24. Chapter 24
The bakery is back and thriving to where it was before the flood. It took us about four months to find a good routine. I am full time at the inn, and the bakery has expanded to open a catering and meal prep side. We sell family sized ready to heat dinners. It’s a hit with everyone in Balsam Cliffs and the surrounding towns.
The inn is doing better than ever too. Cooper convinced his travel magazine to do a small town inn feature in every edition and of course Balsam Cliffs Inn was the first feature.
It skyrocketed bookings, and we are full most days. Poor Emma even had to move into the cabin Cooper is in until she finishes school because they needed the room. But she hasn’ t actually been coming home too much since the dance. I’m a little sad about that, and really miss my friend.
Liam sneaks into the kitchen from the office, where we have removed all but one camera that faces the safe.
“Good morning, Mrs. Keaton. I’ve missed you this morning.” He slides his arms around my waist and kisses my neck.
“I just saw you an hour ago where I left you to finish packing your suitcase.” I laugh at him.
“Don’t worry, I finished. And then I fixed your suitcase. You had far too many clothes.”
I spin to face him. “Tell me you did not!”
He shrugs with a boyish grin on his face. “Guess we’ll find out when we land in Hawaii.”
I narrow my eyes at him while making a mental note to check my suitcase first.
We got married last week in the Inn’s first micro-wedding with just the Keatons, Gran, Esther and Franklin. Liam built an arch for us out of driftwood to use overlooking the cliffs. We wrote our own vows and Liam’s sweet words brought tears to my eyes. It was so perfect, and everything I’ve ever wanted for a wedding, a small affair that would make my mother cringe. Thank god I haven’t spoken to her or Larry so she didn’t have to witness it.
It helps that Emma used the images from our wedding for the website to advertise and now we have six booked for the summer and it’s only been a week! She’s really elevating the inn to be a niche and boutique service that people are flocking to for relaxing vacations.
If Liam doesn’t rein her in, she’s going to take over that second barn and turn it into a full wedding venue .
Liam leaves me in the kitchen to head out to the barn while laughing at me.
Cooper has taken over helping with a lot of the chores around the inn so Liam can build furniture. Emma built a portion of the website to showcase the furniture. So people who visit can either place custom orders or buy what we have at the inn and he always has a backup on hand for the ones that sell. This side of the business has brought my husband so much joy.
And I can’t wait to spend a week with him in Hawaii for our honeymoon.
“What the heck are we doing, big bad wolf?” He’s had me blindfolded since the hotel room. I have no idea where we are.
“Just keep walking, beautiful. Only a few more steps.” He guides me with his hand on the small of my back. “I promise you’re going to love it.”
“I trust you.” Without my sense of sight, the smell that permeates the air is delicious. “Oh my God, what smells so damn good? Can we stop there after? I smell…” I sniff the air again. “Mango? No, guava?”
“Okay, stop.” He holds my shoulders. Dragging his fingers up my bare arms and into my hair, he pulls the tie loose on the blindfold.
Taking in the area, we are at the beach surrounded by food trucks, and a pig roast. Not the surprise I was looking for, but I’m going to give it a chance .
“I know this is absolutely not what you were expecting, but hear me out…” He points to the pig. “Before we got married, we talked about having a –”
“A Hawaiian Luau!” I shout.
When we booked our honeymoon I got a little obsessed with the party vibe of a luau. I want to host one at the inn in the summer but I don’t have a clue what they look like, and so my practical and romantic in his own way husband took me to one.
I pull him to me, squeezing him. “I love it! Thank you so much!”
“I know you wanted to get firsthand knowledge, and I know how much you love researching your themed foods.”
“And I just love food.” I giggle, pulling him toward all the trucks to look at their menus.
Following the heavenly scent I discovered before the blindfold was removed, I find a malasada truck.
Standing in front of the truck I read the sign telling us that a malasada is a Portuguese donut. Then I see the flavors: mango, guava, strawberry, pineapple, custard, or original.
“I want them all.” I practically salivate at the list.
“Good thing your husband came prepared.” He pulls out his wallet and we step up to order.
“Aloha. What can we get you?”
“Hi, my wife here would like one of everything.”
The worker grabs a box, and starts walking around filling it.
I spin to face him. “You called me your wife.”
He smiles down at me, dropping a kiss on my forehead. “You are my wife. I’ll never get tired of saying it.”
“And I’ll never get tired of hearing it from my husband. ”
“Here you go!” The cheery worker hands me the box and Liam hands her money.
We walk over to a picnic table that’s set up on the beach. Opening the box, I inhale the heavenly scent.
“You’re doing the happy dance when the ideas are racing through your head.” He grabs the strawberry malasada and takes his half in one bite. “Shit, that’s good.”
I grab the guava one and take a significantly smaller bite. Moans escape me. “Yeah, we’re for sure having a luau. I need to learn how to make these. Think they’ll teach me?”
“I thought you might ask that. So I set up a cooking class tomorrow with a few of the chefs.”
“Seriously?” He nods and I launch myself out of my seat landing on Liam. “You are the best husband ever!” I pepper his face with kisses.
“You want to show me your appreciation in a little while?” He winks.
“I’ll show you a whole lot of appreciation…after we eat our way through this park.”
My mind is spinning with ideas, and I can’t wait to implement them at the inn with Emma and Liam.
I can’t wait to see what the rest of our lives have in store for us.