Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
M aggie felt as though she was constantly living in a state of anticipation, and knew she needed to focus her energy on the things that brought her joy. She longed to feel something other than fear—she wanted to laugh, sing, feel light on her feet, and soak in the beauty surrounding her. Cancer had no place in her world, and she resolved not to give it one more minute of her life than absolutely necessary.
She sat on the back porch swing and dialed Claire Wright’s number.
“Maggie, how nice to hear from you. Looks like we have another beautiful day on Captiva Island.”
“Hi Claire, yes, you’re right about that. I know you work from home. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
“Not at all. As it happens, I’m not working today. I’m off until after the holidays. I assume you want to talk about the book club?”
“Yes, well, not completely. I wondered if you’d like to take a few hours to join me on the beach today. We can talk about the book club, but I wanted to talk to you about something else, and figured, why not enjoy some downtime before my family descends upon Captiva?”
“I’d love to. If you can believe it, ever since I took a break from work, I haven’t had a minute to enjoy the beach. What time and what can I bring to eat or drink?”
“You don’t have to bring anything. We’ve got plenty here at the inn. I’ll invite Chelsea and Ciara to join us if that’s all right with you?”
“Of course. How does ten o’clock sound?”
“That works for me,” Maggie answered. “Come to the inn and we’ll walk down together.”
It was a last minute decision to spend the day enjoying the sun and sand, but it was also a chance for her and Ciara to set things in motion for Katie and Luke. In Maggie’s mind, there was nothing more joyful than match-making—that was, when it worked out.
As soon as she hung up the phone, she was about to call Chelsea when she suddenly appeared at the foot of the stairs.
“How is it that you always know when I need to talk to you?”
Chelsea laughed and climbed up the stairs to join her on the porch. “It means we’re spending too much time together. We can read each other’s minds.”
“Either that, or you’re here for your morning coffee and scone, which is somewhat of a problem because I didn’t make any.”
Chelsea put her hands on her hips. “You mean you didn’t have time between running to the hospital, coordinating a book club Christmas gathering, and planning for the arrival of the largest group of family members ever to hit the island of Captiva? Maggie, I’m shocked! Tell me you at least have coffee?”
Maggie laughed. “I do, and Oliver made delicious French toast for us this morning.”
Chelsea shook her head. “Too much for me. I’ll just get a coffee. Speaking of which, I still haven’t met the new chef. Don’t you think it’s time you introduced us?”
“Oh, my heavens, I can’t believe I didn’t warn…I mean, tell Oliver about you,” Maggie teased.
“Very funny,” Chelsea said as she made way for Maggie to walk in front of her.
“Oliver! I have to introduce you to my best friend, Chelsea Marsden. Chelsea, meet our new chef, Oliver Laurier.”
Oliver wiped his hands on the dish towel and extended one to Chelsea. “Very glad to meet you, Chelsea. I feel like we’ve already met with how much I’ve already heard about you.”
Chelsea glared at Maggie. “I have no doubt all of it was horrible. Don’t believe a word they tell you around here, Oliver. If you want the truth, I’ll give you my cellphone and we can talk later.”
Iris and Oliver laughed.
“Can I get you something to eat or drink?” Oliver asked Chelsea.
“No, thanks. I’ll help myself to a coffee. You’ll have to get used to that. I pretty much make myself at home when I’m here.”
Oliver raced to the cabinet to get Chelsea a coffee mug and handed it to her. “Here you go,” he said.
Chelsea turned to Maggie and smiled. “I like him.”
Maggie rolled her eyes and started back to the porch. “I’m calling Ciara, come back outside when you’re ready, because I’ve got to bring you up to speed on Luke Powell’s love life.”
“This I’ve got to hear,” Chelsea said as she poured her coffee.
Maggie dialed Ciara’s number and reached Ciara.
“Hey Maggie, do you have news about Katie?”
“Not yet, but I’ve invited Claire and I’m about to invite Chelsea to join me at the beach. I thought it would be great if you were there too. If Katie has a boyfriend or her mother thinks it’s a bad idea, we need to know that before you approach Luke.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me. You won’t believe what I did.”
“What?”
“I sort of stole the invitation.”
“Are you kidding? He must be frantic looking for it.”
“Not that I can see, at least not yet. I thought it would buy me a few days. I didn’t want him to RSVP before we had a chance at this match-making thing.”
Maggie laughed. “Oh Ciara, you are too much. Okay, well, the damage is done. Let’s just spend the day on the beach having fun and see if we can move this thing along. Can you be here at ten?”
“I’ll be there.”
As Maggie ended her call, Chelsea returned to the porch with her cup of coffee.
“Oliver seems like a nice guy. He’s incredibly handsome on top of that. If I spent most of the day in the kitchen with him, I’d be distracted.”
Maggie nodded. “He is a lovely man.”
“How’s he getting on…with everything he told you about his past, I mean. Does he…struggle at all?”
Maggie shook her head. “Not that is visible to anyone who doesn’t know about his family tragedy, and for now, I believe that’s how he wants to keep things. I don’t blame him. Everyone grieves in their own way.”
Chelsea nodded. “So, did I hear something about having fun? I want to have fun,” Chelsea said.
“Well, have a seat, because the fun is about to begin,” Maggie said.
Maggie explained everything that had been going on between Luke, Meredith and the wedding invitation. She’d hoped Chelsea would be just as excited about Ciara and Maggie’s match-making plans for Luke and Katie, but that wasn’t how Chelsea responded.
“Are you and Ciara in high school? What could you be thinking?” Chelsea asked.
“What’s wrong with a little push? We’re not forcing them to like each other. We’re just going to set the stage for the two of them to be in the same room together. We’ll let nature take its course.”
Chelsea shook her head.
“I think it’s a dumb idea, and I also think that women our age need to mind our own business. The young kids don’t need help from us. Besides, isn’t this the very thing we admonish Linda for? I don’t like the label of busy-body old lady.”
Maggie sighed. “Fine. You don’t have to participate. Claire, Ciara and I will have a nice day on the beach, and you can stay home and be your grumpy, non-romantic self. I hope Steven knows what he’s getting into because you’re no fun.”
Chelsea quietly sipped her coffee and then added, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t go to the beach with you all, but someone needs to be the voice of reason. This has disaster written all over it, and I’ll be the first to say I told you so when it falls apart.”
Maggie chuckled. “That’s you all over…the voice of reason.”
By ten o’clock, Chelsea, Ciara, Claire and Maggie were settled on the beach, a tray of sweet teas resting on the table beside them.
“Oliver is amazing. He’s always thinking of new ways to pamper our guests, even when we don’t have any,” Maggie said with a smile. “Which means we get treated like guests instead.”
“Lucky us,” Claire said as she sipped her tea. “Maggie, I can’t thank you enough for inviting me. I needed this today.”
“You’re welcome, but I feel terrible for not thinking of inviting Kristin to join us.”
Claire shook her head. “Don’t, she’s very busy in the store. I tried to get her to go out to lunch with me yesterday, and she said she was so swamped with Christmas orders, she wouldn’t be able to sleep until after the holidays.”
“It’s not necessarily a bad problem to have. I’m glad the shop is a success,” Chelsea added.
Maggie didn’t waste any time getting to her reason for the beach visit.
“Claire, as I mentioned on the phone, I had a few things I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Oh, right, I hope everything is all right,” Claire responded.
“Everything is great, it’s just that I had a visit with my mother the other day, and she suggested the book club have a quick get-together before Christmas…nothing big, just a meet and greet kind of thing to make sure we all have the book and are on the same page, so to speak.”
Claire nodded. “I think that’s a wonderful idea, except my house is upside down right now.”
“Not to worry, I’ll host it.”
Maggie was just as busy as any of them, but she needed to be. Regardless of the news from Dr. Renolt, she was prepared to work around the clock to prepare for Christmas if necessary.
“Really? That would be great,” Claire said.
“How many members do we have thus far?” Ciara asked.
“Well, there’s the four of us, Maggie’s mother, Millie, Iris, Kristin, Katie and Sarah. Jacqui Hutchins said she was too busy, and Linda St. James is mad at me, so I’m not sure what to think about her.”
“I thought Linda was away until after Christmas.” Chelsea said.
Claire nodded. “She is, but I called her to let her know about the book club, and she was very snippy with me. I’m not sure what I did to upset her. She seemed pleasant at Thanksgiving.”
Maggie looked at Chelsea and sighed. “You did nothing wrong, Claire. Linda is likely upset because she’s been trying to get a book club going for a long time, and we’ve all been avoiding her.”
“We pretty much told her in no uncertain terms that we weren’t interested,” Chelsea said.
“So, you see, Claire, this isn’t about you as much as it is about her being mad at the rest of us. She’ll get over it…she always does.”
“Eventually,” Ciara added.
Maggie counted. “So, there’s ten of us, unless Linda joins, then we’ll have eleven. I think that’s a nice number…not too big. How does two o’clock this Sunday afternoon sound? My son, Christopher, and his wife, Becca, will be here Sunday night, so that should work. I’ll talk to Oliver and Iris about putting together a menu. I was going to do that anyway for Chris and Becca, now we’ll have to make a little more.”
“Sounds like fun,” Claire said.
Ciara looked at Maggie, encouraging her to bring up the matter of Luke and Katie.
“Claire, I wondered about your daughter, Katie. Not that I’ve seen her often, but when I do, I notice she’s usually alone. Is she dating anyone?” Maggie asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.
Claire waved her hand in the air and shook her head. “Don’t get me started on Katie’s dating life. The way things are going, I don’t think I’ll ever be a grandmother.”
“Does that mean she’s seeing someone or that she and her significant other aren’t in a hurry to marry?” Ciara asked.
“Ha! I wish there was a significant other, at least then there’d be a chance for a wedding. I love my daughter, but sometimes I wonder if she’s too difficult to keep a guy interested. She’s had a few boyfriends, but she’s never been serious with any of them. Her reasoning is that her work comes first, and she has little time for romance.”
“That sounds like my stepson, Luke. The only difference is he had a girlfriend, but he was always too busy to give her the attention he should have. It caught up to him, and now he’s alone.”
Claire nodded. “I hear you. It sounds like those two are cut from the same cloth. Don’t expect any wedding for him anytime soon,” Claire teased.
“I’m not going to lie to you, Claire. Other than enjoying this beautiful day with you, I wanted to talk about the possibility of Luke and Katie possibly getting together. Ciara thinks it’s a good idea, but my best friend Chelsea here thinks we’re crazy.”
Claire laughed until she realized Maggie was serious. “You’re serious? You want to play match-maker to Luke and Katie?”
“Tell them they’re nuts,” Chelsea directed Claire.
Claire shook her head. “They’re not crazy, and I have no doubt your stepson is a lovely boy, but…well, I don’t see how you’ll pull this off.”
Maggie smiled and leaned in. “You mean, how we’ll pull it off? I doubt we’d be able to accomplish this without your help. You know your daughter better than anyone, and we know Luke. If the two of them continue to keep their minds and hearts only focused on their careers, they’ll stay single forever.”
“Okay, I’m in, but you’ll need to fill me in on what the plan is, and what you want me to do,” Claire said.
Maggie smiled and looked at Chelsea, who, by this time, appeared to have completely given up trying to stop her.
“What did you call me? Crazy? Nuts? Sit back and watch how it’s done, Chelsea Marsden, then we’ll see who’s crazy.”