The Restaurant (The Nantucket Restaurant #1)(26)

Paul nodded. “I bet. It was close to a year before I dated after the divorce.”

Emma wondered if there was anyone serious in his life now. She noticed there was no ring on his finger, but knew that some people didn’t always wear their rings when they worked with their hands.

He must have seen the question on her face. “I still don’t date much. Nothing serious anyway. It’s hard with the hours I work. I have a cat though. He’s good company.”

Emma smiled. She remembered that Paul had always loved animals.

“I’m tempted to get a cat too. I’ll have to run that by Jill as we’re both staying at my grandmother’s place.”

“If you do decide to get one, let me know. I can give you the name of the shelter I went to.”

“I’ll do that.” Emma glanced at the clock as she tried to hold back a yawn. She was enjoying catching up with Paul, but it had been a long day. “I should probably get going. I didn’t realize how late it was.”

Paul took the last sip of his drink. “Same here. I’ll walk you out.”





Mandy pulled into her driveway at a little past five. As the garage door opened, she was surprised to see Cory’s car already there. He was rarely home from work this early.

“Kids, go get changed and start your homework,” she said as they walked through the door. “I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

Mandy hung her coat up and headed into the kitchen. The house was silent except for the sounds of the children as they ran upstairs. The door to the downstairs study/office was open a crack and Mandy was thinking the room was empty as it was so quiet, and that Cory must be up in his bedroom. But then she heard a familiar chuckle and his voice, but he was talking so softly that she couldn’t make out any words. She poked her head in the door and when Cory turned, she waved hello.

“Excuse me,” he said to whoever was on the phone, and looked up at Mandy. “I’ll be off in a minute.” He seemed annoyed at the interruption.

“Take your time. I just wanted to say hello and that dinner will be in about a half hour.” Without waiting for a reply, she backed out of the room and closed the door behind her. He was so grouchy lately.

She got busy in the kitchen, heating up leftover spaghetti sauce and meatballs and putting a pot of water on the stove to boil the pasta. Once the spaghetti was ready, she fixed plates for the kids and for herself and Cory, and set everything on the table, along with butter and a loaf of soft Italian bread.

She called upstairs to the kids when dinner was ready and knocked softly on the door to Cory’s office. A few minutes later, they were all gathered around the table and had a nice family meal. Brooke excitedly told Cory about her new dance class and Blake announced that he’d made an A on his math test earlier that day. Mandy relaxed and dug into her pasta. Once everyone finished and the kids had bolted from the table, Mandy poured herself a small glass of red wine and offered some to Cory.

“No, thanks. I need to get back to work for a few more hours. That will just put me to sleep.”

“I thought it was odd that you were home so early. I should have known you weren’t done working.”

“There was too much commotion at the office, construction on the floor above us. I’ve actually been home since noon, just working from here.”

“You work too much,” Mandy began. “Isn’t it time that you hired someone that can take on some of the stuff that bogs you down?”

Cory ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “We were just talking about that this morning. Both of us are feeling burnt out and agreed that we need to delegate more. Soon, though. I’m actually heading out to a conference next week for a few days and might do some informal recruiting there, to get the word out.”

“What kind of conference?” Cory had never gone to a conference before, so it was a bit of a surprise.

“It’s an industry networking and strategy brainstorming kind of thing. It was recommended by my old boss at BBH and I’m really looking forward to it. It’ll be nice to have a few days ‘off’ so to speak.”

“Will you close the office then? How will you manage?” Mandy wondered out loud.

“We’re not both going. Patrick will hold down the fort for a few days and I’ll fill him in on everything I learn when I get back. Plus, it’s in Vegas.” His smile reminded Mandy of an excited little boy. “I’ve always wanted to go there.”





Chapter 11





Jill ordered a glass of chardonnay as soon as the flight attendant came through the cabin. She’d worked the lunch shift that afternoon, then quickly showered and changed and raced to make a five-thirty flight. She was meeting Billy for dinner and spending the next day at the office. Fridays were usually a quieter day, and Jill knew that her presence would hopefully kick things up a notch. The JetBlue flight from Nantucket to New York was just over an hour and she was looking forward to relaxing and calming her nerves.

She was actually nervous about seeing Billy, which was ridiculous since they were so close, but her new feelings for him were confusing and exciting and terrifying all at once. Billy had never really given her ‘that vibe’ before, the one you get when you know a guy is interested, but she would have thought it strange if he had, given that they were such good friends and business partners. She’d never given him the slightest inclination of interest either, so she knew she had to do this carefully, to test the waters first.