The Restaurant (The Nantucket Restaurant #1)(52)

“I’d love to come ASAP, but do you think maybe we should wait awhile on that? People in the office might start to wonder if I go too soon?”

He had a good point.

“I didn’t think of that. And there’s probably more benefit to me being in the office with everyone, anyway. So, for the next few months, I’ll come your way and then we’ll see. Sound good?”

He answered by pulling her close and kissing her senseless before pulling back and grinning. “Works for me. Text me when you get home.”

“I will. Bye, Billy.”

Jill felt like pinching herself as she settled into her seat on the plane and gazed out the small window, watching the other planes take off. Finally, she and Billy were together, and it was better than she’d imagined it could be. She just hoped it continued, and that nothing changed.





Chapter 23





As the weeks flew by, Emma and her sisters settled into a regular routine at the restaurant. Jill had every other weekend off and went home to New York to work Fridays in the office and to spend the rest of her time with Billy. Emma was happy for her that things seemed to be going so well. Emma was also glad that she and Mandy had each other for support as it was a strange time for both of them with the shocks to their marriages. Emma was moving on a little faster than Mandy because unlike Cory who said he wanted to save his marriage, Emma’s was irretrievably broken.

It was a blessing for both sisters to have Mimi’s Place to focus on. Emma regularly posted her photographs and Paul’s specials on the Facebook page and their customers expected it now and looked forward to checking out the daily posts. Mandy was busy handling an upcoming wedding and Emma was impressed with how detail-oriented and organized her sister was. She had a knack for managing events. And she really seemed to enjoy doing them. They stressed Emma out a little, especially dealing with anxious brides and mothers. But Mandy effectively calmed everyone down and guided them toward making the necessary decisions.

Emma and Paul had been spending time together more and more too. He had become a good friend and both she and Mandy found it helpful to talk to him. He assured them that going through a separation or divorce was never easy, but that eventually things would get better. Sometimes, she sensed a glimmer of interest from Paul, and when she did, she usually avoided him for a few days. She didn’t want to lead him on and she wasn’t looking to start anything up with anyone at the moment. The thought of dating, of starting over with someone new was not appealing in the least. She didn’t think she even knew how to date. She’d been with Peter since her college days and had never really been on her own. She was enjoying answering only to herself and coming and going as she liked.

Emma was also enjoying spending more time on her photography. When she wasn’t working at Mimi’s Place and the weather was good, she was usually out and about, snapping pictures. Some of her sunset pictures had turned out especially well and Jill had suggested she hang a few of them on the dining room walls along with the other consigned artwork. She felt funny doing that at first, but Mandy insisted too, so she put her favorite photo up. It was a lighthouse in a swirl of fog as a pink sky peeked through clouds. She was pleasantly surprised when it sold two weeks after it went up. She replaced it with a pretty shot of knockout roses along a white fence in Siasconset and that sold quickly too.

Paul was on his way over soon. It was Thursday night, his night off, and Jill was mid-flight to New York. It was Emma’s birthday and Mandy had asked in front of Paul that afternoon about her plans for the evening. As soon as he heard that it was her birthday, he insisted on taking her out. He invited Mandy too, but she said that she wanted to wait for Jill to come back on Sunday and maybe they’d take Emma out then if that worked? It worked fine for Emma as she’d never been one for making much of a fuss about her own birthday. It was more fun to her to celebrate other people’s birthdays as she had never liked being the center of attention.

The plan was that Paul was going to come over and cook dinner and then they’d go out to hear some music afterward.

At six sharp, she heard his truck pull up outside and a moment later; he walked through the door holding a big cardboard box full of food and a bottle of wine. He set the box on the kitchen counter and bent down to say hello to Izzy, who had run right over to him. Izzy was madly in love with Paul and whenever he came over, she ignored Emma and Jill and gave Paul all her attention.

“She is a smitten kitten when it comes to you,” Emma said and laughed.

He grinned as he started unpacking his box and putting items on the island. “She’s a smart one.”

Emma watched, curious as Paul set one cooked lobster, a container of scallops, a bag of shrimp, bottles of ketchup and horseradish, a head of broccoli, garlic, two big potatoes, lemon and a box of Ritz crackers.

“What are we having? Can I do anything to help?”

“I thought I’d make us a seafood casserole and shrimp cocktail to start, with sautéed broccoli, and roasted potatoes. You could open the wine and pour us a glass.” He handed her a bottle of Bread and Butter Chardonnay, her favorite brand, and she found her opener and poured them each a glass. She watched as he worked in the kitchen and made everything look easy. He took the lobster meat out of the shell and chopped it up, then added it to a casserole dish along with the scallops. Then topped it with crushed Ritz crackers, a bit of butter and a squeeze of lemon. He added a splash of the chardonnay, then threw it in the oven, along with the sliced potatoes to roast. Once he had the broccoli in a pan on the stove, he mixed the ketchup and horseradish together for a cocktail sauce and brought it to the table and they snacked on plump shrimp and sipped their wine.