Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Oh, I can’t wait to taste this.” Julia grinned at Hazel, who stood beside her in line at Seaside Sweets Bakery. They’d met there to get bear claws, a pastry that had been a favorite of theirs during high school. Julia felt as enchanted by the cozy, sweet-smelling bakery as ever, and she couldn’t believe how little it had changed since the last time she’d been there.
“Same. I’m lucky though—I get to come here and buy some whenever I want.” Hazel elbowed Julia playfully in the arm, and Julia laughed.
“You’ve got me there. I’ve gotten some bear claws in New York, but they’ve never been as good as the ones here.”
“Rosewood Beach is the best place on earth, I’m telling you.” Hazel winked.
They stepped up to the counter and ordered their bear claws. Once they had them, wrapped in wax paper and tucked inside white paper bags, they strolled across the street to the grassy area in the town square. There was a cozy white gazebo there, and they made a beeline toward it. They sat together on one of the benches inside the gazebo, munching on their pastries and enjoying the feeling of the warm spring breeze.
“So...” Hazel drew out the word. “Tell me all about how your date with Cooper went.”
“Well, you know about the first part! Honestly, I think you’re setting a terrible example for Samantha, teaching her to eavesdrop like that,” Julia teased her sister, referring to the way Hazel and Samantha had been spying on her and Cooper from behind the couch.
Hazel put on an expression of innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. So. How was it having Macey along?”
Julia laughed. “It was really fun, actually. I mean, I am looking forward to spending time with him with just the two of us?—”
“Oh, so there’s a second date coming up, huh?”
“Shush and let me tell the story, will you?”
Hazel pretended to zip her lips but continued to smile.
Julia laughed again. “I was expecting to feel awkward around Macey, or not know how to handle helping take care of a kid. But everything went much better than I expected. I helped clean off her sticky fingers after we got ice cream, and then she gave me a flower. It was the sweetest thing.”
“Oh!” cooed Hazel. “That’s adorable.”
“It really was. We had a great time together. She’s such a cutie, and he’s—well, he’s very nice.” She felt as though she might be blushing a little.
“Yeah?” Hazel asked slyly.
Julia cleared her throat. “So what about Jacob? He came over the other day to fix your fuse box, right?”
The second Julia mentioned Jacob’s name, Hazel turned bright pink. “Yes, he did.”
“Mmhmm?” Julia couldn’t help acting a little gleeful. “Did you get a chance to talk with him while he was there?”
“Yeah—I—well, we talked a little. I brought him some lemonade while he was working. As a thank-you. Just to be nice.”
“Girl.” Julia shook her head, laughing. “Stop being embarrassed about the fact that you like him. You’re going to need to be a lot more obvious than lemonade if you want to encourage his attention.”
“But I’m not trying to encourage anything,” Hazel protested, turning an even deeper shade of pink. “At least, not right now. I just don’t have the headspace for it, you know? Not with everything else going on. Mom’s in so much distress over the whole gambling secret, and Alexis seems to be having a really hard time as well.”
“I know what you mean.” Julia sighed. “I don’t really feel as though I have much of a bandwidth for my personal life either—well, that is until Cooper texts me or is talking to me, and then I can’t seem to think about anything else.”
Hazel grinned gleefully at her, and Julia winced as she laughed, wishing she hadn’t confessed so much to her sister, who was bound to tease her about it.
“I guess that’s even more motivation to get this whole Judd McCormick nonsense resolved,” Hazel said. She took a bite out of her bear claw and munched on it thoughtfully. “I mean honestly, who does that guy think he is? Why is he so dang set on building a brewery right where our pub is?”
Julia shook her head. “He thinks he’s someone important, that’s for sure. But I have no idea why he’s so determined. And I think he’s wrong about the location being what makes our pub so popular. It’s popular because it’s a great restaurant. Mom and Dad built that reputation with hard work. That’s not something he can buy.”
“So true!” Hazel nodded emphatically. “And I don’t know why he thinks that having a brewery take the place of the pub would really fly in Rosewood. People love The Lighthouse Grill, and they’re going to be upset if it closes.”
Julia’s lips parted and she stared into space for a few heartbeats. She’d suddenly been struck by an idea, and she wanted to turn it over in her mind a few times before voicing it to her sister.
“What?” Hazel asked curiously, noticing Julia’s expression.
“I just had an idea.” Julia turned toward her sister, excitement blooming across her face. “What if we took a look around the existing branch of the brewery? Maybe that would give us a chance to see what all of the fuss is about.”
Hazel’s eyes widened. “I… yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” She grinned. “When should we go?”
“From what I’ve heard, they have multiple tours every day. How about we go right now?”
“Right now?” Hazel echoed in surprise. “But I have to get back to work soon.”
“Oh, come on!” Julia tugged on her hand. “They won’t even know you’re gone.”
Hazel wrinkled her nose. “Julia. I’m an administrative assistant at the doctor’s office, they’re definitely going to know if I’m gone. But…” She glanced at her watch, biting her lip. “I do still have some time. If we’re quick, I can pull it off.”
“That’s the spirit!” Julia grinned, standing up and pulling Hazel to her feet. “Let’s go to this brewery and check it out. Maybe then we’ll have a better sense of what this is all about.”
They hurried to Julia’s car and climbed inside. The brewery was only a short drive from the town square, and they squinted at it in the afternoon sunlight as they approached.
“Mm. Pretty ugly.” Hazel gazed up at the big cement building with raised eyebrows. “No wonder he wants our property.”
Julia laughed as she parked. “Look, that sign says there’s a tour starting right now. Perfect.”
They hopped out of the car and made their way toward the entrance to the brewery.
“What if Judd is in here?” Hazel whispered as they slipped inside the front door. “We don’t exactly want him to know we’re spying on him.”
“Hmm, very true. Here. I’ll pull up the hood of my jacket, and you pull up the hood of your hoodie. That’ll keep our faces fairly hidden.”
“I feel like a spy.” Hazel laughed as she tugged up the hood of her comfortable light blue sweatshirt.
“We’ll just have to do our best to blend in with the crowd and look inconspicuous.”
The brewery was cool and echoed slightly. They slipped up to the back of the tour, which was just starting at the entrance to a long hallway. Julia peered around curiously, wondering if Judd was anywhere in sight. Then she realized with a jolt that Judd was the man leading the tour. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise—although she wasn’t surprised by the extremely puffed-up attitude he clearly had about the brewery.
“Judd,” she mouthed at Hazel, pointing toward the front of the tour.
Hazel nodded, mouthing back, “Ew.”
Julia had to repress a giggle. They continued to follow the tour, staying at the back of the crowd, and gazing around the brewery with interest. They passed large silver vats as they walked, and the air was filled with a yeasty smell.
“No wonder they want our place if theirs smells like this,” Hazel whispered, amusement in her tone.
“And it’s so sparsely decorated,” Julia whispered back. “White walls. All modern and without any kind of personality.”
“If they take our spot by the ocean, they’re going to have to make it another sit-down place. They’ll have to serve food there, and I don’t think they’re up for that.”
“I hope they don’t think our chefs would be willing to work for them.” Julia grinned. “We have the best chefs in town, but they would never agree to work for the enemy.”
Both of them couldn’t help giggling a little, but at that moment, Julia caught Judd frowning at them curiously, as if he was starting to recognize them. She froze, but in the next moment a tourist raised her hand with a question, unknowingly saving the day.
Julia glanced at Hazel and saw that she had also noticed Judd watching them.
“We should go,” Hazel mouthed at her, and Julia nodded. She agreed that they should make themselves scarce before they could be fully detected—or worse, questioned by Judd.
They slipped out of the brewery and scampered across the parking lot to Julia’s car.
“Well, all we really learned was that that place smells bad and it’s boring,” Hazel said, leaning back in her seat and laughing as Julia drove her car out of the parking lot.
“Yeah, but I’m glad we did it. It was an adventure.” Julia grinned at her.
“So true. And I’m glad we left when we did, because I should be getting back to work anyway—oh, shoot! I left my water bottle in the gazebo. At least I think I did. Can you drop me off there? My car’s right by there anyway.”
“Of course! I’ll come with you and help you look.”
A few minutes later, Julia parked her car along the edge of the town square and she and Hazel got out and hurried toward the gazebo. They immediately found Hazel’s lime green water bottle, sitting next to the bench that they’d eaten their bear claw on.
“Perfect.” Hazel scooped it up. “I should get going. Thanks for being a spy with me, Julia.”
Laughing quietly, the two of them descended the steps of the gazebo. A man was coming around the corner of it along the sidewalk, and they nearly collided with him.
“Oh!” Julia said, suddenly feeling flushed. “Hi, Cooper.”
He was dressed in his work shirt, and his wavy hair was a little tousled by the wind. He had a lunchbox slung over his shoulder, implying that he was there on a meal break from work.
“Hey,” he said, his face lighting up. “What brings you here?”
Julia immediately felt out of sorts, and she tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear. She felt wildly jittery all of a sudden, and she found herself wondering if she looked disheveled after her and Hazel’s adventure.
“Hi,” Hazel said, seeming to notice that Julia was feeling tongue-tied and swooping in to rescue her. She held out her hand and shook Cooper’s firmly. “I’m Hazel, Julia’s sister. I’ve heard a lot of great stuff about you.”
“You have?” Cooper asked, brightening. He turned to Julia with a grin. “Why thank you.”
Julia laughed, still feeling embarrassed but also delighted by him. “You’re welcome.”
“Can I ask why you both have your hoods up?” Cooper said, smiling with wry amusement. “You look like you’ve been up to something.”
Hazel simply grinned unabashedly, but Julia hurriedly pushed off her jacket hood. “We were—uh, we were just doing a little investigating in the interest of the family name.”
“Hmm, sounds like a worthy cause.” Cooper laughed, a rich, deep sound. At that moment, his phone began to ring in his pocket. He pulled it out, frowning. “Ah, I’ve got to take this. I’ll see you soon?” He looked at Julia, his expression almost puppy-like.
“Sure.” She smiled, still feeling flushed and flustered.
Cooper continued along the path as he answered the phone call, and Hazel and Julia walked back toward the road, where their cars were parked.
“Oh, I feel so stupid,” Julia groaned under her breath as they walked along the sidewalk. “Cooper must think I’m nuts.”
Hazel paused in her walking for a moment to give Julia a look. “Um, what? Did you not see the look on his face? He’s completely smitten with you. Twitterpated. You have that very handsome, pleasant-looking man in the palm of your hand.”
“Oh, I don’t?—”
“Shush. I love you. I have to leave for work now.” Hazel grinned at her. “Talk to you later?”
“Talk to you later. Have a good day at work!”
The sisters hugged and Hazel hurried off to her car. Julia walked to her own vehicle more slowly, turning over in her mind what Hazel had said.
Was Cooper really smitten with her? The idea made her heart start to thump in her chest. She felt so fluttery and nervous around him, but at the same time he made her feel comfortable in a way no one ever had before.
Could we have a future together? She wondered as she unlocked her car and slipped inside.
She sat in the driver’s seat for a few minutes, looking out the windows and thinking. In the rearview mirror, she could see Cooper talking on the phone. She watched him, her heart fluttering, until he turned a corner and disappeared from view.
She wondered if she could ever leave her life in the city to be with a man like Cooper. Or would he ever consider moving to the city to be with her?
Her head spun with thoughts and happy imaginings as she drove along the streets of Rosewood Beach. She told herself that she didn’t need to have all the answers yet—for right now, she could just let herself feel excited about getting to know him.