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* * *
Boone left the Castle women working inside the restaurant, while he got started cleaning up the parking lot. After his exchange with Emily earlier, he needed to work off some steam without her in his face. The physical labor of picking up boards and cutting up tree limbs, loading them into the bed of his truck, was exactly what he needed. And when Jerry’s teenage neighbor showed up, he put Andrew to work at the task, too.
They’d been at it for a couple of hours and had made two trips to the dump when Cora Jane came into the parking lot with bottled water and a thick tuna salad sandwich on toasted rye, just the way he liked it.
“The others are taking a break out on the deck,” she told him. “I’ve coaxed Andrew up there, too, but something told me you might not be interested in joining us.”
“No, this is good,” he said, grateful for her perceptiveness.
“You and Emily settle anything this morning?”
“We talked,” he said, taking a long sip of the cold water.
“And?”
“Cora Jane, it might be best if you stayed out of the middle of this,” he suggested gently.
“Your opinion,” she retorted. “It’s not in my genes to sit on the sidelines and watch two people I love being miserable.”
He laughed at that. “Emily doesn’t look all that miserable to me. She’s a confident, successful businesswoman.”
“With no personal life to speak of,” Cora Jane assured him. “I could say exactly the same about you.”
“Have we not had this conversation more times than I can count?” he asked with good-natured exasperation. “I have exactly the amount of social life I’m interested in having.”
“Your focus is on B.J., yada-yada-yada,” she confirmed sarcastically.
“Well, it’s true. B.J. is my top priority. And I don’t think getting involved with your granddaughter, only to have her take off again, is in my son’s best interests, or mine, for that matter. I can only imagine what Jenny’s parents would have to say. They’d find a way to drag me into court and sue for custody of B.J. faster than you can say disaster. I won’t put any of us through that, especially not my son.”
She gave him a disgusted look. “Stubborn fool.”
“I’ve been called worse,” he said, not the least bit offended.
“Well, we’re not done yet,” she told him before heading back inside.
Boone watched her go and heaved a sigh. Heaven help him! Once Cora Jane got an idea in her head, there was no reasoning with her. He wondered if there was any way on God’s green earth to get her to focus her attention on somebody else’s love life. Sadly, he doubted it.
* * *
“Grandmother, I swear if you don’t sit down in one of these booths and put your feet up, I’m going to have Boone carry you out to his truck and take you home,” Emily declared, standing before Cora Jane who looked as if she was about to collapse.
Her grandmother’s eyes flashed. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me,” Emily said, staring her down.
“I think she might, Grandmother,” Gabi said more gently. “If you really want to get this place open tomorrow, you can’t wear yourself out today.”
Cora Jane looked around the restaurant in frustration. “I think we’re fighting a losing battle, girls. There’s no way I can open tomorrow, no matter how badly I might want to. I suppose I might as well admit that and sit down, at least for a minute.”
“Thank you,” Emily said. “If you sit for ten minutes, so can the rest of us. Anybody besides me want something to drink?”
“Sweet tea,” Cora Jane said at once.
“I’ll have the same,” Gabi said. Emily echoed her response.
“I’ll get it,” Samantha offered.
She came back from the kitchen with four tall glasses of sweet tea, along with a pitcher filled to the brim, as well.
She sighed as she slid into the booth next to Gabi.
“I’m not afraid to admit it,” Samantha said with a groan. “I’m beat.”
“And I’ve discovered muscles I had no idea I had,” Gabi said. “I’m sore everywhere.”
“We’ve been at this since late morning,” Emily reminded them. “And it’s now going on seven. I vote we call it a day.” She said that last part as if it were actually a democracy, though they all knew Cora Jane had the last word.
As expected, her grandmother started to protest, but Gabi cut her off. “You wouldn’t even let me stop at the house this morning. We have no idea what we’ll find there. We need to go home while it’s still daylight. My vote’s with Emily.”
“I’ll third that motion,” Samantha said. She reached over and squeezed Cora Jane’s hand. “We’ll get a lot more done when we’re back here fresh in the morning. Another day isn’t going to make that much difference. No one expects you to perform miracles, Grandmother.”
“I just hate the thought of letting folks down,” Cora Jane said.
“How about this?” Emily said. “Tommy Cahill replaced the few boards on the deck he thought were damaged and says it’s solid. The kitchen’s mostly functional. How about you serve a bare-bones menu out there tomorrow? Just eggs, bacon and toast in the morning and maybe burgers at lunchtime. Call in one or two of the waitresses to help and we’ll keep cleaning in here.”
Her grandmother’s eyes brightened at the suggestion. “That could work. And the bakery is going to deliver pastries tomorrow morning, so we’ll have those.”
“You scheduled a bakery delivery?” Emily said. Fearing the answer, she made herself ask, “What time?”
“Five-thirty, same as always,” Cora Jane said cheerfully.
“Oh, sweet heaven,” Samantha muttered. “Then we definitely need to go home. I’m going to crawl from a bath straight into bed.”
Cora Jane chuckled. “What has happened to the three of you? I certainly didn’t raise you all to be such wimps.”
“No, you didn’t,” Gabi agreed. “But I’m starting to recall the downside of spending summers with you.”
“Me, too,” Emily said.
Just then Boone, B.J. and Andrew came in from the parking lot. Boone gazed around at the four of them settled into a booth, shoes off, and shook his head.
“You all must not work for the same boss I have,” he said. “She never mentioned I could quit and put up my feet.”
“We rebelled and took her captive,” Emily explained. “And as soon as any of us can move, we’re going to take her home.”
“What about dinner?” he asked. “Did you grab something to eat here, because with the power out for so long at the house, you shouldn’t risk eating anything left in the refrigerator.”
“I never thought of that,” Gabi said with a groan, “and I’m starving.”
Jerry emerged from the kitchen just in time to overhear her. “Then isn’t it a good thing that I just made up a pot of crab soup. I could throw some burgers on the grill, too. With the generator here running, we didn’t suffer any spoilage.”
“And French fries?” B.J. asked excitedly. “Can I have a burger and fries?” He wrinkled his nose. “No soup, though. Yuck!”
“I’m with B.J.,” Samantha said. “I’ll take a burger and fries. No soup.”
Cora Jane shook her head. “How did you come from around these parts and have such an aversion to seafood?”
Samantha shrugged. “I just know I never liked the smell, the taste or the texture.”
“Or maybe it’s because you had a big-time nasty reaction every time you tried it,” Emily said. “You’re allergic to it, you idiot.”
“Don’t call your sister an idiot,” Cora Jane scolded automatically. “Are you sure it’s an allergy?”
“Swear to God,” Emily said. “Gabi, don’t you remember the time Mother insisted Samantha at least taste a crab cake and the next thing we knew we were traipsing off to the emergency room? She could barely breathe.”
Samantha looked momentarily taken aback. “I’d blocked that, but you’re right. I was scared to death. After that even the thought of seafood turned my stomach.”
“Well, I’ll take the soup, the burger and the fries,” Boone said. “Jerry, why don’t I help with those burgers?”
Emily frowned. “I guess that means we all should be back on our feet helping out. Grandmother, you stay put. We can handle everything. B.J., can you find silverware and napkins? Do you know where they are?”
He beamed at her. “Sure. I’ve helped with setups before. Want me to show you?”
Emily grinned at his eagerness. “That would be great.”
“I’ll get the drinks,” Gabi volunteered. “Are you all sticking with sweet tea? Do you want to switch to beer? Sodas?”
“I’d love a beer,” Samantha said, “but tired as I am, that would knock me right out. I’ll have a soda.”
“Make that two,” Emily said.
As soon as all the orders were in, they went about their respective assignments, working together as smoothly as if they’d been a team for years.
When two tables had been pushed together and set, drinks had been served and Boone came around with the bowls of soup, Cora Jane regarded them all with approval.
“I don’t ever want to hear any of you say you couldn’t take over this place in a heartbeat,” she said. “As long as it’s been since you were last here, you still remember everything I taught you.”
“Don’t go getting any ideas,” Gabi warned her. “Running a restaurant takes skill, business savvy and passion. Boone obviously has it, but I sure don’t.”
“Me, either,” Samantha declared. “Sadly I’ve kept up some of my skills working in restaurants between acting gigs, but it is not my calling.”
“And apparently you’ve forgotten my tendency to lose patience with difficult customers,” Emily reminded her. “I believe you were forced to pay several cleaning bills my last summer here after I accidentally dropped a few things into people’s laps.”
Cora Jane chuckled. “A few of them would have tested my patience, too,” she admitted.
“And I came close to dousing a few drunks with ice water after I heard about the unwanted passes they were making at you girls,” Jerry chimed in. “Only thing that stopped me was that you took care of them yourselves.”
“Actually Gabi and I didn’t,” Samantha said, grinning. “We turned ’em over to Emily. She really enjoyed retaliating.”
“I did take a certain amount of pleasure in it,” she agreed. When she noticed B.J. listening, wide-eyed, she leaned close. “What I did was not appropriate, though. Do not follow my example.”
“Thank you for that,” Boone said wryly. “After listening to you all, I’m probably going to have to completely deprogram him before I ever let him near a customer in any of my restaurants. We pride ourselves on impeccable, friendly service.”
“Well, fortunately, the lunch crowd rarely gets that rowdy,” Cora Jane said. “It’s one of the reasons I’m happy we close by midafternoon and that beer’s the strongest thing we have on the menu. Let the other places deal with the out-of-control drinking, loud music and such. This place is meant for families. It’s rare that the real party folks wander over from the beach in the middle of the day.”
“You’ve definitely made Castle’s into something unique,” Boone said. “It’s a real institution in town. I hope my restaurants last even half as long.”
“You run a good kitchen and have great service,” Jerry told him. “Last time Cora Jane and I came by, we were both impressed. I had a conversation with your chef, and he clearly knows his stuff. He’s got the whole Cajun influence going on, and you know I can appreciate that.”
Emily listened to the praise with growing surprise. Coming from Jerry, those were high marks, indeed. He might be working for a seaside diner, but his own credentials in the kitchen were pretty impeccable, and his standards were high. She recalled when her grandfather had recruited him from a restaurant in Louisiana.
“Thanks,” Boone said. “I paid close attention to everything you and Cora Jane taught me. If I’m succeeding, it’s because I had the best possible teachers.”
He stood up. “Now, let me bus these tables, help with cleanup and get B.J. home. You ladies should probably take off now. It’ll be dark soon, and you still need to be cautious on the road. Most of the debris has been cleared from the highway, but there’s bound to be some piled up on the side roads.”
“Boone, you went by the house,” Cora Jane said. “Anything we need to watch out for there?”
“There are a lot of branches in the yard, but the driveway’s clear. Just watch your step going inside. I flipped on the outside light, just in case the power came back on. I called your neighbors earlier and they say the power did come on over there. You should be okay. I didn’t spot any leaks in the house, but you might want to take a closer look.”
Cora Jane gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”
“Not a problem. Are you still planning to open here tomorrow?”
“Just with deck seating,” Emily told him. She gave a pointed look at Cora Jane. “We compromised.”
“Then I’ll be back here early in case you need help,” he promised. “What time?”
“Grandmother scheduled the bakery delivery for five-thirty,” Emily said dryly.
Boone laughed. “Of course she did. And that is why I run a restaurant that serves only dinner. I also postponed our reopening till the weekend. I wanted my employees to have time to get their own situations under control, deal with insurance issues or whatever they needed to do.”
“Can we come help you out, instead?” Samantha pleaded.
“Traitors,” Cora Jane said. “Family comes first, and don’t you forget it. We’ll all be here at five-fifteen with smiles on our faces.”
Jerry chuckled at their groans. “Well, at least you and I will be, Cora Jane.”
“Oh, we’ll be here,” Emily said. “But the smiles might be expecting too much.”
Fully clothed might be the best they could promise.
5
“Bad news, boss,” Pete Sanchez announced when Boone called him to check in after finally getting home from Castle’s and getting an exhausted B.J. into a bath and then to bed.
Pete was Boone’s manager of restaurant operations. Though Pete was a year younger than Boone, he’d come to him with ten years of solid experience. Single and eager to be on the go, he spent most of his time overseeing the restaurants in Norfolk and Charlotte, taking the burden of travel off of Boone. Even so, he’d come straight back to North Carolina the minute residents and business owners had been allowed back on the barrier islands.
“Tell me,” Boone said. If the usually low-key Pete thought the news was bad, it probably rose to the level of disaster.
