“Charlotte is always late.” Eva looked around Magic Cafe. “I can’t believe she’d keep us waiting like this. It’s hot here, and I’d like to order.” She fanned herself with her menu.
“Let’s give her a few more minutes.” Her father took a sip of his drink, obviously in no hurry. But then he never seemed to mind the heat.
She never had liked the heat and humidity of Florida. The ceiling fans above them on the outside area moved the air, but she would have preferred to sit inside in the air-conditioned area. Her father had insisted on sitting outside with the expansive view of the water and she hadn’t been able to make him change his mind.
Annoyed, she took a sip of her iced tea and fanned herself again. She looked over as a couple came out to the outside dining area and clapped her hands in glee. “Oh, look. It’s Camille.” She jumped up and waved.
Camille and her date threaded their way over to the table. Camille gave her a quick kiss on both cheeks. “Eva, darling, it’s been forever. What are you doing here?”
“We decided to take a quick vacation back here on the island.”
“I’m so glad you did. We’re here for a little visit ourselves.” She turned to the man beside her. “I want you to meet Delbert. Delbert Hamilton of Hamilton Hotels.”
Her father stood and shook the man’s hand. “I’m Glen Duncan. Nice to meet you, Mr. Hamilton.”
“Please, call me Del.”
“Del it is. And this is my wife, Isadora, and my daughter who’s been chatting away with Camille is Eva.”
Del nodded to all of them. “Nice to meet you.”
“Would you like to join us? We could get Tally to move us to a larger table. Say yes. I’d love to catch up with what you’ve been doing.” She motioned to a large table nearby.
“Delbert, honey, is it okay if we join the Duncans?”
“Of course.” Delbert lifted a hand to wave to Tally. “Tally, I hate to bother you, but do you think we could all move to a larger table?”
“Of course, let me just get one set up. It’s not a problem.”
They all moved to the new, larger table and Delbert and Camille ordered drinks.
“We’re waiting on my sister, Charlotte. She’s late.” Eva looked at Delbert. “The girl has no sense of time.” She rolled her eyes.
Just then Charlotte walked up to the table, looking surprised at the enlarged group. “Camille, uh… hi.” She looked at Delbert.
“This is Delbert Hamilton,” Eva said. “We invited Camille and Del to join us. And you’re late.”
“I’m sorry. I was painting and lost track of time.”
“It always pays to be punctual,” her mother chimed in.
It did pay to be punctual. How did her sister manage to go through life in such a haphazard way? Her whole free-spirited artist type was just… annoying.
Charlotte had talked to herself the whole way over to Magic Cafe, not rushing even though she knew she was late and would hear about her tardiness. She’d rehearsed the words she was going to say to her family, over and over and over. What she hadn’t expected was Camille and her boyfriend to be at the table. Now was not the time to have a serious talk with her family. She slipped into her chair beside Delbert and smiled at him.
Camille leaned forward. “Delbert is Delbert Hamilton of Hamilton Hotels.”
“Oh.” What did one say to an introduction like that? She’d, of course, heard of Hamilton Hotels.
He smiled back at her. “We recently purchased a hotel in Sarasota and remodeled it into a Hamilton Hotel. So I’m here on the island quite a bit while that’s all going on. It’s a bit different than our regular hotels and I’m quite proud of how it turned out.”
“Delbert is making a name for himself in the hotel business, but I do quite like his father’s more formal hotels.” Camille rested her hand on his arm.
“That’s nice.” Where was the waitress? She wanted to order a beer. The server came over and she did just that, much to her mother’s displeasure and annoying dismissive shrug.
“Eva, dear, you must, must come to a party Mama’s throwing this week. Everyone will be there. Senators. The Governor. Some state representatives from Mississippi will be there, too. You know how it is when Mama throws a party. Just everyone wants to be invited.” She turned and added. “Oh, and Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, you should come, too.”
“We’d love to, dear,” her mother said.
Charlotte sat there, invisible.
“And, of course, Charlotte, you should come, too,” Delbert added.
Nothing like being an afterthought.
“Thank you. I’ll check my calendar.” Not that they’d even said what day it was. She was pretty sure she was going to be so very busy that night, though.
“The attire is casual.” Camille looked at Charlotte’s outfit with a look of disapproval. “Well, you know, Mama’s version of casual. A nice dress and the men will all be wearing slacks and dress shirts, I’m sure.”
Charlotte smiled at the waitress bringing her beer, reached for it, and took a long swallow.
Ice cold. Nice.
Eva and Camille chattered away through the entire meal, talking about clothes and celebrities and television shows she’d never even heard of. She rarely watched TV. She was more of a reader if she had free time.
She sat quietly, concentrating on her grouper sandwich—which both her mother and sister had ordered without the bun. They were crazy. Julie’s Sweet Shoppe supplied the bakery goods for Magic Cafe and they were excellent. No way she was passing up this bun.
The meal dragged on forever, then Delbert and her father argued good-naturedly over who was going to pay the bill. They eventually agreed to split it. Delbert finally stood. “I’m sorry to break this up, but I really must get back to work. I need to go over to Sarasota and check on a few things at the hotel.”
Camille gracefully swooped up from her seat. “I really do need to get to Mama’s and help with the arrangements for the party. It’s Friday night and I do hope I’ll see you there.”
Though Charlotte noticed Camille was looking directly at Eva when she said that comment.
Her father stood. “We should be going, too. I’ve got a tee time coming up with some old golfing buddies. Couldn’t let a trip back to the island go by without a round of golf or two.”
Thank goodness. It was over. She jumped up, too. “I better run.”
“What’s your hurry? You’ll join us by the pool this afternoon, won’t you?” Her mother asked.
It figured. Her mother and sister come all the way to Florida and stayed right on the beach… and they spend the day at the pool.
“I’m afraid I’m busy this afternoon.”
“Fine. We’ll see you tomorrow, then.” Eva stood and grabbed her ever-so-coordinated-with-her-outfit purse.
Guess she was off the dinner list tonight. Which was fine by her.
“Oh, and Ben called. We’re doing the boat trip tomorrow. Meet us at the marina at ten in the morning.” Eva commanded. “And don’t be late. We’re not going to wait for you.”
Okay, then.
She nodded and left the table while everyone collected their things. She headed out the beach way while they all headed out to the parking lot for their cars. She slipped off her shoes as soon as she hit the sand and crossed down to the water’s edge. She stood letting the waves wash over her feet and the wind lift her hair in the breeze.
Closing her eyes against the sun, she lifted her face to the bright warmth. She still needed to talk to her family, but it didn’t look like tomorrow was going to be the day for it, either. No way she wanted to discuss all she wanted to say to them with Ben there.
But she would talk to them. She would.
She splashed her foot in the water with a kick at a wave. Relief rushed through her as she walked away from lunch, from her family, and from Eva and Camille and their constant chatter about nothing.
She now had a whole afternoon and evening of respite from all of that and she planned to paint until the light faded away.