Chapter 2 #2
One of the waitresses was approaching their table, clearly having seen Macey clamber eagerly onto one of the chairs. She handed them a few menus—including a kiddie menu and crayons for Macey—and took their drink orders, promising to return in a few minutes.
“This is perfect, I’ve been craving a burger,” Julia said, looking over the menu, which offered a variety of burger options, even including a peanut butter and jelly burger, which Faith felt confident Macey was going to order.
Faith grinned. “Ryan and I have talked about expanding the menu, but I think the whole burger theme is working really well, at least for now. People love beer and burgers, and they know they can come here if that’s what they’re craving, which they often are.”
“And it saves so much on supplies, I’m sure,” Julia said, “since you can just order in bulk and not have to worry about things like arugula spoiling.”
“The Lighthouse Grill serves arugula?” Faith laughed. “That sounds pretty imaginative.”
“Oh, it was in a salad that we offered for a while. Tom came up with it, and it was delicious, but not enough people ordered it, so we took it off the menu. I mean, it’s just so complicated to order so many different ingredients and track when they spoil and try to not waste any of it, you know?
Some waste is inevitable, but we do our best.” She shook her head.
“So—having a limited menu definitely uncomplicates things.”
“I think that’s what Judd was going for,” Faith said, nodding and enjoying the fact that she could talk restaurant business with her cousin, who did the marketing and budget work for The Lighthouse Grill. “He’s a smart man, despite his tendency toward unnecessary competitiveness.”
Julia smiled wryly. “He’s just a big city businessman in a little town.
In New York, his tactics would have been just the sort of thing everyone else was doing.
I mean, I wish none of it had happened, since it definitely caused us stress, but I don’t hold it against him.
He was trying to do his job in the way he thought was best.”
“That’s very forgiving of you. I like Judd, but sometimes I wonder if it’s just because he reminds me of Ryan—since he has the same jawline and mouth shape.”
“He does, doesn’t he?” Julia chuckled. “I never noticed that before.”
Faith nodded, feeling smitten just thinking about her fiancé. Julia seemed to notice, and she reached across the table and squeezed Faith’s hand.
“I’m so thrilled that you met Ryan,” she told her warmly. “And that you decided to stay here and be part of our community. And soon we’re going to get to celebrate with the two of you at your wedding! I can’t wait.”
The two women continued to chat affectionately for a while as Macey colored on her kiddie menu with the crayons that had been provided.
Soon their food arrived, and they munched in companionable silence for a while.
Faith thought to herself that the golden fries she was eating were the perfect combination of crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside.
She wondered if she was enjoying them so much because she was hungry, or because the cooks had upped their game.
Absent-mindedly, she began to scroll through the linen company’s website again, looking at all of their other color options.
“There are so many different colors here,” she said to Julia. “I really like a lot of them, but maybe they’re too intense. What do you think?” She turned the laptop toward her cousin. “Do you think Ryan would go for seafoam green for our accent color?”
“Oh, that’s pretty,” Julia said, gazing at the vibrant but pale shade of bluish green. “It makes me think of the tropics and going on vacation.”
“I love it,” Faith said, smiling at the color as she envisioned it decorating the reception hall at her and Ryan’s wedding.
She got a warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest when she thought about that day.
She could hardly believe it was something she was really planning and not just a daydream.
“But I should probably keep looking. There are so many different colors to choose from, and I might change my mind. Ryan has a say too, obviously.”
“What about that one?” Julia suggested, pointing to one of the options with an arched brow. “Hot pink?”
Faith laughed. “Oh, I’m sure Ryan is up for a Barbie-themed wedding. Pink everything.”
Julia pursed her lips. “Or you could do Halloween orange and jet black. Then you could keep all the décor and use it for Halloween every year.”
“Or… what about this shade of yellow?” Faith pointed to an almost neon shade that reminded her of the highlighters she’d used during law school. “We could pair it with bright orange and make it a work safety theme. That would make Ryan think about when he was a construction site manager.”
The two women continued to joke as they looked through the website, and they were soon laughing so hard that Faith was wiping away tears and Julia was resting her head on the table. Macey blinked at both of them as though she thought they were a little crazy but she loved them anyway.