“Goodnight, Mabes.”
I closed her door, and leaned back against the wall beside it, smiling.My kid had a friend.And I had a girlfriend.Maybe this island was going to give us exactly what we needed after all.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Naomi
ItwasFridayagainbefore we knew it, and Mabel was over at Gabrielle’s with Damon.They must have finished their birdwatching and homework because they made their way into the tasting room where I was sitting behind the counter, working on the computer.As always, we had bachelorette parties, anniversary parties, birthday parties, and engagement parties emailing us trying to book tastings and make reservations.We could accommodate most, but sometimes a bride or wedding planner would email hoping to book the entire venue for sixty plus people, and we just couldn’t do that.
Not for long, of course.Once we had Bonn Remmen’s land all developed, we could easily accept these larger party requests.I was pouting and staring at the screen when my nephew and Lennox’s daughter walked in.
“Why are you making that face?”Mabel asked.
I sighed and broke off a square from the caramel and sea salt chocolate I was munching on.“Oh, we just had a reservation request for an engagement party, but I’m going to have to decline.We just don’t have a space big enough for that many people—”
“Yet,” Damon said.“But we will.”
I grinned at him.“Yes, we will.”
“How many people?”Mabel asked.
“Eighty-five.And of course, I’m thinking about the money we are going to be missing out on by declining this reservation.”I sighed again and glumly rested my chin in my hand.
“Can we have some of those mini quiche things from the bakery?”Damon asked.“I was telling Mabel about them.”
A small, knowing smile curled my mouth, and I nodded.“They’re in the freezer in the back.Just pop them into the toaster oven for a few minutes.”
His eyes lit up, and the two of them ducked into the back room.
I was just about to finish my email to the wedding planner, regretfully declining their request when Gabrielle came busting in through the front door.She looked equal parts pissed off and worried as she clutched her phone in her hand.
I stood up from my stool and came out from behind the counter.“What’s wrong?”
Her eyes darted to the swinging door of the back room when she heard the soft murmur of Damon and Mabel’s voices.“Who’s here?”
“Damon and Mabel.Why?”
Her face fell.“Shit.”
Gripping her arm, I tugged her out to the patio under the honeysuckle-covered pergola.“What the hell is wrong?”
She unlocked her phone and held it up to my face.“Jolene Dandy is what’s wrong.”
My mouth dropped open, and I took her phone from her to study the Facebook post.It was a photo of Lennox and Mabel standing in line at the farmers market for a snow cone.The text below the photo was asking if anybody knew more about Lennox Paul and his daughter, Mabel Paul.That they’re being cagey and he seems way too young to be her father.As a concerned citizen and member of the Island Elders on San Camanez Island, Washington, Jolene needed to know if they are who they say they are, or if the islanders need to be worried about the new principal at their elementary school.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I blurted out.“You’ve got to be kidding me!”I started a deep dive to see just where Jolene posted this.She’s posted it in all kinds of Florida parent and school groups.She’d even posted it in something Tallahassee specific.
“Does Lennox know about this?”I asked her.
“Does Lennox know about what?”Mabel said behind me.
I whipped around, still holding Gabrielle’s phone.“Uh …”
Her brown eyes narrowed, and she stepped closer.“What’s going on?”
Gabrielle took her phone from me and approached Mabel, who held a couple of mini quiches on a napkin in her palm.“Honey … Jolene, she posted a picture of you and your dad on social media.”
Mabel snatched Gabrielle’s phone from her and her eyes went buggy as she read the caption.Then her hands started to shake so badly that Gabrielle had to take the phone back from her.“Wh-why would she do this?”She started to stim her fingers at her side like she had before, like she was trying to snap them.
