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“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Kim said, a feeling of warmth burgeoning in her chest from the thoughtfulness. “Come on in,” she said, stepping back and waiting for Violet to enter so she could close the door behind her.
“Griff is always trying out new strawberry recipes. I think he thinks that because the town’s name is Strawberry Sands, people are going to come here looking for strawberries. I don’t know. Anyway, he asked if I could try his strawberry coffee cake he made a couple of days ago, and it was pretty good. So I asked him to make me a small one for you since I don’t have time to bake anything with all the children I have at the daycare.”
“Of course not. You’re probably exhausted once they leave.”
“I am. And I had to bring it out early this morning, before any of my kids arrive. I was afraid you wouldn’t be up.”
“Sometimes I’m not, but out here... It’s... It’s like you just feel compelled to get out of bed because it’s so pretty outside.”
Violet nodded her head like she knew exactly what Kim was talking about. “Isn’t that weird? Although, in the winter when it gets dark and cold, I’m the opposite and I want to just snuggle down under the covers and not move for days on end. It’s a good thing I have a job, or I would probably hibernate.”
Kim laughed. “Kids have a way of getting you out of bed.” She glanced at Violet’s hand and noted the absence of a ring. She wanted to ask if any of the kids she watched were hers, but if they were, Violet probably wouldn’t be here, since she didn’t seem to have a husband at home to care for them. But in case Kim ever needed a daycare for her baby, Violet seemed like a great person to have.
“Are you accepting new children?” she asked with a hand on her stomach.
“I heard you were expecting. I didn’t want to ask. That’s a question that can go down all the wrong way if you ask it to the wrong person.”
They shared some more laughter while Kim offered for Violet to take a seat. “Would you like a piece of cake? I heard through the grapevine it’s really good.”
“I’ll sit down for a few minutes. But...” She glanced at her watch. “I need to leave by twenty till. My first kid gets there around seven, and sometimes his mom is early.”
“All right. Sounds like you have enough time for a cup of coffee and a piece of cake and a little conversation.”
“And yes. I’m definitely accepting new kids. Babies are especially fun.”
Kim nodded as she grabbed the knife out of the drawer, holding it in her hand for a moment before she slid the door shut. She really didn’t know much about babies. Other than what she knew from Alyssa being young. But that seemed like a lifetime ago. Would she remember what she needed to know?
Then she thought about labor and how painful that had been. She wasn’t looking forward to doing that again.
She took a breath, pushing those thoughts aside, and turned back around.
“So tell me about town. I just moved in yesterday.”
“But your mom has owned this cottage for years. I heard you were going to get horses and start renting them out again which will be really exciting. The Landry family has horse rentals on the beach, but those are for more serious riders.”
“Yeah. We’re hoping to get beginner horses. I rode some a long time ago, but I need to brush up on everything. We don’t want to get started on horses we can’t control or that will hurt someone.”
“We?”
Kim closed her mouth. She hadn’t realized she was saying “we,” but she had been. She’d been thinking about Davis and herself as...not partners. Definitely not partners. She wasn’t getting involved with any kind of partnership. That was too much like marriage, and she’d already been there, done that, and hated it.
But she had been thinking of him as...someone who was helping her. More than that. But there wasn’t a name for it, not a name she was willing to use.
“Davis. He... He was renting this place from my mom, and I didn’t know about it. It was the only place I had to stay, so he moved out to the stable.”
She hated saying that. Stumbled over it. Didn’t want to admit that she kicked someone out of the house he’d been living in. She wanted to clarify, say that he was rich enough to afford to live anywhere he wanted to. That he had two other houses he could easily live in if he desired. But that really didn’t make it any better. Just because a person had money didn’t make it okay to be mean to them. Or to be inconsiderate in any way.
“I see,” Violet said, holding her hands out to take the plate that Kim held out to her. “Thank you,” she said. “I feel bad that you’re serving me. I can get my own coffee.”
“It’s all right. It’s already brewed, and all I have to do is pour it.” Kim went to do that, and soon they were sitting at the small bar in the kitchen, pieces of delicious strawberry coffee cake in front of them along with steaming cups of coffee.
“This is really good,” Kim said as soon as she swallowed the first bite.
“I don’t know where Charlotte found Griff, but he was a godsend. They’re talking about opening a bakery along with the diner, but business just hasn’t been that good for them.”
“Griff is the big guy with all the tattoos and earrings?” The one who told her about the horses. She was pretty sure that was him, but he was so tough-looking, it seemed impossible that he’d made the delicious strawberry coffee cake in front of them.
“That’s right. He looks pretty tough, but he’s a real sweetheart, and everyone in town knows that he’s head over heels for Charlotte who doesn’t seem to notice that he’s alive. She has a crush on some fancy-schmancy lawyer that comes to town once in a while.”
