Page 34 of Return to Rosewood Beach

Alexis picked up her coffee mug and took a sip, stalling. She felt she didn’t have the courage to tell Hazel about Grayson, especially when she was being so sweet to her. “I—I just can’t believe that Dad would keep that kind of secret from Mom. It’s so jarring that he managed it—none of us thought he was the kind of person who would do that, you know?”

Hazel nodded, pressing her lips together. For a few moments she looked out the window, seeming to be lost in thought. “We just have to accept the past, I guess. As much as it hurts right now. But I think we should be focusing on the present, and what we can do moving forward. The worst part about Dad’s secret is that we still have to deal with it. It’s not something we can forget about, because it’s created this problem for the pub.”

Alexis nodded in agreement. “You’re right. We should focus on what we can do. We all need to think of ways to make sure Mom doesn’t lose the restaurant.”

“Yes.” Hazel smiled at her, reaching over and squeezing her shoulder. “We’ll band together over this. We should brainstorm ideas together.”

Alexis smiled back. “Yes, we should.” She took a sip of the rich, hot coffee that Hazel had brought her. She was feeling better about everything already, and she was glad to have something else to focus on.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Oh, I can’t wait to taste this.” Julia grinned at Hazel, who stood beside her in line at Seaside Sweets Bakery. They’d met there to get bear claws, a pastry that had been a favorite of theirs during high school. Julia felt as enchanted by the cozy, sweet-smelling bakery as ever, and she couldn’t believe how little it had changed since the last time she’d been there.

“Same. I’m lucky though—I get to come here and buy some whenever I want.” Hazel elbowed Julia playfully in the arm, and Julia laughed.

“You’ve got me there. I’ve gotten some bear claws in New York, but they’ve never been as good as the ones here.”

“Rosewood Beach is the best place on earth, I’m telling you.” Hazel winked.

They stepped up to the counter and ordered their bear claws. Once they had them, wrapped in wax paper and tucked inside white paper bags, they strolled across the street to the grassy area in the town square. There was a cozy white gazebo there, and they made a beeline toward it. They sat together on one of the benches inside the gazebo, munching on their pastries and enjoying the feeling of the warm spring breeze.

“So...” Hazel drew out the word. “Tell me all about how your date with Cooper went.”

“Well, you know about the first part! Honestly, I think you’re setting a terrible example for Samantha, teaching her to eavesdrop like that,” Julia teased her sister, referring to the way Hazel and Samantha had been spying on her and Cooper from behind the couch.

Hazel put on an expression of innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. So. How was it having Macey along?”

Julia laughed. “It was really fun, actually. I mean, I am looking forward to spending time with him with just the two of us?—”

“Oh, so there’s a second date coming up, huh?”

“Shush and let me tell the story, will you?”

Hazel pretended to zip her lips but continued to smile.

Julia laughed again. “I was expecting to feel awkward around Macey, or not know how to handle helping take care of a kid. But everything went much better than I expected. I helped clean off her sticky fingers after we got ice cream, and then she gave me a flower. It was the sweetest thing.”

“Oh!” cooed Hazel. “That’s adorable.”

“It really was. We had a great time together. She’s such a cutie, and he’s—well, he’s very nice.” She felt as though she might be blushing a little.

“Yeah?” Hazel asked slyly.

Julia cleared her throat. “So what about Jacob? He came over the other day to fix your fuse box, right?”

The second Julia mentioned Jacob’s name, Hazel turned bright pink. “Yes, he did.”

“Mmhmm?” Julia couldn’t help acting a little gleeful. “Did you get a chance to talk with him while he was there?”

“Yeah—I—well, we talked a little. I brought him some lemonade while he was working. As a thank-you. Just to be nice.”

“Girl.” Julia shook her head, laughing. “Stop being embarrassed about the fact that you like him. You’re going to need to be a lot more obvious than lemonade if you want to encourage his attention.”

“But I’m not trying to encourage anything,” Hazel protested, turning an even deeper shade of pink. “At least, not right now. I just don’t have the headspace for it, you know? Not with everything else going on. Mom’s in so much distress over the whole gambling secret, and Alexis seems to be having a really hard time as well.”

“I know what you mean.” Julia sighed. “I don’t really feel as though I have much of a bandwidth for my personal life either—well, that is until Cooper texts me or is talking to me, and then I can’t seem to think about anything else.”

Hazel grinned gleefully at her, and Julia winced as she laughed, wishing she hadn’t confessed so much to her sister, who was bound to tease her about it.

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