Page 37 of Windward Hearts

She shared the tale of Shane’s unexpected appearance with the women, and explained the terms of the bet to Hope and Diana. By the end of the relaying, all four of them were giggling uncontrollably.

“Oh, man, I would have fallen right on my behind,” Diana said, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear in a way that made her engagement ring sparkle. “Cookies, gone. Bottom, bruised. Pride, annihilated.”

“I want you to know that I can actually think of several wonderful movies that aren’t based on books,” Winnie said. “But I am a neutral third party who actually gets to enjoy dinner either way, so I’m not helping.”

“Wise,” Hope commended. “You never want to stick your nose in between siblings.”

“I’m an only child,” Winnie said, “but even I know that.”

Cadence and June arrived over the next few minutes, and soon, everyone had a plate of snacks in hand and a glass of wine sitting nearby. Before they began talking about the book, however, they had their standard social chat. Eleanor turned to Hope.

“How’s our Miriam doing?” she asked the younger woman. “Obviously, we’re happy to have you here with us, but we would be even happier if we could have you both here.”

Hope smiled prettily. “She’s doing better,” she said. “She’s getting a little frustrated with the slow pace of her recovery, but she listens when I remind her that rushing things is far more likely to set her back and make it take longer overall than it is to actually speed things up.”

“Good advice, but hard to follow,” June said in commiseration with their absent friend. “I had a bad muscle strain in my shoulder when Benji was little, and I had a devil of a time keeping myself from making it worse by trying to take on too much too soon. I drove poor Keith nuts. I know Miriam’s situation isn’t exactly the same, but it’s not easy being the one constantly cautioning the other to slow down either.”

“I do sometimes feel a little bit like a scold,” Hope admitted with a little laugh. “But Miriam understands. So, we are muddling along.”

“How about things outside the house?” Winnie asked, reaching forward to snag her glass of wine off the table. “Are you enjoying your time in Magnolia Shore? Or are you bored half to death?”

“Well, actually,” Hope said, a flush coming to grace her cheeks, “I was recently offered a job at Riverstone Kitchen.”

This pronouncement was met with exclamations of interest and surprise.

“How did that happen?” Diana asked brightly.

Hope quickly recounted helping out at the restaurant during the rush, and how this had led to the offer.

“Jared was honestly really nice about it,” she said, and her blush intensified. Eleanor traded a knowing glance with Cadence, who looked delighted as she watched Hope begin to look rather smitten at the reference to the handsome chef. “He would have been within his rights to be annoyed that I stuck my nose in. But he wasn’t. So now I’m the backup waitress.”

“I feel like the two of you will really hit it off,” Eleanor said, thinking about it. She wasn’t certain why, but the idea of the pair just… worked. “I just—I think that Jared could use someone like you around the place.”

“Someone like me?” Hope asked, scrunching her nose.

Eleanor winked at her. “Well, you came into his restaurant, saw a problem, and solved it without making a fuss. Who wouldn’t want to work with someone so competent and skilled? Such a go-getter?” She let her tone go more teasing. “Besides, you can get Miriam to stay at home when she needs to but doesn’t want to. If you can do that, you’re obviously incredibly skilled in customer service.”

“Mimi does sometimes require a gentle touch,” Hope agreed with a laugh. “She truly believes that she can do anything and everything, and she is not a fan of the reminder that she is a mere human like the rest of us.”

“Plus,” Eleanor added, “I think you and Jared would make good friends.”

“Or more!” Cadence piped up, before clapping her hands over her mouth like she hadn’t meant for the words to escape. Everyone laughed, and, after a moment, Cadence dropped her hands so that she could join in the mirth.

“Okay, okay, enough about me,” Hope said, her expression turning bashful. “What’s going on with everyone else?”

“Yeah, Winnie, I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Eleanor said, turning to her friend, who paused in the middle of taking a healthy bite of cookie, “how is the planning going for the community bazaar?”

Winnie held a hand over her lips while she finished chewing her bite of food. “It’s going well,” she said after a moment. “I mean, there are about a million moving pieces, and it’s my job to wrangle them all, but aside from the total chaos, it is going well. We’ve almost reached our target for the number of local businesses we want to sign on to participate, and our permits are almost all ready. Fortunately that part is easy,” she added, “because the permit office is in the same building as the historical society, so I can just pop over there any time.”

“Handy,” Diana mused.

“Extremely,” Winnie agreed. “And Shane is being the best. I’m waist-deep in the planning, and sometimes I kind of lose perspective on what is a good idea or not. He helpfully brings me back to earth when I come up with something too zany.”

“Like what?” Cadence asked, eyes bright with curiosity.

Winnie held up her hand in a gesture of innocence. “I absolutely cannot tell you any of them,” she said. “They were all the product of late-night brainstorming sessions and, I am happy to tell you, are completely bonkers. I am remaining silent to protect the innocent.” She paused. “The innocent is me.”

Cadence pouted, crossing her arms. “Fine, be that way. I’ll imagine something zany instead.” She closed her eyes briefly. “I’m picturing unicorns.”