Page 133 of Fire and Icing

“Yes. Love. But please don’t say anything yet. I haven’t even told Emberleigh. She knows I’m head over heels for her. She just doesn’t know how serious I actually am. We’re still new. I don’t want to overwhelm her.”

“New or not, you know when you know.”

“Agreed. And I know.”

“Well, maybe I will have to leave my island after all. Your dad and I are due for a vacation. I’ve heard Tennessee is lovely in the fall.”

“I’d love it if you came for a visit. Maybe Mitzi could come too. Emberleigh’s been dying to meet her in person.”

“It would take some doing, but I think we could get the restaurant covered for at least four or five days so she could join us.”

“I hope so.”

Mom shifts the subject to everything going on with Mitzi and then she tells me about Stevens and Alana. They’re planning their wedding. I will absolutely come home for that, I assure my mom. We talk for another twenty minutes or so and then we say our goodbyes. I’m feeling more hopeful after talking with her. Emberleigh and I can work through this. We might disagree, but we’ll come back to one another, just like Mom said. At least, I hope we will.

About an hour before Emberleigh gets off work, I joined Mrs. Holt in the front room to watch her game shows. For the past hour, I’ve checked the clock on my phone every few minutes. Mrs. Holt noticed, but she had the consideration not to say anything about my obvious anxiety.

“Hey,” Emberleigh says, walking in the front door.

I take her in. She looks tired, but beautiful. I restrain myself from standing and walking over to her to give her a hug.

“Hey. How was your day?” I ask.

“Long. How about you? How was your day off?”

“I missed you.”

She smiles. “Let me clean up and we can grab something to eat.”

“I’d love that.”

I should have cooked for her. I might not be able to bake, but I can cook. What was I thinking?

Emberleigh heads upstairs. I sit on the couch.

“If you keep tappin’ your foot like that you might just tap right through the floorboards,” Mrs. Holt says to me. “What’s got you so spun into knots anyway?”

“I have an important conversation I need to have with Emberleigh.”

“Ohh. Oh my.”

“No. No! Notthatimportant conversation.”

“Well, shoot. Here I was hopin’ I’d get to be a bridesmaid.”

I chuckle. “Maybe one day. If all goes well. A while from now. Not now. Not soon. We just started dating.” I sputter my words out in a rush. “Anyway, this isn’t that conversation. I have something I need to share with her—to get her input on.”

“Well, whatever it is, I’m sure she’s going to give you wise advice. That girl always had a head on her shoulders ever since she was little. I mean, we all have heads on our shoulders. Just sometimes you wonder why the good Lord bothered to put a head on certain shoulders since the fool who owns the head doesn’t make much good use of it. Not my Sunshine. She just has a way of seein’ things.”

“She does.”

“So, you see? You’ve got nothin’ to worry about.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Emberleigh comes down the stairs in a pair of jeans and a graphic T-shirt. “Get me a burger and fries and I’ll love you forever.”

I stand from the couch. “If only I had known it was going to be that easy …”

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