Page 74 of Not Part of the Plan
“So then you’re definitely planning to stay permanently?” Anthony prodded.
Emma rolled her eyes before turning around. She knew full well that Elvira Eustace would have already reported back to the entire town that she’d decided to stay.
“I’m considering,” she hedged. Of course she was staying. Her father lived here, one of her sisters lived here, and she loved her job. But that didn’t mean she had to put all her personal business out there.
Gordon cleared his throat. “I imagine you’ll probably want your own place eventually. Something a little bigger than the guesthouse?”
Emma thought of Aurora bursting through her front door and finding Aunt Em and her friend Niko naked on the couch. “I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”
The Berkowicz men looked pleased.
“I’d be happy to give Bruce Oakleigh a call for you. He’s a part-time real estate agent, you know,” Gordon offered.
“That’s very kind of you, but I’m not sure I’m ready to move forward—”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” Anthony said brightly. “We’re happy to help.”
Emma spotted Ellery a few stools down lifting her empty wine glass. “I don’t want you to go to any trouble for me. When I’m ready, I can call Bruce myself,” she smiled sweetly. “If you’ll excuse me.”
She grabbed Ellery’s glass. “Ready for a refill?”
“You look ready for a break,” Ellery smiled.
“Just escaping some well-meaning Blue Moon snooping,” Emma winked, uncorking a fresh bottle of Blue Moon Vineyards shiraz. She poured Ellery a glass.
“That just means you’re family,” Ellery chirped. “I bet you’re enjoying having your whole family in one place at the same time.”
Emma had the distinct feeling that she was walking into a setup.
“It is great,” she admitted. “I can’t remember the last time we were all together like this.”
“Eva works from home, doesn’t she?” Ellery crossed her arms and leaned forward on her elbows.
“She does,” Emma confirmed.
“Wouldn’t it be great if she decided to stay in Blue Moon?”
Emma raised a skeptical eyebrow. “It would be. What exactly are you getting at, Ellery?”
Her purple lips curled. “Well, I happened to notice that she and our very own Sheriff Cardona shared a very sweet dance at the wedding.”
“Ellery! Are you suggesting we work some Beautification Committee magic and conspire against Eva and Donovan?”
“Conspireforthem. There’s a huge difference,” Ellery clarified. “You had to have noticed how Donovan looks at her.”
“Why are you bringing me into this? Isn’t this B.C. business?” Emma tilted her head.
“Who’s going to have more influence over Eva, a bunch of weirdo strangers?” Ellery cocked her head in the direction of Gordon and Anthony. “Or her big sister?”
Emma shook her head and ducked back into the kitchen for a breather. What the hell? Why was the Beautification Committee suddenly so enamored with the idea of a romance for her sister?What the hell was she?Emma wondered.Chopped tofu?
She rested her forehead on the wall for a moment. She was losing her damn mind if she was jealous that the nosiest people in town wanted to meddle in her sister’s life instead of her own. They were crazy people. And they were making her crazy.
Emma put Sunshine on the bar and squeezed in a fifteen-minute break for herself with a cup of soup at the end of the bar.
She stirred the minestrone pensively. She knew Ellery was on the Beautification Committee, Gordon and Anthony, too. Yet all the Berkowiczs wanted to do was drum up real estate business, and Ellery was more interested in convincing Eva to move to Blue Moon to fall head over heels for Donovan Cardona. None of them were fishing for information about Emma and Niko. His motorcycle had been parked on the street the handful of nights they’d managed to enjoy together before Franklin and Phoebe returned from their honeymoon, ousting Eva from her position as house- and dog-sitter.
Why weren’t they trying to secure a future for her and Niko?Emma wondered. Worse yet. Why did that bother her? Did the B.C. think she and Niko had no chance in hell at making this work? Isn’t that what she thought, too? The complete disinterest was mind-boggling to Emma. Blue Moon had been so fascinated by every single facet of her life up until Niko…
