Page 53 of Moonlit Harbor Nights

He looked down at the nearly empty mug of coffee, knowing that he should stop drinking it on an empty stomach. What he needed was a good meal—maybe then he would be able to focus better on his book.

He glanced at The Lighthouse Grill’s takeout menu, which he’d attached to his refrigerator with a magnet that was shaped like a ballpoint pen.

I could go to the pub,he thought.I could order takeout and go there to pick it up, or I could go there for a sit-down meal. Why not? Then I would have an opportunity to speak with Vivian.

He stood in front of the to-go menu, looking right at it and not thinking about food in the slightest. Finally, he sighed and opened his refrigerator.

He had decided to just make himself a sandwich.

He carefully toasted a couple of slices of bread, and then chopped up part of an onion and mixed it together with tuna and mayonnaise. He sprinkled just a hint of pepper into the mixture and added half a squirt of lemon juice. He’d been making tuna fish sandwiches for himself ever since high school, and he knew exactly how he liked them.

He added a thin layer of spinach leaves to one of the pieces of toast and dolloped the tuna fish mixture onto them. He carefully added the top piece of toast, and then carried his plate over to the little kitchen table that was placed next to the refrigerator.

He poured himself a glass of cranberry juice and sat down, ready to enjoy his meal. Unfortunately, however, he did not enjoy it—at least not as much as he usually did. He couldn’t rid himself of a desire to fix things with Vivian as soon as possible.

When he’d finished eating, he stood up with a grunt. There was no use in putting it off any longer. He needed to go to the pub to try to speak with her.

He put on his wool coat and earmuffs and walked out to his car. As soon as he stepped outside, he remembered that it was much warmer than it had been and took off his earmuffs. He stowed them carefully in the glove compartment of his car before driving off.

On his drive, he stopped at Harvest Market to pick out a bag of Maple Leaf coffee for Vivian. He remembered that was the brand she’d liked the best, but as far as he knew she hadn’t sampled their vanilla buttercream coffee beans. He wanted to bring her a bag as a peace offering.

He reached the pub a few minutes later. He knew it was the slow part of the day for the busy restaurant, so his chances of getting to talk to Vivian were moderately good.

He cleared his throat nervously the moment he stepped inside the pub, even though there was no one in the immediate vicinity to greet him.

The pub seemed to be fairly empty of customers, even more than usual for a weekday afternoon. He frowned a little, wondering why the pub was particularly slow that day. It couldn’t be the weather making people unwilling to travel, since it was one of the nicest days they’d had since October.

He caught sight of Vivian a moment later as she walked across the dining room carrying a tray of dirty dishes. She was frowning and looking down at the floor as she walked, so he called to her to get her attention.

“Vivian!” She turned, almost startled, and her eyes widened a little when she saw him. For a moment, they stood there staring at each other. Terrence cleared his throat again, wondering if she was very angry with him. He couldn’t read her expression.

“Hi, Terrence. Are you here for lunch?”

He shook his head. “I already ate. Tuna fish.”

Stop telling her unnecessary details, Terrence, she’s a busy woman, he scolded himself.

“Oh. Um.” She brushed back strands of sweaty hair from her forehead. Vivian was usually well put together, but today she looked a little untidy. Terrence didn’t find her any less attractive however, and he found himself worrying that there was something else wrong in addition to the fact that she was upset with him. She seemed unusually stressed. “Then what are you doing here?” She winced a little after she spoke, as if she hadn’t meant for her words to be so terse.

“Just, um, visiting,” he said, shifting the bag filled with coffee that he had tucked under his arm. She still hadn’t ordered himout of the pub or anything like that, and he considered that to be a good sign.

“Oh.” A corner of her mouth curved upward.

She was smiling. That was definitely a good sign.

“Is that coffee?” she asked, pointing to the bag under his arm.

He drew it out a bit sheepishly. “It is. I brought another Maple Leaf roast for you to try. Vanilla buttercream. It’s one of my favorites. I thought you might like to try it.”

Her smile became even wider. “Vanilla buttercream? That does sound delicious. I would love to try it, thank you, Terrence.”

All at once he felt as light as a feather, and a big smile sprang onto his face. “Since there’s a lull in business right now, why don’t you go take a break? I’ll make a pot of this coffee and bring you a cup.”

“I—all right.” She smiled, but this time her smile looked forced. “I guess I am pretty tired. Thank you, Terrence. I’ll be in the office. I know you know your way there.” There was a slight twinkle in her eyes then, and he suspected she was thinking about his first visit to the pub as a health inspector, when the two of them had clashed on the subject of getting the air vents fixed.

“Certainly.” He nodded and smiled at her. “One cup of vanilla buttercream coffee, coming right up.”

She gave him a gesture of thanks and disappeared into the kitchen. Terrence turned around and made a beeline for the coffee maker, feeling strangely cheerful. He was glad that Vivian was allowing him to make her coffee. Even though she wasn’t acting particularly friendly, he felt as though the door had been reopened to him, metaphorically speaking.

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