Page 6 of A Breeze Over Rosewood Beach (Rosewood Beach #9)

After handing over the bag to Dean, Noelle turned to Sally, and her face lit up with a smile when she realized who she was. “Hey, Sally!” She hurried to give her a hug. “You’re here picking up your car?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Sally held up her key, which Dean had handed to her a few minutes before. “She’s good as new, and I can’t wait to be warm during the rest of my travels today.” She laughed.

“Oh, I’m sure you can’t.” Noelle pretended to shiver. “It’s really nippy out there today.”

“How are wedding plans going?” Sally asked with a sly smile, unable to hold back the question any longer.

Both Dean and Noelle’s faces shone with love as they glanced at each other.

“It’s going great,” Noelle said, grinning.

“There’s so much to do, but we just got a preview of the process with Julia’s wedding, and that makes everything easier.

And she literally gave me a copy of her to-do list that she’d made.

” She laughed. “It’s amazingly helpful—it’s even ordered in terms of what things need to get done first.”

Sally chuckled. Julia was incredibly organized, and it made sense that a wedding to-do list that she’d constructed would be a major blessing when planning an event like that.

“Have you decided on a color scheme yet?” Sally asked. “I remember you two were discussing that the last time you came into Ocean Breeze Café.”

“We have!” Noelle said cheerfully. “It’s purple and silver.”

At the same time, Dean said, “Blue and gold,” as if it was an established fact. After speaking, they turned to each other and groaned.

“I thought we’d said purple and silver,” Noelle said, laughing.

“I was sure we’d said blue and gold,” Dean said, shaking his head.

“We’d brought up blue and gold, but then I’d said I didn’t like it that much. Don’t you like purple and silver?”

“I like the idea of a metallic hue and a cool color, but that’s why I thought we were doing blue and gold.” Dean was grinning, amused by their predicament.

“But not the gold, remember? We said silver. And I think blue and silver together is too cool, don’t you?” Noelle said.

Dean shrugged, laughing. Sally laughed as well.

“It sounds like the two of you still have some discussions ahead of you. If you want to talk it over at the café, be my guest. Quite literally—I’ll get you a couple of your favorite Monte Cristo sandwiches on the house.”

“Oh, that would be amazing.” Noelle smiled at her warmly. “Thank you. Sounds great to me. I feel like these kinds of conversations are always better in a busy place. It helps me feel energized.”

“And coffee helps me feel energized.” Dean chuckled. “So the café sounds like the perfect place for us to revisit the troubling question of our wedding colors.”

“Sounds wonderful.” Sally grinned at them. “Looks like you already have lunch for today, Dean, but whenever you two come in, just let my staff know you’ve got the Sally Special if I’m not there.”

“Thanks, Sally.” Dean shook her hand. “You’re a peach.”

“Thank you for fixing my car,” she replied. “Now I can drive to work.”

She bid Noelle and Dean goodbye and went out into the parking lot, where her trusty little car was waiting. She clambered inside and started the ignition with a sigh of satisfaction. She loved it when things worked properly.

She made her way to Ocean Breeze Café and parked in the back parking lot.

She was feeling flustered by the fact that she was so late, and the feeling was exacerbated by the fact that she saw a great many cars in the front and back parking lots.

Although both parking lots were small, it was a guarantee that the café would be packed with customers.

She felt stressed as she hustled inside through the back door.

“Thank goodness you’re here,” gasped out Annie, one of Sally’s newest workers. “It’s so hectic—and we don’t know where the rest of the oat milk is.”

For a second, Sally’s heart skipped a beat as she wondered if she’d somehow forgotten to restock the cooler.

Then she remembered that the oat milk cartons were tucked into a corner of the cooler behind the bags of lettuce.

Many employees had had trouble finding the spot, so it was no wonder that a whole bunch of new hires had been unable to locate them in the middle of the morning rush.

“I’m on it, don’t fret.” Sally patted Annie on the shoulder.

“I’ll bring out two.” She snapped into motion, as if she was a miniature cyclone that had just been turned on.

She scurried into the kitchen and popped inside the cooler.

She grabbed two cartons of oat milk and rushed back to the front counter.

“Here you are,” she sang out cheerfully.

Annie turned around and her jaw dropped. “Wow, that was fast.”

Sally gave an easy shrug. “When you’ve been doing this as long as I have, you’ll be better at moving around in a hurry. Besides, I already knew where the oat milk was.”

Annie offered her a watery smile and went back to concocting a vanilla rose latte.

Sally chuckled. It was clear that the teenager was still feeling frazzled, and she couldn’t really blame her, since she was still feeling frazzled herself.

No matter how old or experienced you were, there was always something a little alarming about a line of customers that stretched all the way back to the front doors.

Soon, however, she and her employees were able to get into the swing of things. Once they had a rhythm established, the hustle and bustle flowed a lot more smoothly.

After she’d been working the front counter for about half an hour, she looked up and her face lit up with an expression of surprise and delight.

“Julia!” she exclaimed. “Cooper!”

Julia and Cooper Harris had just stepped inside the café with Vivian and her other daughter, Alexis Bennett.

Both Julia and Cooper looked flushed with the happiness of newlyweds, and Vivian also appeared to be over the moon over the fact that they were back in Rosewood Beach.

Alexis had her baby Cash strapped to her stomach, and his little head was just poking out of her partially-unbuttoned coat.

“Hold down the fort, girls,” Sally said to her employees. “These are customers I need to say hello to up-close.”

She hurried out from behind the counter and gave Julia and Cooper a giant hug at the same time.

“Welcome back!” she sang out. “How was Niagara Falls? Everything you hoped and dreamed it would be?”

“So wonderful.” Julia nodded, smiling, but Sally noticed that she looked a little pale and tired.

“I’m so glad to hear that,” Sally said, meaning it sincerely, although she couldn’t help feeling a twinge of sadness for her own sake.

Both Cooper and Julia looked positively starry-eyed and in love, and she knew she would never feel that way again, or ever be coming back from a honeymoon.

“And how’s this little man?” she asked, turning to Alexis, who had unbuttoned her coat all the way.

Cash was blinking around the room with wide blue eyes, looking like a chubby little cherub.

“He’s wonderful.” Alexis smiled. “He loves coming to work with me—and our customers love it even more. He gets a fun ride and mommy snuggles, and everyone eating at the pub gets to see his cute face.”

“I think it’s even more than that.” Vivian chuckled. “The sight of you whizzing around the dining room with a baby strapped to your back is really something to see. I don’t think we’ve had a single customer complain about delays if you’re their waitress. They all know you’ve got extra to juggle.”

“Yes, but it’s such nice juggling.” Alexis bent down and kissed the top of Cash’s little blue hat.

Sally watched Alexis’s joyful expression and thought to herself how lucky the other woman was.

Alexis had a family and a career—she hadn’t had to choose between the two of them.

Vivian was the same. They had their jobs, and in Vivian’s case she was also a business owner, but that hadn’t stopped them from having children.

Sally’s heart ached, wishing that she’d found someone who had allowed her to follow her dream of owning the café and still been there for her romantically.

She brushed those thoughts aside, determined to stay cheerful. After all, she was thrilled that Julia and Cooper were back and she wanted to be sure to express that to them.

“I got to see some of your pictures of your honeymoon,” Sally told them. “It looked just beautiful up there.”

“It really was.” Cooper grinned. “We did a lot of winter hiking, that’s for sure. It was cold, but it was worth it.”

Sally nodded and smiled, glancing at Julia.

Was that why the newly-wedded bride appeared to be so fatigued?

She looked as happy as a person could be, but it was clear from the way she was holding her shoulders and from the circles under her eyes that she was unusually fatigued.

Normally Julia exuded an aura of confidence and boundless energy.

Today, however, the energy she was giving off was sleepy.

Sally was a little surprised to see the change in Julia’s energy and appearance. Certainly a little fatigue after traveling was understandable, but Julia had traveled before and not come home looking so worn out.

Maybe it was all the hiking, Sally speculated . I’m sure there’s nothing really the matter—after all, look at how happy she is!

“Julia and Cooper are going to show us all their pictures at our next dinner night,” Vivian announced, clearly glowing with excitement over the fact that her daughter was back.

“Oh good, I can’t wait to see more pictures,” Sally said, meaning it sincerely.

She loved looking at pictures of places.

It was the next best thing to getting to go there herself.

“Sounds wonderful. Would the four of you—five, sorry.” She laughed and made a little cooing noise at Cash, who blinked at her in confusion.

“Would you like a table after you’ve ordered?

There’s a couple that are empty now, I would just have to wipe them down for you quickly. ”

Julia bit her lip, looking regretful. “Maybe we could go for a walk instead? Sorry, Sally, I just feel like I need a little more fresh air.”

“Sure, I understand.” Sally smiled. While it was true that she wasn’t offended, it wasn’t exactly true that she understood. She would have expected Julia to want to sit down, considering how tired she looked. “Don’t apologize! I just thought you might like to sit down, honey. You look exhausted.”

“I am.” Julia shook her head. “I don’t know what’s come over me. But I need fresh air more than I need a chair right now. Is that okay with everyone else?”

“Sure.” Cooper wrapped an arm around her. “Of course. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I think it’s just all the traveling.”

“Walking is good with me,” Alexis said. “What do you think, Cash? Outside again?”

Cash’s face lit up with a smile and he gurgled, which made everyone else utter exclamations of delight.

“Well, that settles it, I guess.” Vivian laughed. “We’ll get our orders and then we’ll walk around for a while. It’s a nice day for winter. That sounds good to me.”

Sally went back behind the counter and took the coffee and pastry orders for her friends.

Cooper got a black coffee along with a chocolate raspberry muffin, Vivian got a cappuccino and a lemon scone, Alexis got a peanut butter cookie and a honey vanilla latte, and Julia ordered a peppermint tea and a plain croissant.

“Just plain?” Sally echoed, a little surprised. They had their famous chocolate croissants available, and Julia usually loved those.

“Yeah, I’m just feeling something simple right now,” Julia said.

“Sure thing.” Sally smiled. “Just give us two or three minutes and we’ll have it all ready for you.”

True to her word, Sally worked at lightning speed alongside her employees, and soon she had the orders ready for her friends.

They accepted them gratefully and then made their way back outside.

Sally watched them go, feeling delighted to have seen them but also curious about what might be causing Julia’s unexpected fatigue.