Page 41 of A Breeze Over Rosewood Beach
For a heartbeat, there was perfect silence as no one spoke. Then, the booth erupted with joy. Vivian squealed and leapt up to hug Hazel, peppering her cheeks with kisses. Alexis clapped her hands, tears welling up in her eyes. “How was it?” she demanded. “Why didn’t you invite us? Who cried first?”
Julia sat quietly, smiling, with tears filling her eyes. Although her expression was happy, there was a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
Hazel noticed it immediately. “Jules? You okay?”
Julia bit her lip, nodding. “I’m so happy for you. But—I guess I’m just a little sad we didn’t get to be there with you. I’ve always imagined celebrating something like this as a family.”
Hazel reached out and squeezed her sister’s hand, understanding what Julia meant. Julia wasn’t upset, but she wanted to feel included in Jacob and Hazel’s life-changing moment and to stand by Hazel’s side the way she always had.
Hazel nodded. “I get it. And you’re right. I would’ve loved to have you all there—but Jacob and I—we felt like we couldn’t wait. It felt like the right moment for us.”
Jacob nodded. “Hazel and I wanted to make this commitment to each other in a way that felt like it was just ours. We love you all—but if we invited you, we’d need to invite myfamily too, and they live all across the states and it would have taken so long to plan it all out.”
“I understand,” Vivian said, smiling, even though she also looked slightly disappointed.
“You know what?” Hazel said suddenly, gasping a little with excitement. “Let’s do something. A celebration of our marriage. It won’t be a wedding, but it’ll be a party. A chance to celebrate this with everyone we love.”
Vivian perked up immediately at that. “Like a family dinner?”
Alexis clapped her hands. “Yes! We can dress up, toast to the newlyweds, and have some cake. It’ll be like a mini reception.”
Julia grinned. “I love that idea.”
Hazel felt her chest swell with gratitude. She and Jacob had done this their way, quietly and intimately, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t celebrate with the people who mattered most to them. She loved that her family was so quick to volunteer to plan a celebration.
“That sounds wonderful,” Hazel said, her eyes flicking to Jacob, whose grin told her that he was as excited about the idea as she was. “Let’s plan something.”
Jacob and Hazel ordered lunch and ate it at the booth with Vivian, Alexis, and Julia. They showed them all of the pictures they’d taken before their ceremony and after, and Julia and Alexis gushed over Hazel’s simple wedding band as if it were a tiara.
As they talked, Hazel kept stealing glances at Jacob. She could hardly believe he was her husband, and that she got to spend the rest of her life with him.
I can’t wait,she thought, her heart swelling with happiness.Today is the beginning of the rest of our lives.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ocean Breeze Café was quiet, the sounds of the hum of conversation and the clatter of dishes long gone. The last of her staff had left an hour earlier, but Sally lingered in the office, absently tapping her pen against a notepad. The pages in front of her were full of numbers, schedules, to-do lists, and all kinds of things she needed to focus on, but her eyes weren’t really seeing any of it.
She didn’t feel like returning home yet. The office light glowed softly, and through the doorway she could see the dim interior of the closed café. Ocean Breeze Café was normally her happy place, but tonight, the familiar building felt a little too empty.
Sally let out a long sigh and leaned back in her chair, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. She knew that her little home was going to feel even emptier, and she didn’t want to go back there yet.
She thought about the call she’d gotten earlier, from an overjoyed Vivian who had shared the news of Hazel and Jacob’s elopement. Sally was truly, deeply happy for Hazel and Jacob, but she also had found that the news left her with an achy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Hazel and Jacob had done it—theyhad taken that leap of faith, reaching out for a future filled with companionship and joy. And as much as Sally was thrilled for them, a quiet voice whispered inside her,What about me?
Sally rubbed her temples, not wanting to feel sorry for herself. She knew that the opportunity to be married had passed her by, and she needed to accept that. After all, in the past she’d had opportunities to choose love or romance over her career as a café owner, and she hadn’t taken them. In the past, her heart had been fully in the adventure of her business. Now, she was realizing that you can’t take a café home with you at night and say good morning to it when the sun rose.
She sniffed and tried to shake off what she was feeling. She was just telling herself that she should stand up and go home when she heard footsteps approaching. A familiar voice called out, “Are you inventing some new three-layer sandwich miracle back here?”
Oscar appeared in the doorway, his eyes dancing playfully in a way that Sally had never seen before. She smiled as soon as she saw him.
“Hey, you!” she said. “Didn’t I lock those front doors yet?”
He shook his head. “No, you didn’t. I saw the light on in your office and decided to stop by to say hello.”
He leaned in the doorway, looking almost boyish. Sally’s heart beat a bit faster as she realized just how attracted to him she was.
“You looked a little sad just now,” he told her. “Is everything all right?” The expression of concern on his face made Sally feel more special than she’d felt in a long time.
“Oh, nothing.” She smiled bravely. “I’m just tired.”
