Chapter 5 #2
While she nibbled on the decadent cinnamon roll, which really was delightful warmed up, she idly watched the other customers in the café.
There was an older man, grumbling good-naturedly at the crossword puzzle in front of him, two moms with babies strapped to their chests, looking tired.
Eleanor remembered those days all too well.
The door opened and a woman came in with a little girl, perhaps six or seven years old. The little girl was skipping, while the mom had a faintly worried look about her, one that she was clearly trying to hide from the child.
Eleanor remembered that feeling, as well, and wondered if she should have noticed the tensions in her marriage earlier before pushing the thoughts aside. She couldn’t change the past. All she could do was look forward to her next steps.
The café was small enough that Eleanor could hear as the mom ordered herself a coffee and her daughter a hot cocoa.
They were clearly locals, likely regulars, as the barista teased the little girl about wanting whipped cream “with extra, extra sprinkles.” The hot cocoa was ready in a flash, and the mom escorted the girl to the table next to Eleanor’s.
A moment later, she returned to the counter to retrieve her coffee, and the girl turned to Eleanor with a grin.
“If you ask nicely,” the girl said with all the wisdom of a small child, “they will give you extra, extra sprinkles. It’s a secret, though. It’s not on the board. You have to ask. And say please.”
Pulling an expression that said she was impressed with this knowledge, Eleanor pulled the lid off her coffee and showed its lack of whipped cream and sprinkles, extra or otherwise.
“I don’t have any, I’m afraid,” she said. “I didn’t know about the secret.”
“But now you’ll know next time!” the girl said, her grin pleased.
“A very fine point,” Eleanor agreed.
The girl’s mother returned to the table.
“Oh, sorry if she interrupted your quiet time,” she said. “Isabelle, did you remember to ask the nice lady if she was free to talk? Sometimes people are busy.”
The girl’s face crumpled into a frown. “No, I forgot. I was too excited about the sprinkles.”
“It’s not a problem at all,” Eleanor assured the mother. “In fact, she gave me very valuable information. I was just thinking that sprinkles and whipped cream would have taken my coffee from delicious to perfect.”
“Cool,” Isabelle said. “I think so too.”
The mom chuckled, the sound a touch tired but fond, and ran a hand down her daughter’s braid.
“Well, thank you,” she said to Eleanor. “I’m Cadence, by the way, and this is my daughter, Isabelle.” She stuck out a hand to shake.
Eleanor accepted. “I’m Eleanor Brad—Eleanor Ridley,” she hastily corrected. She had decided to return to her maiden name, but after twenty years, the habit of using her married name was hard to unstick. If Cadence noticed her hiccup, she didn’t let on.
“Nice to meet you,” the younger woman said. “Feel free to tell me if I’m being nosy, but are you new in town? I don’t think I’ve seen you around, and it’s a bit early in the year to start getting tourists… though maybe you’re just proactive!” she added with a laugh.
“No, you were right the first time. I’m a new arrival, but here to stay,” Eleanor explained. “I just bought a house over on Piedmont Street.”
“Oh, congratulations on the new house! We don’t live that far from there… not that anything is too far apart in Magnolia Shore, to be honest. Although, I didn’t realize there was anything for sale over on Piedmont…”
“It’s a little bit of a fixer-upper,” Eleanor admitted. “But it’s got this lovely sage green paint, if that helps narrow it down.”
Cadence paused. “Oh, yeah. Okay, I know that place. It’s darling.” There was something about her tone that Eleanor wasn’t sure about, but the woman pasted on a bright smile and went on. “What brought you to town?”
Eleanor thought this maybe wasn’t the right time to get into the nitty gritty details of her divorce drama. So she smiled and kept things a touch vague.
“I got some… unexpected mail, let’s say, and it changed my perspective on a lot of things. So I was looking to start anew, and found a post about Magnolia Shore and my heart just knew it was the right spot.”
Fortunately, Cadence seemed happy to accept this explanation. “Well, your heart is a great judge, then, because Magnolia Shore is the best. I’ve lived here my whole life, my parents have lived here their whole lives, and my grandparents…” She trailed off. “Well, you get the picture.”
“I know Isabelle already has the inside scoop about how to source sprinkles around here,” Eleanor said.
The little girl looked up from her hot cocoa with a grin, a mustache of whipped cream on her upper lip.
“But it sounds like you might have some other good information for me. Tell me, what do I need to know about living here?”
“Well, first and most important is that it’s the greatest town in the world,” Cadence said with mock solemnity. “All other towns tremble in the face of our greatness.”
“Obviously,” Eleanor agreed with the same solemnity. She liked Cadence. She hoped she would get to see more of the woman now that they were both locals.
“But, let me see, what else? Okay, so do not try to get a hotel reservation during tourist season. You basically need a million-year advance notice and a good luck charm to make it happen. You already know that Juniper has the best pastries and coffee. The grocery store is on the smaller side, but if you let Kelly know something you need in advance, she’ll order it for you.
And the library does lots of events, although maybe that’s something that you only need to know if you have little kids,” she finished, giving another soft look to her daughter.
“Ah, mine is all grown up,” Eleanor explained. “He just started college. But we basically lived in the library when he was a toddler.”
“Yeah, the library is the best,” Isabelle said, nose deep in her hot cocoa.
“And it’s still good information for me,” Eleanor added with a grin. “Because I’m a semi-professional reader.”
She brushed off her shoulders like no big deal, making Cadence laugh.
“Only semi-professional? What do you do for work?”
Ugh. Eleanor grimaced. “I was home with my son, so I haven’t had a job in years,” she admitted. “Figuring that out… is part of my next stage, I guess.”
Again, Cadence revealed herself a kindred spirit by nodding without judgment.
“What do you do for work?” Eleanor asked.
“I run a small art gallery in town,” Cadence said.
“Whenever you’re looking to decorate your new place, let me know.
Even if what we have in the gallery isn’t exactly your style, I know most of the local distributors and can help you find stuff.
Although,” she added with a wink, “I think the gallery will have something you like. It’s a great space. ”
Eleanor laughed at the woman’s playful self-promotion. “I love it. I don’t think my next step is decorating just yet, but I’ll keep that in mind when I get there.”
Cadence nodded. “Well, if part of your next stage is getting to know some locals, I can help you out there. Any chance you’d like to meet a couple of friends with me for dinner in two days?”
Eleanor tried to look the normal level of excited, instead of the absolute, throw-up-your-hands, do-a-dance level of excitement she actually felt.
“I’d love that,” she said.
Shortly after the women exchanged phone numbers, Cadence and Isabelle bid Eleanor farewell. Eleanor finished up her delicious snack and drink and headed to meet the realtor to get into her new house… and start her next chapter, which suddenly felt bright and shining with possibility.