Page 98 of Rebuilding Friendship Inn

She nodded, and they went by one another. She re-entered the kitchen and living room area, and Robin flagged her down. “Over here, El.” She’d saved her a seat, and Aaron had already put her food there.

She squeezed behind Kelli and Shad to her spot, and she positioned the baby on her lap so she could eat with one hand. “Thanks, Robin.”

“Nice try with Julia and Liam.”

Eloise took a bite of a water chestnut and looked for them. They’d found spots on nearly opposite ends of the house, and her heart fell to her shoes.

“Well, I tried.”

“Keep trying,” Maddy said from across the table.

“She likes him,” Tessa said. “She just won’t admit it.”

“No, something happened,” Clara said. “She was talking about this blind date she had with a cop.” She looked over to Julia as well, who’d taken a seat at the folding table with Laurel and Alice. “I think it was him.”

Liam stood in the kitchen, laughing with Arthur, but Eloise saw him cast a look over to Julia, and it sure felt full of longing to her.

“A toast,” Alice yelled into the fray of bodies and voices. “To friends.”

“To friends!” the crowd repeated, and Eloise hurried to grab the closest cup to her. She wasn’t sure if it was something Aaron had gotten for her or someone else’s entirely.

“To family,” Alice said.

“To family,” everyone chorused, Eloise included this time, her plastic cup held high. A smile filled her whole body, and she looked up at Aaron slid into the seat beside her.

“And to friends who become family,” Alice said, smiling with grace and beauty. “Arthur and I are so happy and grateful to have you in our home today. Stay as long as you want. Leave when you want. Eat what you want.” She nodded, marking the end of her speech, and sat back down.

“Friends who become family,” Eloise repeated. She looked over to Aaron. His cops felt like that to him, she knew. Her friends were definitely part of her family.

She looked over to AJ and reached past Robin to squeeze her hand. Then she did the same with Robin. “I love you guys.”

“I do think of you like family,” Robin said. “I think that’s why the thing with Clara hurt so much.”

Eloise switched her gaze to Clara, who smiled at Robin. “I’m just now opening that door,” she said. “It’s nice, just so you know. To be cared about, and to have more than just a couple of people to care about.”

Eloise was glad to hear that, and she put her hand out in the middle of the table, the way sports teams did to cheer the other team. “Friends that become family,” she said.

Others put their hands in, including Aaron, Matt, Shad, and Duke, and soon enough, the entire dining room table of people were chanting the phrase.

They all lifted their hands into the air at the same time and laughed, and Eloise was so glad she had a place at this table. She knew she could go to any of her friends at any time. Stay as long as she wanted, and eat what she wanted. They’d welcome her—and she’d do the same for them—and that was a very comfortable place to be.

Read on for the first couple chapters ofTHE GLASS DOLPHIN, the next book in the Five Island Cove series.

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Sneak Peek! The Glass Dolphin Chapter One:

Julia Harper couldn’t stop herself from glancing over to Liam Coldwater every few seconds. She told herself to stop at least a dozen times before Laurel leaned over and whispered, “What is with you and him?”

Julia couldn’t answer, so she stuffed another piece of bruschetta into her mouth. She’d eat the whole platter if she had to. She wasn’t going to answer any questions about Liam tonight. It would be great if she could stop looking at him.

She focused on a conversation Alice was having with Kristen, but she knew few of the players in the conversation, and it didn’t hold her interest. She felt the weight of a gaze on her face, and she once again looked across the living room, through the dining room table, and into the kitchen, where Liam stood.

He’d been talking to Arthur Rice and Duke Grover, but they’d both dispersed. Liam stood there alone, and their eyes met. The entire Appetizer Hour fell away, and while Julia felt certain someone very nearby was talking to her, she couldn’t hear them. She couldn’t look away from the handsome Liam Coldwater.

At the same time, shame burned through her chest, and the embarrassment of their encounter late last week forced her to drop her head and break the connection.

The conversations surrounding her continued, and she looked up as Alice’s son joined the table. They all started adjusting to make room for the extra chair, and Julia smiled at the young man. He was a good-looking kid, and he reminded Julia so much of her own sons.

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