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Chapter Nineteen
“You’re here,” Cherry said when she’d opened the door. She grabbed onto Clarissa and laughed, bouncing up and down while she tried to hug her. “You look so good. Look at your hair. You’ve let your bangs grow out.” She held Clarissa at arm’s length, and she should’ve known her older sister would fuss over her.
“The traffic here is terrible,” she complained, reaching for her suitcase. She tugged it inside Cherry’s house from the front porch, noting that the place smelled like fresh fruit and crisp linens. That was Cherry’s favorite air freshener, and she’d obviously been cleaning today.
“It’s a holiday,” Cherry said. “There’s a lot going on in the city in the summer.” She closed the door behind Clarissa, shutting the heat outdoors where it belonged.
“Yeah.” Clarissa had felt the vibe of the city, and she’d loved it. She craved a pulsating, vibrant atmosphere, and San Antonio clicked that box for her. Cherry’s house ticked all of Clarissa’s boxes except for one—the organization of it.
Cherry had her own system, that was for sure. She did normally keep a pretty tidy house, not that Clarissa cared, but today, one of her cats had knocked over his food bowl, and kibble lay everywhere in the kitchen.
She turned back to her sister and smiled, drawing in a deep breath. “It’s okay that I invited Leslie to come with us, right?”
“Of course,” Cherry said easily. She worked as a counselor at a college here, which meant she’d had today off. In fact, she had the rest of the week off, as July wasn’t a huge counseling season.
She stepped past Clarissa and collected her purse. “I’m ready whenever you guys are.”
Clarissa sat on the couch, a sigh leaking from her mouth.
“Uh oh,” Cherry said, perching on the edge of the recliner. “I know that sound. What’s going on?” She trained her deep, dark green eyes on Clarissa. Her hair was long, and straight, without the bubbly crimps Clarissa’s got in the heat and humidity. She had a real job, so she could afford cute clothes, and tonight, she wore a black and white striped skirt with a bright blue tank top. It made her auburn hair shine like red gold, and Clarissa smiled at her older sister’s beauty.
“I may or may not have started a relationship in Sweet Water Falls.”
Cherry’s eyes widened, as she’d always been so good at providing the drama Clarissa wanted when she told a story. “Who is it?” She hadn’t lived in Sweet Water Falls for a while, but she still knew a lot of people there.
“Spencer Rust,” Clarissa said, studying her nails.
Cherry gasped louder than necessary, which somehow annoyed Clarissa. She looked up and rolled her eyes.
“It’s not that bad.”
“He broke your heart once already,” Cherry said. “It’sthatbad.”
“Yes, well, I’ll have you know that we’re going to actually do the long-distance thing this time,” Clarissa said. “We’ve already talked about it and everything.”
“I…okay,” Cherry said, plenty of disbelief in her tone. She didn’t need to say anything else, because the real question hung in the air between them.And then what?
What would happen after that? They’d chat via call or text or video, and then…?
They’d drive back and forth to see each other in downtimes, and then…?
Would he move to San Antonio so she could continue her chef career? Would she go back to Sweet Water Falls for him?
So many questions swam through her mind, but Clarissa had been really good at damming them up. The doorbell rang, and she looked away from her sister’s still-shocked face. She probably needed to see a plastic surgeon to get that taken care of.
“That’s probably Leslie.” Excitement built beneath Clarissa’s breastbone as she got to her feet and went to answer her sister’s front door. Sure enough, Leslie Hanson stood there, and she flung her arms wide.
“Clarissa Cooper,” she said, immediately launching into a laugh.
Clarissa hugged her, also laughing while trying to say her first and last name. Oh, it was so good to be with someone who thought more about what to make from milk than where it came from, and Clarissa held her best friend from culinary school tightly for several long seconds.
“All right, girl,” Leslie said, tucking her brown hair behind her ear. “We’ve only got one night to go over your plan for tomorrow morning.” She stepped into the house, where Cherry had gotten to her feet.
“My sister,” Clarissa said, moving to stand next to her sister. She linked her arm through Cherry’s. “Cherry. Cherry, my best friend from school, Leslie. She works at Overlook.”
“And you’re not on tonight?” Cherry asked, her eyebrows riding high on her forehead.
“Thankfully, no,” she said. “I worked the last holiday, so I got this one off by some stroke of luck.” She smiled at the pair of them. “Good thing too, because we’re open an hour later and have sold all these fireworks packages for our wall of windows.” She sighed as she sat on the couch where Clarissa had been.
