Page 22 of Windward Hearts

“I’m not nuts, right?” Cadence asked, shifting her weight from side to side fretfully. “That was weird, wasn’t it?”

“It was,” he agreed, a distressed set to his mouth. “She’s definitely got something on her mind, but she doesn’t seem ready to tell us what it is.”

She heaved a sigh. “Which I guess means that there’s nothing we can do except wait for her to be ready to talk about it,” she said resignedly.

With a wry little laugh, Tyler put his arms around her shoulders, letting her rest her forehead against his collarbone.

“It’s tough, raising these independent, self-sufficient kids, huh?” he asked.

“The worst,” she agreed with a moan, although it tapered off slightly into a laugh.

“But at least we’re doing it together,” he said.

She tipped up her head for that, since it more than deserved a kiss.

“Doing anything with you makes it better,” she promised, hoping he saw the depth of feeling in her eyes, before pushing up on her toes to seal that promise with a kiss.

CHAPTER TEN

“What does it say about me that margaritas are one of the essential rituals of spring?” Winnie asked as she and Eleanor set out the salt-rimmed glasses that they had prepared for that evening’s book club. “They just seem wrong in winter, but by the time spring comes around, I am ready to enjoy one again.”

“Whatever it says about you, it says it about me too, because I feel the same,” Eleanor agreed with a laugh. “I think it’s because I’m more of a frozen margarita girl than a traditional margarita girl. All that ice. Who wants it, when it’s cold?”

“Yes, exactly!” Winnie agreed, wagging her finger at Eleanor in a commiserating sort of way. Eleanor ducked her head to hide a smile as she thought about how a silly series of miscommunications and personal hang-ups had put her and Winnie in a sort of rivalry when they’d first met. She couldn’t believe that she’d thought Winnie was cold, when in reality, they had so much in common.

Maybe preferring frozen margaritas was a small thing to trigger such a reminder, but friendship was like that. It was the little things that made the relationship so rich and wonderful.

“We can also ask what it says about us that we read a book with limes on the cover and immediately jumped to margaritas,” Eleanor offered, grinning.

Winnie scrunched her nose. “Don’t be ridiculous, Eleanor. It says that we have great taste. Duh.”

The two women laughed as they laid out the rest of their snacks. Once they’d gotten the ideas for margaritas, it only made sense that they would choose snacks that went well with the drink, so they had tortilla chips, guacamole, and salsa. Winnie had been eager to try a new empanada place a few towns away, so she’d made the trip out this afternoon and come back with an assortment that was definitely bigger than what their book club was likely to eat.

“They just all sounded so good, is the problem.” Winnie explained when Eleanor laughed at the size of the box she was carrying. “There’s beef, beef and cheese, and then the same two with chicken. But also there was spinach and feta, which sounded too good to miss, plus a corn and feta, which was intriguing, and a caprese one, and⁠—”

“Okay, okay, I hear you,” Eleanor said with a laugh. “I’ll make little cards to label them. We can do a taste test.”

When they were done with this impromptu arts and crafts project, the table looked fuller than usual, but Eleanor didn’t think anybody was going to complain.

“It will be nice to put out such a good spread for Miriam’s granddaughter,” she said.

Winnie looked up, a quizzical look in her eye. “I don’t think I knew Miriam’s granddaughter was coming,” she said.

“Oh!” Eleanor playfully smacked her forehead in an oh duh gesture. “Right. I meant to tell the group chat, but I forgot. Yes, her name is Hope, and she’s here as Miriam’s emissary, since Miriam is still feeling a little under the weather.”

“I take it that ‘emissary’ was Miriam’s word,” Winnie said with a fond smile.

“Yes, obviously.” Eleanor laughed. “Anyway, I guess that Hope is staying with Miriam while she recovers, since the place where she worked closed down. She’s got some time before she figures out what’s next, and she’s using it to help Miriam.”

“That’s good,” Winnie said, sighing. “I know we’ve been trying to cycle through and keep an eye on her, but I do feel better knowing she’s got somebody at home, just in case.”

“Me too,” Eleanor agreed.

She was just heading into the kitchen to fetch the pitcher of frozen margaritas that had been sitting in the fridge until it was time when Shane burst in through the back door like he was on fire. Eleanor was so startled that she almost dropped the pitcher.

“Goodness!” she gasped, pressing a hand to her chest. “I’m going to put a bell on you!”

“Star Wars!” he cried.