The Trouble with Christmas (5 page)

Sally Ann turned her attention to Lily, and Lily felt a silent assessment wash over her. “No child. Conch soup with smoked neck bone.”

“I haven’t had conch soup in so long. May I try it?” Lily asked, and Sally Ann nodded and dipped a spoon into the steaming pot, and held it for Lily. “That’s really good. It tastes like conch chowder but with more of a punch. I would love to learn how to make that.”

“Mmm, hmm,” Sally Ann said, turning her attention back to the pot. “What kind of cooking do you do?”

“I’m a pastry chef back home, but I enjoy all types,” Lily said.

“Good, cause we need the help,” Sally Ann said.

“Help with what?” Lily asked.

“You bring her here but didn’t tell her what you’ve done?”

Lily turned in time to see Cole pale.

“That’s not why I brought her here,” he said.

The look Sally Ann leveled at him would have been hilarious if Cole hadn’t been so obviously uncomfortable.

“No?” Sally Ann looks Lily up and down and then stares at Cole, hand on her hip. Then she draws out a long “Ooooooooh. I see.”

Cole shifted his weight and looked about to speak but said nothing.

“Thought you were all about focusing on business,” Sally Ann said to the soup pot.

Lily felt her cheeks flare and silently cursed her revealing face. It was as if Sally Ann had read her mind, maybe Cole’s mind, too.

“Yes, tell me about your business. Your business problem,” she said quickly.

Sally Ann turned back to the steaming soup pot, and Lily could swear she caught a glimpse of a smile.

She felt like she’d been set up, like there was a secret everyone knew but her.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Cole said.

Sally Ann snorted.

“Let me get you those sprinkles,” Cole stepped away and paced randomly around the kitchen, his hand jerked through his hair.

Lily looked back at Sally Ann, who was definitely smiling. She winked at Lily and tilted her head. Lily followed with her eyes and saw a box of baking supplies on a top shelf in a plaid box.

“You are bad,” Lily whispered. She reached up and retrieved the box. “Cole, just tell me your problem.” She said louder, not enjoying seeing him suffer as obviously Sally Ann did.

“I thought we had a great opportunity to reach out to all these families staying at different plantations here during the holidays. To spread the word about the restaurant and deliver them a great meal, right to their door. Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was a mistake, clearly,” Cole said, his shoulders slumping.

“Why was it a mistake?” Lily asked, thinking it sounded like a great plan. “I’m sure people loved the traditional Indigo Island Thanksgiving, didn’t they?”

“We didn’t much celebrate Thanksgiving over here,” Sally Ann said, her arm stirring the pot more quickly. “So whatever he had me make wasn’t authentic to anything.” Sally Ann had dropped the wooden spoon and stepped away from the pot, picking up an iron skillet filled with a couple of grouper filets.

“Her famous grouper sandwich,” Cole said, pointing to the pan.

“Christmas is gonna be the same thing,” Sally Ann said, rolling her eyes. “But you’re the boss. Just tell me what to do.” She turned her back to them to light the stove to fry the fish.

Lily was stunned. There was huge tension between the two of them, but she sensed they both meant well. She has an odd sense of being a referee on a cooking show. It’s like they both needed a good yelling at by Gordon Ramsey then a group hug. She looked at Sally’s Ann’s stiff back and Cole’s obvious discomfort.

There was a mystery here. And a challenge. Those were two things that could definitely take her mind off her troubles, as well as give her something useful to do over the next few weeks. The trouble with Christmas was that it was a time for families, and Lily didn’t have one. She no longer even had her fiancé, and with Avery married and Blake engaged to Samantha, she was going to be odd woman out more than usual. But before she jumped into anything, she needed to think.

“Cole, I have to get back to the Putnams. Sally Ann, your cooking is fabulous. Thank you for the taste,” she said and walked away from the angry head chef to the swinging door. “Oh, sprinkles,” she rifled through the box and found some green and red sprinkles, but no silver balls.

Lily pushed through the swinging door and waited in the empty dining room. She loved restaurants, the challenge of providing good food, the right timing, a good atmosphere, and that something special, the floor presence that made a place feel more like a welcoming home.

“Got the sprinkles? Great.” He looked relieved to be out of the kitchen. His face gained color and he smiled, although he still looked embarrassed. “Listen, I’m really sorry about that in there. I really just brought you here to show you the restaurant and give you sprinkles. I didn’t…”

“I know. No foul,” Lily smiled. “But, really, you’ve made me think. You know, I might be able to help. I’m not doing anything except baking cookies and decorating trees. And that second task is complete.”

“Really?” Cole asked and again pushed his hair back from his forehead, a move Lily recognized as a stress reflex.

“Really,” Lily said. “Let’s talk more tonight at the Putnam’s. Is the timing alright for you or is it the middle of your dinner rush?”

“There isn’t much of a rush these days, and Sally Ann prefers her daughter at the host stand over me these days,” Cole said. “Cocktails at seven sounds wonderful. Let me give you a coat for the return drive. I can get it back from you tonight.”

Lily watched him open the closet behind the host stand and pull out a black puffy down jacket. He held it out for her and she shrugged inside it. It was big, but cozy and smelled like Cole.
Stop it.
She tried to control her heartbeat.

“Thanks so much. I love this place,” Lily said, and she meant it. “I will see you tonight.”

“Count on it,” Cole said and walked her to the golf cart. He watched her until she drove around the bend of the road and into the forest.

‡

A
s she pulled
up to the Putnams’, Avery barreled down the front porch stairs, barely waiting for her golf cart to stop before she squealed.

“You met somebody!”

“Shhhh,” Lily said. “What are you talking about? I just got sprinkles. See?” She held them up.

Lily pulled her out of the golf cart.

“Oh, my God. He’s perfect. Single. Beyond handsome. And in the restaurant business!” she said.

“Are you psychic or a spy?” Lily demanded. “Where are you getting all this info?” She followed her excited friend up the stairs and into the grand foyer.

“When you didn’t come back home in forever, I drove over to the General Store and asked a few questions. I wonder if he would be better for you, in the long run, than James. You know how wrapped up in work my oldest brother is.”

“Avery, Bob just broke off our engagement. I’m not ready to date anyone,” she said. “And I don’t want to date James. I may never date again.”

Avery waved that pronouncement off as if it were a fly.

“You never know when you’re going to meet the one,” Avery said. “So did you feel anything? Sparks? Fireworks?”

Lily stared at her best friend, embarrassed and amused. Avery was a mind reader.

“More sparks than James?”

“I love James as a brother, Avery,” Lily faced her friend. “We kissed once in high school and we both realized we were wrong for each other. Neither of us wants to repeat that mistake.”

“I don’t know if neither of you does,” Avery said softly. “But still, James has no time for fun and is not at all interested in starting a family anytime soon, so as much as I’d like to have you as a real sister, I want your happiness most, so I could settle for this new guy.”

“That guy’s name is Cole and you haven’t even met him,” Lily said, “And I was engaged a week ago. Nobody jumps back in the dating scene so soon.”

Avery cocked her hip and raised her brows.

“Well, I don’t anyway,” Lily shrugged out of Cole’s jacket and hung it up, hoping Avery wouldn’t notice. Still she had to laugh at her friend enthusiasm and optimism, which was always contagious.

“I hear he’s gorgeous, looks like Brad Pitt but better. Donny, the clerk at the General Store, said he bought the Smith cottage and lives in the place all by himself. No family, no wife, and that he also bought something called Marshside Mama’s but someone named Sally actually runs it.”

Lily smiled. “Sally Ann, actually. And I was just at the restaurant getting your sprinkles.”

Lily walked with the sprinkles into the kitchen.

Avery, right behind her, squealed again. “So it’s true. I hear you two were blocking the door to the store, flirting up a storm.”

“There were no storms brewing,” she said.

“Not what I heard. I want to meet him.”

“You can tonight. I invited him for cocktails. I hope that’s okay. I know your mom always…”

“Perfect,” Avery squeezed her arm. “Smart girl, Miss-I’ll-Never-Date-Again. See, I knew you were interested in him.”

“I’m not,” Lily didn’t dare meet Avery’s intense stare. “Well, I am, but it’s more his culinary dilemma than him.”

Avery rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Right,” she mouthed.

Lily’s cheeks reddened. Avery knew her too well. “Okay. He is amazing looking.”

“Really like Brad Pitt?”

“Better.”

Avery sighed. “I knew dragging you here would perk you up.”

“Avery, I just got dumped. I’m not ready to date anyone, and who moves to Indigo Island alone, at his age? There must be something wrong with him.”

“Or very, very right,” Avery said. “You’ve always wanted to live on the island full time. You even talked to Bob about opening your bakery here.”

Lily frowned. Avery might feel like it would be easy for her to jump back into the dating pool, but Lily still felt shattered. Something must be wrong with her. Her dad had left her and her mom for another woman. Bob had left her for another woman. Lily lined up the sprinkles on the counter barely seeing them through the sheen of tears.

“Let’s go to the inn and see if Jack is around. He’s the new manager. He’ll probably be able to tell us all about Cole. Besides, you didn’t bring any of those shiny silver balls,” Avery said. “The inn will have sprinkles and balls. That way, we don’t need to use up all of your new boyfriend’s supplies.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Lily denied, but spoke to Avery’s back.

“Just planning ahead,” she said. “You know me, I’m a planner.”

*

Avery parked the
golf cart along the edge of the drive, in what was clearly marked “no parking”.

“Come on,” she said and hopped out. Lily smiled. Her friend acted like she owned the place. Probably because she did, Lily reminded herself. As they climbed the stairs to the inn, Lily was enchanted by the lights wrapped around the hand railing, and the pots overflowing with poinsettias hung with shiny red balls. Her heart felt lighter. She felt happy, not just because of the Christmas decorations. It was being with Avery. It was meeting Cole. It was feeling as if someday she would be herself again, not always a lonely, grieving person.

Inside, the inn had been decorated in an explosion of sparkling silver and gold. Large, shiny gold bows decorated the massive grand staircase, while smaller silver and gold bows adorned the check-in desk and the concierge desk. The smell of eucalyptus filled the air, blending with the fresh pine. The center of the large lobby was filled with a twelve foot, live pine tree, decorated with white lights and silver and gold ornaments and balls. A gold angel with a golden trumpet graced the top of the tree.

A group of kids ran past them, followed by a pretty young woman with strawberry blonde hair and a freckled face. She was laughing and holding hands with the youngest of the kids.

“Hey, Dorsey!” Avery said.

“Hey, Avery! When did you get here?” she asked and picked the toddler up in her arms.

“Just today. Meet my friend, Lily. Dorsey is head of the Kids’ Club for the inn. Looks like you have a bumper crop of kiddos,” Avery said as they watched the children cross the lobby, headed toward the back doors and the Kids’ Club.