Chapter 29
The Lakeside Grill was busy when Beth arrived, but Laurel was already at her favorite table. “You beat me,” Beth said as she slipped out of her coat.
Laurel smiled. “Only by about two minutes.”
Beth sat opposite her and looked across the lake. The water was a deep blue beneath the pale sky, with the mountains rising beyond it. She’d seen the view hundreds of times, but it still had a way of making her stop.
“This will be beautiful for Kayla’s wedding,” she said softly.
Laurel followed her gaze. “Are you having their dinner in the main dining room or in one of the private function areas?”
“In a private room.” Beth pointed toward the far end of the restaurant. “We’re using the one on this level. It has the best of both worlds. The windows all face the lake, and it has direct access to the veranda.”
“How many people are coming?”
“Twenty-four.”
Laurel smiled. “It’s small enough that you’ll get to spend time with everyone.”
Beth nodded. “That’s what Kayla wanted. Just the people who really matter to her and Tyler.”
“It sounds perfect.”
Beth laughed. “Kayla came to Sapphire Bay last weekend to finalize some of the wedding plans. Apparently, twenty-four people still requires four hundred decisions.”
Laurel’s smile widened. “That sounds about right.”
Beth looked toward the private room again. For all the lists, phone calls, and tiny decisions that had somehow become enormously important, she knew Kayla had made the right choice.
Their server arrived with the menus, but Beth barely glanced at hers. She’d eaten here enough times to know what she wanted.
After they’d ordered, Laurel folded her hands on the table. “Is Susan here today?”
“I don’t think so. I haven’t seen her.”
Laurel looked over Beth’s shoulder toward the kitchen. “She told me Paul has been doing most of the lunches lately because she’s helping with the office work.”
Beth smiled. Susan hadn’t been living in Sapphire Bay for very long when she met Paul Reynard, the owner of the Lakeside Grill. They’d fallen in love and now worked together at one of the busiest restaurants around Flathead Lake.
Sometimes, Beth didn’t know how Susan juggled the baking classes she ran, helping with community projects, and working with her husband.
Their drinks arrived, followed soon afterward by lunch. For a while, they talked about the wedding. Beth told Laurel about the flowers Kayla had chosen and the cake recipes they’d finally settled on.
Every time Beth thought they were getting close to the end of the list, Kayla seemed to remember something else. But Beth wasn’t complaining.
May twenty-third would arrive soon enough, and after that there would be no more weekends spent comparing flowers or discussing table favors over coffee. No more dress fittings or lists taped to Beth’s refrigerator.
She was going to miss it. The realization put a small ache behind her happiness.
Laurel cut into her lunch. “How’s the arts center going?”
The change of subject immediately lifted Beth’s mood. “Really well. Better than I thought we’d be at this point.”
“That sounds suspiciously optimistic for you.”
Beth smiled. “I’m capable of optimism.”
“When?”
“Occasionally.”
Laurel waited.
Beth laughed. “All right. Maybe not very often. But you should see the center now. The gallery wall is finished. Most of the flooring is down, the bathrooms are almost done, and we’re at the point where it looks like an arts center instead of a construction site.”
Beth heard the pride in her voice and didn’t try to hide it. There had been days when she’d wondered whether they would ever get there. Days when every wall seemed to hide another problem, and every decision led to three more.
Now she could walk through the building and imagine the community filling the rooms.
“We’re still on track for the end-of-April opening,” she added. “Assuming nothing terrible happens between now and then.”
Laurel frowned. “Don’t say that.”
“I know,” Beth said. “I’m tempting fate.”
“You absolutely are.”
Beth took another bite of her lunch.
Laurel watched her for a moment. “And how’s Dave?”
Beth nearly choked. “That was subtle.”
“I thought so, too.”
Beth picked up her napkin. “We went from unexpected disasters to Dave in less than ten seconds.”
Laurel shrugged. “He’s in charge of the renovation. It seemed like a reasonable question.”
There was nothing innocent about Laurel’s expression. Beth put down her napkin. She’d known this conversation was coming. Part of her suspected it was one of the reasons Laurel had suggested having lunch together.
There were some things Beth could tell Kayla, but talking to her daughter about Dave still felt strange. Especially after Kayla had met him and immediately seen far more than Beth had wanted her to. Laurel was different.
Laurel had known Jessie. She’d known Beth before Jessie died and through all the years afterward.
“Dave’s good,” Beth said eventually.
Laurel waited.
Beth sighed. “You aren’t going to let me get away with that, are you?”
“No.”
Beth looked out across the lake. She remembered telling Laurel how frightening it was that talking to Dave had become so easy. At the time, she’d still been able to pretend that was all it was. She couldn’t pretend anymore.
“I really like him, Laurel.”
“I know.”
Beth turned back. “You could at least act surprised.”
“I could, but I’m not going to. Is liking him the problem?”
Beth traced one finger along the edge of her napkin. “That’s not quite the right word anymore. I’m attracted to him.” Saying it aloud made Beth blush.
Laurel’s expression didn’t change, although something gentled in her eyes. “Okay.”
“That’s all you’re going to say?”
Laurel frowned. “What would you like me to say?”
“I don’t know,” Beth replied. “Something that makes me feel less ridiculous.”
“Why would being attracted to Dave make you feel ridiculous?”
“Because I’m sixty-one years old. I shouldn’t spend half a morning wondering whether he’s going to walk through the door.”
Laurel smiled. “I don’t think attraction has an age limit.”
“I was afraid you’d say something sensible.” Beth lowered her voice even though no one nearby was paying attention to them. “We kissed.”
For the first time, Laurel genuinely looked surprised. “You kissed Dave?”
Beth nodded.
“When?” Laurel asked.
“Sunday night.”
“And you’ve waited until now to tell me?”
Beth glanced at the waiter serving lunch to the table behind Laurel. “It’s only been a few days.”
“That isn’t the point,” Laurel said quickly. “We’re friends and this is huge.”
Beth couldn’t stop smiling. The kiss had been slipping into her thoughts at the most inconvenient times ever since it happened. While she’d been brushing her teeth. Driving to work. Standing in the grocery store trying to decide which coffee to buy.
Every time she remembered the feel of Dave’s arms around her, warmth spread through her all over again. “It was nice,” she said.
Laurel stared at her.
Beth’s smile widened. “Fine. It was more than nice.”
“How much more?”
Beth’s eyebrows rose.
“I’m asking as your friend,” Laurel told her.
“You’re being nosy as my friend.”
“That too.”
Beth shook her head, but there was no hiding the happiness bubbling through her. “I told him he was a good kisser.”
Laurel laughed so loudly that the couple at the next table glanced over.
Beth covered her face with her hands. “I can’t believe I just told you that.”
“I can’t believe you told him that.”
Heat scorched Beth’s cheeks. “Neither can I. It just came out.”
“And?”
“And what?”
Laurel leaned closer. “What did Dave say?”
Beth cleared her throat. “He looked pleased with himself.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
Beth smiled at the memory. Then the smile slowly faded. “I don’t know what we’re doing, Laurel.” There it was. The part she hadn’t wanted to think about.
Laurel’s expression softened. “Do you have to know yet?”
“I suppose not.”
“You kissed someone you care about. He kissed you back. You’re attracted to each other. Maybe that’s enough for today.”
Beth wasn’t so sure. For most of her life, she’d wanted to know what came next. A plan. A list. Something she could prepare for. Dave didn’t fit neatly onto any list. Perhaps that was part of what frightened her. And part of what she liked.
“I keep thinking about Jessie,” she admitted.
Laurel’s gaze stayed on hers.
“Not because I think I’m doing anything wrong. I don’t.” Beth paused. “It’s more that I remember what it felt like when everything was new with him. I thought that part of my life was over.”
“And now?”
Beth looked through the window at the sunlight sparkling across Flathead Lake. “Now I’m beginning to think maybe it isn’t.”
Laurel reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
Beth squeezed it back. For once, she didn’t need an answer about what happened next. She had an arts center to open, a daughter to help marry, and a man whose kiss had occupied far too many of her thoughts.
For now, that was more than enough.