Just South of Paradise

by Grace Palmer

  “And what a success!” Alma exclaims, sliding up to the pair with her husband in tow. “That was one heck of a show. I wish I could sing half as good as Tasha. I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket!”

  Tasha takes a little longer to meet them than expected, but when she finally comes out, she looks as though she’s walking on air. Her long auburn hair is still curled in perfect ringlets from the show, though she has removed her stage makeup in favor of a fresh-faced appearance. She squeals when she sees her family and runs into the midst of them for a group hug.

  “You were so good!” Melanie cries.

  Tasha’s expression softens. “That means a lot coming from you, sis.” She hooks her arm through Melanie’s. “Now, let’s go get some food. I’m starving!”

  The group parades out of the theater, laughing and joking with each other. Melanie stops dead, jerking Tasha to a stop. Ashley runs into the back of her.

  Melanie swears under her breath.

  “Whoa, is that Derek?” Tasha whispers. “He looks, uh … different.”

  None of her family have seen Derek since he came back. Melanie has engineered this on purpose, as she doesn’t want to bring him back into her life unless she is ready. Apparently, he has decided to force the issue.

  That’s not the most terrible thing, in and of itself.

  Except that Derek is not alone.

  Standing beside him, mirroring his dark expression, is Colin.

  Melanie has compared the two in her head dozens of times, but it is strange to see them standing side by side, to witness the contrast in a real-world setting. Colin has his dark, messy hair, stubbled chin, and tall, wide physique. He is wearing a plaid shirt and jeans and could only look more like a lumberjack if he were carrying an ax. Derek, on the other hand, looks almost angelic. His golden hair is combed back from his forehead but one stray curl hangs above his piercing blue eyes. He is wearing a crisp gray suit—a reminder of his return to accounting and Willow Beach life.

  Melanie’s mouth goes dry. “I, uh, better catch up with you guys later,” she says to Tasha.

  Tasha squeezes her arm. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. I think I have some explaining to do.”

  Her sister peels away and herds her family in the direction of the restaurant, while Melanie tries to calm her rattled nerves. She takes a few shaky steps toward Colin and Derek, licking her lips.

  “I see you guys have met,” she comments, attempting a lighthearted tone.

  Colin folds his arms. “Yep.”

  “We were both having a drink at the Lobster Trap and we ended up chatting,” Derek explains, lip curling. “We started talking about the girls we were seeing and then realized that we both seemed to be dating the exact same woman.”

  “You could have told me that your ex-husband was back in town,” Colin says sadly.

  “And when I came back, maybe you could have mentioned that there was another guy on the scene,” Derek adds in a biting tone. “To think—all those things I said to you, about how I wanted to be with you, how much I missed you. And you just let me make a fool out of myself!”

  “You made a fool out of me first!” Melanie snaps. “I was confused, okay?” Her voice quietens. “I’m still confused.”

  “What’s there to be confused about?” Derek presses. “I’m your husband.”

  Colin winces, and Melanie has to look away. She can’t bear the hurt in his eyes.

  “We got divorced, Derek. Or did you forget?”

  He shakes his head and lets out a pfft noise, as if that doesn’t matter.

  “It’s complicated,” Melanie tacks on.

  “Then uncomplicate it!” Derek puffs his chest out, nostrils flaring. Colin hasn’t said anything in a minute.

  Melanie’s heart tips over, plummeting toward the bottom of her rib cage where, in a moment, it will shatter into a thousand pieces.

  There are two futures yanking her in different directions like she’s the rope in a game of tug-of-war. One is familiar. Treasured. Like a blanket she once had in childhood, the one she couldn’t ever go to sleep without. Little Melanie needed that thing at her side at all times, like that one character in the Peanuts comic strip, the one whose name she can never remember. It was comforting, it was clear, it was perfect.

  But she’s not Little Melanie anymore. She’s picked up some scars and traumas along the bumpy road of life. Some of them—the worst ones—were courtesy of the man standing in front of her with a grimace on his face. He left her, and he never once looked back.

  Colin knocked on her door in the middle of the night and he hasn’t left since then. He brought a hurt dog in his arms, and if Melanie thinks back on that night, she realizes that maybe that was the moment when she first started to fall in love with him. A moment of pain, a moment of exhaustion—those are the times that people reveal who they truly are. And Colin revealed himself to be a soft soul.

  Maybe it won’t work out. Plenty of things in this world fall short of their promise. But as she glances back and forth between the two men, she knows where her heart lies. With the man who makes her want to step out into the world and see it through his eyes. Because when Colin sees things, they’re beautiful. She’s beautiful to him. What a simple, perfect thing it is to feel beautiful in the eyes of someone you love. That’s what she wants. That’s what she needs.

  “You’re not my husband anymore, Derek,” Melanie says softly. “I think you should go.”

  30

  Georgia

  Georgia has booked a table for the group at her favorite restaurant in town—La Piazza. It has been owned by the same family since it opened in the fifties, and the food there is just as good as it was in Italy. It’s the perfect venue for tonight’s celebration, even if it does remind her of Richard.

  How many romantic evenings did they spend there, reminiscing by candlelight about the weekend they spent in Naples? About the vineyard where they met? Too many to count. They all blend together into one candlelit blur. Georgia shakes her head to clear it as they approach the restaurant.

  Joel, who is walking beside her, touches her on the arm. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine,” she says, smiling. She is here with her children and friends, not Richard, so she needs to put him out of her mind.

  “Thank you again for inviting me along,” Joel says. “If I had a family half as wonderful as yours, I would have never gone to Antarctica.”

  Georgia looks over her shoulder at her children. Drew and Ashley are right behind, swinging their clasped hands and laughing. She has become very fond of Ashley, and will be sad to see her go. Not nearly as sad as Drew will be, of course. Ashley seems to bring out the best in him, makes him want to be a better man. The best version of himself, so to speak.

  The girl has also been a great help to Georgia over the past month. The season is in full swing and the inn has been full almost every day, but with Ashley’s help, the work has been manageable. She’s a much better cleaner than Annika ever was and Georgia will miss her help once she goes back to university in September.

  Melanie and Colin are hanging back behind the Powerses and the Andersons, talking in hushed voices with bent heads. Georgia is dying to know what happened. Melanie looks a little downcast, but if Georgia didn’t know better, she would swear that there was a glimmer of blush in her daughter’s cheeks—the blush of someone looking up at the person they love. They’ll talk about it later, no doubt. For now, it seems that Mel and Colin need some time to themselves.

  Tasha and Eddie are hand in hand, also off in their own world. They’re both sweaty and beaming. Tasha has that glow in her eyes, too, one that Georgia hasn’t seen in her for a long time.

  “They are wonderful, aren’t they?” Georgia says to Joel finally, facing forward once more. “I don’t know how I would have gotten through this mess without them.”

  She isn’t entirely through her own mess yet, either, but she feels as though she’s on her way. She has her family, a new friend in Joel, an
d a business she has loved her entire life. She will be okay.

  She will be better than okay.

  Once they are all seated inside and the wine has been poured, Georgia stands at the head of the table and lifts her glass. A collection of smiling faces look up at her expectantly.

  Georgia clears her throat. “If I had to pick one word to describe my dear daughter Tasha, it would be vivacious,” she begins. “No family gathering was ever complete until Tasha had rounded us all up to show us her latest dance routine, sing us a song, or soliloquize Shakespeare while holding a glow-in-the-dark pink skull she’d found in our Halloween decorations. The day she left Willow Beach, she took a little bit of the sun with her. Now, she’s back, shining brighter than ever, and I couldn’t be more proud of my little girl. I am so lucky to have children who make me proud every single day.”

  She lifts her glass higher. “This toast is for Tasha, from the earliest and most devoted member of her fan club.”

  Everyone lifts a glass, chorusing, “To Tasha.” They all drink.

  Alma’s chair scrapes back and she rises above the table, holding a mostly empty glass. She is wearing a scarlet rose in her hair that matches her ruby-red lipstick. Her husband looks up at her adoringly.

  “I want to make a toast to all the Baldwins,” Alma announces. “Y’all have been like family to me since Hank and I first moved up north. I think I speak for all of us here when I say that your success is our success, and your happiness is our happiness. You can have all the gold and jewels in the world, but it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans if you don’t have good people to share it with.” Alma looks to Georgia. “Georgia, you’ve done right by these children and by yourself. It’s been a tough couple of months, but you are strong as all heck and it shows. Thank you for being such a wonderful friend and I cannot wait to see what you do next.” She addresses the table again. “To the Baldwins.”

  The cheer from the table is even more enthusiastic this time. Georgia smiles at Alma down the table, eyes welling with happy tears.

  In this moment, she has it all. All the family she needs. All the love she deserves. Her lonely sadness will inevitably creep around her neck again, but it can’t reach her here.

  The party orders and eats, talking and laughing loudly as they share bites of spaghetti carbonara and margherita pizza, butternut squash ravioli and mushroom risotto. They drink bottle after bottle of wine and recount their favorite parts of Tasha’s play, while she tells them funny stories from backstage and rehearsals.

  The candles on the tables burn lower and lower, until they finally cast flickering light over empty tiramisu plates and cappuccino mugs.

  “That was delicious,” Joel comments, sitting back in his chair. He lowers his voice so only Georgia can hear. “I’m not much of one for speeches,” he says. “But I just want you to know that I’m grateful I met you.”

  He finds her hand under the table and squeezes, as if the gesture will say all the words that he doesn’t yet know how to form. His pale blue eyes are like a breezy spring day.

  “I’m fuller than a tick on a hound dog!” Alma declares.

  Georgia and Joel laugh and release each other’s hands.

  “I’m sleepy!” Drew groans. “Ash, you’re going to have to carry me home.”

  “Like heck I am,” Ashley retorts, poking him in the shoulder.

  Tasha sighs. “And who will carry me, the widely adored superstar, home?”

  “I doubt anyone will be able to lift that massive head of yours,” Melanie jokes.

  Tasha feigns shock at her sister’s comment. “And to think that I was going to thank you in the acceptance speech for my Oscar.”

  Georgia says goodbye to Alma and Gwen outside of the restaurant and leads her brood home like a proud mother hen. Joel threads his fingers through hers and she smiles at him, squeezing his hand. Drew runs around with Ashley on his back while she cheers and laughs. Tasha goads Eddie into singing a duet of “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” while Colin forces Melanie to dance with him, whirling around the gravel. It’s a light, happy, flawless moment.

  She looks up at the Willow Beach Inn, standing strong in the moonlight, and takes a moment to breathe. Joel’s hand is warm in hers. The laughter of her children and their loved ones is floating through the air. In the distance, she can hear the ocean purring.

  And one thought rises above the others like foam on a wave cap—she is right where she belongs.

  I hope you loved your first trip to the Willow Beach Inn. If you want to learn about what happens when a single mother winds up stranded at the Inn and meets the whole Baldwin family, check out JUST SOUTH OF PERFECT.

  Coming Soon!

  JUST SOUTH OF PERFECT

  Get Book 2 in the Willow Beach Inn series now!

  Click here to preorder!

  An unplanned stop in Willow Beach turns into an unexpected romance.

  Being a single mother was hard. But Stella Pierce did a good job, and now that her only child is off to college, she can sit back and relax.

  Except that these things never work out the way you’ve planned. Turns out that the empty nester life just makes her anxious. So when her friend Eloise suggests she take a vacation down to Boston, that’s exactly what Stella does.

  Too bad she never makes it that far.

  When her car breaks down in the small seaside town of Willow Beach, Stella finds herself stuck. And the sweet, handsome mechanic down at the car shop, Sam Warren, doesn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry to send Stella on her way.

  Fortunately, the Baldwin family at the Willow Beach Inn is there to welcome her with open arms.

  Maybe starting fresh is exactly what Stella has been looking for.

  Take off your shoes and stay awhile at the Willow Beach Inn in Book 2 of this heartwarming series. You’ll see Willow Beach through a newcomer’s eyes and fall in love all over again with the Baldwin family.

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  Also by Grace Palmer

  Sweet Island Inn

  No Home Like Nantucket (Book 1)

  No Beach Like Nantucket (Book 2)

  No Wedding Like Nantucket (Book 3)

  No Love Like Nantucket (Book 4)

  * * *

  Willow Beach Inn

  Just South of Paradise (Book 1)

  Just South of Perfect (Book 2)

  Just South of Sunrise (Book 3) (coming soon!)

  * * *

  Cradle Beach Mama’s Club (coming soon!)

  Where the Watermelons Grow (Book 1)

  Can You Count the Stars? (Book 2)

  If Wishes Were Horses (Book 3)