Page 22 of The Hampton Beach Café 2
She looked from Alex's back to the dog. “You know what? It actually would be adorable.”
“We're finalizing the menu…” Alex said, “…and I need to talk to you about something.”
Oh...no. She did not like the sound of that.
“I'm worried about Lucinda,” he said. “I know I don't know her very well, but...”
“Me too!” Frances exclaimed. “What have you noticed?”
“Well, she lost her phone the other day and got really aggressive about it, asking if I'd taken it, then Vin reminded her that she had asked him to look after it for the day. She immediately calmed down, but it was weird.”
Frances nodded. “It is weird. She's been super moody too. I wonder if she's been dating someone online, and it's going badly. I can't see why she would be on her phone so much if that isn’t the case.”
Alex nodded. “Maybe, I'm not sure. Just...let's keep an eye on her?”
She agreed and followed Alex downstairs, and joined the others in the kitchen.
In front of her was a selection of cakes, pastries, and savory quiches, and a stack of herbal and flavored black teas, alongside small samples of the coffee beans they'd ordered.
“We need to make some decisions,” Alex said. “None of the sample baked goods we ordered were particularly great, but I can't be here all day every day to bake. So, we need to pick a few to have in rotation. That way, I can plan them out and get them ready for fresh deliveries in the mornings without taking too much time away from the jet skis.”
Frances nodded, and Lucinda spoke up next.
“We need to have some decisions on the name, so we can plan a grand opening ASAP,” she said.
Vince jumped in. “And so that I can repaint the sign properly and get some menus printed.”
She looked around at the group of friends she had gathered together and hugged Bruno closer. Realizing she still held the dog made her flush deeply. She hadn't meant to bring him down with her.
“Why are you holding a dog statue?” Lucinda asked.
“Well...this is Bruno…” she said hesitantly, “…and he was my favorite thing when I was a kid.”
Alex spoke up. “I think we should use him as our mascot.”
Lucinda looked at him like he was nuts. “You can't have an inanimate mascot. You need a real one.”
Vince had pulled out his mobile tablet and started sketching on the app he used. He had that look of creative concentration that Frances found utterly entertaining. Almost as entertaining as the wistful look on Lucinda's face when Frances caught her watching Vincent.
They fell silent while he worked. Just a few minutes later, he looked up to find them watching him.
“Hi...sorry, I just thought...” he said, turning the screen so they could see.
What Frances saw took her breath away, not just because he had whipped up a pretty good sketch in under ten minutes but because it was perfect. Pale cream and gold accent with faded greens and blues in an Art Neuvo style that reminded her of stained glass windows in Paris. In the center was a stylized Bruno, seated with his paw up on a coffee table piled with cakes and coffee mugs. Across the top of the image read “Café Bruno” in heavily stylized lettering.
“It's perfect...” she whispered.
“It's very rough. If you like it, I'll do a proper job of it tonight.”
“You are a very talented man,” Lucinda said with a wink, making Vincent blush.
“So...yes?” Vincent looked up at Frances for her final say.
She hesitated. Was it dumb to name the place something so sentimental when she'd be leaving in a few months? What if the people who bought it from her changed it or failed?
As she spoke, she looked over at Alex. “Yes, Café Bruno.”
Alex was looking over her shoulder. “I think Clarkson's trying to get in.”
