Page 51 of Vodka and Chocolate Drops

“Sister?” she pressed.

Amber sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically, as though Mary Alice was so off base it wasn’t even worth responding.

“You need to support those girls if you’re going to keep up with that thing you’re doing out there, Amber Lynn,” Gran continued. “They’re bouncing all over the place and you’re going to give yourself a brain injury.”

“I think shoulder checking would give me greater danger.” Amber gestured to her backside, which had been bouncing right along with her chest, and Gran let out a laugh rich with amusement.

“Drop me off at Mandy’s if you can.”

“One grand gesture coming up!” Mary Alice said, putting the car in gear. “If you won’t tell me about your long-lost sister Delia, tell me about your mother. What happened on that trip of hers?”

“Who is Delia?” Gran asked. “I thought Amber was looking for her father. What happened to that family of yours, anyway?”

Amber sat back in the plush seat, wondering that same thing herself.

And whathadhappened on the cruise? Had her mother fallen in love with her ex once again? Or had she simply enjoyed her first trip away and was recharged from having someone else wait on her instead of the other way around?

“Looks like Gloria is in love,” Mary Alice said knowingly.

If she was, it was with John. Amber found it hard to wrap her mind around that one.

If anything had happened on the cruise and her mother hadn’t said anything to anyone, then that was yet another secret Amber would never unearth unless her mom was ready. And right now it seemed as though she would never be ready to show Amber her life, her past. The secrets Amber had already exposed were starting to undermine her ability to move on, get her life together and be with Scott. Instead of solving her problems, it felt as though they were only complicating them.

“I heard you hate your father,” Gran said. “I don’t think he’s going to pop out of the woodwork if he’s heard that, if you know what I’m saying.”

“Not after over twenty years,” Mary Alice added.

“It’s okay--he doesn’t live in town. And he doesn’t know I’m his.”

In fact, maybe he would remain a secret. Because, as Amber was beginning to understand, sometimes thingswerecomplicated and best not unearthed unless all parties were ready.

* * *

“Mandy?”Amber called, pushing through the glass door into her friend’s restaurant. She was feeling determined after her run down the mountain. She couldn’t force her mother to do anything, and even though it had been only a few weeks, she was tired of waiting to hear everything about her family, and placing her life on hold as a result.

Would it make a massive difference in her world if she knew who her father was? Probably not.

As for Delia, she had simply told her that she was working things out with their mother and would be in touch when the timing was right. And her sister had understood.

“Hey, Amber,” one of Mandy’s brothers, Ethan, said from behind the cash register. “Looking for my sister?”

Amber nodded, snatching a brownie from under a glass dome and leaving a few crumpled bills on the counter. She might have to wait for her mother, but she didn’t have to wait for love. She would figure out how to make a grand gesture and would have her best friend, Scott, in her arms by the end of the night if it killed her.

“She’s in the back doing the books,” Ethan said, jerking a thumb toward the kitchen.

“Better than doing Frankie,” Amber joked, heading to the swinging doors. “It would be awkward walking in on that.”

Ethan shuddered in reply.

Amber found her friend working in the small office off her kitchen, forehead furrowed as she typed on her computer, glancing from time to time at the stack of papers to her left.

“Hi,” Amber said. “Question for you?”

“The cost of butter? How much my electricity usage has increased in the past three months? I know the answers to those at the moment.” She pushed her hair up into a loose knot on the top of her head, then released it as she sat back in her chair. “I really need a better system.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you. I have a couple of options figured out for you for keeping track of things. I’ll email them, or get together if you want.”

“Great. Thanks. Hey, how’d the dress go over?”

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