“After all those years of teaching school, this is like child’s play,” Annie said. “Is your son here for the weekend?”
“He and his girlfriend were supposed to be,” Parrish said. “But they canceled at the last minute.”
“That’s how it is with sons,” Annie said. “Believe me, once there’s a girlfriend in the picture, everything changes.”
“So I hear. I really envy you, having Nate move back to the island.”
“I never thought it would happen, after all the years he spent out in California. I liked Cassie, his ex-girlfriend, but she was a city girl, and she always made it clear she had zero interest in hanging around here. Of course I was grateful when Nate came home to be with Joe after he got sick, but I was totally shocked when he announced he wanted to move back here for good.”
“It must be nice, having him working in the business with you,” Parrish said.
“It’s been kind of fun, but now he’s got his own business plans, which is fine,” Annie said. “We were kind of getting in each other’s way and, besides, he’s way overqualified to be running a ferry or making ham biscuits here in the café.”
“I heard Nate bought a big chunk of real estate on the island,” Parrish said innocently. “The scuttlebutt I heard says he’s going to build a big new resort hotel, a bunch of condos and shops on the north end, and a new marina.…”
“Don’t believe everything you hear,” Annie said. “Nate’s not interested in picking up where Wendell Griggs left off. He’s always loved being outdoors, but I think the years he spent working in California really changed him. He’s got a new appreciation for what we have here on Belle Isle, and he says he intends to make sure any project he undertakes will be sensitive to the environment.” She laughed. “Joe joked that California turned Nate into a total hippy granola head.”
Annie lowered her voice. “When people hear what he’s trying to do, especially with the old Holtzclaw place? They’re going to be blown away. I’m blown away, and he’s my son.”
“Sounds intriguing,” Parrish said. “Can you give me a hint?”
“Nothing’s finalized,” Annie said. “But Nate’s been in Chapel Hill and Morehead City all week, meeting with folks from the Institute of Marine Sciences. He’d kill me if he knew I was talking out of turn like this, but you know how proud mamas are.”
“I do,” Parrish said. “Is Nate thinking he’ll sell the Holtzclaw property to the university? That land must be worth a bundle. Can the university afford something like that?”
“Sell it? No. He’s not only going to donate the land, he’s going to build it out, too. The old house will be a dorm and classroom building, and there’ll be a place to dock the boats they use for research, but the center would focus on the fishery and bringing back commercial oystering and crabbing.…” Annie clapped a hand over her mouth. “See? There I go, running my mouth about stuff I’m not supposed to talk about. Nate says I couldn’t keep a secret if my life depended on it. But it just makes me so mad, you know, folks saying he’s going to pave the island and turn it into another Myrtle Beach. People have been making snide comments about it all week, and I’m just fed up.”
“I’ll bet,” Parrish said.
“Excuse me, Annie?” The voice was shrill and unmistakable. There she was again, Parrish thought. Belle Isle Barbie, like a toenail fungus that got under your skin and would not go away.
Andrea Payne thrust a white cardboard cake box at Annie Milas.
“Look at this cake your baker did,” she said. “I can’t serve this at Thomas’s party. Is that supposed to be Chewbacca?”
Andrea poked at a lump on the cake. “Look at this, Parrish. It’s hideous!”
“Looks like Chewie to me,” Parrish said.
“It looks nothing like Chewbacca,” Andrea cried. “It’s like a big, brown, chocolate turd. And I cannot serve this to those children.” She shoved the box across the top of the display counter at Annie Milas.
“This is atrocious. And I am not paying for it until you fix it.”
Annie looked down at the cake. “I’m sorry you’re unhappy, Andrea, but my cake decorator doesn’t work on Saturdays.”
“You have to fix it,” Andrea insisted. “The party’s in an hour.”
“All right.” Annie shrugged. She turned around, picked up a plastic spatula, scraped the offending chocolate Chewbacca off the top of the cake, and dropped the mound of chocolate in the prep sink. “Anything else?”
Andrea stared down at the cake, speechless for all of thirty seconds. “I want my money back.”
Annie stepped over to the cash register, opened the drawer, and removed two twenty-dollar bills, which she placed in her outraged customer’s outstretched hand. “Happy to be of service.”
Belle Isle Barbie snatched the cake box from the counter and marched out of the café.
Annie watched her exit, then glanced over at Parrish, who was trying to choke back a laugh. “There’s just no pleasing some people.”
“But I notice she took the cake with her,” Parrish said. She heard a polite cough and turned to see that a line was forming at the counter. She paid for her refills and turned to go.
“Oh Lord,” Annie said worriedly. “I wonder how long that woman was standing there? I hope she didn’t hear any of what we just talked about. Nate hates for other people to get in his business. Even his mama.”
“I won’t say anything, but I can’t guarantee that she won’t,” Parrish said.
She hurried back to the table and slid Ed’s coffee in front of him.
“Where’d you get to?” he asked.
“Just gathering some intel,” Parrish said. “Are you done with your breakfast? I need to go by Shutters and see Riley.”
47
“Mama, please?” Maggy clasped her hands together prayerfully. “Annabelle’s mom says it’s totally cool for me to spend the night over there. She’s, like, a nurse and everything. And that way, you can go to the beach party tonight with Ed and Parrish and not worry about me. Please?”
“Yes,” Parrish chimed in as she walked in the kitchen door. “You could go to the party with Parrish and Ed tonight. In fact, you must.”
Riley turned and shot her best friend the death stare. “Who asked you to put your oar in the water?”
“I did,” Maggy said. She flashed Parrish a hopeful look. “Can you talk to her? She won’t listen to me.”
“I just think you need to get out of the house tonight and have some fun for once,” Parrish said. “You can’t drape yourself in black and play the sad widow for the rest of your life.”
“Yeah!” Maggy said.
“It’s not that,” Riley said. “I don’t feel like being around a big crowd of people who are all going to be talking about me behind my back—‘Poor Riley, bless her heart, lost her husband and her house, blah, blah, blah.’ It gets old, fast.”
“Oh, grow up,” Parrish said. “I’m sorry to break it to you, sweetie, but you are officially no longer the talk of Belle Isle.”