Chapter Eight
CHAPTER EIGHT
Riley dropped her mother off at home and then set out to the grocery store with a shopping list her mother had written up. She quickly made her way through the store buying everything needed for the inn for the week: various fresh fruits, breads, cereals, frozen quiche, and muffins. She wanted to experiment with baking some fresh quiche and muffins, but her mother wanted these as backups. Riley couldn’t blame her as her baking skills were a little rusty.
She grabbed the biggest chicken she could find and the makings for mashed potatoes and stuffing, and a can of cranberry sauce and a jar of gravy. Her mother had suggested a simple roast chicken for Sunday dinner and Riley looked forward to how it would make the house smell.
When she got home, her mother was sitting at the kitchen table peeling potatoes. Riley put everything away and got started on the chicken as it would need to roast for an hour and a half or so. She knew her mother’s recipe by heart as it was one she’d made often over the years. She stuffed half a lemon in the chicken cavity along with sprigs of rosemary and thyme, and drizzled olive oil on the outside and a sprinkling of salt and pepper, then popped it in the oven.
When the chicken was almost ready, she made the stuff ing from a box, adding plenty of butter, and put the slightly cooled cooked potatoes through a potato ricer so they would be nice and fluffy. She folded in plenty of melted butter and milk and turned the heat on under the pot to keep the potatoes warm.
At one o’clock sharp the front door opened and her four-year-old nieces, Bethany and Emily, rushed in and threw their arms around her. Riley bent down and hugged them both. Her sister, Amy, and her husband, Rob, were right behind them. The girls looked adorable in matching pink dresses. Amy looked nice, too, in a pretty, multicolored, but mostly pink Lilly Pulitzer sweater over skinny jeans. The bright colors stood out against her sleek blond chin-length bob. Amy always looked impeccable. No matter how hard she tried, Riley never managed to achieve the same effortless level of elegance. She glanced down at her own top, an oatmeal-colored all-cotton fisherman-knit sweater. It was one of her favorites, and she paired it with dark jeans and dark brown leather boots. She spotted a sprig of rosemary stuck to her sweater—and quickly brushed it away as Amy pulled her in for a hello hug.
Rob was next and Riley smiled as he hugged her, too. Rob had been part of the family since high school when he and Amy started dating. They were just always together and even though Riley had wondered more than once over the years if Amy had missed out by not dating anyone else, she couldn’t deny that the two of them were perfect together. Rob was easygoing, likable, and handsome, too. He was of average height and build, with dark brown hair and eyes, and a friendly smile. Amy helped Riley in the kitchen while her mother visited with Rob and the girls.
“I’m so glad you all were able to come over today. I feel like I haven’t had a chance to catch up with you since I got here,” Riley said.
Amy laughed. “You haven’t! But I get it. When I was helping Mom at the inn I didn’t have a spare moment. So, I’m grateful you’re here. How is it going so far?”
“It’s nice to be home. She is getting around a little better on her crutches, but it’s still too much for her to manage without help. It’s been fun actually.”
Amy smiled. “You always did like working with people. You were so much better at restaurant work than I was.”
Riley laughed. That was an understatement. Amy had lasted all of two months one summer as a waitress. She’d hated it and wasn’t very good at it. She left for a job as a bank teller and was much happier working with numbers and counting money. Riley had loved waitressing and had spent each summer working at various restaurants on the Cape. She didn’t always love it when customers were difficult, but the majority of the time they were nice and tipped well.
“Well, if I don’t find a new content job, I can always go back to waitressing,” Riley said. She was joking, but it was nice to have that skill to fall back on, as a good server could always find work.
“You’ll find something. You’re good at what you do. Don’t panic if you don’t land something before the holidays. I’m sure you will after the New Year,” Amy said.
“I hope so.”
Riley took the chicken out of the oven and let it rest for a few minutes while she heated up the gravy and stirred the mashed potatoes while Amy checked the stuffing. When everything was ready they brought the food to the dining room table and everyone helped themselves. Amy made plates for the girls, and then for herself.
While they ate, Rob told them funny stories about his week. He worked as an ER doctor at the Cape Cod Hospital. It was a stressful job but he managed to find humor in it and some of the situations really were comical. Like the father who brought his ten-year-old son in because he was worried that he wasn’t tall enough—as if that was an emergency!
“How are bookings going? Is it picking up at all with the stroll weekend coming up?” Amy asked their mother over coffee and dessert.
“We still have rooms available but Riley’s already updated the website and our social media pages and a new booking came in this morning while she was at the grocery store.”
Riley didn’t know that. “That’s great news, Mom!”
“I forgot to tell you earlier. It is good news. I’m sure it will pick up this week, too. We were sold out last year for Christmas Stroll. I think we will be this year, too.”
“We’re doing something different starting stroll weekend, too,” Riley said. She told her sister about the chocolate turndown service and the wine and cheese happy hour on the weekend. Amy looked intrigued.
“If you don’t think that is going to take too much time, I actually think it’s a really good idea. It will give the inn more of a special, high-end feel,” Amy said.
Riley was glad that her sister liked the idea. “I don’t think it will take too long. I can make the rounds right before five and put chocolate on their pillows.”
“I stayed at a hotel once that did that and it was such a treat,” Riley’s mother said. “I love the idea. But if it turns into too much work, Riley, please let me know.”
Riley nodded. “I will. I think it will be fine, though.”
“I like the happy hour idea,” Rob said. “How will you do it? Will you limit guests to one glass?”
Riley and her mother looked at each other. They hadn’t discussed the specifics to that level yet and it was a good question.
“I’m honestly not sure,” she admitted.
“I’ve been thinking about it some, and I think we should limit the time. Do it from five to six and offer everyone a glass, but I’m fine with a little more, topping off their glasses a bit, possibly. We will play it by ear.
“We’ll have cheese and crackers, and maybe bread and salami or something. We can vary that. And we can use small glasses—that will give the illusion of having more.”
“That’s a good idea, honey. Otherwise we risk overpouring so the glasses don’t look empty.”
Riley laughed. “Definitely. Imagine if we used your giant wineglasses, we’d all be drinking bowls of wine.” Her mother had some gorgeous red wineglasses that were only meant to be filled maybe a quarter of the way—if they filled them to the top it would be almost half a bottle of wine.
“Maybe we can take a ride to the Dollar Tree tomorrow to pick up some wineglasses. I noticed the last time I was there that they had some smaller ones,” her mother suggested.
“How’s Jack?” Amy asked.
“He’s good. Busy as ever. You know how it is,” Riley said. Amy had once worked in a very corporate environment, with high stress and constant deadlines. Soon after graduating, she’d lived in Boston with friends for a year before she and Rob got engaged and moved in together. They’d stayed in the Boston area for five more years before Amy got pregnant with the girls and Rob accepted the position with the Cape Cod Hospital.
Amy looked thoughtful. “He must take breaks on the weekend, though, even when it’s busy? Why don’t you see if he can come for a visit this weekend? It would be fun to meet him finally and Christmas Stroll is a great weekend to come.”
“Oh, that is a great idea. Riley, please ask him. We’d all like to meet him. It has been almost two years now,” her mother reminded her.
Riley nodded. “That’s a great idea. I’ll definitely ask him. He does work weekends sometimes, so he might not be able to make it.”
Her mother smiled. “He should be able to slow down a little this time of year, I would think?”
Riley smiled at the thought. She doubted that the holidays even registered with Jack. He was so focused, all of the time. But he did say he’d make the trip to meet her family at some point, so this weekend might be a good time.
Later that evening, after Amy, Rob, and the kids went home and her mother was settled in the living room watching a movie on Netflix, Riley called Jack. He picked up on the first ring.
“Hey! How’s everything on the Cape?” They’d talked twice, briefly, since Riley had arrived. Jack wasn’t much for chatting on the phone but he’d called to say hello and she’d checked in as well, but never knew if she was interrupting. But she figured a Sunday night was a good time to catch him.
“Good. Mom’s getting around a little easier and Amy and her family were here today for Sunday dinner. They asked about you.”
“Oh, that’s nice. Please tell them I said hello.”
“I will. But we were thinking, maybe you can tell them in person. This coming weekend is a big deal in Chatham. It’s the Christmas Stroll weekend, lots of Christmas activities downtown. Is there any chance you could visit? You could fly into Hyannis and I could pick you up. It’s a quick flight,” she added.
Jack was quiet for a long moment and Riley was sure he was going to say no, that he was too busy. But he surprised her. “I guess I could do that. We’re winding up this case, which gives me a little bit of a break, and I’ve been pulling so many late nights that I could leave early on Friday and catch a flight that afternoon. Would that work?”
Riley was shocked into silence for a moment. “Yes! That would be great. There’s a tree lighting ceremony downtown at six or six thirty. If you get in that afternoon, we should be able to make that and my whole family will be there.”
“Perfect, I’ll catch a flight that will get me in around four, then.”
They chatted a bit more and Riley was still smiling when she ended the call. Jack was finally coming to Chatham. She was sure that her family would love him.