Page 6 of Where Sea Meets Sky

“But, Mom, I have so much energy, you wouldn’t believe it.” Alexis grinned. “I want to take these home and keep organizing my pantry.”

“I can believe it. I was in your shoes once. Or, three times, rather.” Vivian’s eyes shone as she referred to her three pregnancies with Julia, Alexis, and the twins, Dean and Hazel. “But that doesn’t mean you should keep rushing around until you do get tired. Come and sit down with me for a while and have a cup of decaf coffee.”

“But, Mom?—”

“That’s not a request, young lady. Come and sit down with me.”

Alexis smiled quietly to herself. Even though she was a grown adult and technically her mother couldn’t order her to doanything, she still responded to that gently firm tone her mother had mastered as if she’d suddenly lost the ability to disobey.

“Yes, ma’am. I guess my feet do hurt a little bit.”

“See? You’ll thank me later. Go ahead and sit down in that empty booth by the window and I’ll be right there with a couple of cups of coffee for us.”

“Could you add cinnamon to mine?” Alexis asked eagerly. Although her pregnancy cravings weren’t all over the place like they used to be, thank goodness, she still had odd hankerings for certain kinds of food.

“You got it.” Vivian smiled at her and went off to get their coffee.

Alexis sat down at the booth, suddenly feeling a little sleepy. She smiled, admitting to herself that it was nice to have a little break. Her body seemed to go from wildly energetic to sleepy at the drop of a hat these days, and she found the sleepy times relaxing.

Vivian appeared a couple of minutes later, bearing two steaming mugs of decaf coffee. She’d added a generous amount of cream and cinnamon to Alexis’s mug, and Alexis grunted with happiness as soon as she tasted the beverage.

“Oh, that just hits the spot,” Alexis said. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Nothing like a coffee in the middle of the day to perk you up,” Vivian said cheerfully, sitting down across from her daughter. “And all the coffee we use now is so excellent, thanks to Terrence.”

Alexis nodded. Terrence Rawlins was the local health inspector, and he’d struck up a strong friendship with her mother. He’d helped her choose a new brand of coffee for the pub after their regular brand took a dive in quality. Alexis was glad her mother had a man as careful and considerate as Terrence looking out for her.

“It really is good.” Alexis took another sip. “But I think it’s this cinnamon you added in that’s really doing it for me.” She laughed. “So how are you, Mom? What’s new?”

“Oh, nothing really.” Vivian shrugged. “Working here. Planning my garden for when it’s warm enough to plant. Hopefully that’s any day now.”

“And Terrence is coming to help install the new oven,” Julia said, her tone a touch sly as she walked up to their booth. She was holding a steaming mug of tea, and she scooted in next to her mother. “That’s coming in today.”

“Really? Terrence is helping with that, huh?” Alexis lifted her eyebrows and shared a suspicious look with Julia.

It was the new family conspiracy that there was a romance brewing between their mother and the gentlemanly health inspector. Vivian kept denying their insinuations, insisting that the pair were simply friends. But Terrence often went out of his way to help Vivian, and she’d been inviting him to family dinners and board game nights. The four siblings, and sometimes their partners, loved to speculate that Terrence and Vivian were secretly interested in each other romantically.

“I see those sly looks.” Vivian tutted and shook her head. “There is nothing romantic going on between Terrence and me. We’re just friends. And besides, if you had a friend who was a health inspector, wouldn’t you ask him to help you install an oven? Then you’d know immediately if it was safe or not.”

“Sure, but you didn’t ask him, he volunteered,” Julia said, grinning impishly.

“Tut, he likes that sort of thing,” Vivian protested.

“Hmm,” Alexis said, also grinning. “Speaking of romance—Julia, are you still planning on doing your wedding cake testing on Thursday?”

“Yes!” Julia instantly lit up with excitement.

Her happiness shone out of her eyes, and she began to play with the glittering engagement ring on her finger. She and her fiancé Cooper Harris, who had an adorable toddler named Macey, had gotten engaged earlier in the year. Everyone in the Owens family was excited about the wedding planning, but no one more than Julia. Not only was she over the moon about the prospect of marrying Cooper, but she also loved planning events with a passion.

“I’m so excited,” Julia added. “We’re thinking lemon with raspberry frosting right now, but honestly, we might totally change our minds once we actually taste the cakes. Macey keeps saying it should be chocolate, and of course we have to keep her opinions in consideration.”

Alexis and Vivian chuckled. At that moment, the toddler’s three main interests were pink, unicorns, and chocolate, so it was no wonder that she wanted the wedding cake to be chocolate.

“Well, I’m excited you invited us to come with you,” Alexis said, grinning. “I love cake. What should we—” She was about to ask Julia if they should dress nicely for the cake tasting when she noticed a stranger walking into The Lighthouse Grill.

Tourists from out of town often entered the pub, but there was something about this woman that caught Alexis’s attention. First of all, she was wheeling a rolling suitcase behind her, which meant that she was coming to Rosewood Beach for more than just a day trip. She had long coppery brown hair that tumbled in loose waves to the center of her back, and she was wearing a navy dress that hugged her curves flatteringly. There was something about her that seemed vaguely familiar to Alexis, even though she was sure she’d never met her before.

“We have a new customer,” Alexis said, nodding toward the front of the pub. “A city girl, if my intuition doesn’t deceive me.Look at the way she’s done her makeup—and she’s got that city energy. Like she just drank a cup and a half of adrenaline.”

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