5
CALEB
“Knock, knock.” He peeked around the door of Emery’s office where sunlight covered the southern window, the floor, and her desk, even catching the highlights in her hair. “Rex escorted me in, said you were staring at the wall.” Caleb held up the One More Cup caddy he carried. “Lattes. Please tell me you’re a coffee drinker.”
She leaned toward the open door. “Rex, you’re fired.” Then she reached for the coffee. “Thank you, I drink this by gallon.” When she smiled, he had that I-just-won-the-lottery feeling. “How’d your meeting go with that lady? Jenny something? She seemed like a force to be reckoned with.”
“Jenny Finch knows her own mind, which makes my job easier.” Caleb sat in the chair across from her desk. “Alderman’s went on the block a few years ago when there was no one left in the family to take care of it. Jenny launched a website selling high-end clothing, and it’s so successful her accountant told her to lose some money before the government took it all. She loves historic preservation, found Alderman’s, and bought it with the intention to preserve its historic significance. It’s hard for a pharmacy tocompete with the chain stores on the West End, so she’ll reopen it as a lunch counter. These days it seems the only thriving businesses on the East End involve food.”
“And roller-skating. The Sands seems to be busy. I’ve only been here a week, but all the cottages are booked.”
“Delilah has her regulars. The same with the Starlight. Sometimes I think the Starlight, the Sands, the Blue Plate Diner, andGazetteare the only things holding all of Sea Blue Beach together. They remind us of who we used to be, maybe who we’re supposed to be.” Caleb raised his coffee cup. “Look at me waxing sentimental.”
Even more, pouring out his thoughts to Emery as if he’d seen her every day for the past decade and a half. He’d only known her seven short weeks, really six if he thought about it, when they were sixteen.
“So why are you staring at the wall?” he asked, reigning in his thoughts. “And are you really firing Rex?”
“Wouldn’t dare. The dude runs this place. I don’t know why Elliot didn’t hire him. I think he didn’t want it.”
Caleb wanted to sayI’m glad he didn’tbut thought it sounded too ... something. Like not what a man says to a woman who walked back into his life after a long absence. “And the wall?”
“I was just remembering things.” Emery lowered her gaze to her coffee cup. “I reread my Sunday editorial and it sounds like I was trying too hard.”
“Not at all. It was a good piece. To the point. A nice introduction.”
“The emails don’t think so. People want to know why Elliot didn’t hire a local, someone who knows the town. A few said we don’t even need theGazette, that it’s a rag with occasionally large holes where ads were supposed to be. And one email, all caps, ‘THE WRITING STINKS!’”
“People can be rude, Emery. Don’t think those voices represent Sea Blue Beach.”
“I reported hard news in Cleveland for theFree Voice. The founder, and my mentor, Lou Lennon, was a stir stick for controversy. I cut my teeth on people hating my stories—or rather, theFreeVoicestories. But this, I don’t know, feels personal. It shouldn’t. It’s just—” She stared out the window as if the rest of her thought might walk by. “I had this idea in my head about coming here. It’s stupid—”
She glanced over at him, eyes glistening. That’s when he realized coming here was more than a job. It was about her mom.
He sipped his coffee to give her a moment. After a second sip and more silence, he said, “Anyway, I came by to say hi, bring you the best coffee in town—but don’t tell Paige at the Blue Plate I said that—and to say I’m glad you’re here.” He stood and took a step toward the door. “Also, I wondered if you’d like to go to lunch with a handsome, albeit at loose ends, architect. Of course, handsome is only an opinion. Feel free to fill in your own adjective.”
He was trying to be funny. But he sounded a little pathetic.
Until Emery smiled. “Handsome will do. And it’s good to see you. You’re my only friend in Sea Blue Beach.”
“You have Shift and Jumbo and—”
“They’re still around?”
“Living and working in the West End, the traitors. But yeah, they’re around. I know they’ll never forget the Queen of Operation Revenge.”
“Oh my gosh. I forgot about her.”
“How could you forget? She was iconic. Made that whole summer special.” Reminiscing about that summer wasn’t easy for Caleb. It took him back to the pain of Cassidy. But seeing Emery reminded him he’d also fallen a little bit in love. “So lunch? One o’clock? Food truck or Blue Plate? One More Cup has great sandwiches.. .”
“I’d love to, but—” She looked at the stack of bound papers on her desk. “I have a lot of work to do. I don’t have an advertising director, so I’m wearing that hat for now, and I loathe the schmoozing required for ad sales. I’m also head of human resources and a beat reporter.”
“You need a hat rack,” Caleb said. “I’m not a newspaperman, but I handled the finances for my Seattle firm when we started out. If you need any help—”
“Call someone else?”
“Exactly. You read my mind, Quinn.”
“Hashtag don’t call me,” she said
