“Yeah, we can have Mom call him for you,” Levi suggested.
Yeah, right,Cavin wanted to say.Slim chance of that happening after the conversation he just walked away from.“That is okay, I will figure it out but thanks for your willingness to help.”
Cavin knew he would now have to skip coffee in order to make the tee time, but thankfully, he drank a cup of hot chocolate.“Hey, how about one more cup for the road?”he requested, glancing at his watch.
The kids promptly made him another.
“I know you taught us to be honest, but please don’t tell Mom we know about the candy shop closing,” Levi requested.
“Is that lying if we don’t tell her?”Laney asked while she handed Cavin the hot chocolate as the contents sloshed like a rough sea when her unsteady hand moved across the table.
“No, that is not lying; it is just keeping a secret.”
“Good,” she replied.
Noticing the level in the urn, Levi suddenly exclaimed, “We’re going to need more hot chocolate!"
15
“Have you been crying, dear?”Mrs.Madelyn inquired empathetically, finding Noel in the back during a break between customers.
“Yes, I’m afraid I have been.”
Noel shared a synopsis of the conversation near the hot chocolate stand and then followed it with one explaining her private talk with Cavin in the kitchen.
“He asked me if anyone ever told me I was cute when I was mad,” Noel grumbled.“Why did he have to say that?”she grunted.
Mrs.Madelyn’s eyebrows climbed her forehead.“Honey, that sounds like a compliment to me.”
“Yeah, but...,” Noel trailed off.
“How did you respond?”
“I started crying and then said that Fletcher told me that,” Noel explained.
“Oh,” Mrs.Madelyn murmured.“Then what?”
“Cavin said something about not crossing boundaries again, and all of a sudden, he was gone.”
“He hurried out of here as quickly as he scurried in earlier,” Mrs.Madelyn noted.
“Hopefully he won’t come back,” Noel spewed.
“Sweetie, I think Cavin was simply trying to help.”
“You would say that,” Noel huffed.
“He stood up for your children,” Mrs.Madelyn reminded her.
“You’re just saying that because you think he’s cute and that I should date him.Well even if I wanted to date him and for the record, I don’t; he lives in Atlanta.On top of that, I think Georgia already beat everyone to the punch.Imagine that.”
Mrs.Madelyn recalled the memory of Georgia storming into the candy shop demanding they shut down the hot chocolate stand immediately.Once she held everyone’s attention, Georgia talked in one of those forceful whispers pretending she didn’t want the customers to hear although most took in every word.The woman always seemed to be on a power trip.“That Georgia is a handful,” Mrs.Madelyn said.
“Maybe they will fall in love and he will take Georgia back to Georgia with him where her big city thinking would probably fit in a little better.She has been attempting to change everything good since moving here.She’s so rigid with her rules.Beaufort is a laid-back town.No one who’s from here cares if a couple of kids want to sell hot chocolate on the sidewalk.”
“You are right about that, and I’m sorry that Georgia and Cavin upset you, but at least Cavin acknowledged your frustration and apologized.That must say something about his character.”Mrs.Madelyn decided not to push the dating issue for the time being.It wasn’t simply that she wanted Noel to date Cavin; she understood the hurdles Noel pointed out.She just knew Noel deserved a good man in her life.Someone like her Jack who would always be there for her.Someone like Fletcher who had always been there for Noel although death stole him away far too soon.There would be no replacement for Fletcher, of that she felt certain.However, Mrs.Madelyn was optimistic that other good men were out there, and Cavin just happened to be single and quite handsome.“You are right about Georgia.She has really rubbed a lot of people the wrong way with her agenda.I’m not sure how she got voted into her position.”
“Oh, I’ll tell you how she got voted into her position.You should have seen the way she walked away from the hot chocolate stand earlier.Georgia draws a lot of attention, and she knows exactly what she is doing.She would probably bring an upscale strip club here if the town would let her.”
