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Fallon steps away and jerks his thumb at his sister. “This is Nora. She’s my baby sister. She’s going to be staying in town for a while.”
And that’s all it takes for the dam to break. Fiona, ever the mother hen, is the first one to jump up and hug a shellshocked Nora. She introduces herself and immediately offers coffee, tea, iced coffee, iced tea, juice, water, beer, whiskey, bourbon, until Nora blurts out, “Water,” and Fiona rushes to get a glass with a smile. There’s a veritable procession of hugs and greetings as Nora is indoctrinated into the Four Cups posse.
I meet Fallon’s laughing eyes over the crowd. He scrapes his fingers through his hair and winces. “Maybe meeting here wasn’t such a good idea.”
“You shut your mouth, Fallon Richter,” Simone snaps. “Now, Nora, where are you staying? I have a few extra scented candles upstairs. I’ll grab one for you. You can have a nice bubble bath with a candle and some wine, and whatever made you cry will be okay. Okay?”
“Um…” Nora glances at Fallon, who just grins.
“She’s staying at Jen’s place.”
Silence crashes down, and all eyes turn to me.
Candice blinks. “She’s staying at your place?”
I shrug. “What’s the big deal?”
“You won’t even let me stay at your place, Jen,” Candice says slowly, as if I’m dense. “And I’ve known you since we were toddlers.”
“You already have a home.” I frown. Why would she want to stay at my house?
Candice’s lips twitch. “Yeah, but you basically gave me an hour lecture on plant care before you’d even give me your spare key. You sent me a spreadsheet with dates and times with every plant. You numbered your pots for me!”
“Yeah, because I have a lot of delicate plants on a strict watering schedule, and you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart without a system.” I don’t see why that’s so hard to understand.
Candice grins, then shifts her gaze to Nora. “You don’t know Jen, so you don’t know what a big deal this is, but no one—I mean no one—gets admitted to her space unless she trusts them.”
Nora's eyes widen. “Um…”
“Fallon vouched for you,” I cut in. “And Candice is being dramatic. Her movie-star boyfriend must be rubbing off on her.” I stick my tongue out, because I’m a grown woman.
Blake just laughs.
Nora stumbles back. “Is that Blake Harding?” Her voice comes out as a raspy whisper just as Fiona appears at her elbow with a glass of water.
“Just go with it, honey,” Fiona says. “You’ll get used to it.”
CHAPTER 9
Candice
Fallon’s sister is a darling. She allows herself to be ushered to a table and does her best to answer the bombardment of questions hurled at her from everyone in the café. Then, Dorothy has the brilliant idea of restarting the clip on the screen so we can all watch Jen frown at the reporter’s inane questions.
Comedic. Gold.
At one point the reporter asks her, “What’s next for you, Ms. Newbank?” and Jen, instead of talking about her career, replies, “Next? Well, I’ll have to check, but I think it’s lemon-raspberry squares.”
As if he’d been talking about her to-do list. Cracks me up every time.
Jen, predictably, doesn’t want to watch herself. She shuffles to the kitchen, her happy place, which also happens to be far, far away from the massive screen projecting her face onto the café wall.
Nora accepts another glass of water and a mug of tea as Fallon fusses over her—adjusting her jacket, pushing food toward her, taking her bag—until she gives him a stare that screams Death by Little Sister.
I grin when Fallon throws his hands up and backs off.
My mother, Lottie, pulls up a chair. “So, Nora, tell us about yourself. What brought you to Heart’s Cove?”
“I, uh, needed time away,” she answers flatly.
