“Good morning.” Hazel gave the older woman a hug. “You’ve got the kind of energy I could only dream about having on a Monday morning.”
“Well, I’ve been up for four hours already,” Sally said cheerfully, sitting down at a stool next to Hazel. “It helps.”
“Look at this magazine with us,” Vivian said, starting to get coffee for Sally without even being asked. “Hazel wants to use some of these ideas for her house. Don’t you think they’re adorable?”
“Oh, I do.” Sally nodded as she peered down at the page in the magazine that Hazel was showing her. “Yes! This wall of pictures? So whimsical.”
“That’s what I thought.” Hazel glanced down at the page as well. “I’ve got a bunch of pictures in rows right now, and they look nice, but I think this would be even better.”
“You’ve got a smart kid,” Sally said to Vivian with a grin.
“I’ve got four smart kids,” Vivian said, grinning back.
Hazel smiled as she watched the comradery between her mother and Sally. Although the women had been friends for many years, they were both so busy with running their businesses that they seldom had time to intentionally hang out together. It was clear that hadn’t dampened how much they liked each other, however. The affection between them was abundantly clear to see.
I wish they could spend more time together,Hazel thought.I feel like this is a really solid friendship just waiting to happen.
“Yup, these are all wonderful,” Sally said, after looking at the pictures again. “I approve.”
Hazel laughed. “Perfect, that’s you and Mom sold on my ideas. Now I just have to ask all of my siblings.”
Sally smiled, suddenly looking a bit sad. “It must be nice to have family to bounce ideas off of like that. I bet it helps make decision-making easier.”
Vivian and Hazel exchanged a brief glance, both of them feeling bad for Sally, before Vivian hurried to make her friend feel better.
“Our family is here for you too,” she said warmly. “You’re always welcome to join us in discussions like this one. The more the merrier, right?”
“Absolutely.” Hazel nodded emphatically. “It’s always nice to talk with people about your ideas. Both of you giving me your approval has bolstered my confidence. It makes me more optimistic that Jacob will also approve of all of my ideas.”
“Oh, I’m sure he will,” Sally said, patting Hazel’s hand.
“I hope so.” Hazel tapped her finger against her lips. “It’s essentially his home too, so I don’t want to just do whatever I want without asking him. I love the idea of us living together, and part of what that involves is me not doing whatever I want to the house without asking him first. He has a say in what everything looks like too.”
Hazel’s heart lifted up as she spoke. She couldn’t wait to live with Jacob and deepen their relationship even further. Even if he told her that he couldn’t stand any of her ideas, she’d still be happier living with him than getting to do whatever she wanted to her home.
Although I’m sure he won’t hate them,she thought with a grin.Jacob is so easy-going, and so sweet! I bet he likes these ideas just as much as Mom and Sally did.
“Hey, Vivian,” Sally said, looking down at her coffee cup and swirling the liquid around in a circle for a moment. “Have you been having any trouble with distributors?” She looked up. “I’ve been experiencing communication difficulties with my food distributors, and I’m wondering if you’ve run into any of the same problems.”
“I was having that same problem!” Vivian nodded emphatically. “Oh, and it was so annoying.”
“So annoying.” Sally laughed, nodding as well. “Did you get it to stop?”
“I did. I managed to wrangle my way to the direct cell number of the man in charge and I got it all sorted. I’d be happy to share his number with you if you want, so you can get things sorted too.”
“Would you? That would be so lovely. It’s not quite at the level where it’s making me tear my hair out, but it’s been frustrating for sure.”
“That kind of thing always is!” Vivian agreed. “Why don’t you come on back with me to the office? I’ll give you all the information that helped me.”
Sally downed the rest of her coffee in one gulp. “Sounds incredible. See you later, Hazel.” She hopped off her stool and followed Vivian into the kitchen, which led to The Lighthouse Grill’s back office.
Hazel watched the two women leave with a smile. She went back to thoughtfully sipping her coffee and looking down at the magazine. She felt butterflies of excitement as she thought about implementing the designs in her home. Visions of repainting her kitchen cupboards and her upstairs bathroom filled her head, and she felt a surge of energy. If she didn’t have to work that day, she would have gone straight home and started working on her projects right away.
I need to speak to Jacob about it all, though,she reminded herself.After all, what if he wants to paint the upstairs bathroom a different color than the one I have in mind? Maybe I’ll like his ideas even better than mine.
“Hey, beautiful.”
She jumped when she heard someone speak directly behind her. She whirled and gasped in delight when she saw Jacob standing there.