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Cass gestured for Bea to exit the house first, which she did.Cass followed her, pulled the door closed, and rejoined her friends at the table.She cleared her throat and sat up straight and tall.“So Conrad now knows.I’ll call the twins in the morning, and then I suppose I’ll have to tell my parents and Liz.”She looked at her plate and tried to recenter herself in the meal.
She looked up and surveyed her friends.She reached over and took Bea’s hand in her right one, and then Bessie’s in her left.“I love you guys,” she said, a wave of emotion overcoming her.The tears she’d warned Harrison about made an appearance, but this was her Supper Club.If she couldn’t cry with them, who could she weep with?
“Thank you for adjusting the date for me this month, and thank you for coming to Hilton Head for Independence Day.”
“It’s been amazing,” Sage said earnestly.“Right, ladies?”
“I’m staying,” Lauren blurted out.Cass wasn’t surprised, but she hadn’t been expecting Lauren to tell anyone about her summer plans quite yet.“I mean, I have to go back to Sweet Water Falls to tie up a few things in the office there, and get more clothes, but I’ll be back by next weekend.”She drew in a full breath and looked only at Cass.
“The house is ready for you,” Cass said.“Everything was delivered as promised, and your bedroom is ready.”She and Conrad had been living in the house since Tuesday, which was by the skin of their teeth, and Lauren and Joy were staying here with them, while Sage and Bessie had bunked with Bea.
Lauren cut a look at Joy, which drew Cass’s attention there too.Joy hid behind her mason jar of sweet tea and said nothing, and Cass decided she didn’t have to worry about things she didn’t know.Not tonight, with everything else going on.Not until Joy confided in her, and Cass had more facts.
“So,” Bea said.“When are you seeing Harrison again?”
“I don’t know,” Cass said.“It’s been busy with everyone here, and me and Conrad getting the house set up, and…” She shrugged.“I don’t know.”
“Maybe breakfast tomorrow,” Lauren suggested.
“You guys, I can handle my life,” Cass said, annoyed already that she’d told them about Harrison.“Okay?I don’t need suggestions, and I don’t need you intruding.”
“She’s lecturing again,” Sage said.“Let’s talk about something else.”She gave Cass a friendly smile and added, “Like the fact that tomorrow we can sleep in and then spend all day basking in the sun.”She spread her arms wide and tilted her head back.
Cass laughed with a few of the others, because they’d been doing that for two days already.Sage loved the beach as well, and the conversation picked up and moved on to other things.Relief flooded Cass, and while she still had to make a couple of calls to her family to tell them about Harrison, she was glad she wasn’t keeping secrets from her friends anymore.
As the chatter continued around her, she texted Harrison quickly.How are things going over there?Conrad knows about us.
Yes, we’ve had a little talk about it, Harrison responded.Nothing’s burned down so far.So I’m counting that as a win.
Cass smiled at her phone, aware of at least one woman watching her.What do you think about us going to breakfast tomorrow?Even if you only have a couple of minutes, maybe we could grab coffee and pastries from that place you’ve been telling me about.
“Who are you texting?”Bessie asked.
“I’m setting up my second date.”Cass glanced over to her.She looked down the table to Lauren.“Breakfast, like Lauren said.”
Her phone buzzed, and she looked at it.Gourmet Goods, Harrison said.I can swing by about seven?I have to be on-site by eight.Time enough for coffee and pastries?
What kind of pastries?she teased, hoping he could catch the flirting in the printed text.
Pain au chocolat, he responded.Almond croissants.Banana bread pudding.
She laughed and showed her phone to Bessie.“I think he’s speaking your love language, not mine.”
Bessie smiled at the texts too.“If there’s a place with banana bread pudding here on the island, I want to try it.”She looked across the table to Bea.“We’ll go at say, nine?Then we won’t run into Cass on her date.”
“She can come too.”Bea stretched across the table and snatched Cass’s phone.“Because I bet Harrison has to go early.”She scanned the device.“Yep.She’ll be done with her date at eight.So she can fill us all in at nine.”
Cass grabbed her phone back and said, “Maybe.”Then she told Harrison she’d see him at seven o’clock in the morning.After that, she was finally able to relax at Supper Club, and she enjoyed it more than she had in a long, long time.
