Between Us Girls

by Sally John

  He paced a little before he sat down again. “They said they would buy me out if my potential buyer—you, Jasmyn—did not say yes by January. I thought I had a gentlemen’s agreement with them. Young whippersnappers wouldn’t know one of those if it whacked them on the nose. My bad.” He folded his hands. “All right. Let’s plow through this and see where we end up.”

  They ended up with a temporary arrangement. He would keep things going financially until the first of the year.

  “I promised Ellie I’d be done mid-December, before Christmas, but we can manage this. Our house buyers want me out yesterday, so that gives us some leeway. I just do not want to be involved here except on paper. I’m outta here a week from tomorrow. I am not coming back. I do not—I repeat, do not—want daily phone calls. Got it?”

  They nodded for the umpteenth time.

  “You two use the next eight weeks as a trial run. You manage, I take a percentage. If you don’t love it, we’ll shut it down. Get a feel for what the new guys’ impact might be. Play with the numbers. I realize it’s long before they open for business, but once the word gets out about that, you’ll get a sense of the future. If it’s not a good one, we’ll shut it down and I’ll put the property up for sale.”

  Jasmyn said, “Sounds fair.”

  Quinn added, “Reasonable.”

  He smiled. “You two don’t have a clue.”

  They agreed with him.

  “We’ll put it in writing on Monday.” He shook their hands. “I have your backs, ladies. You do not have to go through with this.”

  His words, as always, comforted Jasmyn. It was the underlying tone of temporary that struck her, though, and not in a good way.

  She was eight months into the world of temporary and growing weary of it.

  Danno leaned sideways and looked over Jasmyn’s shoulder. “What in the name of Sam Hill is that?”

  She turned.

  Through the windows she saw a huge white horse gallop across the parking lot and come to an abrupt halt. His rider pulled the reins and turned him. They approached the windows. The rider leaned down to peer through the blinds.

  Jasmyn grinned. It was Andrew, Quinn’s long-absent boyfriend, recognizable by his black, horn-rimmed glasses. His black hair stuck out beneath an odd gray helmet that was topped with a patch of fake hair. The rest of him was very shiny, covered in—

  “Foil?” Quinn nearly shouted. “He’s wearing foil? Are those tin pie pans on his shoulders?”

  Danno chuckled. “It’s tough to find a good set of armor these days. Stores just don’t carry them anymore.”

  Tears pooled in her big blue eyes. “Is he…”

  “Oh, yes.” Jasmyn laughed. “He most definitely is.”

  Quinn raced across the dining room, grabbing her coat as she passed the rack, and hurried outdoors.

  Jasmyn wiped at her own tears. “Is it rude to watch?”

  “Are you kidding? The guy rode through town on a white horse. Who does that belong to, anyway?”

  Andrew grinned widely and offered Quinn an arm. She appeared, for once in her life, to be speechless. He pulled her up onto the horse behind him, and they trotted away, out onto the street.

  Jasmyn sighed. “I guess she was wrong about him losing interest in her.”

  “What was your first clue?”

  She smiled and met Danno’s gaze.

  He said, “So, what do you think?”

  “If she says yes, then I’ve lost my business partner. Andrew has all but moved back to Chicago. His work is there. They won’t stay here.”

  Danno reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “Happy and sad, huh?”

  She shrugged and nodded and cried. “It’s…” She unrolled a napkin, dumping the silverware from it, and buried her face in the thick paper. “It’s just too much to take in since the tornado.”

  “I know.”

  She blew her nose. “I’m sorry, Danno. You’ve had a horrific year. Mine is nothing—”

  “Let’s not compare. Life can be a real pain in the neck. We deal with it one day at a time.”

  “I could still take over the Pig—”

  “Hush. We’ll save that talk for later.”

  Silverware clanked as she took apart another place setting. She cried into the fresh napkin.

  Danno rubbed his bristly chin. “I suppose she’ll want the day off.”

  In spite of herself, she laughed. “I suppose.”

  “I suppose you’ll want your own knight-in-foil—I mean, shining armor.”

  The thought of Keagan flashed and fizzled. He was the Casa’s knight and a good friend to her, but the ache of homesickness quickly pushed aside romance. Her Valley Oaks family was disintegrating on the spot.

  “I’d rather have a home and a family.”

  They sat for a long time. Jasmyn’s imagination raced down one rabbit trail after another. There were no cozy bunny homes along the way, only black holes.

  Could she manage the Pig without Quinn? There was the staff to consider. They were good workers: two cooks, two other waitresses, some part-timers. Everyone was on edge, wondering what was going to happen when Danno left. Could she take care of everyone without Quinn’s help?

  Then there were the customers. The food. The state inspectors. The maintenance of everything, including the coming winter snow in the parking lot and—

  And where would she live?

  “Jasmyn.” Danno’s voice broke through her crazy thoughts. “You have a home and a family out West.”

  “Seaside Village? Valley Oaks is my home. I don’t fit in out there.”

  “Good golly, Jasmyn Albright!” He scowled. “You said the same thing about Valley Oaks. Get over yourself, already.”

  “I never said…” She never? Of course she had. As far back as she could remember—as far back as to four years old when she got the distinct impression that she was the reason her grandfather glared and snarled—she had believed she did not fit in. She had been saying it aloud for a long time.

  “Honey.” Danno’s voice became soft. “Once you make yourself fit in with yourself, then you’re okay anywhere. Get my drift?”

  “I guess so.”

  “My hope was that you would go away and learn how to be comfortable in your own skin. I think you got that. You came back all jazzed, ready to plug in here in a new way.”

  She nodded. It was true. Except for feeling homesick in her hometown, she had been all set to reinvent herself.

  “But I agree that you don’t quite fit in with this community, up to a point. Sure, people are getting over the sale of your land and seeing the benefits of it. And sure, your customers love you and will remain loyal as much as they can. And sure, the staff here supports you one hundred percent. But unless you have some close local friend hidden in the wings, I’m afraid that once Quinn and I leave, on some level you’ll be alone.”

  A friend in the wings? Nope. None that she knew of. Her stomach knotted.

  He went on. “The way I see it, you could move to Florida or Chicago or to Seaside Village to be near people who care for you.”

  Tears seeped out and she could not speak.

  “I like Sam a lot.” He paused. “I like Liv a lot.”

  “Liv?”

  “We talked. She called the other night.” He shook his head as if in disbelief. “She almost had me convinced to pull our potential deal right off the table then and there. But I don’t think that was her point.”

  “What was her point?”

  “To make sure I know that she loves you like a daughter. That if things did not work out here, there’s a whole bunch of people out there who hope you come back to stay.”

  Jasmyn yanked another napkin away from silverware and wiped her eyes.

  “I wasn’t convinced, though. A little bit of ego got in the way. I mean, I liked the idea of you stepping in here, keeping my legacy going. I believed you were ready. Partnered with Quinn, it was a winning plan. The dynamite duo would be unstoppable
.” He chuckled. “Then Andrew and that horse show up.”

  She stared at him. “Are we having that talk you were saving for later?”

  “Yeah, I guess we are. You don’t have to decide this moment. Give it ten minutes or so.”

  “You really think I can move to Seaside Village?”

  “Of course you can, Jasmyn. You’ve come a long, long way these past few months. You’re coming into your own. It won’t be an easy transition. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. The question is, do you want to move to Seaside Village?”

  Move to Seaside Village and away from owning a business that would consume her time and money? Away from living alone in some unfamiliar condo or whatever with no one around who cared if she came or went? Away from memories that lay around every corner, memories that were, for the most part, unpleasant?

  He spread his hands, as if offering her a gift, and smiled. “Why not?”

  She had no answer for that.

  Seventy-Nine

  Late Saturday night, Sam rolled her suitcase into her cottage, flipped on a lamp, stepped back outside, and shut the door. The first thing she wanted—even before doing email, even before stretching out full-length on her own bed—was to see Liv.

  Ew. That was a purely emotional response.

  But why should it surprise her? She should be getting used to purely emotional responses. Unearthing ancestral ties and seeing—basically—the hand of God bringing together two far-flung histories that resulted in Sam’s existence had seriously messed with her core being. And before all that—

  She shook her head. Before all that, she had been primed for it. Meeting bighearted, honey-voiced Jasmyn had been the beginning of the end of Samantha Whitley. Jasmyn was an industrial-strength version of Liv but didn’t know it.

  Jasmyn had taught Sam that she could be social and that people would actually accept that side of her. Such an image of herself made Sam squirm inside, and yet it also made her want to go for it, to find a life outside of work.

  That thought led directly to Beau.

  Which led to facing the fact that he already had a life, one that ruled out their paths crossing in a social way.

  Which led to the idea of moving from the Casa to someplace where their paths would never cross in any way.

  Which led to craving a hug from Liv.

  She paused now in the deserted courtyard and took a deep breath of salt air. Good grief. What did people do with such a clutter of emotions?

  Her phone rang and she pulled it from a pocket. Jasmyn’s name showed on the screen and a wave of calm flowed through Sam.

  “Hi.”

  “Quinn got engaged.”

  “You’re kidding. To the guy who dumped her?”

  “Evidently that was all in her head. He showed up on a white horse, and he was wrapped in foil. He took her to the baseball fields at the high school. They love baseball. He proposed on the pitcher’s mound and said he had to live in Chicago and he would buy them season passes to the Cubs if she said yes. She said yes. She’ll text you a picture of the diamond ring.”

  Sam laughed until the words sank in. “Wait. Chicago? She’s moving? Jasmyn! What does this mean for you and the Pig?”

  “Well.” Jasmyn sniffled and giggled at the same time. “Well. You know.” The sniffles won and she stopped talking.

  “I know?” What did she know? She knew that buying the restaurant was Jasmyn and Quinn’s future together, not separately. She knew that Jasmyn did not have a real home, nor did she even feel at home in her hometown. Now she didn’t have a job. Or a BFF. Or a surrogate dad in Danno.

  Sam’s breath caught. “Really? For real, Jasmyn? You’re coming here? You’re moving here?”

  “Is that crazy?” she whispered.

  “Crazy wonderful.” And then Sam started crying. She was a goner for sure now.

  Eighty

  Eavesdropping was like a reflex. Keagan did not intentionally engage in it. It just happened. In his past life, when information was everything, it had served him well.

  He had spotted Sam near her cottage and began to go over to greet her when her phone rang. He stopped beside a large bird-of-paradise, in its shadow. Reflex.

  Her voice carried—the fountain was off—and it became apparent she was talking to Jasmyn.

  “Really? For real, Jasmyn? You’re coming here? You’re moving here?”

  He heard the words, those precise words. Still, he would have questioned his understanding of the one-sided conversation if not for the fact that Liv had said Jasmyn would return to stay.

  Why did he ever doubt Liv’s intuition?

  He felt, for the first time in a very long time, hopeful.

  And maybe even a little bit happy.

  Eighty-One

  Every once in a while, like now, Liv sat in her recliner, completely incapacitated, overcome with…

  “With You, Lord. Just with You.”

  It was not always a significant, happy event that triggered the moment. Sometimes it was the sight of a dolphin swimming past the pier. Sometimes it was a memory of Syd. Sometimes it was deep sadness.

  But tonight it was most definitely a significant, happy event.

  Samantha had stopped in, thoroughly flustered. She smiled as tears poured from her eyes, turned down the small casserole Liv had prepared for her homecoming, and promised to tell her all about her trip tomorrow.

  Liv wondered who the stranger was and what she had done with Samantha.

  At the moment, Samantha said, it didn’t matter. Jasmyn was going to call any minute with news.

  Any minute proved to be unbearably long for Samantha. She spilled the beans. By the time Liv answered Jasmyn’s call, she too was in a tizzy. Many happy tears were shed.

  It was too soon for plans. Jasmyn had much to do before she could leave Valley Oaks.

  Liv smiled now, simply overcome…

  Eighty-Two

  Two weeks and four days after Jasmyn realized that her life in Valley Oaks was over, she arrived in San Diego in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

  Was she home?

  She stood on the curb at the busy pickup area outside the airport and shut her eyes. The familiar ocean air and the bone-warming sunshine engulfed her. Welcome home, Jasmyn Albright. Welcome home.

  It felt right, but butterflies still whipped around inside of her. The questions still bombarded.

  Was she making the right choice? Would she find a job? How would she find a job? Would she truly fit in at the Casa? In a big city?

  The past two weeks and four days had been a nonstop string of cleaning, packing, gatherings, and goodbyes.

  She and Quinn observed the eighth-month anniversary of the tornado with lattes in Rockville. They agreed that was enough commemorating and spent the rest of the day at bridal shops and choosing Quinn’s gown.

  She and Quinn threw a going-away party for Danno. It seemed that half the town stopped by to wish him and—surprisingly—Jasmyn good luck. He officially shut down the Pig and she hugged him goodbye beside his pickup truck the day he left for Florida.

  She helped Quinn pack, hugged her and Andrew goodbye beside a small U-Haul, and took comfort that she would see them in the spring for their wedding.

  She packed her own few things, stuck them in her car, and made arrangements for it to be shipped to California. It was expensive, but unlike her half sister Manda, she had no desire to drive cross-country by herself.

  There was no one left to hug goodbye except Quinn’s younger brother, who kindly drove her to the airport in Rockville.

  None of it had been easy. It had all been downright awful. She desperately needed a hello hug from Sam to remind her that the past was past. That today was a brand-new beginning full of unimagined possibilities.

  Amen.

  She blew out another anxious breath and opened her eyes.

  Keagan stood in front of her, smiling, his sunglasses on top of his head. The full-on impact of his peacock-blue gaze set off another batch of butterflies.
>
  “Hi.”

  “H-hi. Uh, Sam’s picking me up.”

  “Change of plans. I told her you and I have this airport thing going.” He paused. “And maybe something else.”

  Her breath caught. Sean Keagan cared for her? But— “You didn’t text or call.”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t want to confuse the process. I didn’t want you to come back here for me.”

  She thought of Danno’s comment about her having a knight. She remembered her response, that a family and a home were what she needed. “I truly did not.”

  His mouth twitched. “Not even a little?”

  She shrugged and tried not to smile.

  They stared at each other for a long moment, smiles fading as something else began to blossom.

  His hands were propped on his hips. He wore a dark gold T-shirt, one with the small logo on the front, and blue jeans. As always, the air shimmered around him. She felt safer than she had in her entire life.

  She took the first step toward him, into the strong arms she knew would enfold her.

  “Welcome home, Jasmyn,” he whispered in her ear. “You have been greatly missed.”

  Unlike Labor Day back in September, Jasmyn entered the Casa de Vida via the back gate with Keagan carrying her luggage. The courtyard, however, was once again decked out in festive mode, this time for Thanksgiving.

  She spotted long, cloth-covered tables with autumn floral centerpieces. Orange Japanese lanterns were draped here and there. Stacks of real plates, cloth napkins, and silverware—no plastic or paper in sight—waited on the serving table. Liv and others were setting things in order.

  During the ride from the airport, Keagan had filled her in on the Casa’s Thanksgiving tradition. Or, rather, Liv’s tradition. It was her day to welcome the street people to dinner.

  Liv saw them first and she shrieked. “Keagan! You were supposed to call!”

  Jasmyn hurried over to greet her with a hug.

  From that point on, things became almost chaotic. Jasmyn received a full quota of hugs and then some. The smiles and welcomes went on and on. Liv, Coco, Inez, Louis, Noah, Déja, Piper, Riley, Tasha, Chad, and Sam.