Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Alexis Bennett set a jar of peanut butter carefully at the end of a shelf in her pantry. Behind the jar were four other identical jars of peanut butter, and alongside it were jars of strawberry jelly, then jars of grape jelly, then jars of premade curry sauce, then jars of nuts, then bags of flour, and then bags of sugar.
She tapped her fingers against her lips, wondering if she should have organized everything according to function instead of what she found aesthetically pleasing. She shook her head a moment later, deciding to stick with her new system. After all, her home pantry wasn’t all that large, and it would be easy for her to find anything in there.
She spun slowly in a circle, taking in the orderly rows of baking supplies, canned goods, and prepackaged snacks. She smiled, feeling pleased with her work.
She put a hand on her stomach. “What do you think, baby?” she asked. “Do you like the pantry?”
Alexis grinned to herself, imagining a toddler coming into the pantry with her. She still felt a little nervous about herself and her husband Grayson becoming parents, because it was such an enormous new adventure, but her excitement had been outweighing her nervousness for quite some time.
She was in the third trimester of her pregnancy, and for the past few days, she’d been having bursts of energy, during which all she wanted to do was organize her home and improve everything in anticipation of her and Grayson’s new arrival. She’d always loved organizing and decorating, but now her efforts were at a whole new level.
She spun around again, inspecting her work in the pantry. It looked wonderful—pleasant and tidy—but she felt that something was missing.
She frowned, wondering what was causing her to feel that way.
I have snack food, she thought, going through a mental checklist, and soup, and beans, and stuff for sandwiches, and things for baking. What’s missing?
All at once, she realized what it was that she was thinking of. She grinned and hurried out of the pantry, throwing on a light spring coat before dashing out the door.
She drove to her family’s restaurant, The Lighthouse Grill. She was usually there most of the days of the week, working as a waitress, but at her husband and mother’s urging she’d agreed to stop working there until after the baby was born. Waitressing could be tough work at a place as busy at The Lighthouse Grill, and they didn’t want her to get worn out.
She slipped inside, smiling as she smelled the familiar, invigorating savory aromas of the pub. On a Monday at one in the afternoon, the pub wasn’t as busy as it often got, but it was still bustling with customers.
She started to make a beeline for the storage room, which contained what she was there to get, but before she was halfway across the kitchen, she heard her mother call her name.
“Alexis!” Vivian Owens came forward, wiping her hands on her apron. It appeared her mother had been in the middle of restocking and refilling the condiment jars and her hands looked a little sticky. “What are you doing here, sweetheart? I thought we talked about you not coming in to work this late in your pregnancy. You’ve still got your online jewelry business to keep you plenty busy.”
“I know, and I’ve been having loads of fun making earrings and necklaces and bracelets all day while I watch movies.” Alexis smiled. She was very proud of her jewelry business, which was a side hustle that Grayson had helped her start after they’d moved back to Rosewood Beach. “But sometimes I get too restless for that and I need to do something else. I’m right in the middle of reorganizing the pantry, and I’m just here to grab something.”
Alexis’s sister, Julia Owens, poked her head out of the doorway that led to the restaurant’s office. Julia managed the administrative side of The Lighthouse Grill, something she had taken over shortly after their father, Frank Owens, had passed away. Julia was wearing a trim royal blue blouse, black slacks, and glossy flats. Even though she didn’t live in New York anymore, Julia still had a strong sense of style and liked to put an effort into her appearance.
“Alexis! What are you doing here?” Julia asked in confusion.
“Gosh, you’d think I was banned or something!” Alexis called over her shoulder as she made her way into the pantry. She clicked on the overhead light and began to hum as she rummaged around in the boxes and stacks of cans.
The pub’s pantry, although it had a well-organized layout, was a bit untidy. Vivian often went in after the pub closed to straighten things out, but busy restaurant work frequently meant that employees were rushing into storage to grab something in a hurry. A couple of empty boxes were tossed into a corner, and a few bags of coffee had tumbled off their shelf.
Alexis deftly tidied the area while she looked around for what she wanted. In another moment, she let out an exclamation of delight as she saw them—plastic organizing containers. The plastic was clear, allowing the user to see whatever was inside the containers. Alexis knew just what she wanted to put in them—beans, lentils, and rice. It would look chic, and store the food more cleanly than bags would.
She’d ordered them for The Lighthouse Grill a while ago, hoping that they could use them for storage. Unfortunately, the containers were too small to be of practical use for an establishment as bustling as the pub, but that meant that now she could take them home and use them in her house.
She arranged the containers in a large tote bag she’d brought with her, and then with a sigh of satisfaction, turned out the light and started out toward the front doors of the pub. She was itching to get back to her home and continue to arrange her pantry.
“Alexis, wait!” Vivian stepped up to her, smiling affectionately at her. “Stop rushing around so much. You want to make sure to rest often and take good care of yourself, especially while you’re expecting.”
“But, Mom, I have so much energy, you wouldn’t believe it.” Alexis grinned. “I want to take these home and keep organizing my pantry.”
“I can believe it. I was in your shoes once. Or, three times, rather.” Vivian’s eyes shone as she referred to her three pregnancies with Julia, Alexis, and the twins, Dean and Hazel. “But that doesn’t mean you should keep rushing around until you do get tired. Come and sit down with me for a while and have a cup of decaf coffee.”
“But, Mom?—”
“That’s not a request, young lady. Come and sit down with me.”
Alexis smiled quietly to herself. Even though she was a grown adult and technically her mother couldn’t order her to do anything, she still responded to that gently firm tone her mother had mastered as if she’d suddenly lost the ability to disobey.
“Yes, ma’am. I guess my feet do hurt a little bit.”
“See? You’ll thank me later. Go ahead and sit down in that empty booth by the window and I’ll be right there with a couple of cups of coffee for us.”
“Could you add cinnamon to mine?” Alexis asked eagerly. Although her pregnancy cravings weren’t all over the place like they used to be, thank goodness, she still had odd hankerings for certain kinds of food.
“You got it.” Vivian smiled at her and went off to get their coffee.
Alexis sat down at the booth, suddenly feeling a little sleepy. She smiled, admitting to herself that it was nice to have a little break. Her body seemed to go from wildly energetic to sleepy at the drop of a hat these days, and she found the sleepy times relaxing.
Vivian appeared a couple of minutes later, bearing two steaming mugs of decaf coffee. She’d added a generous amount of cream and cinnamon to Alexis’s mug, and Alexis grunted with happiness as soon as she tasted the beverage.
“Oh, that just hits the spot,” Alexis said. “Thanks, Mom.”
“Nothing like a coffee in the middle of the day to perk you up,” Vivian said cheerfully, sitting down across from her daughter. “And all the coffee we use now is so excellent, thanks to Terrence.”
Alexis nodded. Terrence Rawlins was the local health inspector, and he’d struck up a strong friendship with her mother. He’d helped her choose a new brand of coffee for the pub after their regular brand took a dive in quality. Alexis was glad her mother had a man as careful and considerate as Terrence looking out for her.
“It really is good.” Alexis took another sip. “But I think it’s this cinnamon you added in that’s really doing it for me.” She laughed. “So how are you, Mom? What’s new?”
“Oh, nothing really.” Vivian shrugged. “Working here. Planning my garden for when it’s warm enough to plant. Hopefully that’s any day now.”
“And Terrence is coming to help install the new oven,” Julia said, her tone a touch sly as she walked up to their booth. She was holding a steaming mug of tea, and she scooted in next to her mother. “That’s coming in today.”
“Really? Terrence is helping with that, huh?” Alexis lifted her eyebrows and shared a suspicious look with Julia.
It was the new family conspiracy that there was a romance brewing between their mother and the gentlemanly health inspector. Vivian kept denying their insinuations, insisting that the pair were simply friends. But Terrence often went out of his way to help Vivian, and she’d been inviting him to family dinners and board game nights. The four siblings, and sometimes their partners, loved to speculate that Terrence and Vivian were secretly interested in each other romantically.
“I see those sly looks.” Vivian tutted and shook her head. “There is nothing romantic going on between Terrence and me. We’re just friends. And besides, if you had a friend who was a health inspector, wouldn’t you ask him to help you install an oven? Then you’d know immediately if it was safe or not.”
“Sure, but you didn’t ask him, he volunteered,” Julia said, grinning impishly.
“Tut, he likes that sort of thing,” Vivian protested.
“Hmm,” Alexis said, also grinning. “Speaking of romance—Julia, are you still planning on doing your wedding cake testing on Thursday?”
“Yes!” Julia instantly lit up with excitement.
Her happiness shone out of her eyes, and she began to play with the glittering engagement ring on her finger. She and her fiancé Cooper Harris, who had an adorable toddler named Macey, had gotten engaged earlier in the year. Everyone in the Owens family was excited about the wedding planning, but no one more than Julia. Not only was she over the moon about the prospect of marrying Cooper, but she also loved planning events with a passion.
“I’m so excited,” Julia added. “We’re thinking lemon with raspberry frosting right now, but honestly, we might totally change our minds once we actually taste the cakes. Macey keeps saying it should be chocolate, and of course we have to keep her opinions in consideration.”
Alexis and Vivian chuckled. At that moment, the toddler’s three main interests were pink, unicorns, and chocolate, so it was no wonder that she wanted the wedding cake to be chocolate.
“Well, I’m excited you invited us to come with you,” Alexis said, grinning. “I love cake. What should we—” She was about to ask Julia if they should dress nicely for the cake tasting when she noticed a stranger walking into The Lighthouse Grill.
Tourists from out of town often entered the pub, but there was something about this woman that caught Alexis’s attention. First of all, she was wheeling a rolling suitcase behind her, which meant that she was coming to Rosewood Beach for more than just a day trip. She had long coppery brown hair that tumbled in loose waves to the center of her back, and she was wearing a navy dress that hugged her curves flatteringly. There was something about her that seemed vaguely familiar to Alexis, even though she was sure she’d never met her before.
“We have a new customer,” Alexis said, nodding toward the front of the pub. “A city girl, if my intuition doesn’t deceive me. Look at the way she’s done her makeup—and she’s got that city energy. Like she just drank a cup and a half of adrenaline.”
Alexis had been a city girl herself for many years, having lived in L.A. with her husband Grayson before the two of them returned to Rosewood Beach to stay.
“Hmm, looks like she’s visiting for quite a while,” Vivian said, standing up. “I wonder if she traveled here all by herself?”
Looking sympathetically curious, Vivian approached the young woman. “Good afternoon! Would you like a table for one?”
“Uh, no.” The young woman smiled, but she seemed flustered, almost nervous, underneath the facade of calm that she seemed to be putting on. “It smells incredible in here, but unfortunately, I already ate on my way here. I’m here to speak with the owners of the establishment, actually.”
Vivian shot a curious look at Alexis and Julia, who were eavesdropping from the nearby booth. “That’s me. I’m Vivian Owens, the owner of The Lighthouse Grill. I can answer any questions you might have. Could I ask your name?”
“Certainly.” The woman’s cheeks were suddenly flushed, as if Vivian was some kind of celebrity. She extended her hand for a handshake. “I’m Faith Talbot.”
Vivian’s eyebrows lifted in the next instant, and an expression of recognition dawned across her face. “Faith! Oh my goodness. It’s wonderful to see you. I haven’t seen you since you were a little girl!”
Faith laughed breathlessly, smiling almost shyly. “I remember you too, Vivian. Well, mostly from photos. It’s been a long time.”
Alexis and Julia both stood up then, too curious to keep sitting.
“Hey,” Alexis said, coming forward along with her sister. “What’s going on?”
Vivian turned to them with an expression that was a mixture of shock and pleasure. “Faith is the daughter of my cousin, Lyle. He and his wife passed away several years ago, do you remember? I was horribly sick with the flu at the time, and I wasn’t able to go to the funeral. Faith and her parents came to visit us once when you children were little.”
Alexis blinked in surprise. She had vague, half-formed memories of a young second cousin coming to visit them, but they were so faint she could have convinced herself the memories were part of a movie she’d seen once, not her actual life. She hadn’t been living at home when her mother’s cousin Lyle had passed away, so she hadn’t heard about his passing or the missed funeral.
“Welcome back, Faith,” Julia said, stepping forward with an eager grin. “Glad to have you here in Rosewood Beach. How long are you visiting?”
“Um…” Faith cleared her throat. “Actually, I’ve decided to move into town.”
Alexis’s jaw dropped in surprise as Julia and Vivian exclaimed over the news.
“Oh, you’ll love it here,” Vivian said warmly. “It’s a wonderful place.”
“The pictures look incredible,” Faith agreed. “That’s what drew me here. That, and well… I mean, yes, it seems like a wonderful town. Do you have a recommendation of a place where I can stay?”
“Absolutely. There’s a darling bed and breakfast that also accepts long-term stays, just two blocks that way. It’s in a big old Victorian mansion, you can’t miss it.”
As Vivian continued to make sure Faith knew how to reach the bed and breakfast, Julia and Alexis shared a look of surprise.
A cousin? Alexis thought, still feeling a little stunned. A family member I didn’t even know we had, showing up out of nowhere. She seems nice, but… there’s something about her. Like she’s got some kind of past.
She looked at Faith, noticing the way the woman’s skin looked pale and a little unhealthy, something even her expertly done makeup hadn’t been able to conceal. Faith was well-dressed and carried herself with a professional bearing, but there was some kind of tension in her that she was clearly trying to keep below the surface.
Alexis watched her cousin, deciding finally that Faith seemed incredibly tired. She wondered if things had been hard for her after she lost her parents. She couldn’t imagine being in Faith’s shoes—losing her father had been hard enough, and she couldn’t fathom losing both parents at once.
Faith thanked Vivian and waved goodbye to Julia and Alexis as she turned around and left the pub. The three Owens women stood quietly and watched her go for a moment. Alexis had no idea what her mother and sister were thinking, and she knew that she herself had no idea how to process this surprise development.