“Wow, does everyone in Enchanted Cove come here for your eggs and bacon?”
“Pretty much. Everyone except for Mr. Landall, who says my eggs are runny and bacon is too crisp.” He stopped, stole a kiss from his wife at the counter, and smiled. “I love you.”
Their romance was starting to simmer the annoyance under Luna’s skin. “Alright, already, it’s getting a bit old now, and Shaun, if I have to see those starry eyes again, I’m going home.”
Shaun’s rap on the arm, gentle though it was, surprised her, but not nearly as much as when he yelled. “Donnie! Get your backside out here and stop flirting with my daughter.”
“Good morning, Luna. Let’s get you some coffee and we can talk for a few minutes. I know you're anxious about today. Don’t be. We’re going to have a lot of fun and you're going to be great.” Emma said smiling.
“Thank you for the vote of confidence. Couldn’t I just sit in the corner and take phone orders, or maybe run the register?”
“Soon enough, you’ll be doing all those things. For now, you're going to wait on some tables in a few minutes. I’ll give you the lowdown. Come on, coffee first.”
Luna was thankful for the strong, black coffee that woke up every cell in her body. “Goodness, that’s really tasty.”
“Thanks, it’s a secret recipe, so I’m not going to share, but let's just say there are more than just coffee grounds in that coffee pot.”
Luna was given the grand tour and shown where things were, and Emma told her about all the customers. By the time she was gone, she felt as though she’d become mayor of the town and forgot everyone’s names.
“Don’t worry, they don’t expect anyone to remember their names. I make a habit of it because it’s more personal, but you’ll get good at it, too.”
Luna stared at the dining space, remembering for a moment when it was a deli. “I can’t tell you how many times I stood probably in this exact spot, when Ronan would buy me a sandwich or bring me a soda. I remember this one Valentine’s Day when he brought me flowers and candy. I was forbidden from seeing him for a few weeks because my sister and I got into trouble. Ronan knew that every Saturday, my father would send me to the deli, so he begged the owner to give me this heart-shaped box of candy and a rose with a card.”
“Oh, my, that was so sweet. How old were you?”
“I was seventeen. Our father was pretty strict. Even at that age, he kept things under control.”
“Coming home was the best thing I could do, Olive. There’s something about the air and sea here that helps me sleep better, I think. How about you?”
Ronan woke early to his alarm, eager to get on with his day. Olive was still lying in the bed on the pillow he’d given her. The cup of coffee he’d grabbed at the front desk was hot and sweet. “This is delicious, thank you very much. I love my coffee with a lot of sugar.”
“Yeah, well, my husband should be focusing on eating instead of running out there across town.” Ronan assumed the moody woman behind the desk about his age was James' wife.
After giving another note of thanks for her coffee and excellent homemade Danish, he left and ran into James, smiling. “Your wife is looking for you. She doesn't seem happy at all. You might want to turn around and head back to the ocean and throw yourself in. I could tell her I haven’t seen you and put out a missing person’s report.”
James was exhausted. Ronan could see he’d just started jogging and had to get used to it as he huffed and puffed. “Yeah, that would be nice, but she’d find me. Knowing my luck, she’d drag me out of that ocean and hand me a ham sandwich. You saw her. God, I love her, but she’s a handful sometimes.”
“Well, have a good day, James. It looks like it's going to be a nice one.”
“Will do.”
“Come on, Olive, we have to take you for a walk. The sun is shining, and that’s a good thing. I’ll show you the park I used to play baseball at, my school, and where I grew up.”
Making a morning of it, Ronan was a patient man as he walked. Ronan felt the stirrings of something deep in his gut. “I don’t know, Olive. I’m thinking I might have to take a trip back to the Caribbean later this year. What do you say to some island fun?”
Olive barked, her adorable, hoarse doggie sound he loved so much. Smiling, Ronan saw the Bluff Cove Restaurant. “Well, what do you know? I think it’s time we grab something to eat and see my old buddy. Do you think he got my letter?”
Again, Olive barked, padding slowly beside him on the sidewalk. Whistling a catchy tune he remembered from his youth, Ronan felt a lightness in his heart.
He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed home until he came back. Now that he was here, the only thing he could think of was Luna and her crazy sister. “I miss you, Phoebe. What in the world took you away from here?”
His insides twisted in knots for a moment, her memory still fresh in his mind. “You know, Olive, I was the last one to see our friend Phoebe. I stopped by her boat as she was getting ready to shove off. She seemed happy, almost elated. The trip was going to be exciting for her.”
Pain gripped his chest as he recalled the moment he’d never forget. Something deep in his soul that he’d blamed himself for a long time had to be spoken. “I could have saved her, you know. I told her my feelings. Something in my gut was telling me this trip was a bad idea. I knew it just like I knew I’d never love another woman like I loved Luna. She just laughed at me. Can you imagine that, Olive?”
Olive was slowing down. Ronan scooped her up in his arms to help her tired body and bring her inside the restaurant. “I wanted to ask her to take me for a ride up the coast to Boston. I had some friends there I needed to see. You know how I hate toride in anything but a boat. I didn’t that day, and she was later lost and never found.”
Stepping inside the door of the Bluff Cove Restaurant sent a shock wave of electricity up his spine. It was so fierce Ronan thought he might fall. “Good morning.”
