Ben came over and sat across from him, his spine too straight. Theo suddenly couldn’t remember the last time he and Ben had gone out together or talked about anything save for Theo’s panic about the restaurant.
Theo thought of all the little ways he should have shown up for his friend: asking about Ben’s wife and his children, making sure he was happy. But something told Theo that he was too late.
“Listen, Theo,” Ben said, spreading his big, scarred hands across the table. “I want you to know that this has nothing to do with The Dockside. Or with you.”
“Uh-oh.” Theo’s heart pounded, but he put on a brave smile.
Ben laughed, maybe because he was nervous. “You know I’ve loved it here over the years. We’ve had our ups and downs…”
“Mostly downs,” Theo reminded him.
Ben raised his shoulders. “Man, it’s not about that. It’s my dad in Florida. You know his health took a turn recently, and he doesn’t have anyone else around. After last year, Marnie and I want a fresh start somewhere.”
Theo vaguely remembered that Ben and Marnie had considered getting divorced. They’d been fighting a lot.
“You’re leaving Maine to go to Florida.” Theo shook his head. “What a traitor!” He’d wanted to make a joke about it, something to do with harsh Maine winters and balmy Florida Januarys, but calling Ben a “traitor” felt too true, at this moment.
Ben knew Theo couldn’t afford to hire anyone else. Already, Theo hadn’t been paying Ben nearly as much as Ben was worth, but Ben hadn’t asked for more, probably out of loyalty. But loyalty like that was always ready to run dry.
“Honestly, it’s been a pleasure,” Ben scrambled to add.
Theo wondered if he looked as sick as he felt. But rather than push Ben to stay or make him an offer that probably wouldn’t come to fruition anyway, he stood and extended his hand. “Thank you for everything, man.”
Ben stood, looked at Theo’s hand, then walked around to hug Theo instead.
Theo closed his eyes mid-hug and tried to fathom the summertime without Ben’s help. Ben had always been around to pick up the slack and get excited about Theo’s menu ideas. He’d done a lot of their social media, mostly because Theo hated it too much to do it himself.
Without Ben, Theo wasn’t sure how the restaurant would stay open another day, let alone till the Christmas Festival at the end of the year.
But now, Theo heard himself telling Ben he could leave whenever he wanted. “Honestly, I can handle tonight,” he said. “I can’t imagine we’ll have anyone else besides that ten-top. And you probably need to wrap your mind around the move and what comes next.”
It was clear that Ben was surprised but grateful. “I haven’t known how to tell you, man. And now, I’m so relieved that I can hardly think straight.” But Ben agreed that it was better to make a clean break of it. He was excited to tell Marnie that they were ready to go.
After Ben left the restaurant, Theo wandered among the tables and chairs, adjusting things and listening to music too loud from the speakers, which needed to be replaced because they kept crackling and spitting. Theo felt brokenhearted. When he got back into the kitchen, he tried to force himself to fully commit to the food he needed to prep for the Harper family tonight. But every slice of an onion, every spit of the skillet, reminded him that he was failing.
At seven on the dot, Celia and her boyfriend, Landon, arrived. Behind them were Celia’s daughter Sophie, plus Landon’s children, Isaac and Mallory. After that came Ivy and her boyfriend Elliott, plus Ivy’s children Lily and Tyler.
“Wow! Your own restaurant!” Celia said brightly as Theo led them to the indoor table he’d prepped for them. It was supposed to dip into the fifties in a half-hour or so and was too cold for outdoor dining. “Look at this place!”
Theo wanted to say she was a good actress, that he knew just how crummy the restaurant looked—that he knew about the outdated decor and the paint that desperately needed to be applied to many of the walls and shutters.
But he also wanted the Harper sisters (the elder two) to consider the food before making an assumption about Theo’s skills. In his opinion, you could get some of the best food at crummy-looking market stalls or diners in the middle of nowhere.
Why had people in Bluebell Cove forgotten that?
Theo didn’t have menus, at least not right now, as he so often experimented with what he cooked in the kitchen and couldn’t update them every day. He relayed to the Harper sisters and their families the various flavor palates he was exploring, with a “Peruvian theme” that highlighted Maine’s adoration of fish.
“That’s exciting!” Celia exclaimed. With Theo’s help, they ordered enough food and drinks for everyone.
As Theo filled glasses with diet sodas and juices, he overheard Celia’s daughter talking in what she thought was a whisper. “He dated Aunt Juliet?”
“Not really,” Ivy said quietly.
“I don’t think they did at all,” Celia muttered. “But I don’t know. We were so much older than them.”
Theo’s heart pounded in his neck. He felt frozen solid, eager for them to say something else.
“Where is Aunt Juliet, anyway?” Ivy’s daughter, Lily, asked. “She hasn’t been in Bluebell in, like, forever.”
