CHAPTER 1
Beverly leaned over, annoyed that her new shoes hurt and certain they were going to cause blisters. Why had she decided that a full working day at Coastal Coffee would be a good time to wear new shoes? They were practical ones, of course. Her days of heels were long past.
She adjusted the left shoe as she poised on one foot, a bit dismayed that doing so was no longer an easy feat. Getting older wasn’t for sissies. With a wobble, she lost her balance, crashed against the built-in bookcase in her office, and knocked a stack of papers to the floor. Even more annoyed at her shoes now, she leaned over to collect the pages, pausing as she noticed the bottom shelf had come loose. She jiggled the shelf, hoping to push it back in place, but it was firmly wedged in there crooked now. The shoes, the mess of papers, and now the shelf? Her usual look-on-the-bright-side outlook was failing her.
With a sigh, she knelt down to fix the shelf, surprised when it slipped out easily in her hands. There, underneath the shelf, was a hidden compartment. How could she not have known about this after owning Coastal Coffee for all these years? She reached inside and pulled out a rolled-up canvas.
What could be important enough to hide in a secret compartment? Curiosity pricked the back of her neck. She got up and moved over by the window, carefully unrolling the canvas. She frowned as she peered at it. It looked slightly like Magnolia Key, yet different enough that she knew it wasn’t. But the building in it looked very similar to the one that used to be at the ferry landing. Though a storm had taken out that building years ago.
She frowned. Why had it been hidden away in the bookcase? She scanned it, looking to see if the artist had signed it, but found no signature. The painting depicted old-time fishing boats, with the sunrise just beginning to illuminate the bay. But the sunrise came at the landing in this painting from a different angle than the sun hit the landing here on the island. Was this a real place or just something from an artist’s imagination?
A loud crash sounded from out in the cafe, and Beverly whirled around. Now what? She hurriedly set the painting on her desk and rushed to see what had happened.
A mess of broken dishes and spilled food lay splattered across the floor beside a table of four customers. She stifled a sigh and struggled to put on a smile, pretending everything was just fine even though the new server had dropped a tray of dishes. Again. The girl was friendly and kind but had a habit of letting dishes shatter all around her.
Beverly hurried over, grabbing a tub to help pick up the broken pieces.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so clumsy. I’ll pay for them.” Janine was almost in tears.
“That’s okay. It happens.” She quickly picked up the pieces, assured the customers she would rush their order through again, and headed to the kitchen.
As she pushed into the kitchen, the enticing aroma of freshly ground coffee beans along with the cinnamony goodness of sweet bread warming in the oven assaulted her senses. She dumped the broken dishes and ruined food in the trash and headed over to the cook. “We need that last order remade.”
Sal raised his eyebrows. “She dropped one again?”
“She’s new. She’s learning.” In Janine’s defense, she had picked up on the menu,
the routine, memorized the specials each day. She just hadn’t quite figured out how to not drop trays of food.
“I’ll hurry and remake it.”
She nodded and headed back out into the cafe. The morning sped by and the breakfast crowd emptied out, chasing all thoughts of the painting from her mind. She chatted with customers, cleared tables, and glanced at the clock. The breakfast rush merged into the lunch crowd.
Things sure had changed since she’d opened Coastal Coffee over thirty years ago. At that time, the shop was one-third this size. She’d served coffee and a few different breakfast pastries from six a.m. until one p.m. She’d been the only worker and worked six days a week. But as the business grew, she expanded into the shop next door and extended her hours. She served sandwiches and soups for lunch now, too, and closed around three p.m. Thankfully, the business growth had allowed her to hire more workers. These days she vowed to only work five days a week but rarely kept that promise. Something always seemed to need her attention and lure her back to the shop.
Before she knew it, the lunch crowd had come and then thinned out. She glanced at the clock again. How did time seem to go by in a flash and yet seem to crawl at the same time?
She knew it was just the anticipation of seeing her friend Maxine again. Anticipation and a bit of apprehension. She hadn’t seen Maxine in over ten years. And during the two decades before that, Maxine had only made a handful of trips back here to Magnolia Key.
It had been so hard at first when Maxine married and left the island. They’d grown up together, inseparable from day one. Their mothers had been best friends, and it was inevitable that she and Maxine became best friends, too. There had never been a secret between them. At least not back then.
She still considered Maxine her best friend, even if they only spoke half a dozen times a year now. Probably less than that in recent years, honestly. She wondered what Maxine thought about her now. She’d never left the island, never wanted to. Except for that one brief time when she actually thought she would sell Coastal Coffee and leave. But that hadn’t worked out at all.
Anyway, Maxine had married Victor, who rapidly climbed the corporate ladder. Bought a fancy big house—she’d seen photos of it—and they had two beautiful kids. A perfect life. And so different from hers.
It was strange to think about how their paths had split and they’d ended up in such dissimilar places.
She pushed the thoughts away and hauled another tray of dishes back to the kitchen. After rinsing them, she placed them in the dishwasher. Drying her hands with a nearby towel, she ran her gaze around the kitchen. Everything in place. That was one of her rules. Everything back in place before closing for the day.
Sal was busy getting things set up for the next day. She recently switched to getting the breakfast pastries and desserts from Julie’s Sweet Shoppe over on Belle Island, and they were a big hit. It freed up the time that would otherwise be spent baking. They were busy enough with other tasks at the shop. And, honestly, Julie was a much more accomplished baker than either she or Sal would ever be. ...
We hope you are enjoying the book so far. To continue reading...
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Please log in to recommend or discuss...
