The Devine Doughnut Shop(67)

“Thank you for doing all this”—Travis pushed his chair back—“even though it didn’t turn out as I had hoped.”

“That’s what you pay us for,” Lucy said.

Travis was glad to find his office empty when he got back up to his floor. He needed time to think and to go over the figures in the folder—but more than that, he wanted to be completely honest with himself about taking a trip to Florida. Had he been going to try to charm Grace into selling her properties to him, or was he really interested in her as a woman?



“This has been so much fun,” Audrey said as she threw herself backward onto the sofa in the living room of the condo that her mother shared with Sarah and Macy. “I must have gotten a thousand dollars’ worth of clothes for less than a hundred.”

Raelene pulled her purchases out of her bags and laid them out on the kitchen counter. “And some of our stuff still have the tags on them, so you know they’ve never even been worn. This bathing suit is one of those, so I’m putting it on right now and going outside. I’ve never swam in a pool—always just the lake or a pond.”

Audrey was on her feet and had dumped her bags on the sofa in a blur. “Me too. Mama, is it all right if we leave our stuff in here while we swim?”

“No problem,” Grace said with a nod. “Go have fun. Just remember, we’ve got to be dressed and ready to go to dinner at seven.”

“But . . . ,” Audrey whined as she picked up a red-and-white polka-dotted bathing suit, “do Raelene and I have to go? We’d rather watch the sunset on the water.”

“You’ll be missing out. And how can you give me your opinion about Travis if you don’t meet him?” Grace asked. “You can always watch all those hunky boys play volleyball tomorrow evening.”

“I’m going to be brutally honest and tell you if I don’t like him,” Audrey declared, and Raelene burst out laughing, doubling over.

“And we did see some boys that took our eye,” Raelene said, causing Audrey to laugh right along with her. “One even winked at me.”

“I’m not surprised that the boys are looking at both of you. You are beautiful young ladies. And, honey, as far as being honest with me, I would expect nothing less from either of you,” Grace told her. “Now, bandage up each other and go have fun. Be sure to slather on some of that sunscreen we bought. You both look like you’ve been soaked in buttermilk.”

Audrey giggled and rushed into the bathroom to change. Grace got a visual of her as a toddler, running through the house strip-stark naked when she got finished with her bath.

“Free as a bird,” she muttered.

Sarah and Macy were both dressed in new bathing suits when they came out of the bedroom. “That’s the way I feel when I’m standing here in this open door, looking out and listening to the surf,” Sarah said. “Are you coming with us, Grace?”

“I’ll be along in a minute. My body hasn’t caught up with that late night. I woke up at four this morning and thought I’d overslept, so I’m going to sit here for a minute or two and catch my breath.”

“My internal clock doesn’t know it’s on vacation, so I was wide awake at three. I got up and sat out on the patio for a little while and told myself it was Sunday, even though it isn’t; it must’ve worked, because I got sleepy,” Macy said with a chuckle. “See you in a little bit down on the beach. I intend to soak up as much sun and get as much sand between my toes as possible every day we’re here.”

Grace waved at them, rested her head on the back of the sofa, and closed her eyes. She listened to the surf and the girls’ voices as they played in the pool. In just a few hours, Travis would be in town for a week. On one end of the emotional stick, the idea made her nervous; on the other, she was excited about going to dinner with him and getting to know him better. From what she’d seen, he didn’t act all entitled and like a rich man, and she liked that about him. But—and there always seemed to be a but when she even thought about dating—Grace was who she was and had a “take me as I am or leave me” attitude. He might not like that—or the fact that she had a daughter who could be, and most of the time was, a handful.

“Who knows? He might still be trying to get me to sell him our land and figuring out a loophole to get our recipe,” she muttered.

She had only met him those times when he had come into the shop and when she had lunch with him, and only the good Lord knew how far her relationship radar was off these days. Just like Macy, she had thought that Neal was a good man with a kind and romantic heart. That idea could sure enough be hammered to the back door with a tenpenny nail as a reminder of her abilities to judge a man.

She had dozed off when her phone vibrated in her hip pocket and jarred her awake. She pulled it out, saw that it was Beezy, and answered on the second ring. “Hello, Beezy. I’ve been meaning to call you all morning, but these girls have kept me hopping since sunrise.”

“What hotel are you in?” Beezy asked. “I’ve got my bags packed and my plane ticket bought. I’ll get an Uber at the airport and be there by bedtime. There’s no way you girls are going on your first vacation without me.”

“We are at a place called the Sugar Sands. If you don’t mind sleeping on a bunk bed, there’s plenty of room in our motel for you,” Grace answered, “and we’ll love to have you for two whole weeks.”