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“Grandma,” she said carefully, “is there something on your mind? You seem a little… distant today. You have for a while, actually.”

Mabel looked up sharply, startled. “Oh, I—” she started to speak, and for a moment Vanessa thought that she was going to actually confess what was bothering her. And then, just as quickly, Mabel’s face transformed back into her usual calm, and she smiled in a way that was clearly intended to be reassuring but somehow managed to be more worrying than her previous expression.

“It’s nothing, really,” she said, waving a hand dismissively. “I’m just tired, I suppose. December is always such a busy month, and I’m not getting any younger.”

Vanessa started to push, but from the stubborn look on Mabel’s face, she had a feeling she wasn’t going to get anything more out of her grandmother.

“Are you sure?” Vanessa pressed gently. “You know you can talk to me about anything, right? I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“Of course I know that,” Mabel said, her voice softening affectionately. “You’re going to be a mother yourself soon. It’s still hard for me to believe sometimes.”

The mention of her pregnancy brought Vanessa’s attention back to the feeling of nostalgia twisting her stomach. As she thought about her friend’s radiant happiness, the fairy tale proposal, the excitement of planning a wedding and starting a new life with someone she loved, Vanessa felt that strange longing again.

There was something about the stage that Imogen and Lincoln were in—that breathless, giddy, anything-is-possible phase of early engagement—that she had to admit she missed. Imogen was planning a romantic summer wedding, dreaming about flower arrangements and venue decorations and all the magical details that would make their day perfect. She was experiencing the joy that came with knowing she was about to start a new adventure with the person she loved most in the world.

This was an adventure too, with Jackson, Vanessa knew. But it didn’t feel very romantic or magical, not like she’d thought. She was dealing with morning sickness and fatigue, doctor’s appointments and prenatal vitamins, preparing for a baby and also trying to figure out how to still be a present granddaughter, friend, and wife. The excitement was there, but it was buried under responsibility and physical discomfort and the overwhelming awareness that her life was about to change completely. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to fully comprehend how much until it had actually happened, and that scared her too.

“I’m so happy for Lincoln and Imogen,” Mabel said, looking every bit as thrilled as Vanessa knew she would be, her earlier distance vanishing as she started to chatter. “They’re such a perfect match, and they clearly make each other incredibly happy. It’s wonderful to see them taking this next step. And we helped too,” she added with a grin of satisfaction. “I knew all our meddling was worth it.”

“It really was,” Vanessa agreed with a chuckle, although her voice came out smaller than she had intended. “They’re going to have the most beautiful wedding. I can already picture it.”

Mabel’s gaze sharpened as she looked at her granddaughter, clearly picking up on some nuance in Vanessa’s tone. “Are you all right, sweetheart? You seem a little… subdued for someone who just heard such wonderful news.”

“I’m fine,” she said, echoing her grandmother’s earlier deflection. “Just emotional, like I said. Everything makes me cry these days.”

“Why don’t you sit down for a while?” Mabel suggested, gesturing to the back room. “You’ve been on your feet all morning, and you need to take care of yourself.”

Vanessa nodded gratefully and headed to the back room, sinking into a chair and trying to sort through the tangle of emotions in her chest. She thought about Imogen and Katie, probably at home now, carefully wrapping Emma’s Christmas presents while Imogen planned her future and Katie dreamed about her best friend’s excitement on Christmas morning. She thought about Jackson, who was probably at the diner and was looking forward to being home with her that evening, ready to hear about her day and share his own news and settle into the comfortable routine that had become their married life.

And she thought about the baby. In a few months, that baby would be the center of everything, the focal point around which their entire world would reorganize itself.

It was exciting and terrifying and wonderful and overwhelming all at the same time. And she wondered how she could work through her nerves so that she could find the same complete joy in this new adventure that Imogen had in her own new chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The familiar comfort of Snowdrift Diner’s worn vinyl booth should have been exactly what Mabel needed. She’d deliberately chosen her usual spot by the window, where she could watch the Main Street foot traffic while enjoying what was normally one of her favorite meals. She’d ordered a big bowl of corn chowder—sweet, hearty, thick, and creamy with bits of potato and charred pork belly in it—and it had come with a thick slice of toasted, crispy sourdough bread with pats of local butter melting on it. It was all warm and cozy comfort food, and usually it would have been able to chase away even the most persistent worries.

She’d been ordering this meal for more years than she could care to count when she needed comforting, and it usually worked. But today, it wasn’t doing the job.

She’d managed only a few spoonfuls of the delicious chowder before her attention had drifted away from the food, her mind too noisy to be quieted even by something so familiar. Her spoon was left in the bowl, and the slice of sourdough bread remained largely untouched beside it. Instead of enjoying her lunch, she found herself staring out the window without really seeing the Christmas decorations or the bundled-up shoppers hurrying past with their arms full of packages.

Her mind kept circling back to the afternoon at the bed and breakfast, replaying it over and over like a broken record she couldn’t seem to turn off. Eda Leopold, with her perfectly styled silver hair and her expensive coat, sitting in the living room of Hearthside with that predatory smile. The way she’d looked at George, the obvious interest in her voice when Christopher had introduced them, the shameless flirtation—it all made Mabel’s stomach clench every time she remembered it, and she couldn’t stop remembering it.

The woman had some nerve, Mabel thought for what felt like the hundredth time since the encounter. Eda had to have realized that Mabel and George were a couple. Mabel had brought him lunch, for goodness sake! It should have been clear to anyone with basic social awareness that they were together, that George was not available for whatever game Eda was apparently interested in playing.

But Eda clearly had not been interested in respecting anyone’s boundaries, for all her elegant social graces. The memory made Mabel’s jaw clench all over again, and she found herself reaching for her spoon and gripping tighter than was necessary.

She’d told herself over and over since then that she was being ridiculous, that she was reading far too much into the situation. George had been courteous and friendly, exactly as he would be with any guest at the B&B—with anyone in the town, really. There had been nothing inappropriate about his behavior, nothing that should have triggered the jealous spiral that had been consuming her thoughts for days.

No reason to think that every time he’d been over at Hearthside working on the electrical issues, that he was talking to the widow Leopold and getting closer to her.

Mabel liked to think she was a generally logical person. But for once, logic wasn’t helping her at all. Every time she tried to dismiss her concerns as unfounded, her mind would conjure up new scenarios, new reasons to worry about what Eda’s presence in town might mean for her relationship with George.

“Well, you certainly look like you’re deep in thought,” came a familiar voice from beside her booth.

Mabel looked up to see Jackson approaching, a warm smile on his face and a pitcher of water in one hand. “Need a refill?” he asked, and she shook her head, trying to match his smile and feeling as if she were failing.

“I didn’t see you come over,” she said instead, and Jackson chuckled.