Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Caitlin Lewis typed rapidly on her computer, her quick mind moving faster than her fingers. She was working on promotional material for her summer business, the Beyond the Sea Dinner Cruise. Everything had been going very well so far that year, but they were starting to feature smoothies on the dinner cruise, and she was writing up a plan for advertising that.
She’d had a lot of fun concocting the smoothies with her boyfriend Michael and her twin sister Alissa and brother-in-law Dane in the past few weeks. Pearl, Caitlin’s seven-year-old daughter, had been their official taste-tester.
Caitlin smiled to herself as she remembered Michael and Pearl giving each other a high-five over the success of a smoothie recipe that had been their idea. She loved how much her boyfriend got along with her daughter.
She’d moved to Blueberry Bay after her divorce, wanting to start over and be closer to Alissa, who had already moved there. Unexpectedly, she’d found love very quickly with the handsome surfer Michael, although she’d wanted to take things slowly at first because she’d been so recently divorced.
When her first marriage had ended, she’d never imagined herself marrying again, let alone being with a professional surfer. But as her relationship with Michael grew stronger and stronger, it became clear that they brought out the best in each other. She had found new hope with him.
She paused in her work and turned to gaze out the window of her office at the splashing waves of the ocean. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and her spirits were as balmy as the weather. She thought about someday marrying Michael, and her heart fluttered. The two of them had hinted a little at the possibility together, and although she’d wanted to take their relationship slowly at first, she was now feeling as though they might be ready for that next step.
Smiling to herself, she turned back to her work and finished it with a brisk efficiency. She was very different from the free-spirited, athletic Michael—she was an organized, practical woman who was used to focusing on details. They worked well together as a team, and sometimes she found herself reflecting on the fact that they would work very well together as parents.
“Mommy!”
She turned around, and her face lit up into a smile when she saw Pearl race across the room toward her.
“Hi, sweetheart!” she said, welcoming her daughter’s burrowing hug. “How was Little Clams?”
Michael, who had picked Pearl up from the school, beamed at her from the doorway. Caitlin gave him a grateful smile, her eyes lingering on his face. She reflected yet again on how handsome her boyfriend was—tall and muscular, with wavy long dark hair.
“It was amazing!” Pearl said, sitting down on her mother’s lap. “We did crafts! I made a little house out of paper. It’s a fairy house. It’s in the car. Just wait till you see it.”
Caitlin laughed, noticing that her daughter was lightly sprinkled in glitter.
“I can’t wait to see it! That sounds like a fun craft.”
“Miss Olivia taught it to us,” Pearl said, her eyes shining. “She’s the best teacher I’ve ever had. She’s so nice. And she has pretty curly hair, like me.”
“I’m so glad Miss Olivia moved here,” Caitlin said. “She’s very nice, you’re right.”
“I had the best day,” Pearl continued, hopping off her mother’s lap. “After class, Michael bought me an ice cream cone.”
Caitlin’s lips parted. She tried to give Michael a stern look, but she couldn’t quite manage it. He was grinning at her sheepishly.
“I know,” he said. “Sorry. No sugar before mealtimes. But she wanted to celebrate her fairy house, and you did say we could break that rule on special occasions.”
“Today is a very special occasion,” Pearl said gravely.
Caitlin laughed. It was clear that Pearl had Michael wrapped around her little finger, and her heart warmed to see again how well they had taken to one another.
Pearl scampered off to her room to begin playing with toys, and Michael crossed the room to give his girlfriend a hug.
“How did work go today?” he asked.
“Really well, I think,” she told him, holding his hands and leaning back to smile up into his eyes. “I think I’ve got this new marketing plan all figured out.”
“The smoothies were a great idea,” he told her, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “People are going to eat that up—literally.”
She groaned at his joke and stood up so she could speak with him face-to-face. “Thanks, sweetheart. I think it will have a fun tropical vibe that people will like.”
She stretched, feeling like she’d spent days sitting instead of hours. “Oh, I could use a break.”
“You’re going to get one,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “I’ve arranged for Marsha and Willis to babysit Pearl later tonight, so we can go out on a date.”
Warmth flooded her heart. “That was so thoughtful of you, Michael.” She gave him an eager hug. “I would love to go out with you later.”
He grinned at her. “I thought we could go out to the Ember and Oak Brasserie. I haven’t been there in a while.”
“Oh, neither have I. That sounds delicious.”
He took her hand as they went off looking for Pearl. She glanced at him, feeling like the luckiest woman in the world.
I feel so sure that nothing could ever disrupt our happiness, she thought. W e’re in love, and we’re a good team, and we only have eyes for each other. Nothing’s going to get in our way.
Alissa Taylor grinned at her husband. He was frowning in concentration at the recipe they were working on—steak, mushroom and onion pasties—and she found his serious expression darling. The room was already fragrant with the savory aroma of the mushrooms and onions sizzling in spices over the stove.
“Anything wrong, sweetheart?” she asked.
He glanced up and returned her smile. “Oh no, just concentrating. Why? Were you worried I found another problem with the house?”
She groaned, laughing. “Oh, please not another problem with the house.”
They’d moved into their dream house shortly after getting married, only to find that it was also a little bit of a nightmare. They’d had problems with leaking and flooding and things breaking—but ultimately they had learned how to fix a lot of things themselves, and had turned their bad luck into a new column for homeowners in The Outlet , the Blueberry Bay newspaper that they ran together. The ongoing column about house projects had turned out to be a great success, proving that making lemonade out of lemons was always the best option.
“Hey, this house has been behaving very well,” he said, chuckling. “I think we finally have it properly trained.”
She grinned. “Yes, I think you’re right.” She glanced around their kitchen, pleased by how cozy and homey it looked. “And you know, as stressful as all that was, I feel happier than ever with the house.”
“You do?”
She nodded. “I love it even more than I did at first, because now I feel a deep sense of ownership. It really feels like our house now, since you and I have fixed so many things and done a lot of the work ourselves. We’ve worked together as a team a lot in this house. I love that.”
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Right back at you, sweetheart.”
“You knew what you were doing, house,” she joked, pretending to talk to their home. “Thanks for the inspiration for one of our most popular columns.”
Her husband laughed, and they talked about both The Outlet and their magazine for a while, discussing what had gone well and brainstorming about what they could do better.
“We should spend a night reading other magazines together,” she said, adjusting her glasses on her face as she stirred the steak in a saucepan with a wooden spoon. “I bet that way we’d get a lot of good ideas for other things we could write about.”
“Steal?” he teased, sneaking a piece of steak.
She swatted at his hand but missed him. “Not steal! Just, you know—get ideas for what’s popular.”
He nodded, smirking, as he swallowed the piece of meat. “I know what you mean. It’s a good idea.”
“Thanks. How’s that sauce coming? Does it look right?” She peered down at the mushrooms and onions, and he stirred the mixture with a spoon.
“Hmm, I don’t know if it looks right,” he said. He lifted the spoon and touched her nose with it, leaving a small blob of sauce on the tip. “Yes. Yes, it does. It looks perfect.”
She threw her head back laughing and leaned into him for a kiss. He licked the sauce off her nose and then dipped her backward, kissing her lips.
At that moment his phone started to ring, and he lifted her back up and answered it, still grinning at her. “Hello?”
She went back to her cooking, unconcerned until she heard him say, “Oh no!” She turned around hurriedly and could tell from the worried look on his face that something was wrong. She lifted her eyebrows in concern. Had something happened to someone they knew?
“I’m so sorry, Mom,” he said. “That must be really painful.”
She bit her lip. Something had happened to Johanna, Dane’s mother?
Noticing his wife’s concern, he said, “Is it okay if I put you on speaker phone, Mom? Alissa looks worried.”
She must have said yes, because in the next moment, he put Johanna on speaker phone.
“Hi, Alissa,” Dane’s mother said through the phone. She sounded unhappy. “I’m okay, but I broke my leg.”
“Oh no!” Alissa cried sympathetically.
“I’m fine,” Johanna continued. “I went to the doctor already and got a cast on it. I’m learning to walk with crutches. It’ll all be okay, but I figured I should let my son know what happened to his mother.”
Dane nodded as his mother spoke, his eyebrows furrowed. He was clearly very worried, which was understandable because Johanna lived alone in New York City.
Without stopping to think about it much, Alissa found herself saying, “You should come stay with us while you’re recovering, Johanna.”
Her husband’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. She understood his look. When she’d first met Dane’s mother, things had been a little tense between them, and Johanna had been slow to approve of Alissa. They got along much better now than they did before, but they still weren’t close—probably just because they were too different to really bond over anything.
She nodded at him, reassuring him that she meant it. She knew that having Johanna come and stay with them would help her during her recovery, and that would ease his worries. Even though the idea of having her mother-in-law living with them made her a little nervous, she felt sure it was the right thing to do.
After a short pause, Johanna said, “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly inconvenience you like that. You two just got married. I know you want your space.”
“It’s a good suggestion, Mom,” he said. “We’d love to have you here. And you should have care while you’re recovering.”
“I don’t need care, I’m perfectly capable of handling this by myself.”
“Well, some company then. We’ve got this beautiful house right near the ocean. It’ll be a great place for you to get some rest while you’re healing.”
There was another pause, and the married couple looked at each other, wondering what Johanna was going to say.
“Well, all right. If you’re sure I wouldn’t be too much trouble.” She sounded relieved. “Taking care of myself has been hard.”
“Perfect,” her son said, reaching over to his wife and squeezing her shoulder gratefully. “Let’s figure out travel arrangements.”
He took Johanna off speaker phone, and the two of them continued to discuss how she would get to Blueberry Bay. As he talked to his mother, he gave Alissa a hug and a kiss on the temple.
She smiled at him, but inside her stomach was starting to slosh a little with nervousness. She knew that inviting Johanna to stay with them was the right thing to do, and she didn’t regret it, but she couldn’t help feeling a little anxious about the idea of strong-opinioned Johanna living with them for a while.