. Number six… or was it seven?
“How about another round of drinks?” Mr. Duncan interrupted.
“That sounds great, Dad.” Charlotte turned to her mother. “I’m going to plan the wedding I’ve dreamed of. Every detail just like I want. On the day I want. You and Eva can come… or not. I’d love to have you there, but if it’s too inconvenient, okay. And I’m not coming to Austin to look for a dress. I’m looking on the mainland o
r I’ve thought about having Ruby make one for me. She did such a wonderful job on Sara’s.”
“Sara had a couture dress made?” Eva raised an eyebrow.
“A friend of Lillian’s remade my mother’s wedding dress for me to wear,” Sara said.
“So a homemade wedding dress? Like someone would make in home ec? Do people even do that anymore?” Eva frowned.
“Oh, look, here comes the waiter.” Robin smiled widely as the server came over. “Let’s get more drinks like Mr. Duncan suggested.” She gave Charlotte a hard look, hoping her friend would just let it go. It didn’t pay to argue with Eva.
Charlotte ignored her look. “It wasn’t homemade… not that there’s anything wrong with that. It was a custom dress. And it was beautiful.”
“Whatever, Charlotte. You always do what you want, anyway.” Eva shook her head with her perfect curls and leaned toward her mother. “What do you say we get some martinis?”
“I think that might help.” Mrs. Duncan nodded with one last look of disapproval sent in Charlotte’s direction.
Chapter 9
Charlotte, Robin, and Sara walked out of Magic Cafe and Robin sucked in a deep breath of air. She didn’t know how Charlotte could handle meals with her family. They were—oppressive. She gave her friend a hug. “Well, the good thing is, they leave at the end of the weekend.”
“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to see them again tomorrow. They want to take Ben and me to dinner. Again. They’re going to scare Ben off.”
“Ben doesn’t scare easily, and I thought you said that Ben and your Dad get along well now.”
“Pretty good, thank goodness. So we only have to deal with Mom and Eva.” Charlotte sighed. “I’m going to head to the marina for a bit and see Ben. You going to go check on things at the inn?”
“No, I better go home and see how Barney is doing.”
“That’s probably a good idea. You don’t want to lose another pair of shoes now, do you?” Charlotte’s eyes twinkled.
“He’s a bit of a rascal, isn’t he?”
