Sunrise on Cedar Key

by Terri DuLong

  “Sounds good,” I said, following him inside as the wonderful fragrance of lavender hit my nostrils. “Ah, lavender potpourri from Provence?”

  Lucas nodded as he filled two mugs. “It has the ability of providing a relaxing atmosphere, don’t you think?”

  “I do. I always had bowls of it around my apartment, and I normally have lavender incense burning when I read my cards.”

  “Your cards?”

  Damn. Why did I mention that? He’ll probably think I’m a total fruitcake. “Ah ... well ... yeah, I read my tarot cards. Are you familiar with those?”

  “Are those the things with quite vivid pictures on them and people use them to tell their future?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, all the women in my family have used the tarot, so guess I followed in their footsteps.” He didn’t seem surprised.

  “My grandmother always used to read her cards and those of people in the village. So do you do it just as a hobby or are you quite good at it?”

  I laughed. “I’d say it’s more than a hobby and I think I’m usually pretty good reading them. Did your grandmother read yours?”

  Lucas took a sip of coffee before answering. “No. As a small child and teenager I always wanted her to—but she said I didn’t need to know my future. I should just live it.”

  I found this interesting, because many times if a reader senses something negative or disturbing from somebody’s vibes or aura, rather than bring forth this information with the cards they might refrain from reading them. Is that why Lucas’s grandmother had refused? I realized I knew very little about him.

  “Well, I’d say you’re doing just that—living it.” I knew he wasn’t presently married but wondered if he had been when he lived in France.

  “Yes, I try. Life is very fragile. We have to make the most of the moments we’re given, don’t you think?”

  “I absolutely do.” His tone had become pensive, and I thought it best to change the subject. “Are you all set for your grand opening on Sunday?”

  “Yes. I’m going into Gainesville Friday to pick up the wine and cheese.”

  “My aunt and I are looking forward to coming. Oh, I almost forgot ... my sister, Chloe, is arriving on Friday. She’ll be staying with my aunt. Unfortunately, her marriage has broken up and she’s relocating here. Would it be okay if she comes with us on Sunday?”

  Lucas’s expression looked genuinely pained. “I’m very sorry to hear that, but how nice she can rely on you and your aunt to help her through this difficult time. And yes, by all means, bring her to the grand opening.”

  “Thanks. By the way, is it a secret or can you share what you’re thinking of doing with the other room?” I asked, looking at the archway.

  Lucas laughed. “Oh, it’s not a secret. Well, my first idea was to simply add more bookshelves and seating areas for patrons. And then I thought it might be nice to have a coffee café—you know, like the large bookstore chains have. But I didn’t want to take away business from you.”

  “That was really nice of you to consider that, but as you know—my coffee shop is now history. Actually, I think that’s a great idea. I mean, gee, where will the locals go now to hang out and gossip?”

  A killer smile crossed Lucas’s face. “Really? You wouldn’t mind?”

  “Of course not. The island needs a place to gather. Besides, I’ve committed to being a partner with Aunt Maude in her new venture, so I’m sure that’ll keep me busy.”

  “Well, then—I think that settles it. But could I impose upon you to give me some guidance? Maybe in the design and ordering whatever equipment you think might be best? I promise not to bother you too much, but maybe when you’re free we could do some—what do they call it?—brainstorming together.”

  I couldn’t remember the last time a suggestion had appealed to me quite as much. “I think it’ll be fun, Lucas, and I’d love to.”

  I returned home to find Aunt Maude sitting on her back deck at the patio table surrounded by notebooks and assorted papers.

  Annie ran to greet me, and I picked her up to cuddle. “Were you a good girl while I was gone?”

  “She’s delightful. Did you do okay getting your things?”

  I put Annie down and joined my aunt at the table. “Yeah, what little there was. What are you up to here?”

  “Well, I’m getting organized. Making notes on things we need to do to remodel the carriage house. I’ve already called a contractor, and he’ll be out tomorrow morning to give me an estimate. Something else I think we should consider is a cleaning girl. I always had one for my house in Brunswick and I’d like a girl here, and she could also do the carriage house for us. What do you think?”

  “Great idea for your apartment and the carriage house, but I rather enjoy cleaning my own place. Gives me time to chill out and think.”

  My aunt laughed. “Okay. I popped by the Bed and Breakfast, and Ali suggested somebody. She’s new to the island and Ali wasn’t able to give her any work, but it sounds like the girl could use more money.”

  “Good. Hopefully she’ll be interested. Have you contacted her?”

  “Ali said she knew how to reach her. So I told her to find out if the girl—her name is Rachel Ellis, by the way—could stop by tomorrow morning so we could meet her.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “Okay,” my aunt said, getting up. “Let’s go take a look at the carriage house and see if we can come up with some ideas.”

  I followed my aunt to the tabby structure. French doors ran the entire length, creating a pastoral atmosphere in the middle of the garden.

  “I can see a few bottles of Windex are going to be needed to make all that glass shine,” I said, as my aunt unlocked the door.

  We stepped inside to a large, bright, and airy room. The roof above me had two skylights, allowing the sun to stream in. Two large picture windows flanked each side of the room, and at the far end was a staircase leading upstairs to a loft overlooking the area where we stood.

  “Wow, this is great,” I said, walking toward a galley kitchen along one side of the room.

  My aunt nodded. “I think so too,” she replied, bending over to open the door of the small refrigerator under the counter. She turned the faucet on the stainless steel sink and nodded again. “Yes, I think this will be just perfect for our knitting retreats. Over there,” she said, pointing toward a door on the opposite wall, “is the bathroom, and I think that loft upstairs will be just perfect for your office.”

  I smiled and had to agree with her. “The lighting in here is ideal for knitting, too. Of course we’ll have lots of lamps, but it’s always nice to have natural lighting. And how about furniture? Have you given any thought to the decorating?”

  “I have. I thought maybe we’d get a fresh coat of white paint for the walls and a border print at the top with some butterflies and flowers, which is always soothing to the eye. Some sofas and a couple love seats, along with a few cushy chairs with ottomans. That should do it for seating. And then of course some tables and lamps. We’ll need a dinette table with chairs over there near the galley kitchen for our luncheons. We have to decide how many women we’ll have at each retreat. Oh, and have you come up with a name yet?”

  “I think we should keep the retreats fairly small, like six women. This will allow it to be more intimate, and women who come alone without a friend or relative won’t feel out of place.”

  “Good idea. And with you, Chloe and me, that’ll be nine.”

  “As far as a name for the business, I’m afraid I haven’t come up with anything more creative than Blue Moon Knitting Retreats.”

  “I like it,” my aunt said. “Simple and to the point. Also very appropriate since each retreat will end with a Blue Moon ceremony. I was thinking about a logo also, something we could put on our website and letterheads. How about a simple outline sketch of the island with a ball of yarn and needles in the middle?”

  I could visualize it in my mind’s eye. “Oh, I like that a lot.
Perfect. And since we’re focusing on the blue moon, how about a small one hovering above the sketch of the island? We’ll get a graphic designer to do something up for us and we’ll have it put on all of our business cards also.”

  “Great idea. Well, we’ve accomplished quite a lot here and we’re on our way. Once the workmen get started with the refurbishing, we can think about going into Gainesville to order the furniture. Now I think we’ve earned ourselves a nice glass of sweet tea.”

  7

  Aunt Maude and I met with Rachel Ellis the following morning. I’m not sure what I expected, but this girl didn’t look a day over seventeen. Very slim, almost to the point of looking gaunt, she was wearing a faded pair of shorts and a blouse. Thick, mahogany-colored hair was pulled back at the base of her neck and secured with a scrunchie. But when she walked in the kitchen and greeted us, a smile lit up her face, transforming her drabness into borderline pretty.

  “Hi,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Rachel Ellis.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” my aunt told her. “Have a seat. Would you like a cup of coffee or tea?”

  “Oh, no, thank you.”

  I let my aunt begin the interview and heard her say, “So you just recently moved to Cedar Key, Ali told me. Where is it that you lived before?”

  “Down by Miami.”

  “I see. This is such an obscure little island. Do you have family here?”

  “Oh, no, actually I really don’t know a soul here.”

  I could see it was going to be like pulling teeth to get much information from her. “Are you here alone? Or with a husband?”

  It was then that I noticed she was beginning to squirm in her chair, avoiding eye contact with me.

  “No, I’m, ah ... divorced. But I have a six-year-old son. Max started first grade here last week.”

  “Oh, how nice,” my aunt said. “Well, I hope you’ll both like it here. Okay, so you have experience cleaning? I need somebody once a week to clean my apartment. I’m not fussy which day, so whatever will be more convenient for you. Then we’ll need you to clean the carriage house in the garden every Monday after the weekend knitting retreats. Would that work out for you?”

  “Oh, yes, that would be great, and I could do your apartment every Friday. I could drop Max at school and come directly here.”

  I noticed she didn’t answer the question about experience. “Do you have references from previous cleaning jobs that you had?”

  Her squirming now became more noticeable, and she fingered the edge of the tablecloth.

  “Um ... well ... No, I’m afraid I don’t. I need to be honest with you. I’ve never actually worked for somebody else doing cleaning. But I’ve taken care of my own house, and I’m an excellent housekeeper. I also learn very fast, and I really, really need this job.”

  My heart went out to her. In this economy many people were desperate for work. Any type of work that supplied some kind of paycheck. I looked at my aunt.

  “Well,” she said. “You certainly sound motivated, and that’s an excellent trait to have. If it’s okay with my niece here, I’d like to offer you the position. Why don’t we say you’ll be on a three-month trial basis? Maybe you could begin this Friday cleaning my apartment. We’re going to be having workmen in the carriage house for a while, but then perhaps you could help us with getting everything arranged in there. We’re thinking we’ll be ready to begin the knitting retreats after the holidays in January.”

  Rachel was staring at me waiting for my answer. “I agree,” I told her. “I think a three-month probation is fair.”

  “Oh, so do I. That’s fine with me. I’ll do a good job. I really will, and thank you ever so much.”

  Yeah, I’d lost everything in a fire, but I knew how fortunate I was to have Aunt Maude to help me through a bad time. It was obvious this poor girl had nobody. The gratitude she displayed for a simple cleaning job made me realize there’s always somebody else that has it much worse.

  “That’s wonderful,” Aunt Maude said, sliding a paper across the table. “If you’ll just fill this out with your name and address and phone number, we’ll be all set.”

  The excitement vanished from Rachel’s face. She looked down at the paper and hesitantly picked up the pen to fill out the information. Not wanting to make her more nervous, I got up.

  “I think I’ll have another cup of coffee. Aunt Maude, how about you?”

  “That sounds great, and I think I’ll help myself to one of those delicious muffins I baked this morning. Are you sure we can’t interest you, Rachel?”

  Her head popped up from the paper. “Oh, no. Thank you, anyway.”

  My aunt followed me to the counter and we both remained silent.

  I poured two mugs of coffee while my aunt got her muffin. Settling ourselves at the table, I told her about Lucas’s plan to turn the extra room at the bookshop into a coffee café.

  “What a marvelous idea.”

  “Yeah, and he asked if I’d help him with the design and ordering some of the equipment he’ll need. You know, because I had my own coffee shop.”

  My aunt laughed. “Right, Gracie. I’m sure that’s the only reason he asked for your help.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I think he’s attracted to you.”

  Before I could reply Rachel passed the paper to my aunt.

  “Oh, you’re staying at the RV park out on SR Twenty-four?”

  “Yeah, for right now, anyway. Max and I drove here in our travel trailer, so it made sense staying at the park.”

  My aunt nodded. “Do you have a cell phone? You didn’t list any phone number.”

  “No, I’m sorry. I don’t.”

  She probably couldn’t afford one. “Well, if we needed to reach you we could call the office at the RV park. Right, Aunt Maude?”

  “Yes, of course. That won’t be a problem.”

  “Oh, good. Then I’ll see you at nine Friday morning?”

  Maude nodded. “That will be great, and I look forward to seeing you then.”

  Rachel turned toward the door to leave and then stopped. Turning around, she said, “Thank you both so much. I really appreciate you giving me a chance. Bye.”

  I got up to watch her leave. She actually skipped her way along the walkway to the curb. It was then that I noticed the beat-up travel trailer. She opened the door on the driver’s side, got in, and started the ignition. Yup, some people did have it pretty bad. The only means of transportation this poor girl had was also her place of residence.

  “Hello,” I hollered, walking into the bookshop later that afternoon.

  Lucas appeared from the back—that killer smile of his causing my stomach to flip-flop. This guy sure had a way of nudging up my desire meter.

  “Bonjour,” he greeted me, and I almost expected the cosmopolitan kiss on both cheeks, which, of course, was not forthcoming.

  “How are you this afternoon?” he inquired.

  “Fine, and you?”

  Was it my imagination or had his eyes scanned me from head to foot, thereby increasing his smile?

  “I’m good, very good.”

  I had to stop myself from saying, I’m very glad, and I suppressed a giggle when I realized we seemed to be indulging in an overly polite greeting. “Well, if you’re not busy, I thought maybe we could discuss the plans for your coffee café.”

  Clearing his throat, Lucas gestured toward the new room. “That sounds good. There’s a table in here.”

  “Great,” I said, following him and not missing the fact that this man really looked great in jeans.

  I saw that he’d also set up another table, which held a coffeemaker and ... were those croissants?

  “Would you like some coffee and croissants while we talk?”

  Oh, yeah, definitely a man after my own heart. When it came to France, there were four things I could never resist—wine, coffee, chocolate, and croissants.

  “How nice,” I said. Not possessing an ounce of sh
yness, I proceeded to place the buttery, delectable crescent on a plate before pouring myself a cup of coffee.

  Lucas did the same and then joined me at the table.

  I took a bite of the heavenly roll, closed my eyes for a second to allow my palate to experience the exquisite pleasure, and oh, God! I think I actually moaned.

  Lucas laughed, and my eyes flew open as I felt my cheeks heating up. Cripe, I felt like I’d shared an intimate moment with him.

  Covering my embarrassment, I joined his laughter. “My God, that is so good! And I know you brought those back from France.”

  “I did.” His smile widened. “And I’m very pleased to see that you enjoy it so much.”

  He was referring to the croissants, right?

  “Oh, I do,” I said, and then took a sip of coffee. While I didn’t exhibit the same reaction that the croissants had caused, I nodded. “And the coffee is delicious too.”

  “Good. Well, what do you suggest we do with this empty room?”

  We? Silly me, but I really liked the sound of that.

  “Hmm,” I said, looking around. An instant vision came to me. “I think you want to create a cozy atmosphere. You know, a place that will not only beckon people to purchase coffee but cause them to want to stay awhile. Spend some time here socializing and feeling comfortable.”

  “Ah, much like your place was.”

  “Well, yes, I suppose so. But this is your place, so don’t let me take away whatever vision you might have.”

  “That’s just it. My area of expertise is running a bookshop. I can do that quite well, but a coffee café? I’m afraid this is where I’m relying on you.”

  Really? Well, be my guest to rely away.

  I took another bite of croissant and refrained from any further outburst while I gave my vision some more thought.

  “You have a great window and shelf over there,” I said, pointing to the front of the room. “It might be nice to set up a coffee display. Some brightly colors mugs, maybe a French press. Oh, will you also be serving tea?”

  “What do you think?”