“Not to brag, but I think we have the best ice cream in the world.” Her sparkling eyes held a hint of laughter, but he could see she was proud of it.
“You won’t hear me arguing with you.”
Blake returned his keys and went over to the table with the teens. Evelyn tidied up the counter and chatted with him as he ate his cone. “So, your sister. She bought the Murphy Resort?”
“She did. Some wild idea because we stayed there a few times when we were young. I was a teen, she was a kid.” He sighed. “But it needs a lot of work. A whole lot.”
“I bet if they were fixed up they’d be wonderful. A great location and view. The beach is wonderful there. One of the best shelling areas around.”
“Violet—that’s my sister—has big plans for it. Thinks it will be wonderful.”
“Violet. That’s a pretty name. You don’t hear it often anymore, but I love it.”
“It was my grandmother’s name. Vi’s named after her.”
“That’s nice.” Evelyn scrubbed the counter, looked at it with a critical eye, then wiped some more.
“Violet’s busy with repairs. She’s already got a guy out there putting in central air in the cottages.”
“That will help. It gets pretty hot and humid here in the summer.”
“I remember. Those cottages were brutal during the day, and not much better at night. I slept out in a hammock they had near the beach quite a few of those nights.” The ice cream was so good, he debated asking for another cone. Nah, that would be wrong, right?
“Good air conditioning will make them much more marketable,” Evelyn agreed with Violet’s decision, unaware of his ice cream dilemma.
“And the roofs fixed. And paint. Lots of paint. Both inside and outside.”
Some customers came in and she held up a finger. “Be right back. Just let me wait on these men.”
She chatted with two men, took their orders, and made malts for them. Her long, thick brown hair was pulled back in a practical braid. Her blue eyes sparkled as she laughed with the men.
They headed to a table with their malts and she came back to him. “So how long are you staying?” she asked as she began to roll some silverware in napkins.
She never stopped. She cleaned, tidied, got orders, and now, made napkin rolls. All the while, chatting with customers. “I’m not sure. Maybe a month or so? I’m an author and I just finished a book and needed a break. Although this wasn’t exactly what I had planned.” He shrugged. “But I never can say no to Violet.”
“What do you write?” She paused in her chores.
“Thrillers.”
“Under Rob Bentley?”
“Robert Bentley.” He didn’t see any flicker of name recognition in her eyes, which told him she hadn’t read his books, even if he considered himself a fairly successful author. Ah, well. It was always a reality check when someone hadn’t heard of him.
He got up from the stool. “Thanks for the ice cream. I’m sure I’ll be back in soon.”
“Oh, wait there just a minute.” Evelyn disappeared and came back with a package wrapped in a brown bag. “Here, I made this for Violet after I heard someone had bought the resort. I was going to drop it by and introduce myself. Will you give it to her?”
“Sure will.”
“And bring her in. We’d love to get to know her.”
“I’ll do that.” He nodded and headed toward the door, his mind already on his overwhelming to-do list as he left Sea Glass Cafe.
Chapter 4
Olivia hurried into Sea Glass Cafe to help with the dinner rush. With any luck, she’d get out before too late and have time to run by and see Austin. Their schedules hadn’t been meshing very well recently, and she’d give anything to spend a couple quiet hours with him. They did have a date set up for tomorrow, but she’d love to see him tonight, too.
Evelyn looked up from where she was setting some pies to cool. “Hey, Livy.”
