Chapter Twenty-Nine
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Franny sounded so excited at breakfast,” Riley said. She was in the kitchen at home with her mother and they were making some appetizers. Her mother’s friends, Jess, Alison, Donna, and Maddie were coming for a girls’ night. Jess and Maddie were bringing an appetizer, too, and Alison was making her delicious gluten-free brownies.
“She did. I’m so happy for her. It seems like her sister’s letters are working their magic,” her mother said.
“It does. She said that it opened her eyes to all the wonderful memories she had here and made her want to spend more time in Chatham. This place does sort of grow on you, the more time you spend here.” Riley could understand it. For years she’d only been back in Chatham for a few days or at the most a week during the summer. Too fast to really sink into it and experience living on the Cape. At first, it was because she was afraid she would miss it too much. And then it just became a habit.
“The house sounds perfect for her,” her mother said.
“I can’t wait to see it. She said she’ll have us over once she’s all set up. She needs to go shopping to furnish it,” Riley said.
“Really? I’m surprised she’s not moving stuff there from Albany.”
“I don’t think she’s ready to give that house up yet,” Riley said.
“Oh, right. Well, it will be fun for her to go shopping.”
Riley put the final touches on her appetizer. It was a decadent garlic bread stuffed with artichokes, spinach, sour cream, and several cheeses. She’d just taken it out of the oven and sprinkled minced parsley on top before slicing it into small pieces.
Her mother checked on her sausage-stuffed mushrooms, which were still in the oven. She pulled them out and set them on the counter. They looked delicious.
Maddie was the first to arrive. She handed Riley a bottle of Hot to Trot, a red blend that was really good. She also had a bowl of caramelized onion dip and some cut veggies as well as potato chips. “Because veggies won’t be enough, but if we have a few we won’t feel as guilty about the chips.” She set the bowl on the kitchen island and took the foil off the top.
Jess and Alison arrived together. They both brought wine, too, a bottle of Josh Cabernet and Bread & Butter Prosecco. “I’ve been on a Prosecco kick lately,” Alison said as she set a pan of brownies on the counter.
Jess handed Riley’s mother a charcuterie board that was covered with an assortment of cheese, prosciutto, salami, mini pickles, nuts, and crackers.
“This looks fantastic, thank you.”
Donna was the last to arrive and rushed in, apologizing for running late.
“It has been a day,” she said as she handed Riley a platter of cold cooked shrimp with cocktail sauce and lemon on the side. She also set a bottle of Prosecco on the counter and laughed when she saw the identical bottle of Bread & Butter. She glanced at Alison. “Great minds think alike, I see.”
Riley opened the wines and poured a glass for everyone. They stood around the island in the kitchen, eating everything and talking and laughing. Riley mostly sipped her wine and ate as she listened to the conversation. She’d worried about her mother from time to time, wondering if she was lonely, but it turned out she actually had a more active social life than Riley did. She didn’t have a solid friend group like this in Manhattan. She had a few friends but no group of girlfriends that met up regularly like her mother’s friends did.
“So, tell us all about Sean,” Donna said after they’d been chatting for a while. “You like him and are going out again when?”
Her mother laughed. “We’re going out tomorrow night. And I do like him, he’s really easy company. And he’s attractive, too!”
They all laughed in agreement. Jess asked Riley how her job search was going.
“I had a phone interview this afternoon, and it went well. They asked when I’d be available for an in-person and I let them know I have another interview there this Thursday. So, they set something up for that afternoon.”
“Oh, good! Nice to have a few options. What kind of company is this one?” Donna asked.
“It’s a law firm. It’s actually where my boyfriend works. So I’m not so sure if that is a good idea or not. But I figured I would check it out at least. The job itself sounds pretty good.”
“Hmm. That could be really good… or not, if things ever go south with the boyfriend,” Jess said. Riley knew she was speaking from experience as she and her ex-husband, who was also a lawyer, used to work at the same law firm.
“I know. I’m more excited about the other role.” She told them a little about the company.
“That sounds more similar to your last company possibly?” Alison said.
Riley nodded. “I think so. I guess I’ll know for sure when I go in and meet the team.”
“Well, good luck,” Donna said. She looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, “You wouldn’t be interested in any temporary work, like a project while you’re home for the holidays?”
Riley was intrigued. “Possibly, what did you have in mind?”
“We had a new website done a year or so ago and it has a blog, but we’ve never put up any blog posts. Someone told me recently that we could be using that more strategically to drive traffic our way when people search on the internet.”
Riley nodded. “That’s exactly what I do. It’s called content marketing. And we write blog posts around a specific topic that your potential customers might be interested in. So when they search online, your website will pop up.”
“Would you be interested in helping us with that?” Donna asked.
“Sure. I’ll be back Friday afternoon. I could start then and do some work over the weekend. You might want to have a lead magnet, too.”
“What’s that?” Donna asked.
“It’s a short brochure with information that they can download. There’s a process where it will move them onto your mailing list and then you can follow up a week or so after they get the reader magnet with an email asking if they’d like to discuss anything. It can work really well.”
Donna looked very interested. “Let’s do it. I can email you some information to get you started.”
“Great. Thank you!” Riley was excited to have a project to work on. And the extra money would be nice, as well. The possibility of taking on freelance consulting work as a full- time gig had crossed her mind, but she’d instantly ruled it out. It seemed much riskier than a full-time job with a good salary and benefits. But she loved the idea of doing occasional projects on the side. Especially until she landed a new job.
“Maddie, how is the commuting going?” Donna asked.
Riley knew that Maddie and her husband, Richie, were splitting their time between Manhattan and Chatham. She’d accepted a big promotion to run the literary agency where she’d worked as an agent for years, but it required that she spent a big part of each month in the city.
“It was definitely an adjustment, but we’re okay with it now. The job is great. It’s a new challenge and I’m loving it. And we like being in the city. This month is a slow one in publishing, so I’m in Chatham through the New Year and we’re closed completely the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.”
They ate their fill of the appetizers, had a bit more wine, and eventually tried the brownies.
“I know I say this every time we get together,” Jess said. “But these brownies go really well with red wine.”
Riley laughed. “They do actually.”
Jess looked her way. “Your mom mentioned that your high school sweetheart and his son are staying at the inn. What’s it like seeing him again?”
Riley smiled. “It’s nice reconnecting. His son is really sweet. This time of year is still hard for both of them. It has been a few years, though, so I think it’s getting better.”
“So how are things going with your boyfriend?” Jess asked.
“Good. He was here over stroll weekend and met everyone.”
“Oh. Well, that’s that, then. I know Aidan and he’s a really nice guy. He’ll make someone a great boyfriend.”
Riley smiled. “He definitely will.” She wasn’t sure she liked the idea of Aidan finding someone else. But that was silly. She had no right to feel that way. And she’d just told Jess that it was going well with Jack. It was a good thing that she’d be seeing him in a few days. They needed some time together.