Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Eleanor was, to put it bluntly, feeling pretty darn proud of herself.
When Brian had told her he’d wanted a divorce, she’d felt inadequate. How did a woman who’d spent the last twenty years as a housewife and stay-at-home mom suddenly pivot to living independently? Was such a thing even possible?
Well, she had shown her doubts to the door, because not three weeks after that terrible dinner, she had managed to find herself a new place to live, in a new city, pack her belongings into her car, and drive halfway across the country.
As the rolling fields of the Midwest gave way to the tiny towns of the Northeast, she felt each mile like a jolt of caffeine.
She’d done it. She’d really done it!
Brian, perhaps in an act of contrition, given the circumstances of their separation, had been reasonably generous, as far as financials went.
The original divorce papers, the ones he’d left for her in that shocking envelope the first morning, had offered to let her keep the house.
Since Eleanor had found the idea of continuing to live in that house about as fun as the idea of a hundred root canals, she’d offered a counterproposal: what if they sold the house and split the proceeds?
Brian had agreed, which had left Eleanor with a modest little nest egg for starting her next chapter… or it would, once the sale went through.
For now, her budget was a bit more limited, but she’d found a good-sized house online that was within Magnolia Shore’s borders. The pictures had made it seem like it would need a little TLC, but Eleanor was no stranger to cleaning supplies and elbow grease.
She wished there had been a few more pictures, a little more information to go on before she’d jumped in, sight unseen, but she wasn’t going to let any of that put a damper on her ‘new adventure’ attitude.
She’d decided as much when she’d cried on and off for the first few hours of her drive, but once she’d gotten to the western Massachusetts border and was officially in her adopted home state, she decided enough was enough.
She wasn’t shedding any more tears.
She was just taking the interstate off-ramp toward Magnolia Shore itself when her phone rang. She answered it through her car’s hands-free system.
“Hello?”
“Hey, sis.”
She smiled at the sound of Shane’s voice.
Eleanor’s younger brother worked in California, a computer programmer in some kind of fast-paced tech hub out there, and between his busy work hours and the time difference, she didn’t get to talk to him as much as she would have liked.
Recently, however, her brother had made a point to check in more frequently than usual.
He’d been a rock for her during this whole transition.
“Hey, city boy,” she teased. “Shouldn’t you already be working?” It was close to noon on a Tuesday on the East Coast, which meant that it was just time to clock in on the West Coast. Shane chuckled.
“Oh, I’ve already had two meetings this morning. I’m just in line for a coffee at the cart right now, so I thought I’d give you a ring.”
She shook her head. Of course he’d already been working for hours.
“I don’t know how you do it,” she admitted. “If I tried to keep your hours, you’d find me passed out asleep on my desk more often than not.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he complained, his tone good natured. This was a common faux argument between them. “I work too much, don’t relax enough. You’re not the first to say it.”
Eleanor paused. She wasn’t sure her brother sounded quite as happy about his fast-paced city life as he usually did.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
Shane let out a little harumph. “Yeah, it’s fine.
I’m just in a little bit of a snit because this client wants the impossible but isn’t taking any of our recommendations to actually make it become possible.
Just regular annoying work stuff.” Eleanor was reassured by the way he sounded lighter after getting even that little complaint off his chest. “But enough about me. How’s your trip? When do you get to the new town?”
“Right now, actually. I literally just drove past a ‘Welcome to Magnolia Shore’ sign.”
“Ooh, I get the real-time reaction. Okay, tell me everything. What are we seeing?”
Eleanor grinned at her brother’s eagerness to be involved.
If she had one qualm about moving to Magnolia Shore, it was that it put even more miles between her and Shane.
Moving to California hadn’t been a good option though.
Not only was it terribly expensive, but Shane worked so much that she wouldn’t get to see him very frequently, anyway.
“Okay, well, there’s a fence to my left that’s one of those rustic split rail fences.”
“Very quaint. What else?”
“Beyond it is some farmhouse style homes. Wait, they might actually be a farm, or at least one of them.”
“Amazing, I love it. Tell me more.”
“Trees. Trees everywhere.” Her voice showed her excitement. “And we’re getting a little more into the town area now. Houses are closer together, there are some shops, cute little boutiques, and—ooh! Coffee shop!”
This was probably fate, Eleanor reasoned. Shane was waiting for coffee, Eleanor wanted a coffee, and boom! Coffee shop.
“You should probably grab a cup,” her brother said, proving once again that he was the best brother in the entire world.
“I’m just about to the front of the line at the coffee cart, anyway, and I have to run to yet another meeting with these clients.
But, hey. Don’t forget a single detail. I’m going to want to hear all about it later. Okay?”
“Okay,” Eleanor agreed as she swung into a parking spot in front of the adorable Juniper Café. “Good luck with your meeting.”
“Good luck living in a postcard,” he teased.
“You jerk!” She was laughing as she insulted him, though, so he knew she didn’t mean it. He was laughing on the other end too. “Go. I love you.”
“Love you too. I’m proud of you. Talk soon.”
As they hung up, Eleanor was already scheming about how to get her brother to come visit her in her new picture-perfect town, as Shane would put it. Surely he had some vacation time saved up, given that he worked about a million hours a week?
She would figure it out, she told herself confidently as she entered the coffee shop.
The ambiance inside was honestly perfect, in Eleanor’s opinion.
The energy was bustling, even though it wasn’t terribly crowded inside.
Still, the hissing of the espresso maker, the chatter of customers as they ate their lunches, and the low, unobtrusive music playing in the background combined into a homey symphony that reminded Eleanor of all the best parts of a large family dinner.
Plus, the pastry case looked to die for. Unlike at Shane’s hectic coffee cart thousands of miles away, there was no line to order at Juniper Café, so Eleanor hurried up to the pastry case to inspect her options.
“Oh no,” she mumbled to herself. “How am I even supposed to choose?”
The bear claws were flaky and drizzled with honey and chocolate, slivers of almonds sprinkled liberally atop. The lemon bars were fat and bright yellow, dusted with confectioner’s sugar. There were three or four flavors of cupcakes, each with different colors of icing.
In the end, though, it was the cinnamon bun that caught Eleanor’s attention.
It was indulgently large, with cinnamon filling poking out from between the layers.
Nothing, in Eleanor’s opinion, was more disappointing than a cinnamon bun lacking in cinnamon.
This one, though, clearly did not have that problem…
nor had the baker been stingy with the frosting, which covered the top of the bun and dripped down the sides in lazy rivulets.
Her mouth watered just looking at it.
“I’ll take a cinnamon bun,” she told the girl behind the counter before she could talk herself out of it.
“Amazing,” the barista said. She was probably college-aged and looked cheerful. She immediately started donning gloves to grab the pastry. “Do you want it warmed up a little? It only takes a minute or so and honestly, I highly recommend it.”
Well, when she put it that way…
“Yes, I do,” Eleanor said, forcing down the part of her that wanted to demur, insist that the girl not go to any additional trouble for her sake. She’d shouted down that part of herself for too long. No more.
“Very smart,” the girl said with a grin. She popped the bun into a little warming oven that was waiting behind the counter and spun the dial with practiced effortlessness. “And can I get you something to drink?”
“Whoops, I got so distracted by the pastries, I didn’t even look at the drinks menu,” Eleanor said, peering up at the sign behind the counter. There were a lot of options, but since the worker had offered her recommendation about heating up the bun so readily…
“Do you have a favorite?” Eleanor asked.
“I’m a honey lavender latte girl,” the barista answered immediately. “It’s perfect for spring, sweet and just a little floral.”
Eleanor considered for only a moment. She wasn’t typically a fancy drink kind of person. Drip coffee from her trusty old machine was good enough for her. But that did sound good.
“You know what, let’s do it,” she said decisively.
The girl grinned again. “Coming right up.”
Eleanor’s pride welled again. She was celebrating and she deserved to treat herself!
The bun and the drink were ready in moments, and Eleanor paid for her food.
A glance at her watch told her she had at least half an hour before she could get into her new house, given the meeting she’d set with the real estate agent.
Perfect. That was just enough time to sit and really enjoy her treats… and the wonderful ambiance of the café.