CHAPTER THREE
My lips would soon end up permanently twisted into a scowl. Maybe that was what my mother meant when she always warned, “Be careful, or your face will freeze like that.” If my Resting Annoyed Face was genetic, it definitely didn’t come from her.
“—so the bride is freaking out, saying her wedding is ruined, all because their venue in Santorini cancelled at the last minute.” A smile stretched across his face as he leaned in across the booth table like he was about to dispense a delicious secret.
“But the Agia Anna Chapel I’d found a week before? Only an hour-long ferry away.”
Georgie smacked a hand over her mouth. “And they got married there?”
“With an ocean backdrop that was pure azure.”
She sighed in a particularly wistful manner. I nearly kicked her under the table as if to say, “Don’t encourage him.”
“So all their guests had nowhere to go. How romantic,” I said, biting back the roll of my eyes.
Teddy seemed lost in thought. “See, that’s what was really beautiful. They just threw their plans to the wind, and ended up having the wedding of their dreams.”
“I’m sure their friends and family thought the same thing when they couldn’t refund their trip,” I retorted.
“Life doesn’t happen on a timeline.”
I scoffed. “You’re right. Gallivanting all over the world is the only thing to life.”
We stared at each other, his eyebrows knitted together in that adorable and frustrating and clueless way.
The Margot he knew didn’t fight him. She was hopelessly in love with Teddy, her childhood best friend who waxed lyrical about all his dreams like the most precious secrets in the world.
Those sparkling eyes undid me every time.
If only she knew that none of his dreams included her.
“Alright, guys,” Georgie cut in with a weak laugh. “Let’s take a deep breath, okay?”
I pretended to read the menu for a few minutes before my second worst nightmare began to unfold.
“Do my eyes deceive me?”
Wincing, I fought the urge to throw my head into my hands.
“Teddy Bowman, get your butt over here and give me a hug!”
Georgie’s eyes bored holes in my profile as I sat, motionless, while Teddy slid from the banquette across from us and enveloped my mother in a massive hug.
She rocked him back and forth, groaning and spouting an increasingly embarrassing amount of comments about what a handsome young man he’d become.
My mother pushed him away and smacked him on the shoulder with her pen. “I don’t know how you ever let this one slip through your fingers, darlin’,” she said to me.
Teddy cocked his head and frowned a fraction.
An acidic wave of shame crashed over me. I’d forgotten—for one reason or another, everyone in Bluebell Cove assumed I broke up with him. I already boarded the plane to New York before I could quash those rumors.
“I think we both know your daughter was too good for me, Ruth,” he replied smoothly.
Despite the heat crawling up my neck, I proceeded with my in-depth study of the chrome-trimmed Formica tabletop.
My mother, per usual, was completely unaware of her gaffe.
“Now, what can I get y’all? Georgie, the usual?”
She nodded in response, each of us spouting off our orders before we were left in peace. Although, it didn’t last for long.
“E-excuse me?”
I groaned internally to see a young girl, who couldn’t be more than nineteen, standing beside our booth with her phone all-but crushed between her hands. She shifted between her feet, eyes blown wide as she stared at—
“Are you Teddy? From Teddy’s Travels?”
My fingers curled into my palms under the table. Georgie patted my knee, no doubt in some attempt to be comforting.
“Yeah,” he replied with a bright smile, stretching his arm across the back of the banquette. “What’s up?”
The girl practically swooned. I should’ve said that she was going to have a hard life ahead of her if that was all it took. But I’d let her discover that herself.
“I just wanted to say—” She blushed. “I’m a huge fan. I’ve been following you since the parachuting accident in Dubai.”
Okay, that had to be a joke. Did Teddy think he was the James Bond of travel blogging?
Teddy laughed and nodded. “I might walk a little funny now, but it was worth it.”
I really did roll my eyes at that. He caught it, gaze narrowing for a split-second before turning back to his number one fan.
“If you don’t mind, I haven’t seen my friends in a really long time. But I really appreciate your support.”
The dazzling grin he sent her nearly knocked her off her feet. Oh yeah, she would have a rough go of it.
“Wow, I can’t believe our Teddy has fans!” Georgie chirped when the starstruck girl wandered away.
“Neither can I,” I mumbled under my breath.
Teddy pulled a hand through his honey-blonde hair, leaving it somehow effortlessly tousled. “Trust me, it still catches me off guard.”
“Yes, you looked so uncomfortable,” I retorted sarcastically.
His expression shifted.
I remember a time when his favorite band played a venue outside of town in Port Camden. We were only sixteen, and Serena had just gotten, but Teddy was convinced that he’d be able to persuade all of our parents. None of us knew how he managed to pull it off.
When he made up his mind about something, it happened by sheer will and the full force of his charisma.
It seemed that whatever he decided, Teddy had now directed it at me.
“So, how have you been, Margot?” Teddy started, propping an elbow on the table and curling his fingers over his mouth. “Georgie pretty much gave me the rundown—pottery shop, loving boyfriend—but what about you?”
The sound of tires screeching returned to my mind as I struggled with a response. To tell or not to tell my uber-successful ex that I’d landed flat on my face?
“She’s taking a sabbatical from work,” Georgie blurted.
Teddy’s eyebrows lifted. I strained to keep from choking on air. Georgie wore a spectacular thousand-watt smile.
I stared at the edge of the table, at my cuticles, and at the tuft of clouds drifting outside. Anything than at the guy who would be able to see right through me.
Georgie always told me—practically since infancy—that I had a terrible poker face.
Usually, that didn’t matter. Articulating my opinions was, allegedly, a rampant flaw of mine.
On the other hand, I was in no danger of being told I talk about my emotions too much.
That made me want to pluck my eyelashes out.
“Here y’all go.”
I’d never been so happy to see my mother before.
The feeling only lasted a few seconds, because she slid our plates before us one by one and proceeded to take a seat beside Teddy. I shoved a fry in my mouth and intently watched the glean of the grease on my burger.
This was turning out to be more uncomfortable than the business dinner where an author threw her wine in my face.
To be fair, I probably deserved it.
“So, you in town for Fallfest? How long you stayin’?”
Another fry in my mouth. Perhaps I’d gotten my FBI-interrogator-style conversation skills from my mother.
Kind, gracious Teddy subtly eyed his plate of golden fried chicken before turning to Ruth. “I’m on assignment for a magazine. The Summer’s End Festival received quite a bit of exposure, so Fallfest is slated to be even bigger.”
Georgie seemed as if she was about to explode—from excitement or terror, I couldn’t tell. The summer festival had nearly undone her, thanks to a seasonally late storm and a handful of major vendors cancelling their contracts. She was in a better place now, though, and so were we.
“Bluebell Cove will eat that up,” Mom said, her voice gleeful as if she hadn’t actively participated in my demise. “National magazine coverage? Mercy, Georgie, all your hard work’ll finally pay off.”
Georgie made a strangled sound that could have been agreement, or maybe a small prayer for divine intervention.
Teddy leaned back, his arm stretched casually along the booth as his gaze flicked to me. “Remember when we snuck into the hay maze as kids one year? We were too impatient to wait for our parents to take us.”
My deliciously fried potato turned to ash in my mouth. “Yeah,” I muttered flatly. “I remember.”
He laughed, the sound warm and unbothered. “And you got stuck halfway through and cried until—”
“Until I clawed my way out.” I interrupted, stabbing my lettuce-wrapped burger and cutting a chunk off. “I wonder where you were when that happened, Ruth?”
For a beat, the table fell except for the clink of Georgie swishing her ice water. I stuffed my too-large piece of burger into my mouth and pretended like I wasn’t three seconds from needing emergency intervention. Teddy’s smile faltered, just for a second.
“I suppose I don’t know,” Mom replied, any ounce of oblivious delight having vanished.
Our gazes met across the table as our onlookers stared. We both knew what she meant by, “I don’t know”. That diner—the place she loved more than me or dad, at the corner of Main Street, in the town that was a close second in her heart.
She didn’t have to say anything else, because if I closed my eyes, I could see that night like it was yesterday.
The scratch of the hay as it crushed my legs and scraped the skin, Teddy’s wild, terrified shouts before he ran to get help, and the unease that squeezed my stomach the moment I came to terms with it: my parents wouldn’t be coming.
Georgie clapped suddenly. “So!” she cut in. “Festival coverage. No pressure, right?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Teddy responded, watching me for a second longer before his eyes flicked to Georgie and that familiar smile returned. “They’re—what’s the word they used in the email—‘obsessed’ with the… er… small town ‘vibe.’ You won’t have to stress about impressing them, Georgie.”
She seemed to relax a fraction.
I cleared my throat. “What’s the angle? I mean—a big, luxury travel magazine wants to cover the Cove…” I drummed my fingernails on the table and squinted at him as if to say, “Do I even need to finish?”.
“Well, like I said, they already love it,” Teddy replied, but looked away far too quickly for my liking.
I leaned in. “What aren’t you telling us?”
“I—”
“Don’t be so negative, darlin’,” Mom hissed.
“It’s really okay, Teddy.” Georgie shifted uncomfortably. “We’re grateful for any exposure we get.”
“No,” I snapped over my shoulder. “This could be the difference between these businesses having a steady income, or Bluebell Cove becoming a national laughingstock.”
“I would never do that,” he murmured.
Georgie frowned. “I seem to remember, not too long ago, you couldn’t have cared less.”
“I’m just trying to help,” I replied.
“That’s not what it’s soundin’ like,” Mom interjected.
I sent her a withering look that made her throw up her hands and exit the booth.
“Hey,” Teddy said.
“I’m sorry,” Georgie quipped, “But this is still my thing. And I think it’ll be good. Remember what happened with the Summer’s End Festival?”
I groaned. “Georgie, that was pure luck.”
“Hey,” he said again.
“Pure luck? Because I’m not Margot Wade, and I don’t move through mountains?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Hey.”
“What?!” We shouted in unison.
Teddy’s eyes widened and he silently pointed beside him. Rhett blinked, lips pursed as he glanced between us.
“Rhett!” Georgie cooed, our bickering forgotten in a split second.
He squeezed her hand across the table and twisted toward Teddy. “Who’re you?”
“That’s Teddy,” I all-but grunted.
“And I didn’t even see your lips move,” Rhett stage-whispered, “Fascinating.”
My cheeks flamed as they fell into introductions.
Georgie tucked a hair behind her ear and shot me an anxious look. I didn’t have to ask what was on her mind: it was a plea. Don’t make it harder than it needs to be.
And this was only the beginning.