“Definitely one of my strangest days in the kitchen. That’s for sure.”
“So . . . Charles.” Hannah accentuated his name, bouncing her eyebrows at me. “Kinda sounds like he’s obsessed with you.”
Much as I tried, I couldn’t smother my silly grin. Just the mention of his name had me beaming.
“Ugh, look at you,” she laughed. “Who is this person? I barely recognize her. Smiling? Giddy? Where is my neurotic, curmudgeonly Elle and what have you done with her?”
“She’s taking some much-deserved time off,” I said. “Though there is one unresolved catastrophe from last night.”
“What’s wrong?” Megan asked, her smile dropping.
“The Instagram account. Amelia Hawthorne saw it and wasn’t thrilled I’d been using her family for content.”
“But you don’t even mention their name,” Hannah argued.
“No, I know. But I get the impression she’s sensitive about this kind of thing. She feels like I betrayed their trust. And I’m not sure she’s entirely wrong.”
Suddenly, I watched their attention rise over my head and both their faces go a little slack. I turned to see Charles striding up to our table. Yeah, he had that effect on people.
“Morning, ladies.” He bent to place a kiss on my cheek, the scent of his shampoo now a trigger that made my stomach flip and my brain turn to mush.
“Hey,” I said. “This is a surprise.”
“Hi,” Megan and Hannah both said in unison, all starry-eyed.
“Charles, this is Megan and Hannah. They don’t usually stare this much.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” he said, flashing that charming grin. “Elle talks about you both all the time. How are you enjoying your visit so far? Hopefully that storm wasn’t too rough on you last night.”
“We love it here,” Hannah gushed. I thought I might have to restrain her. “Can’t wait to come back for Christmas.”
That snapped Megan out of her trance. “We’ll see.”
“Sit with us,” I told him, moving over to let him slide in beside me. “What are you doing here?”
“Actually . . .” He glanced toward Mia’s stall through the crowd of afternoon shoppers. “I came to talk to Mia. Thought I’d take her out to lunch, so we could hash some things out.”
“I love that,” I told him, taking his hand to squeeze.
I knew he was nervous about reopening the past, but it was closure they both needed. And hopefully this would be a small step toward mending their friendship.
“And I talked to Amelia,” he said.
Megan and Hannah shared a quiet look.
“She’s a little peeved, but I think she’s calmed down after sleeping on it. And I explained there was no ill intent behind it. Told her it’d mean a lot to me if she could see her way to forgiving you. I thought it might be nice for the three of us to spend some time together this week. Give you two a chance to get to know each other better.”
“Absolutely,” I agreed. “If you think it’ll help. I really don’t want her to hate me.”
Not just because it would make working in that house a nightmare. This relationship with Charles was really a nonstarter if his sister and I couldn’t be friends.
“Trust me,” he said. “Amelia has a good heart. I have a feeling you’ll both be laughing about this in no time.”
“So . . .” Hannah cleared her throat, turning to level Charles with narrowed eyes. “What are your intentions with our Eleanor?”
“Okay.” I smothered her face with my hand. “That’s enough meet-and-greet. You better leave while you still can.”
Charles laughed, climbing to his feet. “Catch up later?” he offered, glancing at Megan and Hannah. “Maybe I’ll swing by The Snowdrift for cocktail hour.”
