Olivia hurried through the morning crowd at the wharf and waved to Heather, sitting at a table at Brewster’s with two cups of coffee. She hadn’t had time to meet her cousin for their morning coffee in far too long. She walked up and reached for the offered coffee. “Thanks.”
“I think you make sure I get here first so that I buy the coffee each time,” Heather teased.
“Not true. I bought it…” She frowned. “I can’t remember the last time I got here before you. But I’m not late… you’re just becoming a person who gets places early.”
“Guess so.”
“So, how is Blake?” She dropped her purse beside her and settled into her chair.
“He’s settling in nicely. He loves working at Parker’s. I’m not sure if he likes working at the store or the cafe more. He loves it when Emily is working the same shift as him. And she’s introduced him to so many friends.”
“Emily loves having a cousin. Second cousin. Whatever. They’ve become great friends.” Livy blew on the coffee, waiting for it to cool down a smidge.
“The legal stuff is taking time. It’s all very complicated. But Blake’s aunt seems glad to not have the responsibility of raising him. And Jesse is so excited to have Blake living with him.” Heather frowned slightly. “I sometimes get a bit jealous, you know. The two of them are getting so close. I feel… a little bit left out.”
“You and Jesse worked things out, though, didn’t you?”
“We did. But it still isn’t like before. I feel like there is still this small layer of something between us.”
“Have you and Jesse gone on a date since Mom’s wedding? I mean, that wasn’t a date, but that’s when you guys worked things out.”
“No, it’s kind of awkward. Blake is here and we don’t want to leave him sitting at home while we go on a date. Jesse did ask me over for dinner a few times with him and Blake. That’s been nice.”
She looked at Heather and shook her head. “I still can’t believe you had a baby and didn’t tell me. I would have been there for you.”
“I know. I just… did what I thought was best at the time. Put him up for adoption. But now look at things. We have a chance to get to know Blake. And if things go as planned, Jesse will adopt him once all the legal stuff gets sorted. But it’s all so up in the air right now.”
“You probably just need to give it some more time. Let it sort itself out.”
Heather sighed. “I know. I just don’t like it when I feel out of control of things. Out of control of my life.”
Livy laughed. “That is something we all know about you. But sometimes life just doesn’t let you control things.” She thought about Austin and his mother.
“What? You looked sad for a moment.” Heather set down her coffee cup. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s Austin’s mother. She’s going through cancer treatments.”
“Yes, you told me.”
“Well, she’s getting really weak, and he’s worried about her.”
“I’m sure. It would be so hard to see your mom like that.”
“That’s what I was thinking. He’s just… sad. And I’m sad for him, if that makes any sense.”
“Of course it does. You care about him. You feel his pain.”
“I do care about him. I care a lot. But I have no idea where we’re headed. I mean, he could decide to up and move to Michigan to be closer to his mom while she needs help. He can do his job from almost anywhere.”
“Oh, he wouldn’t leave Moonbeam, would he?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about how long he’s planning on being here. We just… I don’t know… date. Talk. Enjoy each other’s company. We sometimes talk about the future, but nothing concrete.” She grinned. “And we kiss. We do a lot of kissing.”
“Kissing is good.” Heather grinned. “I wouldn’t mind doing some kissing with Jesse, but we haven’t had any time alone. And I don’t want to rush anything. We’re just getting back on tenuous footing.”
“I think I should have Emily ask Blake over to dinner at our house one night this week. Then you and Jesse could go on a date.”
“That would be nice.” Heather’s eyes lit up with anticipation. “That would be excellent.”
“Perfect, I’ll set that up.”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you are like the best cousin ever?”
“All the time.” She grinned at Heather and took a sip of the now cool enough coffee.
Patricia peeked out the door, glad to see no sign of Ted. He was one complication she hadn’t counted on when she moved here to Sunrise Village. So far she’d managed to avoid running into him again, though part of that was because she was avoiding going to the dining room at mealtime. But she was hungry now, and the little cafe downstairs did have very good soups and salads. She’d just go down there and grab a quick bite. It was midafternoon. There shouldn’t be many people around.
She stood by the elevator until the familiar ding announced it had arrived, then slipped inside. So far, so safe. Just as the doors were closing, a hand reached in and grabbed the door, stopping its closure.
As the doors slid back open, there stood Ted with a warm smile and a twinkle in his eyes. Looking almost as boyish as he had so many years ago.
“I thought that was you.” He stepped in next to her.
Not only next to her, close to her. She couldn’t help herself, she stepped a few feet away. “I was just going downstairs to the cafe to grab a bite to eat.”
“Fantastic. That’s where I’m headed, too. Mind if I join you?” He looked directly at her.
Could he tell that her heart was pounding? She couldn’t just sit and have a meal with him after all these years, could she? “I… ah… I was going to bring it back upstairs.” A lie. She had planned on eating at the cafe. No use dirtying up her own dishes.
“Oh, join me. We can talk. Catch up.” His eyes lit up with hope.
She couldn’t think of a way to gracefully and politely decline. She was always socially proper. Always. “Sure, that sounds fine.” No, it didn’t. Not at all. She’d just eat quickly and hurry back upstairs.
They ordered their food, got their drinks, and went to a table overlooking the courtyard to wait for their meals to be delivered to them. Ted held out a chair for her. Always the gentleman. She did remember that about him.
She sat on the edge of the chair and placed her drink on the table. Thank goodness the cafe used real glasses instead of those ridiculous plastic cups. It made it a bit more discerning. She took a sip of her sweet tea, avoiding looking at him. Mostly. Ted settled into his chair, relaxed and at ease. Must be nice.
“So, tell me what all has been happening in your life since I last saw you,” Ted said with a congenial, chatty tone in his voice.
“Oh, the normal things.” Okay, she could be civil. And socially polite.
“And what’s normal things for you?” He gave her an easy smile.
If he thought his amiable smile would disarm her, he was so very wrong. She didn’t really feel like chatting about her life, but she couldn’t think of a way to avoid at least saying something. “Well, I moved here from a retirement center in Naples after things went downhill there. Bad management. So a few of the ladies and I heard about Sunrise Village and we’ve all moved here.”
“That’s nice to have friends here. And it must be nice living close to your daughters.”
“Ah, yes. It is.” Not that she saw her daughters much. And if they kept embarrassing her with their mistakes that the whole town gossiped about, she’d see them even less. But that didn’t sound very motherly, so she didn’t explain that to Ted.
The server came and brought their meals. On nice plates. Not the china that they used in the dining room, but acceptable nice white plates. She poured a tiny bit of dressing on her salad—she always asked for dressing on the side. Some people wanted to drown salad in dressing. She couldn’t abide by that.
Ted attacked his meal—a whole sandwich and bowl of soup—even though the cafe offered half sandwiches and half salads and cups of soups, which were much better portion sizes as far as she was concerned.
“So, did you ever have any children?” It was her turn to ask him some questions. Just so he’d stop asking her questions. Not because she was curious or anything like that.
“No, we never did. Bianca got sick. It was a long illness. She passed away many years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
He nodded. “I heard you recently lost your husband.”
“Ah, yes. I did. Not too long ago.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. It’s an adjustment, isn’t it?”
How to answer that? It had been an adjustment. Nelson had taken care of so many of the details of their lives. Not to mention all the bills and finances. She was still sorting all that out. It was actually rather annoying to have to deal with all the little details now, but it couldn’t be helped.
And Nelson could be… difficult. A very critical man. She was embarrassed to admit to anyone—well, she probably wouldn’t ever admit it—that it was a bit freeing to not live under his critical eye and constant judgmental remarks.
Of course, she couldn’t tell Ted all of that. “Ah, yes. An adjustment. It has been.” That was a much safer answer to his question.
“And the friends you’ve moved here with? That must be nice to already know people here.”
“Yes, I suppose it is. We went on a world cruise just a bit ago. Just these women. We were all widows or divorced. We had quite a great time of it.”
“That sounds nice.”
It had been nice, but exhausting. Honestly, that many days stuck together with that many people on the tour had almost been too much. She’d been glad to get back home. But then she’d had to deal with this whole move thing.
“Have you gotten all unpacked and settled in?” Ted asked yet more questions.
She let out a long sigh, releasing her frustrations with the whole ordeal. “Mostly. The concierge found me some help and they did get things unpacked. I’m not sure everything is where I want it, but it will do for now.”
“It takes a while to get used to living in a new place, doesn’t it?”
She just nodded to avoid saying ‘ah yes’ again, which seemed to be her preferred phrase today.
“Sunrise Village is nice, though. And it’s nice being back in Moonbeam. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I returned. And the harbor walk. I’d forgotten how much I love the harbor walk. The town has done a great job keeping it looking nice. I’ve been taking a walk along the harbor every morning since I got here.”
That answered her wondering the other day if he jogged anymore. But a daily walk was still more exercise than she got. Or was interested in.
“You should join me some morning.” He looked hopeful.
“Ah, yes. I mean, no. I’m not much of a morning person.” Or a get-out-and-exercise person.
“I remember that about you. I wasn’t sure if you’d changed.”
“No, I’m still the same.” Though, she wasn’t. She wasn’t anything like the person who had been friends with him all those years ago. Not anything. Couldn’t he see that? And he was probably very different than the young man he’d been back then.
With that thought firmly wrapped around her, she stood, eager to dismiss the conversation and end the lunch. “That was lovely catching up with you.” Was it really?
“It was. Maybe we’ll do it again soon.”
She just nodded.
No, she didn’t think that they would. She was just going to keep on avoiding him as much as possible.