Page 60 of An Island Summer
When they’d gotten all the hanging clothes taken care of, Meghan began moving shoes while Tess grabbed the items from the shelves, setting them neatly on the dresser in the other room. Meghan grabbed the lockbox, the little door swinging open, the small piece of paper fluttering to the floor below. She reached down and scooped it up. “We must not have latched it back last time,” she said. “Good thing the earrings weren’t in it.” She wadded the scrap of paper and went over to the trashcan to toss it in, but something inside her told her to take one last look at it. She smoothed it out in the palm of her hand.
“What’re you doing?” Tess asked, coming over to her with a pair of Pappy’s church wingtips in one hand and his work boots in the other.
“Looking at that little piece of paper that was in the lockbox,” she said, squinting down at it, confused suddenly. “This handwriting doesn’t look like Pappy’s.”
“How can you tell? It’s three numbers and a few letters.”
She zeroed in on the letters that were legible: Pi… s. “Look at the S. It’s too curly to be his.”
“If you say so…” Tess said, clearly unconvinced. She clapped her hands together and snagged a muffin from the bag they’d brought with them. “Could it be your grandmother’s? It was in with her earrings after all.” She unwrapped one of the cinnamon ones and took a bite.
The lightbulb went off. “That makes total sense,” Meghan said, moving over to the closet and pulling out the old cardboard box that had held her grandmother’s dresses. She fumbled through the items inside until she found the note. She compared the smudged slip in her hand to the lettering on the note:One day, I’ll come back. I promise.“Yes! You’re exactly right. The S’s are carbon copies.”
“So, they were your nanna’s Pick-3 numbers?” Tess teased.
Meghan laughed, reaching into the bag and pulling out a maple oat muffin. She took a bite, something feeling very different for her this morning. She set the muffin down on the table and inspected the two pieces of paper again, feeling as if she’d been given something wonderful today but not sure yet what it was.
She slipped the only two remnants of her grandmother’s writing into the pocket of her work trousers, deciding to keep them. “You know, I feel Pappy here, but maybe Nanna’s here too.”
Perhaps it was just her little start with the baking this morning, but Meghan suddenly felt like there was something she was supposed to learn by returning to the Outer Banks this summer.
“The butter popcorn muffin is my favorite,” Meredith said, as they all began to collect their things to leave work for the day. The Mariner’s team had gathered in the small staff room after their dinner shift, all of them abuzz, nibbling the muffins that Meghan had brought to the inn. They’d all stayed longer than she’d ever expected, and they were gushing over her creations.
“Your flavor pairings are spot on,” Darren the chef told Meghan, to her absolute elation. “Maybe we could collaborate on some ideas for the holiday season this winter.”
“See?” Tess whispered. “You’re not mediocre. Vinnie’s an idiot.”
Meghan was unable to hide her smile. Rupert’s words floated into her consciousness:Take any step as long as it’s the first one. And then take another one after that.“I’d be honored,” she said, collecting her things to go home.
“We should celebrate,” Tess told her. “Let’s take two of these muffins, go to Lost Love Coffee and get the most decadent drink on the menu.”
“You’re on,” Meghan said, slipping her handbag onto her shoulder and waving goodbye to their coworkers as she and Tess headed out into the late afternoon sunshine.
All the way to the coffee shop, they brainstormed more muffin flavors. “Maybe I could try making a few recipes at a time,” Meghan suggested as they walked up to the coffee shop’s door.
“Nightly desserts, handcrafted by the one and only Meghan Gray? I can’t think of anything better,” Tess said, linking arms with her and opening the door to head inside.
During off-peak hours it was quiet, with Chloe perched on her stool, reading a novel. “Well, hello,” she said as they came in.
“Hi, Chloe,” Meghan greeted her, approaching the counter. “We’re celebrating, and I’d like to get your most indulgent coffee. Decaf. What do you recommend?”
Chloe looked up at the ceiling through her lashes in thought. “We have our double chocolate tiramisu with whipped cream, caramel drizzle, and white chocolate espresso crumbles.”
“We’ll take two,” Tess said over Meghan’s shoulder, before handing Chloe her credit card.
“I can pay,” Meghan said, pawing at the card.
Tess held it out of her reach and gave it to the barista. “I’d like to do something nice for you. It’s not every day that you decide to take your destiny into your own hands.”
“I made muffins. I hardly think that’s finding my destiny,” Meghan teased, as they walked over to an empty table.
Tess playfully punched her arm. “It’s a start!”
While they waited, Meghan lingered along the side where the memorabilia were displayed and peered down at the old journal once more, the writing taking on new meaning. But this time, as she stared at the words, something new caught her eye. She squinted at the page. “Look at this curl in the Y right here,” she said to Tess, tapping the end of one of the words.
“What about it?”
Meghan stood there dumbfounded, before she remembered that the notes were still in her pocket from this morning. She pulled them out, her pulse racing with the revelation. “Look,” she said, flattening the sentence out over the top of the glass to compare as the espresso machine squealed across the room, the rich smell of coffee wafting toward them. “Nanna didn’t write these.Hesterdid.”
