Chapter Three
S adie always slept like a log after a full beach day and I wasn’t much better. By the time I rolled out of bed on Monday morning, full sunlight was already streaming in through the blinds. I rubbed my eyes, staggering into the kitchen on the prowl for caffeine.
I found a note next to a full thermos on the counter and made a face at it. My uncle and mother were out on a bike ride and would be back around lunchtime.
They’d both always been early risers, but they were retired now for crying out loud.
“Getting up early to do physical activity while on vacation should be a crime,” I grumbled while pouring hot coffee into a mug before adding cream and a sugar cube.
Ten minutes and half a cup later, I started to feel human again. I glanced at the clock and cringed; it was almost 9:30 already .
Waking Sadie up wouldn’t be pretty, so I knew it was a perfect day to use my secret weapon.
I dressed first, letting my hair down since it had a pretty beach wave to it.
I crept into the next bedroom and watched my daughter sleep, fully aware her sweet, peaceful little face was about to turn into a mad little tiger.
I started rubbing her tummy gently like any other time I wanted to wake her up slowly. “Time to rise and shine, Sadie Bug.”
She gradually opened her eyes and focused on me after a few sleepy blinks. The next moment her face turned cranky as she rolled over, pulling the blanket over her head. “No!” she moaned loudly from under the bedding. “No, no, no, noooooooooo, no!”
“Alright, alright,” I said as if surrendering and headed to the door. “I guess we won’t go to the cafe today after all,” I feigned disappointment and waited.
It only took a few seconds for the blanket to go flying. Sadie scurried off the bed and over to the closet, already pulling her nightgown over her head. Once untangled she looked at me with exasperation. “Momma! What are you waiting for? We got to move, move, move!”
“Okay, okay, okay!” I matched her energy as I went to pull out clothes for her.
We walked the few blocks to our favorite place in town to eat and my eyes narrowed with concern as we approached the cafe.
The building, always a light tan with red trim, had been given a fresh paint job. The exterior was now a crisp white and the trim a blue that reminded me of the sky on a stormy day.
The sign hanging over the entrance was new and shaped like a surfboard. The name was the same, but now The Beach Brew was printed in a fancy script. There were artsy images of a cappuccino with a foam palm tree on its surface on one side and a doughnut with chocolate frosting covered in colorful sprinkles on the other.
Sadie hadn’t been as observant, chattering the whole walk over, but she stopped abruptly as I reached for the door handle.
“Uh, wait, what happened?” she puzzled, her nose scrunched up with distaste as she looked up at the sign.
“I’m not sure, Bug. Let’s go in and find out.”
Sadie crossed her arms over her chest and stomped through the doorway.
The interior had gone through a complete renovation. The counter still had the classic open window into the kitchen behind it and was full of new chrome appliances. The old scratched-up laminate countertop that had been fading to a yellow shade for years was gone. The new one was mostly blue with white running through it and the surface had a sheen to it that that I imagined would be cool to the touch.
The walls were painted the same blue as the exterior trim and were covered with large beach-themed photographs in white frames that looked like they were from the fifties or sixties. There were images of palm trees, waves, colorful beach umbrellas, and people in old-fashioned bathing suits and bikinis posing in the sand or water. There was one of an old drop-top car with surfboards sticking out the back hanging above our favorite booth.
Sadie eyed the new decor with a look of comical disgust until she spotted the waitress taking an order at a table by the far windows. Her face lit up as she started waving her arms and jumping up and down. “Miss Cora!”
Cora looked up from writing on her pad and her mouth, painted its usual red, spread in a smile when she saw us.
I grabbed Sadie’s waving arms and gave Cora an apologetic wince, but she just waved her hand toward our usual table.
Sadie skipped over and jumped into her side of the booth as I slid into mine. The seats had been redone as well. They were white and lines of that cloudy blue ran down them vertically, broken up every few inches with small, red surfboards in the pattern.
I touched the table which was the same material as the counter. Seeing it up close, I realized the white portions along its surface were designed to look like frothy waves. I was looking down at a beautiful blue ocean. “Clever,” I observed before returning my attention to Sadie .
Her elbows were on the table, her cheeks propped between two angry-looking little fists and her big hazel eyes glared around at all the changes. “What was Mr. Shapiro thinking?” she whined. “This is a trabesty!”
“I think you mean travesty.”
“That too!”
I didn’t completely disagree with my daughter’s dramatics. The new theme was well done, but I was sad to see this place had been changed so much. I’d been coming here with my family since I was Sadie’s age.
Through the years, the Shapiros made updates as needed, but in all that time, the cafe’s look and feel had barely ever been altered. It always reminded me of a diner you would see in an older movie —archaic and outdated— giving off that old-time-y vibe you felt while watching a classic like Pulp Fiction or Dick Tracy.
“How are my favorite ladies?” Cora asked as she danced up to the table.
Still pouting, Sadie’s bottom lip was on full display. “I’m sad.”
“What’s the matter, Princess?”
“Sadie is just surprised by the changes the Shapiros have made. It was a bit unexpected, for both of us,” I admitted.
Cora’s face fell and she glanced at Sadie again before giving me a clear look.
I took the cue. “Can you please grab a menu from the counter, Bug?”
Sadie dragged herself from the booth, arms firmly crossed over her chest again.
When the little girl walked far enough away, Cora spoke low. “Oh, honey, Mr. Shapiro passed away in August. Mrs. Shapiro sold the cafe and moved to Miami to be near her grandbabies.”
“Oh no,” I murmured.
I thought of the kind man who had run this place with his wife for over 40 years. I had many fond memories of Mr. Shapiro chatting with my family while we sat in this very booth. Well, this booth back when it had been brown and the vinyl was peeling.
“The new owner decided the place needed a facelift. It hasn’t scared away most of the regulars. It even gets more of the younger crowd and vacationers coming in now,” Cora shared in a more upbeat tone. “It’s different, but seems to be helping boost business.”
Sadie climbed back into the booth with a menu and started studying it. I could see it had been redone as well.
“Has uh, the food changed also?” I asked, nervous to hear the answer.
“A few things.” Cora gave Sadie a knowing look while tapping a red fingernail on the bakery section of the laminated sheet. “But not the super important ones.”
Sadie read the line Cora pointed to and beamed. “Momma! They still have them!”
Oh, thank goodness. I would have been completely bummed but not devastated like my daughter if they no longer served our favorite pastry.
“In that case, we’ll have two orange cranberry scones as usual, please. I’ll take a coffee with cream. Sadie will have apple—”
My daughter was giving me puppy dog eyes so I sighed and shook my head in amused surrender. “And Sadie will have chocolate milk.”
The little girl did a victory shimmy in her seat as Cora gave her a wink before turning toward the kitchen.
“I’ll get that out for you in a few.” Cora glanced back at me. “By the way, looking good, Madison.”
I gave her an awkward smile for the kind comment.
“When you come back, be thinking of two numbers,” Sadie called after her. “Wait until you see what I can do!”
Wednesday afternoon, I was on my way down to the beach with Sadie, a chair strap over one shoulder and my hands full with a packed beach bag and a small cooler.
We were heading out of the walkway toward the pool just as Logan was coming around the corner to go in the opposite direction to the front of the building.
I stopped in my tracks before we could collide, but the weight of everything in my arms set me off balance and I started to fall to the side. Logan grabbed my arm to pull me back upright before I could topple over.
“Oh! Thank you.”
I looked down as he stepped back. My arm tingled where his fingers had made contact. I was intensely aware it was the first time we’d ever touched and was trying to make sure my face looked chill while my stomach did somersaults.
“Logan!” Sadie exclaimed. “Math me!”
When I looked back up, his eyes were on me, probably making sure I wasn’t clumsy enough to fall again. When Logan seemed satisfied I would remain upright, he shifted his gaze to Sadie and his mouth softened into a smile that made me want to melt. I would probably be a puddle if he ever directed one at me.
He pretended to think hard for a second and quirked an eyebrow at her. “Ten times seven?”
Sadie’s bearing turned bored. “You call that a challenge?” She let out a loud sigh and then answered in a tone fit for a queen. “70.”
Logan laughed. I’d never heard the rich sound before and my ears buzzed with pleasure.
“I’ll try harder next time,” he promised her.
“Wanna come build a sand dragon?” Sadie asked, holding up her sand toys.
Logan’s brow furrowed thoughtfully, then he looked down at his watch. “Sorry, kiddo. I have to be somewhere soon. Maybe another day, okay?”
Sadie lowered her head and slumped her shoulders. “Okay… bye.” She dragged her feet as she continued to the pool deck where we had access to the boardwalk for the beach.
Logan watched her dramatic exit with amusement. “That is the second time she’s asked me to play in the sand with her this week.” He seemed to be talking more to himself than me as his eyes clouded with what looked like real regret. “I hate not being able to say yes.”
I was surprised he mentioned her asking another time. I hadn’t seen Logan since Saturday when we arrived in town.
“She was down with your mother on Monday at the pool and asked if I wanted to make an octopus with her. After she told me eight times eight is 64 of course.”
I smiled but then gave Logan an apologetic grimace. “I’m sorry if Sadie is bothering you. She’s a little annoyed with me for taking up more of my uncle’s time this trip than usual. He’s so great with her, but she seems to be more aware of what is missing, starting to ask questions about her dad now that she’s old enough to realize he isn’t around. Something I have been dread—”
I pressed my lips together in embarrassment then cleared my throat.
“I’m sorry. You didn’t want to hear that mini-mom rant. I’ll talk to her about leaving you alone when you’re trying to work.”
Logan looked at me in silence and I grew unnerved by the direct scrutiny again, not used to having his beautiful eyes on me for so long .
He shook his head. “Sadie isn’t a bother. I would love to make that dragon with her if I didn’t have a prior commitment. Tell you what… if you’re free on Friday, I can be on the beach at 4:30 to make something with her.”
I was taken aback. Logan had always been kind to my girls. He would chat with them and ask about school, but he’d never offered to spend time doing something with one of them.
I thought through if there was a valid reason to turn him down. He seemed sincere in wanting to make Sadie happy, and selfishly, I realized it meant I’d get to spend more time in the presence of the Golden God myself.
“Okay!” I tried not to sound excited with epic failure. “It’s a date.” I quickly shook my head. “Err, play date, a sand date!” Mentally slapping myself, I shifted the chair strap on my shoulder and started to make a hasty exit before I said something even more moronic. “I better catch up with her or she might swim a mile out before I can stop her.”
“See you Friday then,” he confirmed.
When I reached the pool deck, I glanced over my shoulder and felt a jolt.
Logan was still standing in the same spot, looking right at me. As our eyes met, he abruptly turned to walk away.