Page 16 of Windward Hearts

He pointed at her. “I will get you,” he said. “I will win my fancy dinner. Just you wait and see.”

Eleanor laughed and stuck out her tongue at him playfully.

Winnie was just about to put her phone away when it chimed in her hand. She glanced at the notification, then groaned.

“Everything okay?” Eleanor asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Winnie replied, brushing away the concern. “It’s just an email about a planning meeting for the next historical society event.”

“The next one?” Garrett asked politely.

Winnie nodded. She and Shane had worked together the previous fall to create an incredible fundraising event for the historical society where Winnie worked. They’d created a carnival that had drawn practically the entire town to attend, which was a stark difference from the historical society’s previous offering of stuffy, prim evenings out that attracted mostly older, wealthy patrons.

“Since the carnival went so well,” Winnie explained, “my boss, Lyle, wants me to spearhead doing more of the events. We made way more money than usual, which is really great, but it’s a lot of pressure to follow up with something that’s as successful as the last one was.”

She blew a strand of her ice-blonde hair out of her face. She wore it in a crisp bob that usually was pristine, so that one tendril falling out of place revealed a lot about her mental state, as far as Eleanor was concerned.

“Winnie is being too modest,” Shane chimed in. “Tell them about your new plan, honey.”

Winnie had a smile on her face as she complied.

“So, since the outdoor element was so successful last time, and since everyone wants to be in the sunshine after a long winter anyway, we’re definitely going to be headed back to the town square. But this time, we’re doing a focused exhibition based on what the town looked like one hundred, two hundred, and three hundred years ago. Sort of like a slice of life from each of those time periods.”

Eleanor sat up straight in her chair. “That’s so interesting!” she exclaimed. “People are going to love that. You should see about spreading the word to the local schools, if you haven’t already. I bet some teachers would love to make their history lessons overlap with that.”

Winnie made a quick note on her phone. “That’s a really good idea,” she said. “I hadn’t thought of that.” She looked back up at Eleanor. “Anyway, since I was doing all the centennial anniversaries, I also thought I might do a ‘Magnolia Shore today’ section that invited local businesses. Or maybe I’ll ask the businesses to try to do something historically accurate that goes in one of the other eras. I haven’t quite figured it out yet, but I do want to bring in local business owners. It’s just good sense and good exposure for everyone.”

Eleanor’s mind started to churn in an instant.

“Ooh, yes, please,” she said. “I mean, assuming you are open to having the bookstore do a table.”

“Yes, obviously,” Winnie said with a laugh.

The ideas tripped off Eleanor’s tongue. “I could have books from the years that you’re highlighting,” she said, tapping her fingers on her chin. “And I could find local authors from across the years, so that we’re really focusing on the local history aspect of it.”

She let a sly grin come across her face as she looked at her brother.

“And,” she said sweetly, “I’ll make sure to put out a table of everyone’s favorite books that were turned into movies, so that they all know that I’m the one who is going to win our bet.”

Everyone laughed at that.

“Totally ruthless,” Shane said, shaking his head. “But it will make it way worse for you when you totally lose the bet and you are making me the nicest dinner in the world.”

“Dream on,” Eleanor scoffed.

Winnie exchanged a glance with Garrett. “Do you think all siblings are like this?”

His look was unmistakably fond as he glanced at Eleanor. “Nah,” he said. “I’m pretty sure these two are special.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

“I will go with you to lunch,” Hope said warningly to her grandmother as they drove through the streets of Magnolia Shore, “but not if you try to brag about me to that nice chef again.”

Hope was playing it a little cool by pretending that she didn’t remember his name. After they’d run into one another at the grocery store, she’d looked up Riverstone Kitchen online. When she realized that Jared had been a prominent chef in some of the biggest restaurants in the world, and that he actually had a Michelin star, she’d been so embarrassed about her grandmother’s bragging that she’d had to lay down for a while to compose herself.

Yes, Sharp’s had been a great restaurant, and, yes, Hope had been a great waitress. She wasn’t denying any of that.

But it was a big leap from really good at waiting tables to being the genius chef who had been profiled in four different culinary magazines.