Mark smiled back at her, shook his head, but said nothing.
Then from the far side of the bar the sounds of an angry exchange arose, causing Mark to raise his eyes to the ceiling briefly and swear under his breath.
The shriller of the two voices belonged to Elizabeth Hunter, who had been drinking at the restaurant for several hours while watching reality TV on one of the overhead screens. Her vocal commentary of what she was watching had grown in volume as the evening had progressed, and since Mark had seen earlier that other patrons at the surrounding tables were shooting her dirty looks, he had instructed his waitstaff not to serve her any more alcohol. It now sounded like this directive wasn’t being met with a positive response.
“Excuse me,” Mark said to Candy, scowling as he turned away.
“Elizabeth,” he said amicably, forcing a welcoming smile to his face as he approached the booth in the corner of his restaurant where the young woman sat with an empty red wineglass. “What’s going on?” Mark asked and slid into the booth to sit on the bench seat across from her.
“Nothing,” she answered sullenly. “I suppose I have you to thank for your staff refusing to serve me any more wine tonight?”
“Yep,” he replied, picking up a cardboard coaster from the table and twirling it between his fingers. “I can change that, however, if you promise me you’ll be a little quieter over here. I’m getting complaints from the other customers that you're too loud.” He reached over and patted her on the hand. “If you can just tone it down a bit, I’ll get you another glass of wine myself, even. I like to sell alcohol. It is what pays the bills around here, but I also can’t do that if I think you’ve had too much. I’ll lose my license. So convince me you’re handling it responsibly, and I’ll sell you all you want.”
Elizabeth was openly scowling at him now. “You and your sister. Twins are all the same. You just try to ruin people’s lives,” she replied.
“Really?” Mark replied amicably. “And how exactly do we do that?”
“Well, you do it by not selling me wine, and your sister did it by having her baby and making my parents think my brother was the bad guy in that relationship when everyone knows she was the one who seduced him. She got pregnant to try and make him marry her so he’d have to stay here in Larkin Bay!”
“Oh? Kara got pregnant on purpose, did she? Because your brother was such a great catch?”
Elizabeth nodded back, seemingly not hearing his sarcastic tone.
“Yep, but now he’ll get back at her,” she replied, slurring her words slightly. “He’s just come back to town for a few weeks to get her to marry him quick, then when she sells the garden center, all the money she gets for it will be his.”
Mark narrowed his eyes and studied Elizabeth while he turned over in his mind what she had just told him. Was it possible Jamie could be planning something like this? It might be true, he supposed, but it was highly unlikely. Jamie had never been smart enough to dream up something like this, and it was doubtful anyone close to Kara would have told him about the offer. Mark cocked his head to one side and considered her claims, then scowled. Elizabeth was probably just piecing together gossip to be mean—she had never liked Kara.
“Well,” he replied cheerfully, moving his hands under the table, where he clenched them into fists. “I hope you’re wrong, but just in case you aren’t, I don’t think you should have any more wine here tonight. I’ll just call you a cab to take you home.”
To his surprise, Elizabeth nodded and got unsteadily to her feet. “You’re right,” she admitted. “I need to get as far away from you and this place as possible before I drink too much and tell you what else Jamie has planned.”
She giggled and leaned over the table toward Mark. “Because if I tell you everything, then Jamie is going to be mad at me.” She waved a finger at him and smiled. “Everyone knows I talk a little too much when I’ve had red wine.”
Mark nodded before standing up and taking her arm. “That sounds like a good plan,” he replied and, after walking her out, he helped her into the back of a taxi that would take her safely home.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kara looked around her crowded store as she carried a planter from the potting bench to the sales floor. Her smile grew when she saw that most customers were carrying home decorations or flats of flowers. Business at the garden center had been excellent over the last two days, and since so many of the planters she had made were being purchased, she could now spend more time doing what she loved best—creating new ones.
Glancing over, she saw Maeve was still busy at a small table in the store’s corner, pulling apart some old seed catalogs after she admired the pictures in each of them. The little girl hummed happily as she destroyed the colorful magazines and Kara’s shoulders relaxed at the sound. Maeve was happy and healthy, and the store was busy. Life was good. Very good.
“We’re going to have to start thinking about what we want to order to create the Christmas displays soon,” Mary said, while motioning for Rachel to come over and relieve her at the cash desk. “I’ve already had two calls from wholesalers who want us to put in orders for door wreaths, and they also want to know how large our Christmas tree order will be this year.”
“Well, that’s always exciting,” replied Kara. “I love that they call now, so we have plenty of time to organize things. What do you think we should do?”
“I was looking at some online advertising options,” replied Mary, “and I thought you might want to consider donating some arrangements to decorate the front doors at city hall to promote our wreaths.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“We should also update the garden center’s website a little earlier this year so everyone can see what we’re going to be selling for the Christmas season. Get them thinking about it earlier.”
Mary paused for a minute, and a slight frown caused her forehead to pucker as she looked over at Kara. “But that, of course, depends on whether you’re keeping the garden center open until Christmas. There’s no sense in us planning anything if you’re going to sell the place and close before then.”
Kara’s eyes widened as she looked over at Mary’s serious expression. Christmas at the garden center was her favorite time of the year. Ever since she was a little girl, she had spent much of the festive season using garden supplies to make yuletide arrangements and dozens of bows for her mother to sell. She loved creating all the wreaths and outdoor displays and always looked forward to doing all the decorations for the store too.
“I can’t imagine not being here for the Christmas season,” Kara admitted to Mary slowly. “It just wouldn’t seem like Christmas to me.”
“Well, that’s just something else for you to think about while you consider the developer’s offer,” replied Mary softly before turning away and going in search of more magazines for Maeve to tear apart.
Scott walked along Larkin Bay’s main street, admiring the shop windows before making his way down to the boardwalk and sitting on one of the benches there.
“It’s so peaceful here,” he said under his breath while admiring the pretty waterfront park spread out in front of him.
Several couples, dog walkers, and parents trying to tire out small children before bed were also roaming the boardwalk tonight, and many of them waved and nodded at Scott as they passed. He was pleasantly surprised to realize how many people in Larkin Bay he already knew by name.
But all this small-town contentedness wasn’t distracting him as much as he’d hoped it would tonight. The phone call that had come earlier from his agent had delivered news he wasn’t expecting, and now all the law cases Scott was supposed to be reviewing this weekend were sitting untouched on his desk as he walked Larkin Bay’s boardwalk, hoping the scenery would help clear his thoughts.
He rubbed his hands together briskly and shoved them in the front pockets of his jeans. Although today’s phone call had caught him off guard and sent his thoughts spiraling into the past, he supposed he really shouldn’t be that surprised that Max had reached out, especially now with Candy showing up in Larkin Bay. Still, Scott had always gotten along well with his agent and since he hadn’t heard from him in over a year, it had been nice to reconnect.
“Maxie,” Scott had exclaimed earlier as a smile lit up his face when he'd picked up the call. “How are you? Long time, buddy!”
The other man had chuckled. “Scottie. How are you? Yeah, it’s been too long. How is my favorite lawyer?”
The conversation began with Scott telling Max all about his move to Larkin Bay and setting up his new office. His words flowed quickly and while he talked, Scott realized he sounded happy—ecstatic, even.
“That’s great. I’m glad that everything is working out for you. I really am.”
