Page 2 of Stirring Up Love
“Plan to do that all by yourself?” Chantal asked. “You do know how physics works, right?”
Too out of breath to dignify her friend’s snark with a reply, Simone pushed again.
“I can’t watch this anymore.” Her friend positioned herself at the opposite side.
“I don’t want help.” She set aside the useless dolly.
“But you need it.” Meg hopped up from the table. She gripped the countertop, and they all pulled up. Nothing happened.
Another heave. Still nothing.
Arms straining, Simone blew a loose curl off her nose. “Whatever happened to your homesteading muscles, Meg?”
Meg panted out a laugh, immune to her snark. “You know full well your sister would be the best person for this job.”
At that moment, the furniture came unstuck, and Simone nearly dropped the heavy counter on her feet. “You really think Alisha should be here in my place? How long have you been sleeping on that one?”
Brow bunched, Meg said, “Are you kidding?” The three of them baby-stepped toward the opposite wall. “Your sister lifts weightscompetitively. You don’t think she’d make short work of moving this furniture around?”
Oh. Right. Simone wrestled a grin onto her face, aware of Chantal’s assessing gaze. Her sister had been Pops’s first choice. His only choice. After all, he’d given his blessing to her sister’s decision not to run Honey and Hickory, but it was Alisha, not he, who’d handed down the keys.
“My sister may have the muscle power, but she’s clumsy as all get-out,” Simone said, kicking the dirt of deflection over the tracks of her insecurities. “Our toes would be toast if she helped us move this.”
In reality, she’d never snub Alisha’s help, but they’d agreed to quit mothering each other. And she needed to prove she could manage this restaurant on her own. Needed to validate her sister’s faith in her and prove herself worthy of their grandfather’s legacy. How could she expect to get the whole town on board with her vision for the future if she couldn’t even pull this restaurant out of the past?
They reached the spot where she wanted the checkout counter, and she jerked her chin. “Here’s great, thanks.” Lowering it, they let out matching grunts as it hit the floor. One less thing on her to-do list for Monday morning, but that didn’t make her feel better about taking advantage of her friend’s offer to help.
Chantal walked over to grab a cup from the drink stand, and Simone took the opportunity to regain her composure. She dusted off her hands on the shorts of her romper and winced when the fresh blister on her thumb brushed against the woven fabric. She’d burned herself plenty in the past year as she’d become reacclimated to spending hours in the kitchen.
A hand fell on her shoulder. “You good?” Meg asked in an undertone.
She lifted Meg’s hand off with a thumb and forefinger. “Of course.” More than okay. Perfectly A-OK.
Willing Meg to drop it, she bent to retrieve the pile of paint swatches from where they’d fluttered off. She couldn’t be mad at Pops for choosing her sister to inherit this place.
After all, she’d chosen to frame her self-imposed banishment from town as an escape. Kept up the ruse through Thanksgiving visits and spring planting with Gran and fishing trips with Pops. Sang the praises of city life while buying rounds at the Back Forty every time she visited Hawksburg.
How could she be upset that everyone in town had moved on without her when that was her goal all along? To exorcise herself from the only place she’d ever felt truly at home and never reveal how much she missed it.
Getting real with her family about how much she’d missed Hawksburg had been a long time coming. But sharing her authentic self with the rest of the town? Correcting the assumptions she’d fed into all these years? Much simpler to keep up the ruse.
But she was home now. Determined to stay and build a life in Hawksburg—the life she’d denied herself for years.
Simone shoved the swatches into the pocket of her romper, but when she looked up, Meg was still watching her, worry reflected in the depths of her green eyes.
“Am I upset I wasn’t Pops’s first choice? Not even remotely.” She wasn’t upset at Pops. Why would he choose her to take over Honey and Hickory when she’d moved hundreds of miles away? And in the end, it didn’t matter, because Alisha had entrusted her with the job.
Upset? No. But maybe she was a teensy bit heartbroken that no one had known just how much she loved every inch of this place, every square mile of town, from the grassy town square to the two-lane dirt roads. And more than that, she loved the people. She just wasn’t sure if they loved her back anymore.
Chantal added more ice to her cup and spoke above the rattle of the machine. “This place does look bigger now. Good call.”
Bigger and emptier. Lately she only came out to the dining room when the restaurant was closed or service was winding down. Catching up with friends used to be her favorite part of this place—Pops had scolded her more than once about chatting while she was on the clock. Lately she couldn’t bring herself to socialize, too worried she might hear that she didn’t measure up in the role.
But dwelling on doubts wouldn’t get her anywhere. She put her back to the door. “Ready for brunch?”
“My three favorite words,” Meg said and shut her folder with a snap. She slid it into her tote, and the three of them stepped onto the sidewalk.
“I think we earned ourselves a mimosa with that furniture rearranging,” Chantal said as Simone locked up. Honey and Hickory wouldn’t open for a couple of hours. “Not that I minded, but next time you should ask one of the brawny dudes we played pool with at the bar last night to do the heavy lifting.”
