The Chesapeake Diaries Series 7-Book Bundle: Coming HOme, Home Again, Almost Home, Hometown Girl, Home for the Summer, The Long Way Home, At the River's Edge (140 page)

“May I think it over?” he asked.

“Of course,” she assured him. “It is your surprise party.”

“Jesse is a thoughtful boy,” he said. “He’s smart and he’s a very good lawyer. I respect his judgment. I respect him as a man. I’ve grown very fond of him. He’s everything we’d hoped that …” He left the sentence unfinished, but Vi knew what he meant.

Jesse was everything they’d hoped Craig would have been.

“Well, maybe we’ll find out that Nicky has grown up to be a good man, too, Vi, and that his sisters take after their mother, not their father.”

“That was my thinking, as well.”

“I wish that one of them—Jesse or one of Mike’s kids—would settle down here in St. Dennis. Do you think that would ever happen?”

“Oh, I’d bet on it.” Violet smiled.

“Do you know something I don’t know?”

“I know that Jesse and Brooke Madison … that would be, Brooke Bowers now … seem to have eyes for one another.”

“Really?” Curtis smiled, too.

“Just my observation, of course.”

“You’re usually right about such things, Violet. I relied on that intuition of yours many times in the past, and I never regretted it.”

“Thank you, Curtis.” Violet stood. Her work here was done.

“You think we should invite Delia’s three, don’t you?”

“I do, Curtis. I think it’s the right thing to do.” She added, “I think it’s what Rose would want you to do.”

“You’re right, of course.” He nodded. “Tell Jesse that you thought it over and you think it might not be a bad idea to invite those half siblings of his. Who knows how many more birthdays any of us will have? It’s time we tried to put this family back together again.” He paused and looked at her from across the room. “Let’s hope it isn’t too late …”

Brooke finished frosting the last of the chocolate ganache cupcakes and stepped back to assess their appearance. There was more than a little ganache left over. Would little truffles adorning the tops of the cupcakes be overkill?

Maybe. But she decided to go with them anyway. If she made the truffles small enough, she might have enough ganache for all three batches. She rolled the ganache into little balls then rolled them in powdered cocoa. When she was finished, she packed them into their designated boxes: one for Scoop, one for Cuppachino, one for Lola’s.

The remaining six cupcakes were to be packed into a box of their own. She was just placing them inside when her mother came into the kitchen, her bag over her shoulder. She was clearly headed out, but she stopped to inspect her daughter’s handiwork.

“Those look delicious,” Hannah told Brooke. “Aren’t you late getting these out?”

“Stef and Carlo both wanted to test the waters for afternoon and evening sales, since the morning batches
are selling out by lunch. So I said I’d make an extra dozen and drop them off on my way to school.”

Hannah glanced at the three marked boxes. “Who are these for?”

“I made extra to take to Jesse’s office. I have an appointment later this afternoon to rewrite my will. We’re going to try to get it finished today.”

“You’re paying him in cupcakes?” Hannah appeared amused. “I knew the firm would be accommodating since we’re clients from way back, but really …”

“I’m taking them because the appointment will most likely run through the dinner hour and Jesse suggested we plan on eating there at the office. I thought I’d bring dessert.”

“Oh?”

“It seemed a good time to take care of this once and for all, since Clay will be bringing Logan home from soccer and they usually stop somewhere on the way home to eat. We almost never eat dinner with them on Thursday anyway.” Brooke cut a length of string from a nearby spool. “Does this leave you on your own? Do you mind?”

“Not at all. I’d be just as happy to pick up soup or something light and go right over to the new house and start unpacking some of the boxes in the kitchen. Clay dropped some things off for me this morning after he finished making his apple deliveries.”

“Oh, then it’s good timing all the way around.” Brooke wrapped the string around the box and tied it off.

“That must be some will that could take several
hours to write.” Hannah opened her bag and looked for her keys.

“We’re rewriting the one that Eric and I had drawn up when we were first married,” Brooke explained. “A lot has changed since then.”

Hannah rubbed Brooke’s back for a few seconds before swiping her finger through the leftover ganache in the bowl on her way to the back door.

“Delicious.” She licked her finger clean. “I have an early appointment with the decorator at my house in about twenty minutes, so I guess I won’t see you until later this evening. Have fun at school and at … the lawyer’s office.” She smiled and added, “No one can say that my girl doesn’t know how to have a good time.”

Brooke laughed and reached for the phone as it rang.

“Hey, Dallas,” she said when she saw the caller ID. “What’s up?”

“I was hoping to catch you at home so I could bring you up-to-date on the latest,” Dallas told her. “Got a minute?”

“Sure.”

“Steffie and I met with Lucy yesterday and she’s agreed to do our weddings—both on the same date if we could work that out with the inn, which we’ve done. So December tenth it is.”

“Terrific. So you’re all set.” Brooke quietly ran the water in the sink to rinse out the ganache bowl. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks. It will be crazy to get everything done that we both want, pull it all together so it all works, but Lucy said she loves a challenge. So I’m taking Stef
to New York tomorrow to see about getting a gown for her and I thought you might want to come along, since we’ll be looking at the gowns for attendants at the same time. I did call ahead to the designer—I’m going with Teresa Kearney—who, after she finished having a heart attack, assured me that she could do anything we wanted and she promised to have it all done on time. She even agreed to come to St. Dennis personally with her seamstress to do the fittings.”

“Of course she did.” Brooke snorted. “As if anyone would be nuts enough to turn you down. Anyone without your clout wouldn’t have been given the time of day.”

“This is one of those times when I was glad to have a little clout. So what do you say? Can you come along?”

“I would love to,” Brooke admitted. “I haven’t been to New York in so long, and I’ve never in my life been anywhere near the studio of a famous fashion designer like Teresa Kearney. But I have a paper due by eleven tomorrow morning and it isn’t finished. It’s the last one before the final, so it has to be good.”

“I understand. And I realize it’s last-minute notice, but I was just this morning able to get through to Teresa to confirm that she could see us.” Dallas sighed. “All of a sudden there’s so much to do. I can’t wait to go over all the details with you. Lucy had some amazing ideas, but between you and me, if she can pull this off, she’s a genius. Just thinking about what it’s going to take to coordinate what Stef wants with what I want gives me a headache.”

“So don’t think about it. Let Lucy worry. That’s what you hired her to do, right?”

“Right. You’re right.” Dallas sounded relieved. “I wish you were coming with us tomorrow.”

Brooke wished she were, too, she assured her friend, but they agreed to get together on Sunday night so that Dallas and Steffie could share their newly made wedding plans. A glance at the clock reminded Brooke that she had two stops to make on her way to class. She opened the refrigerator and put the box of cupcakes she was taking to Jesse’s office on the top shelf and closed the door, then paused. She took a piece of paper from the stack near the house phone and a pen from the desk.

DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING THIS BOX
, she printed in large letters.
THIS MEANS YOU, CLAY MADISON
.

She taped the note to the top of the box, gathered her bag, slung it over her right shoulder, and picked up the boxes for Stef and Carlo. Her phone conversation with Dallas had left her with just enough time to make her deliveries, but no time to stop and chat.

It was almost dark when Brooke arrived at Jesse’s office. She’d gotten home from class earlier than she’d expected, and took a few minutes to freshen her makeup and change into something a little nicer than what she’d worn to school. Added a little jewelry. Brushed out her hair and let it fall over her shoulders instead of pulling it back into her usual ponytail. As she descended the steps, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror at the foot of the stairs, and stopped to take a look.

I look like a woman who’s going on a date
, she reflected.

It wasn’t so much in what she wore—though she clearly hadn’t been thinking about “going to see her lawyer” as much as she was thinking about seeing Jesse—but it was there in her eyes, in her expression. She was going to see a man she was interested in, someone she hoped was interested in her as well. How it was all going to play out, well, that was anyone’s guess. But for the first time in a very long time, she was going to give herself the freedom to go with the flow and see where it led.

She’d spent so much time on her appearance that she was already late, so she ran out the back door, then back in to get the cupcakes from the refrigerator. By the time she made it to Jesse’s office, it was five o’clock. She opened the front door and went straight into the reception area, only to find it empty. Hearing voices from Jesse’s office, she tiptoed across the hall and was about to knock on the door when Violet appeared and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Hello, Brooke.” Violet squeezed her shoulder gently. “What a lovely Halloween queen you made on Saturday. I was hoping to get a chance to tell you. Your grandmother would have been proud.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Finneran. That’s so nice of you to say.”

“Now, I know Jesse is waiting for you, so let’s just tap on his door …” Violet did exactly that.

Jesse was standing in front of his desk, leaning back, talking to Liz about a property-damage case that they’d taken on. When he saw Brooke his face lit up, and Brooke was certain she wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. Liz turned around to see what had put that light in his eyes.

“Brooke, you’re right on time,” he told her.

“Actually, I’m a bit late, but nice of you to cover for me,” she said.

“Have you met Liz English?” he asked.

“We have met,” Liz said. “I met you the first time at the regatta over the summer.”

Brooke snapped her fingers. “I thought you looked familiar. Of course. You were sailing with Cameron O’Connor.”

“My cousin. Sort of.” Liz stood. “Nice to see you again.”

“Liz, just send me a memo with your thoughts sometime tomorrow,” Jesse told her.

“Will do.” Liz was caught between Brooke and Violet in the narrow space, and appeared to be waiting for Violet to move so that she could leave.

“I’ve set up the conference room for you,” Violet told Jesse. “I think you’ll be more comfortable there. And I’ve ordered dinner to be delivered at six. I hope you like what I ordered for you.” She looked from Brooke to Jesse. “You were on that conference call and you know that dinner orders have to be placed before five if you want delivery, so I had to play it by ear. Now, I’ll stay a few more minutes if you like, in case you need anything.”

“I think we’re good, Violet. Thank you. I don’t think you need to hang around.”

“Well then, I hope you have a good meeting.” Violet turned to leave. “Oh, I put Brooke’s files on the conference room table for you. I made copies of everything I thought you both might want to write on or make notes on.”

“Thanks, Violet. I appreciate it,” Jesse said.

After Violet left the room, Liz mouthed,
Who was that woman and what happened to the real Violet?
as she, too, headed across the hall.