“I also read it,” Leah said, her blue eyes shimmering in excitement. “I loved, loved, loved it.”
Kayana smiled. “Well, since it was my book pick, and I’ve read it, what do you say we host our first Seaside Café Book Club meeting now? I can always make some of the dishes from the recipes in the book once we watch the movie.”
“I say yes,” Cherie said.
“Count me in,” Leah added.
* * *
Twenty minutes later, sitting in the enclosed patio, Cherie, Kayana, and Leah sipped icy-cold sour apple martinis in between bites of tender, succulent smoked brisket, with its distinctive reddish smoke ring, and the café’s immensely popular macaroni and cheese. Leah had sliced crusty-topped corn muffins baked with corn kernels, topped them with garlic butter, and heated them under a grill until they were crisp and toasty.
Cherie held up her glass. “I’d like to toast this year’s first meeting, and may there be many, many more in the years to come.”
“Hear, hear!” Leah and Kayana chorused.
Kayana took a sip of her drink, then grimaced. “I think I made them too strong.”
Cherie took a sip, holding the cold liquid in her mouth for a few seconds before letting it slide slowly down her throat. “Whoa! It’s like nitroglycerin.”
Leah pressed her fingertips to her lips after she swallowed a mouthful of the martini. “Damn, Kayana. Are you certain you didn’t add napalm? This stuff is truly illegal.”
Cherie set down her glass and picked up a fork. “I’m not going to take another sip until after I’ve eaten, because there’s no way I’ll be able to drive home and not run off the road and get arrested for a DWI.”
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that,” Leah remarked as she touched her napkin to the corners of her mouth. “I’m certain Reese Matthews will squash your citation.”
Cherie stared across the table at her redheaded book club member for several seconds and then smiled. In the past, something acerbic would’ve come out of her mouth, but at the last possible moment, she reminded herself of her promise to think before saying something that would be viewed as a verbal attack.
She knew her friends were curious about her association with Reese, even before the parking lot attack, and she had to admit that she’d been more than curious about him. “I hope it would never come to that, Leah. I’ve never been stopped for even buzzed driving, and I’ve made it a practice to limit the number of drinks I have whenever I have to get behind the wheel.”
Kayana swallowed a mouthful of brisket. “Why do you sound so defensive whenever we mention Reese?”
Cherie’s eyebrows lifted. “Do I?”
“Yes, you do,” Leah and Kayana chorused again.
Cherie laughed. “Now I know why you two are about to become related, because you’re beginning to think alike.”
“Stop trying to evade the question,” Leah said, smiling. “What’s going on with you and that gorgeous lawman?”
Pinpoints of heat dotted Cherie’s face when she recalled how she’d felt when Reese had kissed her. It wasn’t as if she’d had several other men to compare him to, and if she were truly honest, she could say that it was the first time a kiss had turned her on so much that it was if her body had taken over control of her mind. That, under another set of circumstances, she would’ve willingly opened her legs to him. And she knew it would be just a matter of time before everyone on Coates Island knew that their deputy sheriff was spending time at Cherie Thompson’s house when it had nothing to do with police business.
“I’m having Sunday dinner with him at his house.”
Kayana raised her glass and clinked it with Leah’s. “That’s what I’m talking about!”
An expression of shock froze Cherie’s features. “You approve?”
“It’s not whether Lee or I approve,” Kayana said, “but that you’re finally able to forget about your ex to start over with someone new. And I’m here to tell you that Reese Matthews is quite a catch for any woman who’s looking for man who comes from a good family.”
Cherie was curious about Reese’s family yet had noticed he hadn’t mentioned his mother, but his grandmother. She had never been one to pry into someone’s life or background because she didn’t want them asking about hers.
“I must admit I like him.”
“What’s not to like?” Leah asked. “Whenever he comes here to pick up food for the station house, he’s always friendly and polite.”
“If he invited you to his home, then it goes without saying that he likes you, too, Cherie,” Kayana said. “When he’s not working, he usually keeps to himself.”
“How do you know this when he lives on the mainland and you live on the island?” Cherie asked Kayana.
