by Terri DuLong
“Yeah, probably. Well, I got to thinking about it, and even though Chloe and I have never been close, what Parker did is unforgivable. No woman deserves this. I mean, geez, if he wanted out of the marriage he should have just been honest and told her, not wait until it reached the level that it did.”
“Well, in my experiences with people, I’ve found that honesty is a very elusive trait. Maybe that’s why I value it so much and admire people who have no problem exhibiting it. It’s not always easy being honest. Many times it’s downright difficult, but it’s still the best thing to do.”
I had to agree.
“Well, I’ll be honest right now,” I told her. “I truly cannot see my uppity sister living on this island. She’s never even visited here. Does she know we have no pharmacy, no doctors, no movie theater? Not to mention that the closest upscale shopping is an hour away in Gainesville?”
“I told her all of that. It didn’t seem to matter. I think she’s feeling so alone in her life right now that all of those amenities are secondary.”
Another thought occurred to me. “Where will she be staying? Oh, please do not tell me I have to share my apartment with her.” I loved Aunt Maude dearly, but living with my sister would be stretching that love to the breaking point.
“No, no, of course not. I wouldn’t subject you to that,” she said, laughing. “Chloe’s going to stay here with me. I have the extra bedroom, but she also mentioned looking for her own place—a small cottage that she could rent.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, good. Did she say what she plans to do here? To keep busy? She’s never worked outside the home.”
“We did talk about that briefly. Her college degree was in textile design, and although she never pursued that once she married, Chloe has continued with her knitting. She’s won many awards for her projects, and some of her beautiful pieces brought in a good sum of money for all the fund-raisers she was in charge of.”
“So you’re going to have her help us with the knitting retreats?”
“If it’s all right with you, yes.”
“Of course it’s okay. Chloe was always an expert knitter, plus she might enjoy something like that.”
“That’s what I was thinking. You’re handling the advertising part of it, with the website and bookings when they start coming in, so maybe she could come up with some ideas for instruction and classes. I need to get ready to leave for Lucas’s, but we’ll give this some more thought.”
“Sounds good,” I said, leaning over to kiss my aunt’s cheek. “I’ll be back down within the hour.”
Going through the bags that Monica had dropped off had brightened my mood. There’s always something about new clothes, even borrowed ones from a friend, that has a way of perking up a woman. I’d planned to wear jeans and a T-shirt to Lucas’s home for dinner, but after going through my care package, I changed my mind.
Instead I chose a black and white sundress. Twirling around in front of the mirror, I smiled. Not bad, and although I loved Monica’s stilettos, the black mules with a one-inch heel were more appropriate.
“Okay,” I said to Annie, patting the top of her head. “You be a good girl while I’m gone.”
She looked up at me and then plopped her head back on the sofa to resume her nap.
I found Aunt Maude waiting for me on the porch. “All set for our diner français?”
“Oui, mademoiselle,” was her reply.
We walked the short distance to Lucas’s house on Second Street, and the look on his face when he opened the door made me happy that I’d chosen the sundress over the jeans.
“Bonsoir,” he greeted us. Opening the door wider he never took his eyes from my face. “Come on in. You ladies look exceptionally lovely this evening.”
Yup, definitely glad I chose the sundress. “Thank you,” I mumbled, following him and my aunt into the small living room.
“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing toward a chocolate brown leather sofa and two matching chairs. “A glass of wine before dinner? I have a nice red I brought back from France.”
“That would be nice, Lucas. Thank you,” my aunt said, choosing a spot on the sofa.
I settled myself next to her and looked around the room. Even for a bachelor living alone I could see that Lucas had added some personal touches. A few large prints of museum exhibits in Paris adorned the walls. The coffee table held a centerpiece of fresh, brightly colored mixed flowers, and on the mantel above the small fireplace were framed photographs of locations that I recognized from the south of France.
“Here we go,” he said, returning from the back of the house carrying a tray holding three glasses of wine.
After offering my aunt and me a glass, he removed his and held it up. “Here’s to your new home, Maude, and good days ahead for you, Grace. A votre santé!”
“Thank you,” my aunt said as I nodded.
I took a sip of the dark red liquid. “Oh, this is wonderful, Lucas. Makes me feel like I’m back in France.”
“It is good,” Aunt Maude agreed.
“I’m glad you like it. Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes.”
“Good. Then I’ll have time to tell you all about my news.” She went on to tell him about the knitting retreat weekends she was planning.
“Oh, that’s very happy news, Maude. Knitting has become quite popular once again, so I have no doubt your new business will be a wonderful success. And how fortunate to have Grace as your partner.” His gaze now swung to me. “So do I understand this to mean that you won’t be rebuilding your coffee shop?”
“I’m afraid not. It would involve way too much because of the existing FEMA laws. It just wouldn’t have the same feel to it as my other place did, and besides, it would be difficult for a lot of people to navigate the stairs required.”
Lucas nodded. “Yes, I see what you’re saying. Well, it’s easy to see that you share a very close relationship, so I have no doubt that you’ll enjoy beginning this new venture together.”
“Are you all settled in at the bookshop?” I asked. I had been so upset when I was there on Friday morning I wasn’t even sure if he’d officially opened yet.
“Just about. My grand opening is this coming Sunday, and I’d love it if you both could be there. Three o’clock, wine and cheese, and although you’ve already gotten a sneak peek, it will give the rest of the community a chance to see it.”
“That would be very nice, Lucas,” my aunt told him.
“Yes, we’ll definitely be there. Are you planning to stay here permanently now?”
“Well, except for some trips back to Brunswick to check on the bookshop there, yes. Mrs. Beckett really has everything under control for me. I thought about selling the Brunswick shop but in all honesty, I feel like I’d be depriving Mrs. Beckett of something she really enjoys. Besides, I’m the only bookshop in Brunswick, so I think my customers would also be disappointed.”
“I’d say it works out well all the way around.” My aunt took a sip of her wine. “Kind of like Grace and me,” she said with a smile.
I reached over to pat her hand. “You’re absolutely right,” I told her as my cell phone rang in my handbag beside me. “Oh, excuse me,” I said, getting up and going outside to the porch to take the call.
As soon as I heard my sister’s voice I wished I’d remembered to let the calls go to voice mail.
“Grace?” Chloe bellowed across the line. “I’m trying to reach Aunt Maude and there’s no answer at her place. She was supposed to call me back.” There was a pause, and then her tone became more subdued. “I imagine she told you about Parker and that I’m coming to Cedar Key?”
“Yes, yes, she did. I’m really sorry to ...”
She instantly cut me off. “Well, she was supposed to get some information for me about storage units in the area. Do you know where she is?”
Offering my sympathy seemed like a waste of time. “Actually, she’s here with me. We’re at a ... friend’s house. For dinner. I cam
e out on the porch to take the call.”
“Well, could I speak to her?” Impatience laced her words.
“We were just about to begin dinner, Chloe. Can I have her call you back later tonight? Or would you prefer in the morning?” I was not going to let my sister, the drama queen, ruin a nice evening.
After a moment’s pause, she said, “It’s up to Aunt Maude. God knows I’m awake till all hours, so she can call me later. Bye.”
With that, I heard the line disconnect and shook my head. Feeling bad for her situation was one thing, but I wasn’t about to accept the crap that Chloe was famous for dishing out.
I took a deep breath of air, walked inside, gulped the rest of the wine in my glass, looked at my aunt, and said, “That was Chloe.”
“Oh, my,” was her response, knowing full well what a conversation with my sister was capable of doing to my mood. “Oh, no, I was supposed to call her back.”
“Right. I explained you’d call her later when you got home. So it’s not a problem.”
Lucas sat there looking from my aunt to me, a confused expression on his face.
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” I asked.
“I’m afraid not. I’m an only child.”
“You’re lucky,” I said. “I’m sorry. That was my very difficult sister, and let’s not ruin a nice evening by discussing her.”
Lucas nodded as he stood up. “Just give me a few moments and dinner will be ready.”
Following an exceptional dinner of roast lamb, au gratin potatoes, and fresh vegetables, we were enjoying coffee and dessert on the back deck.
“I do believe you missed your calling, Lucas,” my aunt told him. “With your exceptional abilities, I’m sure you could be a top chef. That dinner was simply out of this world—and this tarte tatin ... I think it’s the best I’ve ever had.”
I had to agree on all counts. I took another bite of the luscious upside-down apple tart and savored the caramelized flavor. “Where on earth did you learn to cook like this?”
Lucas laughed as I saw a look of pride cross his face. “From both my mother and my grandmother. I think that unlike most American men, French boys are encouraged in the kitchen as much as little girls. I do enjoy cooking, but if I had to make a living at it, I’m not sure I’d enjoy it quite as much.”
“Well, you certainly put me to shame,” I told him. “Cooking has never been one of my best attributes.”
“Ah, but I’m sure you have talents in other areas.”
Why did the way he said that have a sexy connotation to my ears?
“You’re very right,” my aunt said. “Grace is an expert knitter. You should see some of the wonderful work she’s done over the years.”
“That’s an admirable talent, and maybe someday you’ll show me some of your work.”
Hmm, did this constitute an almost-date?
“I’d love to,” I said, feeling my cheeks grow warm. “By the way, your coffee is superb, and I’d bet anything you brought it back from Paris, didn’t you?”
He nodded. “Oh, yes, on my most recent trip over there. I seem to be unable to return to the States without French coffee and chocolate.”
I smiled. “Those are also the two items I always returned with.” Well, we had something in common.
It was close to midnight by the time my aunt and I left Lucas’s house. I had thoroughly enjoyed the entire evening and especially Lucas’s company. I had also thought that perhaps the hint of a bona fide date—minus my aunt—might be forthcoming. But it was not.
6
After taking Annie for a walk through the downtown area, I had returned home and was enjoying my first cup of coffee on the front porch. The phone beside me rang, and I was happy to hear Suellen’s voice.
“Okay,” she said. “Tell me all about Lucas Trudeau. Don’t leave anything out. You know me. I love details. I’d popped by his bookshop here in town and got to meet him, so believe me, I know that man is hot! Tell me all about the dinner last night.”
I took a sip of coffee and then shook my head laughing. “Suellen, you’re incorrigible.” I often wondered if she was the avid romantic she was because of her mother and the reason she named her daughter Suellen. Suellen’s mom had been named Careen. Both had been named for the sisters of Scarlett O’Hara. Suellen’s grandmother and her mother were devoted Gone with the Wind fans, something that had been passed on to my friend. She in turn named her one and only daughter, Ashley, based on another character from that novel. I often wondered why she hadn’t just named her Scarlett. “I told you. I really don’t know Lucas that well. I mean, I’m not even sure I could say we’re friends yet. Acquaintance—that’s a better word to describe our relationship.”
“Acquaintance? Oh, girlfriend, that is so boring. But not to worry, what with him relocating to Cedar Key, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of opportunity to notch up a level or two from acquaintance. ”
I smiled. She actually said that word like it was distasteful in her mouth.
“Tell me how that brilliant, beautiful, and wonderful goddaughter of mine is doing.”
Suellen’s voice morphed into a softness that the mere mention of her daughter always brought about.
“Oh, Gracie, she couldn’t be doing better. I can hardly believe she’s started her sophomore year at UGA. She loves the University of Georgia, and she’s had a great summer working at a vet clinic in Athens.”
I recalled all the years that Ashley had brought home stray dogs and cats, cried over wounded birds, and once even begged to adopt a raccoon that had been hanging around their yard. So I wasn’t surprised at all when I learned she planned to major in veterinary medicine.
“She’s one great girl, Suellen, and you should be very proud. It’s not easy raising a daughter on your own.”
“Oh, I don’t know how much I had to do with the way she turned out. Sometimes parenthood is just a crap shoot. You do everything you can and still, the adult child can be a disappointment. And yet look at how many kids come from the most horrible childhoods ... and they grow up to be admirable and outstanding human beings. Go figure, I say.”
As Suellen’s best friend, maybe I was a bit prejudiced, but I knew firsthand what she’d endured in her short marriage to Ashley’s dad. Jack Daniels had always been his best friend, and it never failed to have a tendency to bring out the worst in him. Although it’s probably the only thing she’d never confided in me, I have no doubt that Mason McSwain had been physically abusive to Suellen before she took her fifteen-month-old daughter and moved in with her mother. Mason had quickly left the area after that, and nobody had heard from him in almost twenty years. All for the better, I say.
I then went on to tell her about the new business and knitting retreats. “I’m really excited about all of it.”
“Oh, you should be, and it sounds like a lot of fun. Imagine ... women coming from all across the country to knit while they connect and bond. I love the idea, and I wish you both a huge success with this.”
“Thanks. I’m really looking forward to all of it—except for one small surprise that Aunt Maude sprung on me.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, I’m afraid my sister is about to be divorced,” I said, and then explained Chloe’s situation.
“Good God! You’ve got to be kidding! Parker did that to her? I mean, really, we all know what a bitch Chloe can be, but geez ...”
“My thoughts exactly. And so—looks like she’ll be here this Friday to lick her wounds and try to recover her life.”
“Wow. Imagine though, she gives him all those good years and now—she’s left completely alone. Sometimes life’s a bitch, huh?”
“Isn’t that the truth? Well, I need to get moving here. I have to get downtown to go through the pitiful rubble that was my house and former business.”
“Oh, sugar, I wish I could be there to help you. But I’ll see you in two weeks. Call me soon.”
“Will do,” I said, hanging up and headin
g inside to the shower.
I spent a discouraging two hours sifting through what remained of my belongings. Following Jim back to the pavement, I mopped the sweat from my forehead and stared at the golf cart Ali had let me borrow. “It’s pitiful that’s all I have to show for ten years of my life,” I said, gesturing toward a few items of clothes, two books that had managed to avoid being charred, and wind chimes that had hung in my coffee shop. Everything else that I had possessed was either burnt or ruined with the odor of smoke. Like all of my knitting—skeins of brand-new yarn that weren’t destroyed now carried a sickening smell.
“I just want to say again how sorry I am, Miss Gracie.”
“I know, and thank you. I’m really grateful that I left a lot of my personal belongings at my aunt’s house when I moved here. Like photographs of my parents and things with memories. Well—I called the company you recommended, and they’ll be here tomorrow morning to demolish what’s left of the structure.”
“Okay. There’s no need for you to be here. The fellow gave me a call and I told him I’d meet him at nine.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate it. This was bad enough, going through what little was left. I don’t think I could stand here and watch it all come tumbling down.”
“I understand, and if you need anything at all, just give me a ring.”
“I will,” I said, getting in the golf cart and heading to Second Street.
As I approached the bookshop I saw Lucas out front touching up some paint around the door. He looked up, saw me, and waved.
“How’re you?” he asked.
I pulled the golf cart to the curb and got out. “Not bad, considering I just rescued what little was worth rescuing from the coffee shop and my apartment.” I pointed to the few items.
“That was all you could get, huh? What a shame. None of the equipment in the coffee shop or any of your furniture?”
I ran a hand through my hair and shook my head. “Nope. That’s it.”
“I just made a fresh pot of coffee. Would you like to join me? I was going to take a break.”