Sisters by Choice (Blackberry Island #4)(106)

“Not thinking about that today,” she told herself. “Today is about opening boxes and won’t that be fun?”

She glanced at the large cookie-clock on the wall. The boys had spent the night with Jaxsen. He would be dropping them off around ten to hang out with her before they scattered to various activities in the afternoon.

She had to admit, she was nervous about seeing him. Ridiculous considering how long they’d been married, but still true. They’d spoken on the phone a few times—short conversations that had gone well. He hadn’t said anything about leaving her and she hadn’t mentioned being broken at the thought. It was as if they were finding their way back. She needed to believe that.

Anticipation mingled with a touch of what-if-he’s-a-jerk-again. Faith, she told herself, getting a box cutter out of her tote bag. He’d done incredible work in the store. She had to have faith.

She cut open all the boxes before returning the box cutter to her bag. The boys would help her unpack but there was no way she was letting them loose with a sharp blade.

She went to work unpacking a giant coffee maker. She’d gone with a fancy model in gleaming stainless steel. Over budget, but beautiful and it got great reviews. After setting it up on the counter, she read the directions. She washed out the various parts and put them in place, then added water.

“Here we go, big guy. Don’t let me down.”

She flipped the on switch and waited. The water began heating and less than two minutes later she heard the happy, bubbling sound of hot water filling the large stainless carafe.

According to the directions, the coffee would stay hot for at least four hours. She had no idea how much foot traffic she would get or if anyone would want coffee, but she wanted to have it available.

“Crap!”

She reached for the pad of paper she’d thrown in her tote and dug out a pen. She was going to need mugs for the store and to-go cups for people to take with them. And stirrers and something to hold cream and milk. And little sugars and low-cal sweeteners. She wasn’t going to compete with the coffee place in town but she couldn’t just offer black coffee.

She wrote everything on the list, then waited for the carafe to finish filling. She dumped the hot water, then poured in the ground coffee she’d brought from home. She started the unit again and waited. This time in addition to the sounds, she inhaled the scent of brewing coffee.

By ten she was on her second cup of delicious coffee and had made a dent in the unpacking. Right on time she heard her kids outside the store and went to let them in. Her heart sank a little when she saw her mother-in-law behind them instead of Jaxsen. Why hadn’t he come? Weren’t things supposed to be better now?

Too many questions and no answers, she thought, pushing those thoughts away and focusing on her kids.

“How was your night?” she asked cheerfully, opening the door for them and ushering everyone inside.

“We stayed up and played Xbox,” Grant said.

“Not that late,” Tommy added.

Ruth looked around the store. “Oh, Kristine, it’s beautiful. I can’t believe how perfectly everything is turning out.”

“It does look great, doesn’t it?”

JJ patted one of the walls. “We helped Dad with the painting. After school. All of us helped.”

Something she hadn’t known. “You never said anything.”

“It’s a surprise,” Grant told her. “Do you like it?”

“I love it. Thank you so much.”

She wasn’t sure what to make of the information, but it seemed positive. If only Jaxsen were here.

“Let me show you around,” she said and led the way through the space. After they’d explored it all, Ruth left to run errands and the boys got to work unpacking boxes.

“We’re going to put everything away today,” she said. “I’ll wash it all later. First, I want to figure out where everything goes and make sure I have enough shelves.”

Not that she knew what she was going to do if she didn’t.

“You can store the cookie sheets on the cooling racks,” JJ told her. “That’s where they’ll be most of the time anyway. It’ll save room.”

“Good idea.”

Tommy was stacking mixing bowls. “Mom, where’s the dishwasher?”

“What?” She stared at her kitchen, searching the lower cabinets. There was a giant sink and shelves and cabinets and the stove and...

“There’s no dishwasher,” she breathed. How could she have missed that? Without a dishwasher, she was going to have to wash every single thing by hand. Every day!

Grant grinned at JJ. “I know what you’re going to be doing when you work here.”

JJ looked worried. “Mom, you’re getting a dishwasher, aren’t you?”

There wasn’t a dishwasher. How could she have not seen that? She thought about the number of cookie sheets she would use in a day. While she could protect them with a layer of parchment paper and use a pan more than once before washing it, what about the brownie pans and the bowls and spoons and everything else?

“I need a dishwasher.” A restaurant-size one plus whatever plumbing it would require to make it work. That wasn’t going to be cheap.

She crossed to her shopping list and added that. It was a huge item to try to insert into her budget.