Page 23 of Return to Rosewood Beach

He sucked in his breath. “I’m sorry. That must really sting.”

“It does. And my family kept saying, ‘Wow, I can’t believe they can spare you from work this whole time, I know you’re really indispensable to them’ and I was just keeping my mouth shut, wincing over how wrong they were.”

He nodded, understanding how difficult her situation must be for her. “I’m so sorry. Did you like your job?”

“Oh, I—I mean, I was good at it. I was very good at it. And sometimes I was stressed, and I didn’t have time for much else besides working, but I really thought I was moving up. I’ve been working hard at my career ever since finishing school. So in a lot of ways, it doesn’t just feel like I lost my job. I feel like I’ve been climbing a mountain and somebody just hit me with a baseball bat and knocked me all the way back down to the bottom of it.”

“Oh, I’m sure it’s not that bad. You must have a very impressive resume. I bet you can get a wonderful job somewhere else.” Inside, he felt a squirming urge to wish for her to get a new job there, in Rosewood Beach.

She gave him a weak but grateful smile. “Thank you. I don’t even have the energy to think that far ahead right now. For now, I need to just focus on—well, supporting my family and The Lighthouse Grill.”

He nodded sympathetically. “I almost ordered my lunch from there today. I’ve been wanting to check it out. But when I called, I heard that it was closed today. Now I understand why.”

“Yeah, everyone from the pub is here at the funeral today.” She offered him a sad smile. “We’re like a family over there. And we’re literally a family over there—my parents and my siblings and I have all had some part in working at the pub for years. Not so much anymore now that we’re grown, but we were there a lot growing up. It really is the family business.”

She sounded upset, as if more was grieving her than the fact that her father was no longer running The Lighthouse Grill. He wondered if she felt sad because her family had decided to sell the pub after Frank Owens’ passing. He remembered what Judd McCormick had said about he and his sons buying the pub, and he wondered if that’s what she was thinking about. He didn’t want to ask her, however, since he was there to cheer her up andhe had a feeling that dwelling on the subject would only do the opposite.

She took a deep breath and then began to cry again, covering her face with her hands. He placed the palms of his hands on his knees, resisting the desire to give her a hug. He watched her with sympathy, thinking to himself that sitting there under a tree in a fancy black dress, even though she was crying, she looked beautiful.

“It will all be okay.” His voice was soft, and he wished he could do more to help her feel better. “Would you like half my sandwich?” He held up his to-go bag, smiling at her.

She shook her head, returning his smile and wiping some of her tears away. “Thank you, but I’m all right. We have food at the reception.”

“Yeah, but you barely ate in there, right? Too many people. Everyone’s sad and most of them are looking at you and wanting to make sure you’re okay. I bet you’re the kind of person that doesn’t have an appetite under those circumstances.”

For a moment, she blinked at him, looking surprised. Her reaction seemed to say that his guess was right, and he nudged her gently with his shoulder.

“Come on. I’ve got too much food in here for one person. Eat half my sandwich?”

She offered him a watery smile and nodded. “Okay.”

Grinning, he opened his bag and took out the to-go box. He handed her half of the sandwich in a napkin, and she took it delicately.

“Thank you. You’re being very kind to me.” Her long, thin fingers held the sandwich perfectly still in mid-air for a moment, and then she took a small bite.

He shook his head. “People need to band together and support each other. People are good at that here in RosewoodBeach, and I’m determined to be a valuable member of this community.”

She laughed a little through her first bite of the sandwich. “Well, I applaud your efforts.”

“Why thank you. How’s your sandwich?”

“It’s good. The Salty Spoon?”

“Clearly you are a restaurant professional. It is indeed from The Salty Spoon.”

She smiled, and then they were both quiet for a few moments, sitting side by side and munching their halves of the chicken sandwich.

“I know today is hard,” he said softly after a while, and she turned to him. “It’s all going to be hard for a while, and I’m so sorry you have to go through this. It’s so difficult to handle these huge upheavals in our lives, but you just need to trust that there’s good around the corner, waiting for you. Things are going to get better.”

She nodded and looked straight ahead at the gently-swaying willow branches. A bird chirped cheerfully in a nearby tree.

“I know how you’re feeling.” He sighed, remembering his own battle with grief, which he was still struggling with. “My wife passed away recently, and very unexpectedly. I have to believe that there’s some kind of redemption coming after the loss, and that things are going to be okay. I still haven’t seen it fully, but I want to believe that there’s something good coming. I have to believe that in order to get through it all.”

She turned to him again, her eyes wide with sympathy. “I’m so sorry.” He nodded, and she added, “Thank you. That’s very good advice.”

“I hope it helps you get through this. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”

“You’ve already given me half a sandwich and some very encouraging words. I don’t think I could possibly ask foranything more.” She laughed lightly and then added, “Honestly, thank you for your kindness. It means a great deal to me.”

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