The Fabric Shop on Blueberry Bay (Blueberry Bay #4)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

C ora stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Julian Abbott walk through the restaurant’s doors. He didn’t even bother to look around the room to see if she was there. He must’ve completely forgotten that she worked at this restaurant. He had forgotten so much that he brought a woman with him. The five-nine slender bombshell held his hand and arm with both of hers as they waited to be seated.

After slinking back into the kitchen, Cora peeked through the door’s glass. Julian whispered something into the woman’s ear that made her throw her head back and laugh.

Cora let out her own sad single laugh, remembering how funny Julian had been. The attractive woman stuck her body up against his until they sat down.

“What are you doing?” Brandon, the kitchen manager, asked from behind the line.

“I’m waiting for a customer to be seated,” she said, craning her neck to look over the bread station. “I can’t believe he’d come here with another woman.”

She watched as Mia walked them to the garden room—her section.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Of all the places in Boston, Julian had decided to bring a date to the restaurant she worked in. “Unbelievable.”

“Who is it?” Brandon asked, throwing a dish towel over his shoulder as he walked to the window with Cora. She grabbed the stained linen and pulled it off his shoulder. Her handsome boss needed to get better linens. She tossed the towel into the dirty laundry.

“My sister’s fiancé’s brother.” It was a mouthful. She went back to the window and narrowed her eyes at the couple. “Julian Something Stupid Abbott.”

“You really like the guy,” Brandon joked, returning to his desk.

Cora ignored the comment, picking up a bottle of water and glasses for Julian’s table. She held a smile as she walked through the swinging door to the dining room. When she reached his table, she approached the couple, who hadn’t noticed anyone but themselves since walking in.

“Welcome to Giovanni’s,” she said to the two. “My name is Cora. I’ll be your server tonight. Can I start you off with something to drink?”

Just as Julian lifted his eyes off the woman’s chest, he saw her. The uppity Julian Abbott disappeared, and she could see the shock in his eyes.

“Cora,” he said right away. “You work here?”

Cora understood they hadn’t spent years, or even months, together. But the few weeks they had shared in Blueberry Bay last summer had been some of the best moments of her life. They had spent every second they could together, until one day, he’d just stopped calling her. During those intense days, she shared some of her life's most intimate stories, and he couldn’t even remember where she worked.

“Wow, okay,” she said, putting her arms behind her back. “Can I get you something to drink?” She looked at the woman, who was oblivious to the interaction as she perused the menu.

“I’ll have a glass of merlot.”

“Would you like the house brand?” Cora asked.

“Sure, that’s fine.” The blonde didn’t look up, still examining the menu.

“For you?” She turned back to the open-mouthed Julian, waiting for him to respond.

“How’ve you been?” Julian asked her.

“Great!” She smiled bigger, wider. “You?”

“Good, good,” he said quietly, examining her instead of the menu.

“Should I give you two a few minutes?” she said, ready to bolt. She should’ve given the table to someone else.

“Sure,” the woman said, not noticing anything happening between her date and the server he kept staring at.

“Great, I’ll be back,” Cora said, dashing away from the table as fast as she could without looking ridiculous.

Just as she reached the door to the kitchen, she heard him behind her.

“Cora,” Julian said.

She slapped the swinging door with her hand, pushing it open, hoping he wouldn’t come in, but to her horror, Julian followed her to the kitchen.

“What’s up?” she said, pretending to look at her empty pad. “Customers aren’t supposed to be back here.”

“I meant to call you,” he blurted out.

She laughed at his lame excuse. “Okay.”

He frowned. “I wouldn’t have come here if I had known.”

“You can eat anywhere you like, Julian,” she said, trying to pretend it didn’t matter. “And you don’t have to worry about not calling. It’s fine.” She waved it off with her hand. “Water under the bridge.”

His shoulders fell as he looked immediately relieved by her answer. “I’m glad because now, with Muriel and Oliver…”

“Yes, the wedding is coming up.” Cora groaned silently. Her younger sister was going to marry Julian’s brother. “That should be fun.”

“Yeah, it should be,” Julian said dryly.

An awkward silence hung between them.

“Well, I should get back to work.” She jabbed her hand behind her at nothing. “And get that merlot.”

He shook his head. “No, I think we’ll just head out.”

“Oh, no, you don’t have to leave,” she said, touching his upper arm and quickly drawing it back. I mean, don’t leave because of me.”

He looked at her. “Are you sure?”

She threw her hand at him again playfully. “Sure! I’m dating someone now, anyway,”

The lie came out before she knew it.

His face lit up as though the idea of her moving on made things all the better. “That’s great!”

“Yes,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t ask further questions.

And just like she’d thought, Julian had moved on.

He put his hands in his suit’s pockets. He must’ve come from work. “I’m going to head back to my table.”

“I’ll be there with your drinks,” she said, shifting her eyes away from his azure blue. “Oh, wait. What can I get you?”

“I’ll just take a merlot.” Then he gave her the most pathetic, sympathetic face. “I am sorry that I didn’t…”

She didn’t help him finish; instead, she just stared at him. What was Julian trying to do? A few months ago, he’d pledged his undying love for her. Now, he could hardly stay in the same restaurant as her. And he’d brought another woman? How could he not remember where she worked?

“I’ll see you at the wedding,” she said, unwilling to go back there.

“I guess you’ll be bringing a date then?” he asked.

She almost hit her head. Her sister’s wedding was in a few months. How would she get a boyfriend by then?

“Yes,” she said, nodding.

“Great,” he said.

“Great,” she said back just as fast. “Let me get those drinks.”

She spun around without another word and walked out of the kitchen and straight to the bar, pretending not to notice his gaze on her or that he walked back to the table where the beautiful woman sat.

As she grabbed the drinks, Brandon came out from the back.

“That guy is going to be your brother-in-law?” he asked, looking at the table with the gorgeous couple.

“That guy is going to be nobody to me,” she said. “His brother is marrying my sister. That’s all.”

“Why do you have such a problem with him?” he asked, looking at her.

She shrugged. “Let’s just say, I know the real Julian Abbott, and it’s not that guy sitting over there.”

She thought about asking one of the other servers to handle Julian’s table. She didn’t need to deal with this kind of thing today. Not some guy that had blown her off after he’d hooked her in. She had enough to worry about.

Never fall for the story. She’d known things were too good to be true. Like most men Cora had dated, he had promised the world but delivered a stomp on her heart instead.

She’d thought he might be the one.

She laughed at the thought. “Yeah, right.”

“What did you say?” the hostess, Mia, asked as she walked behind the bar.

“Nothing,” Cora mumbled back. Could this day get any worse?

“Cora,” a man’s voice said from the other end of the bar.

Cora turned to see her father standing at the entrance.

“Phil?” she said.

He immediately frowned. “Do you have a minute?”

She looked at the drinks. “Not really.”

Her father walked over to her anyway, as though what she’d said didn’t matter. He kissed her quickly on the cheek, then didn’t move from the drink station. “It’s about Rylie.”

The sound of her stepmother’s name made her close her eyes. “What about her?”

“She’s uncomfortable about going to your sister’s wedding,” he said, rubbing his hands together like he did when he had to tell her something terrible.

Cora almost thought he was complaining but realized he wanted her to say something. “Wow. What are you going to do?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s been pretty difficult.”

Cora didn’t know what to say. How did she feel about her father’s mistress acting even more evil? She was putting up a stink about his daughter’s wedding. She wouldn’t say it, but karma could be cruel. “That sounds rough.”

“I had hoped that maybe you could talk to her and tell her how happy your mom is with Quinn.” He didn’t look at her but down at his hands. “Rylie likes you.”

She felt the stab with that one. Did she not like her sister? Or her brother?

What’s worse, there was no, hey, kiddo, how are you doing? Do you need anything? Always me, me, me.

“I’m at work, Dad,” she said, about to walk away. “Call me later when I have time to talk.”

“Maybe you could come over, maybe babysit one night so you could get to know Britney better,” he said.

What was with the men in her life? They wanted nothing to do with her unless it benefited them. “Maybe?” But it wasn’t a maybe. It was a hard no. “I have to get back to work.”

And she left it at that. She walked away, not even dealing with her father at this point. She grabbed Julian’s drinks. She’d take their order and have Mia deliver it.

As she set the drinks in front of the woman, Julian looked up and gave her his puppy dog eyes, but she did her best to ignore them and asked, “Are we ready to order?”

Julian closed his menu. “I’ll have the chef’s special.”

“I’ll have the salmon,” the woman said, taking his menu from him, putting it together with hers, then handing them to Cora. Just like a couple would.

Cora nodded, taking the rest of the woman’s requests for her meal. Only olive oil, no lemon on the fish, no nuts of any kind, and the vegetables steamed.

“Aren’t you going to write that down?” the woman asked.

Cora shook her head. “No, I’ll be fine.”

She accidentally glanced at Julian and noticed him watching her. She plucked the menus from the skinny woman’s claws, smiled, and left, hurrying back to the kitchen, taking the long way to avoid where her father was sitting.

“Isn’t that your dad?” Brandon asked as she zipped by him. “Looks like the whole family’s in.”

Cora rolled her eyes at his quip, then looked out the door window, her hands shaking as she balled them up.

“Hey, are you okay?” Brandon asked.

Cora shook her head, taking off her apron. “Will you tell my dad to go?”

“What?” Brandon looked out the window.

“Just tell him I can’t talk right now,” she said, putting her apron on the counter. She grabbed a notebook, scribbled down Julian’s order, then ripped it off and handed it to Brandon. “I’m taking my break.”

She grabbed her jacket and took off before hearing what Brandon said behind her. She needed to get out of there now.