by Nicole Ellis
“Maggie’s really busy. She’ll bring him down here when she can. That girl has a lot on her plate.” She hesitated. “She sounded more stressed than I’ve ever heard her. I wish I could go up there and help out with Alex, but I’ve got my job at the library. I think she may have bitten off more than she can chew this time. You know Maggie.”
She busied herself preparing the lattice crust for an apple pie, but concern was etched across her face.
He did know Maggie, enough to know she was the most driven woman he’d ever met. When his younger brother Brian brought her home at his college’s Christmas break to meet the family the first time, she’d mapped out every minute of her time in Portland, determined to make the most of it. They’d affectionately called her ‘Maggie the human dynamo’ behind her back. Brian had been smitten from the moment he met her, and they got married in the December following his college graduation.
Jake had been stationed with the Army at Fort Lewis, Washington, at the time and had been able to get home for their wedding. Soon after they married, Brian had left for his Officer Basic Course in Missouri, taking Maggie with him.
A portrait of his brother in uniform sat on the mantel, drawing his attention. He and his parents had been devastated when Brian was killed in the Middle East and he couldn’t imagine how Maggie had felt, especially with a little baby.
Before Brian deployed for the Middle East, his parents had hosted a family picnic in their backyard. He remembered it had been a bright, sunny summer day. A perfect kind of day, where nothing bad could happen. Maggie had worn a white sundress imprinted with red roses and carried Alex in a wrap around her front. He’d watched as Brian wrapped an arm around his wife and kissed his son on the forehead. His love for his family shone through in his actions and Jake had wondered if he himself would ever experience the same happiness.
After a neighbor drew Maggie into conversation, his brother had taken him aside and made him promise to take care of Maggie and Alex if something should happen to him. Jake had slugged him on the shoulder.
“You’ll be fine, little bro. Nothing’s going to happen to you.” Jake had been on two tours to the Middle East himself and knew things weren’t great over there, but he didn’t want his brother to worry about leaving his wife and child behind.
“I know, but just the same, promise me you’ll do this for me?” Brian had smiled, but his lips quivered as he patted Jake on the back. It was the last time they saw each other before Brian headed overseas.
When Brian didn’t make it back, Jake intended to make good on his promise, but the Army had other ideas and stationed him in Korea for three years and then Germany for two. He’d kept up with Maggie and Alex’s lives through phone calls with his mother and he sent birthday cards to Alex, but his involvement hadn’t extended past that. The years passed faster than he’d realized. After twenty years in the Army, he’d recently opted for retirement. Now here he was, back in the States, retired at the ripe old age of thirty-eight.
He gazed out the window at the empty snow-covered lawn, so different than his memory of the warm summer backyard picnic so many years ago. He returned his attention to his mother.
“I could go help with Alex for a few weeks.”
“You?” She scoffed. “What do you know about kids?”
He shrugged. “I’ll manage. I’ve been around kids before, you know.”
Her demeanor softened. “What about your Border Patrol interview?”
“I’ll head up there after my interview on Monday. I’m sure they won’t call me back for a while. The federal government moves at the speed of a snail with their hiring process. I’d like to see Alex, and Maggie too, of course. It’s been years since I saw him.” He thought for a moment and counted the years. His brother had already been gone for five years? Alex would be about six now.
“Well, I’m sure Alex will be happy to see you. From what Maggie says, he’d love to have a man around. He’s been wanting to play catch with someone and begging her to enroll him in Little League. Can you imagine Maggie playing softball?”
He could actually. He had a feeling his sister-in-law could do anything she set her mind to. But how would he do with a six-year-old? He’d spent time with the kids of an ex-girlfriend when they’d been dating, but it wasn’t the same as with family. And that had been years ago. His ex hadn’t been able to handle a long-distance relationship and they’d amicably broken up soon after he moved to Korea. He’d heard from friends that she was now happily married to a local guy.
“I have a few things to wrap up here, but I’ll leave on Tuesday for Candle Beach. Don’t say anything to Maggie though, okay? I want to surprise her and Alex.”
His mother looked relieved. “I’m sure she’d welcome your help.”
He wasn’t convinced of that, but he knew he had to offer. He owed his brother that much.
“I can’t wait until I retire. Only three years to go. Then I can visit Alex whenever I want. And maybe in a few years I’ll have more grandkids…hint, hint.” She eyed him.
He sighed. “When I can find a woman to stick with me. I haven’t had much luck so far.”
She patted him on the arm. “You’ll find someone. You’re a good man. The right woman is out there for you.”
“Maybe.” He was pushing forty. If he hadn’t found the right woman yet, what were the odds he’d find her anytime soon? He’d had his share of romantic relationships, but most of them had been short-lived. Some due to the natural fizzling out of things, but most because of Army commitments. But the Army wasn’t part of his life anymore, so now it was all on him. That thought both exhilarated and terrified him.
After he watched the football game with his dad and helped his mom clean up the dishes, Jake went back to the extended-stay hotel room he’d lived in for the past month. It smelled like lemon cleaning solution, a sharp contrast to the homey aroma of turkey and apple pie that had pervaded his parents’ house. He’d stayed at the hotel to maintain his independence, but this definitely wasn’t home.
If he planned to visit Maggie and Alex for a week or more, he’d need to clean out his hotel room. No point in paying for a room he wasn’t using. He glanced around.
His application materials for the US Border Patrol sat on a desk pushed against the wall. Was that where his future lay? He’d enlisted as a teenager and the Army had been his life up until now. Other than his decision to attend college and commission as an officer through the Green to Gold program, he hadn’t had to make many career decisions. Now that he had the chance to be around family, did he really want to move up to the Canadian border, away from everyone he knew and loved?
He turned his gaze to his belongings. He planned to pack everything and be ready to drive up to Candle Beach right after his interview.
It wouldn’t take him long. After twenty years of military moves, he hadn’t accumulated much stuff. Most of it was in a local storage unit. The hotel room was as austere and uninviting as it had been when he’d moved in. Being in the Army didn’t make building anything easy, whether it be a romantic relationship or a sense of home. Now that he was officially a civilian, he intended to make the most of it. Visiting his nephew in Candle Beach might be exactly what he needed to start out his new life.
3
Dealing with employees wasn’t any more fun than dealing with a young child. There had been some grumbling by customers and employees about the lack of Thanksgiving turkey, but the hams had been well-received and Maggie and Alex had spent a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving dinner with her parents. Now, however, it was back to real life at the café.
“You can’t book parties that large for the side room.” Velma James stared at Maggie with her hands firmly planted on her ample hips. They stood just inside the stockroom behind the front counter, where Maggie could still monitor everything happening inside the café.
She closed her eyes. She’d just informed Velma that the party room had been reserved for that evening. This wasn’t the first time her employee ha
d given her grief for having so many people in their side room. The woman had been around since the Bluebonnet Café was the Greasy Spoon and was one of the few people she couldn’t get along with.
Velma was a member of the Ladies of Candle Beach Club and Maggie had no idea how old she was. The older woman had a history of arguing with customers and messing up orders. She probably should have been fired years ago, but Maggie didn’t have the heart to do so. It couldn’t be easy for an elderly woman to find a job in Candle Beach—not with her temperament.
“It’s all we have,” Maggie said in a steely voice. “If we don’t take the booking, they’ll go to Haven Shores instead.”
“Well, maybe they should,” Velma said stubbornly. “Why, I can barely squeeze past the person at the end to bring the guests on the other side of the table their entrees.”
One, two, three... Maggie counted to ten slowly—the same technique she used when dealing with Alex. Velma wasn’t going to get the best of her. The day had been too long to lose her cool over the woman’s silly antics.
“The party room has a maximum capacity of thirty people. We’re well under that.”
“Yes, but with the serving cart and all those chairs in there, it’s ridiculously cramped.”
“Velma,” Maggie said sharply. “I’m doing my best. Please go make up the salads for table six. They’ve been waiting quite a while for them.” She stared pointedly over at the table she’d referenced, where the guests were doing the telltale head dart as they searched for their absent waitress.
“Fine, but when a guest gets soup spilled on their lap because there wasn’t enough room to get around them, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.” Velma flounced off in her white tennis shoes.
For all her lack of charm and grace, Velma had a point. With the growing local and tourist population in Candle Beach, her party room was rapidly becoming too small to meet demand. In fact, last week she’d had to turn down a family reunion because she couldn’t fit fifty people into that room and the adjoining main room wasn’t conducive to housing large get-togethers.
What could she do though? Her fledgling catering business was just starting to get off the ground. Dahlia was her first big customer, but there had been a few other small gigs as well that had come up in the last month. To grow any bigger, she’d need to locate an events venue that could house at least one hundred people, if not more. But where was she going to find that? To the best of her knowledge, Candle Beach didn’t have such a thing. The closest thing would be to rent out the wine bar, but they probably wouldn’t want their whole establishment closed for a day any more than she wanted to do so with the café.
She added finding a venue to the running to-do list she had in her planner and reviewed her checklist for Dahlia’s bridal shower one last time. She needed to make the petit fours and finish some decorations. Should be a piece of cake.
The preparations for Dahlia’s bridal shower turned out to be anything but a piece of cake. Everything seemed to take four times as long as she’d expected. After she made it through the Thanksgiving turkey fiasco unscathed, Maggie had turned all of her attention to the shower. She and Gretchen had planned a tea party theme and had collected tea pots from friends and family over the last month in anticipation of the event.
Gretchen’s tenant, their friend Charlotte, had recently moved out of Gretchen’s house when an apartment in town opened up, allowing Gretchen to move back in and host the event. In return, Maggie had said she’d provide all the food and decorations. It had turned out to be much more time intensive than she’d thought it would be.
“Maggie.” Gretchen placed a doily on an end table and stared at her friend. “Are you okay?”
Maggie yawned and waved her hand. “I’m fine. Those party favors took quite a bit of time. Who’d have thought making twenty boxes of petit fours would take so long?”
Gretchen eyed the perfectly packed boxes. “Uh, I would. Did you make those yourself?”
Maggie regarded her with surprise. “Of course. I watched a YouTube video on how to make them. They’re similar to something I studied in a cake-decorating class series. But I couldn’t get them quite right at first.” She yawned again.
“What time did you go to bed last night?” Gretchen asked.
“Around three, but then Alex was up at six. I couldn’t manage to talk him into watching cartoons while I slept, so I got up and made pancakes.”
“Mags, you’re crazy. You need to get more sleep. I would have helped with the party favors, but you said they were simple to do.”
Maggie frowned. “They shouldn’t have taken that long. I don’t know why it took me so long to learn how to make them.”
Gretchen shook her head and smiled. “Why don’t you come sit down over here to rest? Dahlia and the guests won’t be here for a while longer.”
“Maybe just for a minute.” The couch in Gretchen’s living room did look inviting. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the soft upholstery.
She didn’t wake up until the doorbell rang. She flew up from the couch and ran to the kitchen where Gretchen stood heating water at the stove.
“Why didn’t you wake me up? There’s so much to do.” Her eyes darted around the kitchen frantically.
“Relax. I’ve got it covered. You needed to sleep.” Gretchen pointed to teapots full of steeping tea and trays of neatly arranged scones and tea sandwiches. “I put the scones next to the clotted cream and jam you brought over.”
“But I should have been helping.” Anxiety rose up inside of her, causing her heart rate to increase.
“You made all the scones and the party favors. I think you’ve done plenty.” Gretchen’s eyes drilled into her face. “You need to slow down a bit. Remember when I was so sick from all the stress a few months ago? You told me to take it easy. Now I’m giving your own advice right back to you.”
The doorbell rang again and their guests knocked on the door.
She knew Gretchen was right. With the Thanksgiving turkey issues at the restaurant and then the bridal shower preparations right on its heels, she hadn’t been taking very good care of herself. But between work and Alex, there just wasn’t enough time for her too. “I’m fine.” She smiled. “Now, we should probably let the guests in.”
They laughed and hurried into the front room to open the door.
“Are we early?” Dahlia’s future mother-in-law Wendy asked, looking around the room. “I started to worry we were at the wrong place.”
Dahlia peeked out from behind her and rolled her eyes. “I told her this was Gretchen’s house.”
Maggie smiled. “No, sorry about that. We were back in the kitchen. Come on in.” From what Dahlia had said, she was surprised to see Wendy was the first guest. She was more known for her free-spiritedness than her punctuality. It must have been due to the positive influence of her new husband, a local accountant.
“Dahlia, you look gorgeous,” Gretchen said. Their friend wore a long-sleeved purple dress with a flared skirt and low heels. Dahlia spun in a full circle to show them the colorful inside pleats of the dress.
“Thank you. I found this dress in Seattle when Garrett and I visited my parents last month.”
“Is your mom here?” Maggie asked. Vanessa, Dahlia’s mother, had RSVP’d but said she might be late as she would be leaving straight from an important business meeting in Seattle.
“She just called and said she was about thirty minutes out of town.”
Dahlia wandered into the kitchen and then turned back to them. “Maggie, Gretchen, this is beautiful.” She gave them both huge hugs. “Thanks, you guys. I really appreciate this.”
“Of course,” Maggie said. “It was our pleasure.” She and Gretchen exchanged pleased glances.
A few more guests arrived, including Bernadette and Sandy, who were both waitresses at the Bluebonnet Café. Dahlia had only been in town for a year and a half, but she’d quickly made friends.
“Hi Bernadette, Sandy. Glad you could make it.�
� Maggie took their coats and motioned to the kitchen. “Help yourselves to a cup of tea.” She took all the coats she’d collected upstairs and laid them on the bed in the guest room. Outside, the sky was gray and the ocean churned in choppy whitecaps from the wintry gusts of wind.
She came downstairs to find everyone gathered around Bernadette, oohing and aahing.
“What’s going on?” She approached the group and saw the glittery stone on Bernadette’s left hand.
“Lee asked me to marry him.” Bernadette flashed the ring at her boss.
Maggie hugged her. “Congratulations! Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”
“I didn’t want to intrude on Dahlia’s special day, but they saw the ring.” She glowed with happiness.
“And they’re moving to a small town in Alaska,” another guest piped up. “Isn’t that so romantic?”
Maggie’s heart sank. Her best employee was moving to Alaska? Although great for Bernadette, this was horrible for the café.
“Alaska?” She gave Bernadette a quizzical look.
Bernadette looked sheepish. “Yeah, Lee got a job on a fishing boat up there for the summer. I’m going to work in the cannery.”
“Ah. So you’re not moving until summer.”
“No, we’re moving soon so we can get settled in a little house up there.” She twisted her engagement ring. “I guess this is my official two weeks’ notice? I’m so sorry, Maggie. I’ve loved working for you, but I don’t want to be so far apart from Lee. Maybe I can help you find my replacement?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m happy for you and Lee.” Maggie hugged her again.
She turned to the other guests, who were chatting in small groups throughout the main floor, raising her voice to be heard over them.
“Thank you all for coming. I think most everyone is here now, so let’s get the party started.” The guests quieted and looked at her. “There are scones and tea sandwiches in the kitchen, so if you’d like to get something to eat before we start the bridal shower games, please go ahead.” The group milled toward the kitchen.