Page 2 of A Breeze Over Rosewood Beach (Rosewood Beach #9)

Sally thought that her friend looked very nice that afternoon.

Vivian’s short brown hair was streaked with gray, just like Sally’s, but it always seemed to look elegant even though it was styled in a low-effort haircut.

Vivian was wearing jeans, and her winter coat was unzipped, revealing a cozy-looking light blue sweater that Sally guessed Vivian’s daughter Hazel had knit her for Christmas.

Vivian owned The Lighthouse Grill, another extremely popular place in town. Sally’s café was more of a coffee shop, but The Lighthouse Grill was a full-blown restaurant, and Sally had always admired the grace and determination with which Vivian had run her business.

Sally laughed, gesturing to all of the papers in front of her.

“I was actually hoping for a distraction. Thank you for your service. I can’t stomach the thought of all this nonsense right now.

Would you like to sit in a booth with me and have a slice of key lime pie?

It’s from yesterday, but it’s still to die for. What do you say? It’s on the house.”

“Sounds incredible.” Vivian grinned. “I’m glad my interruption was just what you needed.”

The two friends made their way into the kitchen, which was much quieter now that the lunch rush was over. Practically giggling, they made their way over to the cooler and Sally took out a half-empty pie tin.

“Just look at it,” she said with a proud flourish. “I made this one myself yesterday. It turned out so well. I used cream cheese in the filling for the first time, and mm!”

“Oh, I can’t wait.” Vivian grabbed a couple of plates from the shelves on which the clean dishes were stacked. “Where do you keep the forks?”

“There’s a bin on the left-hand side—there, you’ve got it!”

Vivian held up the forks triumphantly and the two friends ducked out into the café to locate an empty booth.

Once they were seated and had both spent a couple of minutes sighing with delight over their pie slices, Vivian smiled at her friend with a curious expression.

“So,” she said, setting down her fork. “What was it in there that you were trying so valiantly to avoid?”

“Oh, budgeting.” Sally shook her head. “I’ll manage it somehow, but it’s getting trickier than ever with food prices going up the way they have.”

“Oh, tell me about it,” Vivian groaned. “We’re running into those same issues. If you come up with any good strategies, let me know, would you?”

“I will.” Sally smiled, grateful to have a friend in the middle of her mess. It helped her to feel less worried about it, knowing that she wasn’t alone. “You let me know if you come up with anything too, okay?”

“Of course,” Vivian assured her, and then scooped up another large forkful of her slice of pie with an impish grin.

It’s funny, Sally thought happily, that we bonded over the fact that we’re both business owners and we’ve been helping each other figure out the ups and downs of owning a restaurant.

But we don’t act all serious and professional with each other—she makes me feel like I’m a teenager again, goofing off with my friends after school.

Sally felt incredibly grateful for Vivian’s friendship.

The owner of The Lighthouse Grill had taken Sally under her wing recently, and neither of them had ever looked back.

They’d always been on friendly terms, but now their friendship had blossomed into something truly fun and supportive.

Sally thought to herself with a smile that all women needed friendships like that in their lives—someone they could go to when things were rough and who would support them and lift their spirits when they needed it.

Sally knew that her friendship with Vivian was one of the greatest blessings in her life, since she’d sorely needed it.

Although she was on friendly terms with her employees, they were usually teenagers who soon left Rosewood Beach for college, only to be replaced by other teenagers who remained strangers for a while and left soon after they felt like friends.

Sally had filled her life with her work and didn’t have much of a community outside of Ocean Breeze Café.

Although the community of Rosewood Beach was close-knit and supportive, Sally had always seemed to live on the fringes of it.

Despite being a warm and friendly person herself, she wasn’t good at inserting herself into social groups.

She usually hung around at the edges of her community, being kind and cheerful to those she met but not forming any lasting bonds with anyone.

Vivian, however, had changed all that. Sally was feeling the joys of friendship so much that it made her want to reach out and become closer to more of the people around her.

She’d realized that there were so many wonderful people that she could get to know if she put in a little more time and effort.

For now, though, she had all the community she could need.

Vivian had welcomed Sally into her inner circle, which included Terrence Rawlins, the persnickety but tender-hearted health inspector who was dating Vivian, Vivian’s second cousin Faith Talbot and her boyfriend Ryan McCormick, and of course all of Vivian’s children and their partners.

It was a warm, genuine, caring group of people, and the dinner nights they shared together were always the highlight of Sally’s week.

“How have things been going with Hazel?” Sally asked, prompted by sight of Vivian’s sweater, which seemed to have Hazel’s careful and creative hand written all over it. “Did she and Jacob get a house like they wanted?”

“Oh yes.” Vivian smiled. “It’s taken a while for everything to get rolling, but they ended up with a perfect old house.

They’re both ecstatic about it, even though it’s going to involve a lot of work to fix it up.

They don’t seem to mind, though. I think they’re excited about having a project together. ”

“Well, if you’re married to the local handyman.” Sally laughed. “That’s a perfect situation for the two of them. Hazel was always decorating and remodeling her house, and Jacob seems like he can fix anything under the sun.”

Jacob Dorsey, Rosewood Beach’s local handyman, was very skilled at repairing all sorts of machines and home structures.

Hazel worked as a receptionist at the local doctor’s office, but she had a creative streak that couldn’t be quenched, and her little cottage that she’d shared with her twelve-year-old daughter Samantha for many years was as whimsical and cozy as any woman could ask for.

Hazel and Jacob had both been interested in each other romantically ever since high school, but it wasn’t until recently that they’d found out those feelings were mutual.

Now they were planning on moving in together into a home that they could fix up and decorate as a couple.

“How’s Samantha feeling about it?” Sally asked. “Does she feel sad about leaving her house?”

“Not at all.” Vivian smiled. “I’m sure she feels a little sentimental, since she and Hazel have both been very happy there, but she’s absolutely over the moon about their new house, just like Hazel and Jacob are.

There’s a beautiful backyard with some enormous trees, and a big wrap-around porch, and her room in the new house has a darling window seat.

She’s completely thrilled—and you know that Sam is usually thrilled in general, so you can imagine just how enthusiastic she is about this. ”

Sally chuckled. The pre-teen was famous for her quirky energy and joyful enthusiasm, and Sally could just picture her racing around the new house squealing with delight over everything.

“I’m so happy for them,” she said, smiling as she slid her fork into the soft slice of pie. “What about Julia and Cooper? Are they back from their honeymoon yet?”

“Almost.” Vivian nodded. “I can’t wait to see them. I miss both of them a great deal, but mostly Julia, of course.”

“Why did they wait so long after their wedding to go on their honeymoon?” Sally asked.

“Well, apparently that’s becoming more common,” Vivian said. “And in their case, they wanted to wait until after Christmas but go on their honeymoon during the winter because this is the slow season for Cooper’s job at Greener Pastures.”

“Really?” Sally joked. “Why would a landscaping company’s workload slow down in the winter?”

Vivian chuckled. “Julia and Cooper wanted to be able to take a full two weeks off, and of course they didn’t want to miss any of the Christmas festivities.

And Julia said Niagara Falls was just beautiful—the waterfall is always beautiful, of course, and she said that there’s all kinds of snow up there and everything looks like some kind of winter wonderland. ”

“Oh, how romantic,” Sally said, feeling a twinge of wistfulness. She would never get to go on a honeymoon to Niagara Falls, or anywhere else for that matter. “That sounds wonderful.”

“It does. And they’ve been FaceTiming and sending pictures every day so that Macey can see everything too, so I get the benefit of that.

Not that they wouldn’t send pictures to me anyway—they’ve been sending lots to Dean and Hazel and Alexis of course.

But that little toddler gets more attention than the rest of us, as she should. ”

“I’m so glad she has you to stay with while they’re gone,” Sally said. “Cooper’s parents are lovely, but I think at this point Macey is more comfortable with you because you live in town and she sees you more often.”

“She does seem to be content to stay with me.” Vivian stared into space, a fond expression on her face, clearly thinking about the little girl living with her.

“I’ve been having the most wonderful time.

I’ve really missed caring for littles. They’re so much fun at that age—exhausting, definitely, but she’s always saying and doing the absolute cutest things. She makes me laugh all the time.”

“Oh, I can imagine. When I was over there on Saturday she came in with the oven mitt on her head, do you remember that? She looked like some little rooster or something.”

Vivian laughed. “Yes! I had some pictures to send to Julia and Cooper that time. Julia said Cooper made it the background on his phone.”

“Aww. I’m sure he misses her a great deal.”

“I know he does. I’m so going to miss having that little one toddling around my house, but I know he needs to be reunited with his little girl.

And Julia is so excited about officially being Macey’s mom.

She’s already been acting like her mother for a long time, but I know it feels more special to both of them now.

Macey keeps talking about ‘when Mommy and Daddy come home.’ We’re all excited for them to come back, but nobody more so than Macey. ”

“Oh.” Sally placed her hand on her heart. She kept a smile on her face, but it was a little forced. She felt incredibly happy for Vivian and her family members, but she couldn’t help feeling a little sad that she’d never gotten to experience those kinds of family joys herself.

I’ve loved spending time with Macey while Vivian was babysitting, but it felt so foreign to be taking care of a child, she thought, holding back a sigh.

She was used to seeing children from a distance, smiling at them from behind the counter or offering them a free popsicle on hot summer days. She couldn’t hold back a twinge of sadness as she reflected that the chance for having a family had passed her by.

She didn’t often admit to herself just how alone she felt, but in that moment, she couldn’t deny it. She couldn’t help wishing that she had at least one special person in her life—someone whose joys she could share and whose sorrows she could help carry.

“What’s been going on with you, Sally?” Vivian asked. Sally wondered if, despite her best efforts, her friend had been able to sense her sadness and had changed the subject intentionally. “Anything new with the café?”

“Yes, actually.” Sally brightened, always excited to talk about her plans for Ocean Breeze Café.

“Last night I did a little online shopping.” She leaned forward conspiratorially as she said it, as if online shopping was a scandalous pastime reserved only for the very bold.

“I bought a whole bunch of new decorations for Ocean Breeze Café.”

“Oh, sounds like fun.” Vivian leaned in too, as if it was some kind of secret they were sharing together. “What kind of decorations?”

“Well, there are prints to frame and knickknacks to display. I got an imitation antique ship anchor to hang on the wall over there.” Sally grinned, feeling excited about her plans for sprucing up the café.

“I figured it would brighten the place up and add an even more noticeable nautical theme to the place. I think that’s the kind of thing that will bring in more tourists come summer.

It’ll catch their attention with a… what are they saying now? A vibe?”

“Yes.” Vivian laughed. “A nautical vibe. Sam keeps saying, ‘It’s giving.’ Like, she would say, ‘It’s giving nautical.’”

Sally shook her head, chuckling. “I can’t keep up with all this new slang. Did we have so many silly words and phrases when we were that age?”

“Oh, I’m sure we did.” Vivian popped her final piece of pie into her mouth, shaking her head with a smile.

Sally and Vivian continued to laugh and chat for a while. The afternoon sun had cast new patterns across the floor by the time Vivian finally stood up to go.

“See you for dinner night?” Vivian asked, giving her friend a warm hug.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Sally assured her. “I’m looking forward to seeing Julia and Cooper again.”

She waved to Vivian as her friend slipped out the front door. She watched as Vivian pulled her hat down lower on her head and tightened the wrap of her scarf.

Looks like it’s cold outside, she thought.

She smiled, reflecting that although the outdoor weather might have been chilly, her heart was warm.

The conversation and camaraderie that she’d shared with Vivian that afternoon had made her feel worlds better, and it had completely chased her melancholy away.

She felt a surge of gratitude that the Owens family had become such an integral part of her life.

What I thought to myself before wasn’t true, she thought, turning around and heading toward the kitchen in case her employees needed anything. I’m not alone anymore. Now I have a wonderful community to keep me company.

With a happy smile, she stepped inside the kitchen, ready to take care of everything her café needed.