Page 51 of Where Sea Meets Sky

“Hey, we all want to know more about your new beau,” Julia said. “I’m with Alexis, I’m definitely going to look him up on social media later. I want to see a picture of him—you can tell so much about a person just by seeing a picture of them smiling. What’s his last name?”

“McCormick,” Faith said with a smile.

Everyone else in the room froze. Julia and Alexis exchanged startled eye contact across the table.

“McCormick?” Hazel repeated slowly. “As in, the McCormicks that own the local brewery?”

“Yeah.” Faith nodded cheerfully, seeming to be blissfully unaware of the tension in the room. “He and I went there for dinner the other night. The beer was good, although the food wasn’t the best. I met his family.”

Alexis cleared her throat as she and Hazel exchanged a look.

I’ll say their food isn’t very good,she thought loyally.Everything halfway decent on their menu they stole from us.

“Who’s ready for dessert?” Vivian asked briskly. Alexis could tell that her mother was rattled by the news but she was doing her best not to show it. “Julia and I made a blueberry cobbler, and I’ve still got some vanilla ice cream in the freezer.”

“Sounds incredible,” Alexis said. “I’ll go into the kitchen with you and help you get everything ready.”

She stood up and she and her mother went into the kitchen together. The moment the door was closed behind them, Vivian let out a sigh.

“I wasn’t expecting that one, were you?” Vivian shook her head as she went to turn on the oven. “Ryan McCormick. I don’t know the man, but his family name leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

“I know what you mean.” Alexis leaned against the counter, shaking her head. “Faith described him as sweet, but I have to admit that I can’t imagine any member of the McCormick family being sweet. Brady was in my class at school and he was always such a loud-mouth.”

“Don’t be rude, honey,” Vivian urged her as she set the blueberry cobbler back into the oven to warm up.

“Is that being rude?” Alexis wrinkled her nose. “I think it’s just stating things accurately.”

“Well, Faith seems to really like Ryan,” Vivian said. “And he’s the one who doesn’t work at the brewery, right?”

“I don’t really remember, but he must be. Faith said he works in construction.”

“Mm.” Vivian nodded. “He hasn’t had anything to do with the feud, then. And I seem to remember Dean saying that Ryan’s different from the rest of his family. Maybe he really is sweet, and this is a good thing for Faith.”

“But will it be a good thing for us? Do we really want a McCormick to become part of our lives?”

“I don’t want us to be prejudiced or bitter.” Vivian began to get dessert bowls out of the cupboard, and Alexis went to help her. “That feud was always one-sided. Besides, over time I’ve come to accept that Judd was just doing everything he did in the interest of his business. He cares about its success as much as I care about the success of The Lighthouse Grill. Yes, he’s done things that caused us stress and he’s played dirty more than once, but it wasn’t anything against us personally, not really. It was his business against ours. And there’s a compliment inthere for sure, that he sees our pub as such a threat to his establishment.”

Alexis chuckled and kissed her mother on the cheek. “Look at you. So wise and forgiving. I hope I can be like you someday, Mom.”

Vivian beamed at her daughter. “Thank you, sweetheart. That’s so kind of you to say.”

“And I think you’re right that we need to give Ryan the benefit of the doubt,” Alexis said slowly. “He’s clearly very important to Faith. You’re right that none of us should be prejudiced against him before we even meet him.”

Vivian nodded. “We should give him a chance to make his own impression.”

“We will,” Alexis said, feeling determined. “I’ll talk to my siblings about it, but I’m sure they all feel the same way.”

As she and Vivian began to dish hot pieces of cobbler onto the plates, she got an idea.

“I’ll offer to host a dinner night next week and invite Ryan,” she offered. “That way we can all meet him. I’m sure that’s what Faith wants, and I’m sure we all want to meet him after learning that he’s a McCormick.”

“Sounds like a great idea,” Vivian said. “Thanks for doing that, sweetheart. I’m sure it’ll make Faith feel very special.”

“I hope so. I’m so very glad that she’s decided to stay in town.”

She and her mother exchanged a warm smile. McCormick boyfriend or not, Faith was a part of their family, and she was such a wonderful new addition to their circle.

They placed scoops of the creamy vanilla ice cream onto each of the slices of cobbler, and then loaded the plates onto a couple of trays.

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