Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Faith Talbot lifted up the white mug in front of her and took a long sip of the velvety coffee inside.
She pressed her lips together in concentration as she looked down at her laptop screen for a few moments.
She set down her coffee mug and began to type quickly, her mind moving even faster than her fingers.
She heard the doors to the McCormick Brewery’s restaurant area open and she looked up with a smile as a handful of guests spilled inside. She watched them for a few moments, delighted by how happy they seemed to be there, and then she turned her attention back to the work in front of her.
In the past, she never would have considered coming to the McCormick Brewery to sip coffee and work, despite the fact that the brewery had always belonged to the family of her fiancé Ryan McCormick.
Although she’d always liked Ryan’s brash father Judd and his brothers Seth and Brady and they’d clearly liked her as well, her relationship with them had felt slightly awkward in the past. When Judd had run the brewery, he’d created a one-sided rivalry with The Lighthouse Grill, which was owned by Faith’s family, the Owens.
Faith had always felt as though her connection to the Owens was like an elephant in the room, and although she’d forgiven Judd for the way he’d treated her family, he’d seemed to be on edge as if he expected her to dislike him.
Now, however, because of facing issues with his heart, Judd had handed over the running of the brewery to Ryan, despite the fact that Ryan had worked in construction previously and had never worked at the brewery before.
When Faith had volunteered to help Ryan out with some of the business work, she’d come up with a few ideas that brought the brewery and The Lighthouse Grill together.
Her ideas had been meant to boost the business of both restaurants, but she also wanted to officially heal the rift between the two establishments.
She grinned to herself, thinking about how she and her family never would have expected the McCormick Brewery and The Lighthouse Grill to team up the way they had.
She’d suggested a coupon system for both restaurants, allowing customers who ate at one place to get a discount at the other, essentially sending business back and forth between them.
It had worked incredibly well right from the beginning and was now bringing more business than ever to both restaurants, especially the brewery, which had never done as well as The Lighthouse Grill in food sales.
Faith had also arranged for the brewery and The Lighthouse Grill to get joint shipments for their food supplies to save on cost.
Faith had loved seeing the way both restaurants were thriving, and especially the way the rift between them had healed.
She had been enjoying helping with marketing and a lot of the busy work involved with running the brewery.
After spending many years working as a lawyer in Boston, working at the brewery felt like a piece of cake to Faith, and she loved working with Ryan and helping him.
She continued to type briskly for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling of her brain working at full speed.
Once she’d finished responding to the last email in the brewery’s customer service inbox, she sat back and heaved a sigh of satisfaction.
She sipped her coffee thoughtfully for a few minutes, looking around the brewery and feeling proud of the changes that she and Ryan had been implementing.
The brewery had always had a modern design, and they hadn’t changed that, since it was part of Judd’s legacy.
The metallic chairs and stark architectural design of the restaurant did leave something to be desired in hominess, however, and Faith had worked with Ryan to pick out glass orb centerpieces for every table, in varying shades of blue and green.
At night, tea lights were lit in the orbs, and it transformed the space into something elegant and almost magical.
She finished her coffee and turned back to her laptop.
The next item on her to-do list was looking up tablecloths and linens for Dean and Noelle’s wedding, something she’d offered to do for them since she was a bit of a tablecloth nerd.
During the last coffee meet-up the Owens women had had, Noelle had mentioned that she was having trouble finding linens in the exact shade of burnt orange that she and Dean wanted for their wedding.
Even though Noelle hadn’t asked her to find the tablecloths, Faith had eagerly volunteered to look.
She now considered it her mission, and as a color guide, she was using an antique book that Noelle had given her because the color of the cover was exactly what she was looking for.
Come on, be out there, she thought with a smile as she typed into Google.
She felt confident that she would be able to find something, since Noelle had confessed that she hadn’t had the time to check out every company in the area.
Faith knew, too, that a lot of linen companies rented out their tablecloths for weddings, and she felt confident that they could get tablecloths shipped in from a business that wasn’t in their area if need be.
After a few minutes of unsuccessful searching, she stood up and got herself another cup of coffee from the kitchen, where she was always welcome to go, along with the other members of the staff.
She chatted with the cooks for a few minutes, laughing at their silly jokes, and then returned to her table.
She tried website after website, continuously holding up the book to her computer screen to see if the colors online matched Noelle’s vision.
Nothing seemed quite right until she found the website of a smaller local company and began to look through their color options. After a few moments of scrolling, she squealed under her breath and leaned forward.
That’s it, she thought, a rush of excitement shooting through her. That’s the exact color.
She knew even before she held the book up to the screen, but she wanted to be absolutely positive anyway.
She picked up the antique book, which was almost as small as the palm of her hand, and held it up against the image online.
She peered at the colors side by side, leaning forward and squinting at them.
As far as she could tell, they were an exact match, even more perfect than what she’d been hoping for, but she felt as though that was too good to be true.
She kept glancing back and forth between the two colors, her nose nearly pressed against her laptop screen, when she heard someone chuckle.
Faith looked up and grinned when she saw her cousin Julia approaching her with her little girls Macey and Quinn in tow. Macey was toddling along at Julia’s side, holding her hand, and Quinn was held to Julia’s chest in a baby sling. “Hey!” Faith said, delighted to see all of them.
“You seem pretty focused there,” Julia said, grinning at her.
“I just found the perfect shade for Noelle’s burnt orange tablecloths,” Faith said eagerly, turning her laptop screen around so that Julia could see it and holding the book up to the image of the tablecloth. “Isn’t that perfect? Like, I’m so excited.”
Julia did exactly what Faith had been doing a moment before and peered closely at both colors together in awe. “Wow,” she said. “It really does look like it’s exactly the same. That’s fantastic.”
“I know.” Faith grinned. “I’m thrilled. It would never do to have the tablecloths be a shade off from the other decorations Noelle picked out.” She chuckled.
“She’s going to be so thrilled when she sees this,” Julia said. She beamed at Faith. “You’re a wonder. I can hardly remember what it was like before you moved to town. I don’t see how we ever got along without you in our lives.”
Faith flushed with happiness. She remembered when she’d first moved to town, and she’d been worried that the Owens family would feel weirded out by her sudden appearance in their town and not feel comfortable welcoming her into their family circle.
After her parents had died, Faith had devoted all her time to her career as a lawyer in Boston, but the stress of the job had given her a panic attack so bad she’d thought it was a heart attack.
The doctors had advised her to reduce her stress levels, and she’d known it was time for a major life change.
She’d packed up her life and moved to Rosewood Beach, knowing that she had cousins there, although she’d barely remembered meeting them as a kid.
Soon the Owens had welcomed her with open arms, and once Faith started dating Ryan, she knew that she was in Rosewood Beach to stay.
They’re the best family I could have asked for after I lost my parents, she thought, feeling an ache of joy in her heart. It’s been so healing to have a family again.
“My life away from you all feels like another lifetime ago,” Faith said, shaking her head and smiling. “I can hardly believe I spent that much time running myself ragged for people who were going to forget my name in a few weeks’ time.”
Julia smiled sympathetically at her cousin. “You did a lot of good when you were a lawyer. I’m sure a lot of people still remember your name, and fondly. But I’m glad that you stepped away from that life and found one that brought you peace.”
“Thanks, Julia.”
At that moment, Quinn decided to let out a squeak of protest, and Julia laughed. “She says it’s time for us to get some lunch. We were out shopping for dresses to wear to the wedding and I lost track of time so I decided to come here to eat. Mind if we crash your table?”
“Not at all—I’d love it. I think I’ll get some lunch myself, actually. Let me just see—oh, look, here comes Stacey.”