Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Eleanor stifled a moan of appreciation as she took a bite of the perfectly seasoned pan-seared grouper that she’d ordered for lunch. Apparently, she hadn’t been successful in fully silencing the noise, for Miriam, seated to her right, gave her an understanding look.
“You’re telling me,” she said. The older woman had ordered a Cuban sandwich made with pork belly, honey ham, house-made pickles, and mustard. Eleanor had no regrets about her own lunch choice, but she knew she’d have to return to Riverstone Kitchen again to try basically everything on the menu.
Eleanor had been pleased, not to mention ready for a distraction from trying to un-stick one of her windows, which had been painted shut about a hundred times, when Cadence had called her earlier in the day.
“Any chance you’re free?” her new friend had asked.
“The stars have aligned, and June and I are both off work and kid-free. We thought we’d grab lunch and wanted to know if you’d come along.
I’m going to ask Miriam and see if I can convince Diana to leave her store to her assistant for a little bit too. ”
Eleanor had quickly agreed and had ended up offering to swing by to pick up Miriam, who only lived a few streets away.
“I haven’t been to Riverstone Kitchen yet,” the other woman said, eyes bright with excitement.
“Oh no?”
Riverstone Kitchen, Miriam explained, was a new establishment in Magnolia Shore, which meant it would be as new to the others as it was to Eleanor.
“It’s very much the hip new thing,” Miriam said.
“The chef is supposed to be some hotshot who worked in all these top restaurants in New York. I’m not sure why he came out to Magnolia Shore to start his own place, but I’m sure glad he did.
The dinner reservations are still booked out.
I’m not sure how Cadence worked her magic and got us a spot. ”
“I called and asked, no magic needed,” Cadence said, coming up behind them at just the right moment. “Hi, Miriam, Eleanor.” She gave each woman a quick peck on the cheek. “It’s not as busy at lunchtime as dinner, the hostess said.”
June arrived shortly thereafter, followed by Diana who had, indeed, been lured away from the store. They waited for just a few minutes before they were led to their table. From there, service was quick, and the group was drawn into their meals.
“There’s no greater compliment to a chef than a quiet table,” Miriam observed as everyone tucked in. “But as a dining companion, I want to hear what everyone’s been up to. You first, June,” she concluded imperiously.
June bit back a smile as she shot a sly glance in Diana’s direction.
“Well…” she said, letting the word trail off dramatically. “I have been busy… convincing Diana to join a dating app.”
Diana groaned, although it wasn’t really an angry sound, while everyone else perked up with interest.
“Ooh,” Miriam said, practically rubbing her hands together. Eleanor already knew that the older lady was someone with a huge heart but who loved romantic intrigue. “A dating app? Do tell, Diana.”
“I was very much against the idea at first,” Diana said, shooting a glare at June, who looked perfectly unconcerned as she popped a fry in her mouth. “But then I decided that maybe June has a good point, so I finished the profile and posted it.”
Even June looked surprised at this revelation.
“You did?” June asked, sounding impressed.
“Yes, I did,” Diana said crisply. “And I haven’t connected with anyone yet, and I don’t wish to speak on it any further just now, so please, let’s move on. Eleanor, how are you settling in?”
Eleanor blew out a breath. “Well…”
“Uh oh,” Cadence murmured. “There’s a story there.”
Eleanor waved a hand to assuage the concerned looks her new friends were casting in her direction. “No, it’s not bad, or at least it’s not all bad. My divorce got finalized, which is more bittersweet than anything else, I suppose.”
Miriam reached out a hand to squeeze Eleanor’s, while Cadence’s eyebrows shot up.
“That’s so fast,” she said, sounding a bit alarmed by the idea. Eleanor assumed this had more to do with her own separation than Eleanor’s—now officially ended—marriage.
“Brian was pretty generous about the whole thing,” she admitted.
She didn’t necessarily want to compliment the man who had blindsided her on their wedding anniversary, but she supposed fair was fair.
“He split everything down the middle without fighting me over it, even though he probably could have, since he was the primary earner for our entire marriage.”
It was, if Eleanor told the truth, an enormous relief.
Not just the money, although she was, of course, grateful that she would have a cushion to support her while she figured out her next steps.
The money wasn’t enough to sustain her for the rest of her life, but it would give her a couple of years to get settled, since Brian had “bought out” her half of their old house, which had gone up considerably in value in the last twenty years.
But the idea of just having it over with…
that was an even bigger relief. She’d heard horror stories of divorces going bitter, of people terrorizing one another in the courts until all their money went to legal fees.
She hadn’t wanted that for herself, and she certainly hadn’t wanted it for Jeremy.
She didn’t even want it for Brian, not really.
She might be angry with him for the way he’d ended their marriage, but even just a few months since that fateful night, especially surrounded as she was by new friends…
From here and now, she could see how their marriage had gone wrong, had fizzled.
She still felt like she could blame Brian a little, since he’d found someone else before he’d even told her that he wanted to separate, but she didn’t hate him.
He’d given her Jeremy, for one. And there was nothing, nothing in this world Eleanor wouldn’t give up for her son.
“Well, good,” Miriam said, slapping the table decisively.
“Goodness knows there’s something wrong with that man for letting you go, but at least he got his head screwed on right for this one.
So many men think a woman cleaning and cooking and raising the kids isn’t doing any work, and if you ask me, I think the lot of ‘em need a right kick in the pants! Housework is work! It’s right there in the name! ”
The other women bit back their smiles. Eleanor could easily imagine Miriam taking to the streets when she was young, holding up a sign that demanded rights for women in the workplace and other movements of that era.
The elderly woman was a firecracker, and Eleanor had no doubts that she had been just as vibrant in her younger years.
“Speaking of housework,” June said with a sidelong glance that said she suspected Miriam was gearing up for a sizeable lecture. “How’s your house coming, Eleanor?”
Miriam, fortunately, looked intrigued rather than annoyed by this conversational distraction.
“Ugh,” said Eleanor.
“That noise is less ambiguous,” Diana observed, and they all laughed, Eleanor included.
“I’m being dramatic,” she admitted with a sigh. “I’m just upset because I nearly maimed that poor handyman from the hardware store when he stopped by and offered to help me fix my sink.”
Eleanor took another bite of her lunch, then realized that her friends were all looking at her strangely.
She hastily chewed and swallowed.
“I didn’t actually maim him!” she hurriedly explained. “I was just being dramatic again! My wonky kitchen shelf just bonked him on the shoulder.”
“Oh, we didn’t think you actually hurt him, honey,” June assured her. “We’re just… you mean Garrett, right? Garrett Wilder?”
“Yeah,” Eleanor said. “Sorry, I didn’t realize multiple people worked there. Yeah, it was Garrett.”
“No, no, you’re right. It’s just Garrett over at Nut and Bolts,” Cadence clarified, although she looked no less baffled. None of them did. “But you said he… stopped by and offered to help you fix your sink?”
“Yeah,” Eleanor repeated. “I guess he heard me fighting with it from outside or something. He knocked on the door, said he could help. He was a little grouchy about it, I’ll admit, but he still didn’t deserve getting repaid with lumber falling on his head.
” She frowned. “Even if he did get a lot grouchy after that, telling me I needed a professional handyman immediately.”
She had not yet managed to get over that particular jab to her pride.
The four other women exchanged glances. Then Miriam began snickering into her fist like a schoolgirl.
“What?” Eleanor demanded. Now it was her turn to be confounded.
“We’re not laughing at you, honey,” June reassured her. “We’re just… surprised. Garrett doesn’t… do things like that.”
“Fix things?”
“No, he does that part,” June admitted. “But only if you ask him first. And then usually only if he’s known you for a good five years. He doesn’t just approach strangers and offer to do things.”
“And he talked to you,” Cadence clarified. “Like, with words?”
“Well, he didn’t do skywriting!” Eleanor exclaimed with a laugh. “I don’t know why you’re acting like this is so remarkable. He was just being neighborly.”
“For one, Garrett Wilder is not your neighbor,” Diana pointed out. “It’s not a big town, but it’s not that small. I think he lives a little bit further out from the center of town.”
“He does,” June confirmed. “He gave me some scrap lumber he had at his house once when I needed to fix Benjamin’s sandbox. He’d have to drive another five minutes past Eleanor’s house, coming from town.”
Diana gestured at June as if to say, see?
“For another,” she continued. “Garrett Wilder doesn’t do ‘neighborly’ even with his actual neighbors, especially not when they’re attractive, single women.
If you were an old man with a stooped back, maybe.
A kid with a flat bike wheel, sure. You?
Cute and young and fun? Nah, that’s not Garrett’s area of expertise. ”
“Well, far be it from me to tell you to stop complimenting me,” Eleanor said, “but I think you might be overestimating my charms.”
June shook her head. “It’s not you. It’s Garrett. About ten years or so ago, his fiancée ditched him, like, right before they were supposed to get married. Ever since, he doesn’t date, doesn’t flirt, none of it.”
“Which is a darn shame, if you ask me,” Miriam said sourly. “Handsome, handy guy like that? Kind to his elders? Makes a good living? Could make some woman a very nice husband, don’t you think?”
Eleanor did not like the sidelong look that the older woman was giving her.
“Oh no,” she said, holding up her hands. “I just stopped having a husband literally yesterday. I am not in the market for a new one.”
Miriam did not look convinced. To Eleanor’s alarm, neither did any of the other women.
“Well,” Cadence said, “it would be nice to at least go check in on him, see how he’s doing. Since you brained him with a shelf and all that.”
“You too, Cadence?” Eleanor demanded with mock outrage.
Cadence shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a sucker for a meet-cute.”
“That’s my girl,” Miriam said approvingly.
“It’s not a meet-cute,” Eleanor insisted. “Besides, I thought you were all into suspense and drama these days.”
Cadence’s smile bloomed. “Oh! I did love that book you gave me, now that you mention it.”
Eleanor seized upon the conversational diversion.
She was not in the market for a love life, and, unless she was very, very mistaken, the scowling hardware store guy was not thinking about her like that either.
So what if he was being unusually neighborly when he had stopped by her house?
Maybe he’d felt his good deeds quota was running low and he wanted to get his numbers up.
She didn’t know. She just knew that their line of thinking was wrong. Super wrong. Very, ultra, mega wrong.
“Okay, did you finish?” she asked. “Because I did, and, no spoilers, I did not see the ending coming.”
“Ooh,” Cadence said. “No, I’m maybe forty pages from the end? But I was so sure I had it figured all out, so now I’m doubting that. Maybe there’s another big twist waiting for me.”
“Excuse you,” Diana said. “But spill the title, please! We want to know about the twisty fun book!” She gestured at herself, June, and Miriam.
“Oh, yeah, sorry.” Eleanor sent the title to their group text thread so that they had it all written down. “There it is. If you guys are going to read it, Cadence and I will be even more mum about potential spoilers.”
Miriam, who was impressively tech savvy, especially for a woman of her age, was already looking at the title on the local library’s e-book app. “Hm. Looks like there’s not enough kissing in this book,” she said.
“It is a bit less romantic than your usual fare, Miriam,” Cadence confirmed.
With a theatrical flourish, Miriam pressed the button to borrow the book.
“I will survive,” she said grandly. “I don’t want to miss out on the book talk.”
“Me neither,” said June and Diana in unison before turning to one another and laughing.
“Miriam ‘Lightning Fingers’ Landers got to the e-book copy before we could, though,” June said. “I guess we’ll have to be the uncool kids who have to wait.”
“Oh, you can borrow my copy,” Eleanor volunteered.
“And my copy, which used to be Eleanor’s spare copy, as soon as I’m done,” Cadence chimed in.
“Ooh, and then we can have a little book chat. Fun!” June exclaimed.
“I think what you’re describing there is a book club,” Miriam said with a teasing smile. June playfully stuck out her tongue.
Eleanor found that she really liked the idea, wanted to latch on to it more than the joking atmosphere indicated.
“You know what?” she said. “Yeah, let’s do a little impromptu book club!
We’ll figure out a time that works for everybody, and then that’ll give me a deadline to get at least one of the rooms in my house in order.
Then we’ll gather, christen the place, have snacks, and talk spooky thrillers.
We could call it… the Coastal Book Club. What do you think?”
Nobody even had to pause. They all agreed at once.
As they finished up lunch, Eleanor found the idea filled her with a new energy. She might not know where the rest of her life was heading. She might not know how to fix a shelf properly.
But she could host a book club meeting, and she intended to do just that.