The Restaurant (The Nantucket Restaurant #1)(3)

Mandy and Cory had started dating their sophomore year at Boston College and except for one two-week period during senior year when Mandy was feeling ignored and broke up with him, they’d been together ever since. They’d both been business majors and immediately after graduation each started working in Boston’s financial district. Cory joined Brown Brothers Harriman as a junior investment analyst and Mandy went to Fidelity Investments as a market research coordinator.

Mandy quickly fell in love with the marketing aspect of her job and moved into the communications group where she handled events and wrote copy for marketing materials. After working for two years Cory went back to school, to Harvard for his MBA. Upon graduation, he had his pick of offers and decided to return to Brown Brothers Harriman, this time as a senior investment strategist, advising their high net-worth clients on where to put their money.

Cory had a plan. From the time he’d left to get his MBA, he knew he’d be heading back to BBH. They knew him there, and he was getting to know many of their top clients, building relationships that would one day pay off.

That day came five years later, when Cory and his college buddy, Patrick Harris, left to start their own hedge fund, as interest in alternative investments was skyrocketing. Word quickly spread throughout the community about the hot new hedge fund led by two young financial wunderkinds. Many of Cory’s former clients at BBH wanted to invest and by offering access to Cory and Patrick’s hedge fund, BBH was able to satisfy their clients, make an additional profit, and allow Cory to quickly establish a solid customer base. Which was exactly what he was counting on.

Patrick’s company did the same and within a year, Cory and Patrick had over two billion under management with year-end growth of thirty-three percent, which drastically increased demand, and made both of them millionaires many times over. Running a hedge fund was a high risk, high reward business and when things went well, it was one of the most lucrative niches in the world of finance.

After that first crazy year, Cory and Mandy built a gorgeous custom home on Nantucket. It was originally just going to be a summer home, but Cory fell in love with the island and Mandy was happy to be back in her home town. After one summer, Cory decided he could work just as easily from Nantucket and they could serve their client base well by having an office downtown as many of their clients also had second homes on the island. Patrick ran the Boston office and Cory had a small team on Nantucket and occasionally went to Boston for meetings.

Mandy became pregnant for the second time when the Nantucket house was finished and they decided that it made sense for her to stop working and stay home. They didn’t need the money and Mandy wanted to be there for her kids.

Besides, Cory thought it was better for his business if she wasn’t working. Their image of the perfect family, with two beautiful blonde children and a sunny, stay at home wife, was a great marketing tool. Not that he needed it though. His business had exploded as everyone wanted a piece of the next big thing, and their hedge fund was consistently delivering huge returns.

For something to do, Mandy got involved with some local women’s groups and found a way to put her business skills to good use, organizing various charity events. Today’s event was for the town library and was being held at the newer country club, the one that had a seven-figure initiation fee. Cory and Patrick were among the charter members, as Patrick and his wife Daisy were on Nantucket often. Daisy especially loved it on the island and often stayed for weeks at a time.

Though Mandy adored Patrick and had known him since their college days, she had never really warmed up to Daisy. Patrick had met her at a party his friends had thrown to celebrate their first year in business, when the buzz about them was turning into a roar. Daisy was from Charleston, and was a true Southern belle, always perfectly made up and accessorized. When she poured on the charm, men were dazzled. Patrick proposed just a few months after they started dating and they married less than a year later.

Mandy had tried countless times to reach out to Daisy, but for some reason she always held her at arm’s length. Daisy was always sweetly pleasant to her in public, but there was an underlying note of dislike that surfaced now and then. Cory said that Mandy was being paranoid, that of course Daisy adored her. He couldn’t imagine that she wouldn’t feel that way, but Mandy knew better.

Daisy was on this charity committee too and was the first person Mandy saw as she ran through the door.

“Nice of you to join us,” Daisy said sweetly, then turned back to continue tacking swirls of pink crepe paper to the wall.

“I called. Didn’t they tell you?” Mandy said as she scanned the room. It looked like they were almost done decorating. The room looked wonderful and bright, with streamers of pink and white cascading in waves from the ceiling and along the walls.

“Did you? Maybe they did mention something. I’ve just been so busy that I must have missed it.” She looked up at Mandy, waiting for a reaction to the dig. When she didn’t get one, she sighed and added, “They’re out back.”

Mandy hurried to the back of the restaurant where the other girls on the committee were addressing place cards and looking over table settings. Her close friend Barbara looked up and smiled.

“See, no worries. We’re just about done here.”

“Thanks, you guys did a great job with the decorating. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You did everything else. This event is going to be great.”