Page 86 of Sing with Me

Leaving Diehl’s house, Skye couldn’t help but think about the fact that she wasn’t going to see Diehl until the following Monday.

She hadn’t seen her brother all year long because they had been busy with work. The Miami Beach food festival was a small opportunity for them to get together again. It would end on Thursday. Then she would fly with Sebastian back to Atlanta. From there, they’d drive to Athens. Skye looked forward to spending a long weekend with Sebastian and her sister-in-law, Emmeline. They had been best friends for a few years.

“God works out all things for our good,” Marlo said.

“Indeed.”

Not just the situation with Marlo’s scholarship to culinary school, but also every situation that Skye found herself in.

Like the one with Diehl.

Perhaps it was a good thing for them to have time apart. The previous two weeks had been different from how Skye normally conducted her relationships, that was, with careful planning and precision. Without planning, there was no way the menus could be executed flawlessly. Likewise, without planning, the relationship would be…

What?

More interesting? Exciting? Unexpected?

Like his kisses?

Had he meant them, though?

Stepping back a little bit to take a deep breath might be a good thing for her emotions.

Traffic was light this Thursday between Diehl’s house and Skye’s kitchen at Sage Café, where her brother had rented a portion of the refrigerator and freezer to STL. Certainly the restaurant at the Village was closer to her than Saffron’s kitchen on Jekyll Island.

Marlo helped her take the two bags to the walk-in refrigerator, and then he left.

Skye stayed back to eat a late breakfast and check her email. Another message from Jared. He wanted to make sure Skye was going to show up on Saturday night for their meeting. Skye texted him back, suggesting a day meeting instead since she was going out of town Sunday after church, and needed to pack on Saturday. Besides, she had these cancellations from Diehl.

The phone rang. Jared.

Couldn’t he just text back? “Hello?”

“Where are you?” Jared asked.

“I’m at Sage, eating breakfast.”

“I’m at my house. If you like, we can have our meeting here.”

Uh, no. “I think we should meet at Saffron. Are you free at lunch? Say, noon?”

“A working lunch. I guess we can do that since we have to eat.”

“I’ll let Chef Onada know.”

“You sure you don’t want to come over?” Jared asked again.

“I’m sure I don’t have time. Thanks for the invite. I’ll see you at Saffron at noon, but I need to be done at one o’clock. I have another appointment right after that.”

“What can we discuss in one hour?”

“Lots of things can be discussed in forty-five minutes. I’ll bring a list.” On top of the list was Skye’s options. She couldn’t afford to buy out Talia’s shares at this time, but perhaps Jared could buy out Skye’s shares—or she could sell her shares to someone else. Either way, she did not want to be a business partner to Jared.

It wasn’t something that required too much prayer. She knew she did not feel comfortable in Jared’s company and she wanted out of it.

Sebastian hadn’t said anything to her in a very long time about whether he wanted to get back into Saffron’s business. To Skye, it meant her brother was done with it.

How long must she cling to that which she should let go of?

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