Page 72 of An Island Summer
Meghan iced another muffin and then rolled it in crushed nuts. Then, she began to stack the muffins, making a tower. She topped them with a final iced muffin and arranged mint leaves and raspberries on the top. “This is just a prototype,” she said. “But what if I could package all different kinds of arrangements like this for parties.”
Tess’s eyes rounded. “And cater.”
“Mm-hm.” Meghan nodded excitedly, feeling more and more in her element. “The possibilities are endless. I could do cupcakes and muffins, and go wild with the toppings too: gold dust, silver sprinkles, little candy hearts… Glamorous.”
“Just like you,” Tess said with a wink.
TWENTY-FIVE
Before work, keeping herself busy since she was unable to see Rupert like she used to, and trying not to think about the fact that she missed Toby more than she’d like to admit, Meghan sat at the enormous kitchen island of The Seabreeze with her pen poised over the blank page in Hester’s journal. The pressure of writing something worth telling Hester, something to give merit to the woman’s struggles, weighed on her. With a wiggle of the pen, Meghan put the tip of it to the paper to write but stopped again.
She’d hoped to tell Hester how much she wanted to prove that her sacrifice had been meaningful in some way, that letting Nanna raise Meghan’s mother had been the right thing to do, but in the end, she knew that Hester already understood that. Hester had wanted the pages to be filled with a new life. Meghan needed to write about the family she’d built and the love she had for them, the two things the actress never achieved. But they were just as elusive to Meghan. The closest she’d come to building anything was the muffin tower she’d constructed. She peered over at it, pondering the grand scheme of life.
“Morning,” Tess said, padding in and making a beeline for the coffee maker. “Whatcha doing?”
“Apart from assessing my wasted life, not much,” Meghan replied, closing the journal.
“It’s way too early for deep comments like that,” Tess said with a yawn. “Coffee first.” She pulled two mugs from the cabinet and clicked on the coffee maker. “The only time you wasted was the time you waited for Vinnie to be a normal human being,” she said, making them each a cup and sliding one of them over to her. Trying to find a good response, Meghan didn’t say anything in return, and Tess kept going. “You’re still young,” she said. “You haven’t wasted your life when you’ve got over half of it still to live. And you’ve made a good start with the muffin cart.”
“It seems insignificant now,” Meghan admitted. She looked into the black liquid in front of her, seeing her shadow in the reflection on the surface of it, surrendering to the fact that she didn’t have a clue what she was supposed to do. “I’m going to get ready for the day,” she said, pushing away from the island.
“You aren’t going to drink your coffee?” Tess asked.
Meghan reached over and grabbed the mug, holding it up with a smile that she put on for her friend’s benefit.
Tess was gathering menus for the staff, and making sure the tables were set with stemware and cups with saucers. Meghan looked at her phone as she tied her apron around her waist. She’d missed a call from the contractors. While checking her tables at the hostess stand, the lobby of Mariner’s Inn beginning to buzz with guests huddled around the small seating area tables while they had their complimentary coffee, she put the phone to her ear and listened to the message. The contractors wanted to ask her a question about where to put two of the vents for the air conditioning at Pappy’s, only serving to cause the knot in her shoulder to ache. They asked if she could come by this evening.
“Meghan.” Tabitha strode up to her. “I’m so glad you’re early. Got a second?”
Meghan dropped her phone into her pocket, turned around and leaned on the podium to face the manager, attempting to push the worry about her bills for Pappy’s cottage out of her mind. “Of course.”
“I’ve had five of your muffins,” she said, wide-eyed, with a grin. “They’re incredible. I told everyone at the inn about them.”
A surge of exhilaration shot through her, making her forget all about the phone call. “Thank you.”
“If this is more work than you want to do, please just say so… Tess told me about your muffin cart. And I was wondering if you’d like to set it up outside the lobby for guests. We’d allow you the space rent-free, and we wouldn’t take any of the profits.”
She cleared her throat to stifle the emotion that had risen up at the idea that someone believed in her capabilities outside of waitressing, and that she might have the opportunity to make a little extra money.
The prospect of selling her muffins every morning in the hotel sounded amazing, but it seemed too good to be true. “Why would you offer that if the hotel won’t benefit financially?” Meghan asked.
“They’re so good, Meghan, that we feel just having them available will be great for business.”
“Really?” she said, trying to keep the squeal of excitement in check.
“Really.” Tabitha gave her an encouraging nod. “People want to stay where they can get the best of the best. If guests can buy a gourmet treat while they’re waiting for breakfast to open, it might calm the crowds.” She grabbed the table map from the podium and inspected it. “If it sounds like something you’d like to do, we can talk specifics about what you’ll need later this week.”
“Yes, I’d love that.”
“Great, we’ll catch up later.” Tabitha eyed the growing line at the entrance of the restaurant as she set the map back down for the hostess. “Time to get to work.”
With her head held high in pride, Meghan took her spot at the back wall, waiting for her first table, knowing those tiny steps she was taking might just be in the right direction.
Meghan and Tess arrived at The Seabreeze after work to change clothes before going over to Pappy’s. When Meghan pulled the car to a stop behind Toby’s Range Rover, which was sitting in the circular drive, her heart began to hammer.
“Did he find the will?” Tess asked.
“I have no idea,” she said breathlessly.
