“And Wren hasn’t updated her socials in months! Wasn’t she in Asia?” Celia’s daughter asked.
Mentally, Theo urged them to return to the topic of Juliet. But when he came back with the drink orders, they were talking about Wren again, about how “reckless” she could be.
“I want to travel like that,” Ivy’s daughter said wistfully.
Ivy groaned and flashed Theo a smile. “Do you have children?”
Theo shook his head. “Nope.”
Celia cast Ivy a look that Theo thought meant: don’t make him feel worse than he already does.
Did everyone pity him?
“But I was married,” Theo added, trying to brighten the mood, or make himself seem more normal, or something. “It didn’t work out, but. Yeah. She was French.”
“Wow!” Lily’s and Celia’s daughter were bright-eyed at that.
“She grew up in Paris, actually,” Theo added, remembering his beautiful bride. “She was a pastry chef.”
“Did you learn French?” Lily asked.
“I was okay at it, but she never wanted to talk to me in French,” Theo said. “My French was so much worse than her English that it didn’t make sense to.”
“Did she live in Bluebell Cove for a while?” Ivy asked.
“Yes,” Theo said, his chest tightening.
“I think I remember her,” Ivy said thoughtfully.
Theo decided not to tell them that his ex-wife had thought Bluebell was “quaint but boring.” She’d ached for the big city, for French cuisine, for things she understood. She’d come to hate the smell of the coast and the taste of clam chowder and Maine accents. When she left, she’d said, “Do yourself a favor, Theo, and leave, too. This place is killing you, the way it killed me.” But she hadn’t wanted him to come with her.
Back in the kitchen, Theo worked his magic, ultimately delivering Peruvian-inspired fish dishes that the Harper sisters and their families gushed over. Smiling down at them, Theo allowed himself to fall into their compliments.
“Honestly, Theo,” Celia said, shaking her head and pointing down at the messy-looking platter of fish curry on her plate. “This is divine! I’ve never had anything like it.”
Ivy nodded furiously.
“You have to get more people in here,” Elliott said, frowning. It looked comically empty in there, with a table of ten full to the brim and the rest of the restaurant vacuous.
“Ha. Easier said than done, I’m afraid,” Theo said. “Celia heard them at the city council meeting. They’re ready to shut me down if I don’t find a way to get more people in here.”
That is, if Theo didn’t have to shut himself down first.
“Have you considered hiring someone to do marketing for you? Maybe figure out a way to brand what you’re doing?” Landon asked.
Theo wanted to laugh, as he had no idea how he would pay for something like that. “It’s not a bad idea. I’ll have to look into it.”
Ivy decided to order a glass of wine, and Celia joined her, saying it was cause for celebration. Theo was happy to recommend the wines he thought best paired with the dishes he’d made. Landon and Elliott decided to join in as well. As Theo searched through the back fridge for the wines he’d promised he had (although he hadn’t seen them up close in quite some time), he again heard the Harpers discussing Juliet.
“I told you she called me?” Ivy whispered, maybe to Celia.
“You did, but you didn’t say what she said,” Celia offered.
“She seemed out of her mind. I was worried. Before I could get anything out of her, she hung up on me. But then I thought…” Ivy trailed off. “I mean, she’s been such a stranger to us this year. She doesn’t tell us what’s going on. We don’t even know her daughter.”
“She has a daughter?” Lily asked, sounding shocked.
“We shouldn’t talk about this here,” Celia murmured.
