Finding Forever (Second Chances in Sapphire Bay #2)

Chapter 1

Beth Kowalski slid the tray of brownies from the oven and set it on the cooling rack, and for one quiet moment she forgot about the letter in her pocket.

The Welcome Center’s kitchen was warm against the dark January afternoon. Outside, snow had been falling since morning. Inside, there was butter, chocolate, and the happy chatter of women who enjoyed baking and loved each other’s company.

“Now those,” Susan said, leaning over to breathe in the smell, “are a crime against everyone trying to be sensible this winter.”

“I’ve baked them for the Church’s food boxes,” Beth said.

Maria straightened, her gray hair catching the overhead light. “And the ones cooling on the other two racks?”

“They’re for the food boxes, too.”

“You’ve never made that many before. Are you sure you aren’t stress-baking?”

Beth wiped her hands on her apron. “I’ve just got a few things on my mind.”

“If there’s anything we can do to help, let us know.”

“I will.” Beth looked around the kitchen. The women in the baking class had become her good friends. They were the people she turned to when she needed advice, encouragement, or simply someone to listen. She told them almost everything.

Just not about the letter in her pocket.

“How are you getting on with Kayla’s wedding cake?” Julie asked as she slid onto a stool. “The last time I asked, you were sketching different designs.”

“I still don’t know what will look the best.” Beth could talk about her daughter’s wedding for hours. “Kayla sent me some photos of different sugar flowers she wants cascading down the side of the cake. I’ve never done anything so intricate. What if the flowers fall off or the cake is a flop?”

“I can help with the decorations,” Susan told her.

“And your daughter will love her wedding cake because you baked it,” Julie added.

Maria licked some leftover batter off a spoon. “Speaking of weddings, have you made any plans for your own, Julie?”

Julie and Cole’s Christmas engagement was still fresh enough that the words landed like a small gift in the room.

Julie leaned against the counter. “Cole keeps asking me when I want to get married. I keep telling him there’s no rush. Then he gives me that look, and I start rethinking it.”

“Cole has waited sixty-four years to find you,” Maria said. “I don’t blame him for wanting to get married soon.”

Julie smiled and Beth went back to packing the brownies. She told herself the letter could wait until she’d thought it through properly.

Maria stood beside Beth. “You’re very quiet today, and I don’t think it’s because you’re worried about Kayla’s cake.”

“I’m okay.”

“What aren’t you telling us?”

Beth fussed with a lid that didn’t need adjusting. “It’s nothing.”

“It must be something,” Maria said. “You’ve baked an awful lot of brownies.”

Beth held out a moment longer. Then she sighed and took the piece of paper out of her pocket.

It was soft at the folds from being opened, read, and folded too many times.

“Natalie Lanigan gave me this letter. She’s creating a community arts center in the old hardware building.

She’s asked me to manage the center and help her oversee the remodel. ”

For a heartbeat nobody spoke, and then everyone spoke at once.

“That’s fantastic,” Susan told her.

“That’s the best news I’ve heard all week,” Maria added. “We’ve needed something like this for years, and you’d be perfect for the job.”

Beth shook her head. “I’m turning it down.”

The words fell flat in the warm room.

“You’re doing what?” Maria asked.

“I’m not the right person.” Beth said it fast. She’d had a few weeks to line up the reasons, and they came out in a tidy row.

“I don’t have a degree, and I’ve never managed anything like it.

A few bake sales and being on the Welcome Center’s board don’t count.

They want someone qualified. Not a woman who gives her time away for nothing. ”

“You ran the church fundraiser committee for years,” Julie said softly. “And volunteering isn’t nothing. It shows you have a good heart.”

Beth frowned. “It’s not the same as being in paid employment.”

Maria picked up a container of sugar. “You put the midwinter craft fair together, and you know every artist and quilter for forty miles. Why would you turn down the job?”

Beth’s reasons sounded thinner out loud than they had in her kitchen at midnight, but she held on to them the way you hold a railing.

“It’s a real job. There’s a lot of grant money involved, a deadline, and people looking over my shoulder.

If I get it wrong, the whole town will be standing there, watching me make a mistake. ”

“Or watching you get it right,” Susan said.

Beth bit her bottom lip. When she’d read the letter, she’d felt something in her chest that she hadn’t felt in years.

It was a longing she thought she’d packed away with Jessie’s things after he died.

She’d seen how much art could do—how it could mend a broken heart, start a friendship, and bring people together who might never have spoken.

She’d always dreamed of being part of something like the arts center. Sapphire Bay had a couple of exhibition and event spaces, but nothing like what Natalie was proposing—a place where different groups could meet, create, and exhibit their work throughout the week.

After she’d talked to Natalie, she’d wanted the job so much that it scared her. But wanting to do something and being able to do it were two different things. If she failed, she’d never forgive herself.

Susan wiped her hands on a dish towel. “Who’s in charge of remodeling the building?”

“Dave McGuire,” Beth said, glad of somewhere else to put the conversation. “He’s the main contractor at the Finley Point resort. Natalie said he’ll split his time between the arts center and the resort.”

“Doesn’t your brother work with him?” Julie asked.

Beth nodded. “He only has good things to say about him.”

She’d seen Dave around town, but she’d never paid much attention to him. The only things Beth could remember about him were that he was tall, broad-shouldered, and always seemed polite.

Susan came around the counter and rested a hand on Beth’s arm.

“Let me say one more thing. You’re always making sure everyone around you has what they need.

This time, instead of doing something for somebody else, take the job for yourself.

Natalie is a good judge of character. She wouldn’t have offered it to you if she didn’t think you could do it. ”

Beth looked at the letter. She thought of all the reasons she couldn’t do the job, and of how much she wanted to say yes.

“I’ll think about it,” she heard herself say.

While everyone went back to their baking, Beth slid the letter into her pocket. She’d think about what her friends had said, then decide what to do.

In the meantime, she had another tray of brownies to pack and a wedding cake to plan.