Page 10 of A Breeze Over Rosewood Beach (Rosewood Beach #9)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Sally scampered into the dining room of Ocean Breeze Café, holding a large brown cardboard box.

“It’s here!” she called out to her employees. “The decorations have arrived!”

Both teenage girls who were working at the café that afternoon squealed and hurried toward her. Sally set the box down in the center of an empty table and started to cut open the packaging tape with her keys.

“These are so fun,” she told the teenagers. “Everything’s got some kind of nautical or ocean theme. We’ve got this big, beautiful anchor that looks antique, and a couple of knickknack sail boats that I’m going to hang in the window like Christmas tree ornaments.”

“I love that!” Annie said, leaning in eagerly to see what was in the box. “That sounds like so much fun.”

Sally opened the box proudly and she and the girls lifted out the decorations one by one, cooing with delight. There was a sign that read “I’d Rather Be Fishing,” and Sally announced with a chuckle that she was going to hang it in the bathroom.

As she and her employees continued to unwrap the decorations from their bubble wrap, she noticed a customer watching them out of the corner of her eye.

It was that man who had come in the other day, who had been so unreasonably grumpy about the sweet potato fries.

Well, he’d been grumpy about the lack of tater tots.

But if Sally had learned one thing in the restaurant business, it was that you couldn’t possibly plan everything.

They’d been swarmed by a children’s birthday party en route to the zoo that morning, and their limited supply of tater tots had been completely eradicated by the ravenous littles.

She glanced at the man again, and he quickly looked down at his food, pretending he hadn’t been watching her.

She chuckled. He clearly didn’t hate their food all that much, since he was back again for more.

This time he’d ordered blueberry waffles with sides of bacon and fried eggs even though it was lunchtime.

He appeared to be around her age, in his early fifties, with salt and pepper hair and a rugged face.

She liked his face. He made her think of what old black and white movie stars might have looked like when they got older.

At the moment, he was scowling, but she had a feeling that if he smiled, it would be a very nice smile.

She decided to go over and talk to him, moved by a curiosity and an eagerness that she couldn’t quite explain.

“Keep pulling stuff out of the bubble wrap, would you, girls? I’m going to go check on Oscar.”

He looked up for a second, clearly startled that she remembered his name, but then he quickly pretended not to have heard her and began to look at his phone.

“Afternoon, Oscar,” she sang out cheerfully as she approached his table. “How’s your meal?”

For a second, he held perfectly still, as if he hoped that pretending he hadn’t heard her would make her go away. Then he cleared his throat, making a noise that sounded like a cross between a cough and a grunt. “It’s fine.”

“Glad you like it,” she said cheerfully.

Oscar might have simply said, “Fine,” but he’d been clearing those waffles away at a healthy pace.

It was obvious he liked them. Besides, she knew how good Ocean Breeze Café’s waffles were.

She’d never met a single customer who didn’t love them.

“What do you think of our new decorations?” She gestured to all of the new goodies that were lying across the table that the box was on. “They’re fun, aren’t they?”

Oscar turned to look at the decorations, and his frown deepened.

She found his expression almost comical, and it made her want to laugh.

Did he realize how funny he looked when he turned his mouth down like that?

He almost looked like a child sulking over something.

A very old child wearing a plain dark green sweater and khaki pants.

He simply grunted in response to her question.

“Glad you like them,” Sally said with a smile, and then turned back to the teenagers and the decorations. “Where should we put the anchor, girls?” she asked. “Over there, next to the window? We’ll have to move the sailboat painting, but we can hang that up over that table over there.”

“Sounds great.” Jules eagerly plucked the sailboat painting off the wall.

“We’ll need a bigger nail, though,” Annie pointed out. “And it’ll need to be centered a little differently.”

“You’re right,” Sally said. “There’s a hammer and a toolbox underneath the sink in the kitchen. Would you run and get those? Then we can put up new nails wherever we need to.”

Giggling as though they had some kind of wonderful conspiracy they were enacting, the three women set to work.

Soon they were busily hanging up the new decorations and rearranging the old ones.

Sally felt particularly proud of a little statue of a dog dressed like a sailor, and she set it on the edge of the counter with a flourish.

“What do you think, Oscar?” she called out cheerfully, turning to her grumpy customer with a grin.

“You don’t want to know,” Oscar said, spearing his fork into the last of his waffle.

“Oh, I do.” Sally cocked her head lightly. “You’re one of my customers, and I want to know what all my customers think of the new decorations.”

“I think they’re garish,” he said flatly.

“What?” Sally protested with a laugh. “Garish? Not even a little cute too?”

Oscar frowned a little, as if he’d been sure that she would be offended by his words and he wasn’t sure what to do with the fact that she wasn’t. A few beats passed, but he didn’t say anything.

The truth was that his answer had rubbed her the wrong way, but she was determined to remain cheerful in her response.

“Sometimes, over-the-top is the best way to go,” she told him, gesturing proudly to the red sparkling flower that was pinned in her hair.

“Here at Ocean Breeze Café, we want to make a big impression on people. Good food, and an atmosphere they’ll remember for years to come.

You’ve got to remember that our decorations aren’t just for locals.

We get quite a bit of tourists in the summer. ”

“What, it doesn’t scare off the tourists?” Oscar said, but the corner of his mouth twitched a little bit when he said it. Sally again got the impression that if he ever smiled, he would look very nice.

“Not at all,” Sally said. “They love it. They love taking selfies in here.”

Oscar grunted and went back to looking down at his plate, even though it was essentially empty. Sally watched him for a moment, wondering why he was so grumpy. She wasn’t used to her optimism falling so flat.

“What’s the thought behind that grunt?” she asked him, putting her hands on her hips and taking a step toward him.

“I just think that some more realistic-looking décor could help customers take this place more seriously,” he suggested, folding his napkin carefully and setting it down in the center of his empty plate.

“Not everything needs to be taken too seriously, you know,” Sally said kindly. “There’s plenty of room in life for the fun and the whimsical.”

Oscar pressed his lips together for a moment before answering. “I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree on that.”

Sally opened her mouth to respond, but at that moment, the front doors opened and Vivian and Faith Talbot stepped inside the café.

Faith was Vivian’s second cousin, the daughter of a cousin that Vivian had been very fond of when she was a child.

After Faith had decided to move away from Boston and end her legal career because of an intense panic attack, she’d moved to Rosewood Beach and been welcomed into the Owens’ family circle.

Soon after that, Faith had started dating Ryan McCormick, the son of Judd McCormick, who ran the local brewery.

Judd had set himself up as a rival of the Owens family for years and had tried to undermine The Lighthouse Grill more than once.

It had turned out, however, that Ryan was not like the rest of his family.

He was a caring, compassionate man who’d had no part in the McCormicks’ plans to feud with the Owens.

He and Faith were very much in love, and their relationship had helped quell the competitive spirit of Judd and his other sons.

Sally was always delighted to see both women, especially Vivian, and she was thrilled that they’d arrived just when she was putting up the new decorations. They were sure to give a more enthusiastic response to the décor than Oscar.

She hurried toward the front of the store, eager to greet her friends. She noticed a moment later that they were positively giddy, both laughing and acting as excited as little girls.

“What’s going on here?” Sally asked with a grin, giving them both a hug at once. “Did something happen?”

Vivian and Faith turned to each other and smiled.

“We need an order of chicken and rice soup STAT,” Vivian said. “It’s very important.”

“Do you have that on the menu today?” Faith asked. “Please say yes.”

“We do,” Sally said, feeling intrigued. Clearly something was going on, since the two of them seemed so excited about this soup, which apparently was urgent. “What on earth is this all about?”

Vivian and Faith exchanged another glance, seeming to be torn about something.

“We have news,” Vivian blurted. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Julia just discovered that she’s pregnant!”

Sally gasped. “Pregnant?” she whispered, thrilled.

“Apparently she’s desperately craving your chicken and rice soup,” Faith said with a laugh. “She’s been begging Cooper to pick some up for her, but he can’t get away from work. He called us to ask if we could help out.”

Sally placed her hand on her heart, a rush of emotions going through her core.

On the one hand, she was genuinely thrilled for Julia, and very happy that her friends had such good news that they were so happy about.

On the other hand, she couldn’t help feeling a twinge of melancholy.

Here was more evidence of families and relationships blossoming all around her while her own love life remained stagnant.

“It’s such a surprise,” Faith gushed in a whisper. Her long, soft copper brown hair was wisping out from underneath her light blue winter hat, and her dimples were well visible because of how widely she was smiling. “I mean, they just got back from their honeymoon.”

“I bet they weren’t expecting to be parents so soon,” Sally said. “Well—parents again! I’m sure Macey is absolutely thrilled by this news.”

“Julia sent us all a video of her squealing last night,” Faith said with a grin. “She’s sure she’s going to be the best big sister in the world, and I totally believe her.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Sally saw Oscar leaving Ocean Breeze Café. She was surprised by her reaction to the sight of the door closing behind him.

Why do I feel disappointed? she questioned herself, startled by the restless feeling that had settled in her chest. Of course he’s leaving. He ate here, finished his meal, and now he’s leaving.

Would he come back? Was he a new resident in town, or a tourist who was about to disappear for good?

She felt distracted by the fact that she was disappointed by Oscar leaving, and it was hard for her to pay attention to what Vivian and Faith were saying.

A few moments later, she realized that Vivian was talking about how Julia had called her with the news at one in the morning, totally stunned and overjoyed.

“It’s wonderful,” Sally said, smiling. “I’ll run and grab you some chicken and rice soup to go. Better make it three bowls full, if she’s craving it so much.”

“You’re a wonder,” Vivian said with a grin.

Sally smiled and hurried behind the counter to dish out soup for Julia. Her mind whirled as she worked. Mentally, she tried to seek out the reasons for what she was feeling about Oscar, but she was left without answers.