Page 52 of Where Sea Meets Sky

“Here’s dessert,” Alexis sang out cheerfully as she and Vivian made their way back into the dining room. “Get it before your ice cream totally melts.”

Once everyone had settled down with their dessert, Alexis brought up her plan.

“I just ran it by Mom, and I want to host a dinner night next week,” she said. “Is that okay with you, honey?”

Grayson nodded. “Sure. Just promise you won’t redecorate the whole house again before everyone shows up.”

Everyone laughed, and Alexis playfully swatted her husband’s arm.

“I promise,” she said. “Although, I am excited for you all to see what I have done to our house.”

“The living room looks really nice.” Grayson smiled. “Especially now that we’ve got all the furniture back in place. It’s really cozy.”

“I can’t wait to see it,” Hazel said. “And I’ll come earlier in the day to help you cook, Alexis, so you don’t have as much work to do. We don’t want you overworking yourself now that you’ve finally started to rest,” she teased.

“I’ll come early too,” Vivian offered. “Let’s meet up for coffee tomorrow morning to plan out our menu.”

“Sounds fantastic,” Alexis said, feeling grateful for their support. “And, Faith, you should bring Ryan. That way we can all meet him.”

“Great.” Faith’s face lit up. “I’ll text him to let him know later tonight.”

Alexis and Dean shared a glance across the table. She knew they were both feeling eager to meet Faith’s new boyfriend, but also a little trepidatious.

One thing’s for sure,she thought as she stuck her fork into the soft and crumbly blueberry cobbler.This really showshow deeply our family has come to love and accept Faith. A McCormick invited to family dinner night!

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Julia inspected her reflection in the staff bathroom at The Lighthouse Grill. She turned slowly from side to side, wondering if her outfit looked too prissy. Her heart was fluttering with nervousness so hard that she felt a little out of breath.

Cooper had just texted her to let her know that his parents had arrived in town, and they were coming with him to the pub for lunch. Julia was already there working on marketing, and he’d asked her if she could take the time off to have lunch with his folks.

She’d said yes immediately, even though part of her wanted to lie and say she’d gone home with a migraine or debilitating cramps or the stomach flu. She considered telling him she had some kind of emergency deadline that she needed to meet, and that she could stop by and say hello to his parents, but she wouldn’t be able to have lunch with them.

But of course, she hadn’t said that. As nervous as she was, she wanted to meet Cooper’s parents. Even more than that, she wanted to make a good impression, and only stopping by briefly before going back to work on a job that she was her own boss for would hardly make a good impression.

She took a deep breath, wishing she’d known they were going to arrive so early in the day. She’d had an outfit all planned out for that night—dark slacks and a comfortable but chic dark green sweater. They were the two most outdoorsy items of clothing in her whole closet, and she planned on wearing them with a nondescript pair of black boots.

As it was, she was currently wearing a royal blue dress with a white cardigan, and glossy white flats—not to mention gold jewelry on her ears, wrists, and neck.

I look incredibly prissy,she thought with concern.Maybe I should at least take this jewelry off.

She started to remove her bracelet but then stopped herself firmly. She needed to take the advice of Cooper and everyone in her family and just be herself. She wouldn’t be able to hide her true colors from Cooper’s parents for very long even if she tried. This was how she dressed. She liked the comforts of civilization and she liked to wear cute, girly outfits. She wouldn’t be comfortable hiking or fishing or cooking venison, and there was no point in pretending otherwise.

She took a deep breath and let out a sigh. She still felt nearly overwrought with nerves, but she was determined to put a brave face on the whole thing for Cooper’s sake. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out and looked at the screen. It was a text from Cooper.

COOPER: Hey, sweetheart! I’m here at the front of the restaurant. Sounds like my parents will be here in another ten minutes or so. Are you in the office?

She felt relieved that he was there, since being close to him always helped steady her nerves, but she also felt her jitters surge at the news that his parents would be arriving in ten minutes.

She hurriedly texted him back that she would come out to the dining room to meet him, and then checked her reflection one more time.

“You look fine,” she told herself, and then bit her lip nervously.

She went out into the dining room of The Lighthouse Grill, which was bustling with guests and filled with wonderful various aromas of food. Cooper was waiting for her by the front doors and he pulled her into a bear hug as soon as she was at his side.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said. “You look amazing.”

She winced, knowing that she didn’t look at all how she’d hoped to look, but he was looking down at her shoes and didn’t notice her tense expression.

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