Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Hazel stood in front of her dresser in her bedroom, slowly brushing her hair. Her mind was going over the events of the day, and she felt a little overwhelmed.
Alexis had returned home late in the afternoon, almost in tears. When Hazel had asked her what was the matter, Alexis had replied that Grayson was in town.
Hazel had been shocked, and her first thought had been that Grayson was coming to file for a divorce, since Alexis looked so upset. But it soon came out that he wanted to repair his relationship with his wife, and that he’d quit his job to come there to Rosewood Beach and try to win her back.
Hazel wasn’t quite sure what to think. She’d made her sister a nourishing dinner and given her tea to take to bed with her, since it was clear that Alexis seemed to be in some kind of troubled daze. Although Hazel didn’t understand the way that Alexis was reacting to Grayson’s attempt at winning her back, she knew that love was a complicated thing, and that Alexis had been very hurt by her husband in the past.
Maybe she doesn’t trust it , Hazel thought, setting her hairbrush down on her dresser. Maybe she thinks that he’s just going to go back to working too much and ignoring her once he’s back in her life.
Still, the fact that he had left his incredibly lucrative company was staggering. Hazel felt impressed, and she hoped that it did all work out well in the end. She’d always liked Grayson, despite the half-hearted way he’d participated in family events. She guessed that underneath his shy and quiet exterior, he had a heart of gold.
She went over to her window, which was open and was letting in a breathtaking night wind. It smelled of all the surrounding flower gardens, and held the musky, exhilarating smell that night winds always seemed to. She curled up on the armchair that was placed next to her window and hugged her knees, smelling the wind and listening to the leaves rustling in the trees outside.
She sighed, wishing that she’d gotten a chance to talk to Alexis more about ways that she could tell Jacob how she felt about him. She’d been juggling ideas around in her head all day, and she’d wanted to ask her sister for advice and guidance. Now that Grayson had shown up, however, Hazel didn’t think it would be right for her to put more on her sister’s plate. Alexis was clearly overwhelmed and didn’t need anything more to think about.
She leaned her head back onto the armchair and closed her eyes, imagining herself enacting some of the ideas that she and Alexis and Samantha had come up with at the kitchen table the other day. She pictured herself surprising Jacob with a banner strung across the wall that said, “Will you go out with me?” or showing up at his place with an invitation card to get coffee with her sometime. She shook her head as she pictured the ideas. They’d seemed fun at the time, and she’d felt as though making some kind of big gesture would somehow make it easier for her to be brave about the whole thing, but now she didn’t like the ideas. They felt like too much. She was starting to get more and more nervous and was beginning to wonder if making a move at all was too bold.
She opened her eyes when she heard someone knock softly on the door of her room. She assumed that it was Alexis, wanting to talk, but when she called, “Come in!”, Samantha stepped into the room.
Samantha was wearing pajamas with little ice cream cones printed all over them and grinning from ear to ear. In her hand was a notebook and a pink pen and she hurried over to her mother and gave her a hug.
“Hi,” Samantha said, whispering because they weren’t sure if Alexis was asleep or not. “I have something I wanted to show you.”
“Go ahead, honey.” Hazel smiled at her daughter.
“It’s for you.” Samantha held out the notebook, showing her mother what she had drawn.
To Hazel’s surprise, it was a diagram and a whole bunch of notes outlining various options for ways she could ask Jacob out. Samantha’s girlish handwriting covered the page, and her various ideas were written or drawn out in pink, purple, and blue ink.
“I thought this might come in handy while you’re making a decision.” Samantha grinned at her. “I know we talked about a lot of ideas the other day, and I didn’t want you to feel too overwhelmed. This is sort of like a Venn diagram, so you can pick and choose which elements of these ideas you like or don’t like and then create your perfect plan.”
Hazel pressed a hand to her chest, feeling touched that Samantha wanted her to find love again. “Thank you, sweetheart. This is really helpful, honestly! I’ve been trying to decide what to do and I have been feeling overwhelmed. I was hoping to talk to someone about it tonight, and here you are.”
Samantha wiggled onto the armchair next to her mother. “I know Aunt Alexis has a lot going on right now, so I figured we needed to have this next planning meeting without her. Maybe you can talk about what you decide on with her before you do it.”
Hazel kissed her daughter on the side of the head. “How did I get such a great kid? You are a total sweetheart.”
“It’s because you feed me so many cookies.” Samantha giggled at her own joke, and Hazel laughed with her.
“That’s the secret, huh?”
“Oh, definitely. So, if you give me even more cookies…”
Hazel laughed and shook her head. “How about more fruits and veggies?”
Samantha sighed and lifted up the notebook again. “This is my favorite option here. What do you think? You can get together a little basket of things that you know he likes, like a book he might like to read, or a bag of coffee that you know he loves. Then you can have a table reserved at a fancy restaurant for the two of you. You can just hand him the basket and ask him to get dinner with you later.”
Hazel’s heart started to beat faster with excitement, and something clicked inside of her when she thought about the plan that her daughter had come up with. “I think that’s right,” she said, staring into space and smiling quietly. “That feels right. Thank you, honey.” She wrapped her arms around her daughter and gave her a hug.
“I’m so glad you like it! I think it will show that you’ve been paying attention to your conversations with him, and that you really care about him, since you know the kinds of things he likes. And I think handing him a basket filled with stuff he really likes is a nice way of saying, ‘Wow, I really, really like you’ without having to actually say that out loud. Because I understand that saying that out loud might be really scary.”
Hazel laughed. “I think you’re right. It’s a brilliant idea. Thoughtful but not too grand. And I think I’m going to have a lot of fun picking out things that he likes for this basket.” She felt her heart rate pick up in excitement at the idea, and already her mind was filling with ideas for what she could put inside Jacob’s basket. She loved the thought of making him happy.
“Yay!” Samantha grinned, looking pleased with herself. “Will you show me the basket once you have it all ready?”
“Oh, of course. I couldn’t do this without you.” Hazel gave her daughter another hug, wondering again how on earth she got to be so lucky.
Alexis brushed her hair back from her forehead and concentrated on chopping up carrots. She was at her mother’s house, cooking an elaborate meal of baked lemon ziti with carrot soup on the side.
Outside, the sun was starting to dip toward the horizon, bathing her mother’s beautiful garden in a golden light. Alexis stared out the window at the lovely sight for a few moments and then sighed, feeling tired, and she turned her attention back to her cooking. She moved quickly, her motions precise and energetic. She was trying to keep up her adrenaline, although it had been a long day.
“Hey, sister.” Julia stepped inside through the back door, and her eyebrows lifted in surprise when she saw all of the cooking supplies that Alexis had spread out across the kitchen counters. “Wow, Mom said you were making dinner tonight, but I didn’t think it was going to be a three-course meal.”
Alexis laughed. “Not three courses, just two. Ginger carrot soup and baked lemon ziti. Oh! And I should make some dinner rolls too. That would be delicious, wouldn’t it?”
“Are you doing all this for Grayson?” Julia asked, her tone gentle. “Is he coming over for dinner?”
Alexis froze. She hadn’t told Julia about Grayson yet, but she hadn’t asked Hazel or Dean to keep the fact that he was in town a secret, so it was no wonder that Julia already knew about it.
“No,” Alexis stammered. “I—I haven’t talked to him yet today.”
“You haven’t even talked to him?” Julia sounded incredulous. “But—Alexis, he came all the way out here to see you.”
Alexis bit her lip. “I know, but he’s okay. He’s probably still tired from his flight. And besides, I’ve been incredibly busy today. I started out working on renovating Hazel’s kitchen, and that took me hours. Tiles really are very tricky to get right, and you have to work very slowly. And then I went over to The Lighthouse Grill and helped bus tables for a while.”
“You weren’t on the schedule for today,” Julia said, placing her hands on her hips. She had a suspicious look on her face, but Alexis ignored it and kept talking.
“I know, but they had a big lunch rush over there today, so after bussing I stayed to help with all of the dishes. Then I called some girls that I know to make sure they’re single—I’m hoping to matchmake some of them with Dean. I mean, I was crafty about it. I didn’t come right out and ask them if they were single or not. But most of them are, so that’s great. I mean, it’s great for Dean. Then I went grocery shopping for you and Mom.”
Julia blinked. “I mean, thank you—but we didn’t ask you to do any of that.”
“I know, but I love grocery shopping.” Alexis smiled, hoping she could turn Julia’s attention to the food she’d purchased. “I got you restocked on all the basics like flour and noodles, and I got some fruits and vegetables. You’ve got a couple of fresh mangos now, and I thought it might be fun for you and Mom to make some smoothies with them.”
Despite the fact that Julia loved food and cooking, she was not getting distracted by Alexis’s description of what she’d purchased. “Alexis,” she said gently. “Are you avoiding Grayson?”
Alexis felt her heart rate pick up, but she shook her head emphatically. “Avoiding him? No! I’ve just had so much to do today. It’s been nonstop.”
Julia crossed her arms and leaned against the counter, giving her sister a look that Alexis knew meant business. “It may have been nonstop, but none of those things actually needed to happen today. There’s a reason you didn’t prioritize spending time with your husband instead of working on all kinds of things all day long. You’re avoiding him. Don’t you want to talk about why?”
Alexis bit her lip, suddenly feeling as though she might start to cry. “You’re right. I am avoiding him. I guess I didn’t really mean to, but I’ve been rushing from one thing to the next all day so that I didn’t have to think about all of it.”
“Why don’t you want to think about it?” Julia’s eyes were soft with sympathy.
“I don’t really know what to make of this drastic gesture,” Alexis said. “He—he quit his job and everything. It just seems so unlike him. I mean, back when we first started dating, he was romantic. He did grand gestures for me and showed me how much he cared about me. But lately—I mean, it’s been years since he even came home with flowers for me.”
Julia nodded. “I think you’re scared of getting let down again. You don’t want to let him back into your heart. But, Alexis, look at what he’s doing. He’s really making an effort here, and that’s a great sign. Besides, he’s your husband. You told him ‘till death do us part.’ I think you owe him the chance to win you back, which he’s clearly trying to do.”
Alexis nodded, feeling her heart twist. “I guess I am scared. It feels too good to be true. I don’t want to get let down again.”
“I understand that,” Julia said. “But I think you need to give him a chance. And giving him a chance starts with not avoiding him all day.”
Alexis sighed and went back to chopping up the carrots. “Are you going to be staying for dinner?”
Julia chuckled and shook her head at her sister’s obvious attempt to change the subject. “No, unfortunately, I can’t stick around for dinner. Cooper and I have plans tonight. Dinner and a movie.”
“Sounds like fun.” Alexis smiled, although she felt disappointed that Julia wasn’t going to be staying to eat dinner with them.
“Thanks. I can’t wait to eat some of these leftovers. I know it’ll be amazing.” Julia smiled at her sister and gave her a sideways hug. “I’m going to go upstairs to get ready for my date. Think about what I said, will you?”
“I will. You made some really good points.” Alexis forced a smile. “Have fun on your date!”
“Thank you!” Julia disappeared through the doorway that led to the staircase, and Alexis noticed that her sister looked a little troubled. She had no doubt that Julia’s worry was about her situation with Grayson, since nothing was wrong in Julia’s personal life at the moment. Alexis sighed, knowing that Julia meant well and that she’d given her some very good advice.
But not tonight, Alexis thought, feeling her heart rate pick up at the thought of spending time with Grayson. I’ll talk to him soon. Just not tonight.
She got the lemon ziti into the oven and started the carrots cooking on the stovetop for soup. Then she curled up on the couch in the living room with her phone and looked up all the girls in town she knew on Facebook, trying to figure out how many of them were single.