Chapter One
Julie stared out over the rolling waves, Vivi firmly attached to her hip. She loved when Meg and Christian would allow her to keep her granddaughter. Lately, since Christian was working more hours and Meg had decided to go back to school at the local community college, Julie had gotten plenty of time to spoil her new grandbaby rotten.
The sun was starting to set in the sky beside the inn, and she knew Dawson would be calling her in to eat dinner any time now. Lucy was cooking up fried chicken and homemade biscuits tonight, complete with her peppery sawmill gravy, and Julie definitely didn’t want to be late for that.
Vivi was growing so fast and almost crawling now. Her first Christmas had been so fun, watching her eyes light up when she saw the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree at Julie’s cottage. Of course, her first picture with Santa Claus hadn’t been so great. The photographer captured her terror as her face turned all shades of red and tears streamed from her eyes. Julie had tried to convince Meg that it would be a funny family memory one day, but Meg was disappointed nonetheless. She’d wanted a cute photo of Vivi looking at Santa for her Christmas card, but that didn’t work out at all.
Now that winter was almost gone, Julie was looking forward to the warmer temperatures of springtime so she could build sandcastles with Vivi. It had been one of her fondest memories as a kid when they would take a yearly trip to the beach and she and Janine would have a competition of who could build the best sandcastle. Julie had always won, and it usually ended with Janine kicking over the winning display and stomping off in a fit. Ah, memories.
Vivi bucked and kicked on her side, wanting to go closer to the water. She was used to it already as they all spent so much time there. Even in winter, which wasn’t too harsh in the lowcountry anyway, they spent most weekends having picnics or cookouts at the inn. Vivi loved it when Christian would hang her over the lapping waves and dip her toes into it.
“Not now, little one,” Julie said, lightly tweaking her nose. It was hard to believe she was already eight months old. In the last week, she’d started a version of crawling that looked something like a crab that was missing a leg. As the days went on, she was getting better and better, and soon she’d be hard to stop.
Meg was going to school three days a week, and Julie sometimes had to take Vivi with her to the bookstore. For such a small island, she sure was able to keep herself busy between running the bookstore, helping Dawson with the inn and keeping her new granddaughter. But she’d never been happier in her life than she was right now.
Julie turned to look back at the inn. Dawson had done such a great job with the place since opening it a few months ago. The guests loved him, as did everyone he met, it seemed. Lucy was having a ball trying out new recipes and tweaking old ones, and Julie loved being her taste tester every now and again.
The worst part of the last few months was how much she’d missed Dixie. Right after Thanksgiving, Dixie and Harry had set off on their adventure of traveling around the country together. Occasionally, Julie got a postcard from some tourist destination, but Dixie mostly kept in touch with texts and video chats. It still wasn’t the same as having her there live and in person. Julie missed their talks and Dixie’s no-nonsense advice.
But, she had her mother there now. SuAnn had done surprisingly well in her efforts to keep her nose out of everyone’s business. Sure, she said things. She would always say things. Julie and Janine had learned to cut her some slack, and she’d learned that her girls had boundaries. It was a work in progress.
Julie leaned down and held Vivi’s hands, allowing her to kick her little feet on the surface of the sand. She didn’t think Vivi would be crawling long before she learned to walk. After all, Meg had started walking at only ten months, and Julie definitely hadn’t been ready for that.
“Well, there are my two best girls,” Dawson said as he walked up behind them. He kissed Vivi on the head before sneaking a peck on Julie’s lips. Sometimes, she just loved those sweet little moments with Dawson. Michael had never been the type to cuddle or snuggle, but Dawson was all about those things.
“Hey. I thought you were helping Lucy with dinner?”
He laughed. “She kicked me out of the kitchen.”
“Kicked you out? What was the infraction?”
Dawson reached over and picked up Vivi, swinging her into the air and then blowing raspberries on her cheek. “Apparently, my momma never taught me any manners because I stuck my finger in her apple butter to taste it.”
“Oh, Dawson… You know better!”
“That’s what she said.” He chuckled as he handed Vivi back to Julie. She loved seeing him interact with her granddaughter. He treated her like she was his own, and sometimes that made Julie a little sad. Knowing that Dawson may never be a father tugged at her heartstrings. He never said anything about it, but she knew he felt a void in his heart after losing his only child so many years ago.
“Meg should be picking Vivi up in an hour or so, and then we can have the evening together,” Julie said, smiling up at him.
“Sounds perfect. How about a movie under the blankets on the porch?” Since installing an outdoor theatre area, they often spent evenings watching their favorite films together. Julie had forced him to watch “Gone With The Wind”, and he’d made her watch every John Wayne movie known to man. But she didn’t mind. Spending her evenings cuddled up to a handsome Southern man by a fire pit wasn’t a bad way to spend her time.
“As long as you feed me first, of course,” Julie joked. She’d already gone up a pant size from eating Lucy’s food, so she needed to start adding more salad to her diet before she had to buy a whole new wardrobe. Dawson hadn’t seemed to notice.
“Of course,” he said, taking Vivi from her arms again and hoisting her up into the air. Vivi giggled the whole time. “Let’s head to the house. Lucy might question your manners too if we’re late.”
William stared at the computer screen, his new reading glasses on the tip of his nose. Sometimes, he felt like he was aging way too fast. The gray hairs coming in around his sideburns wasn’t a welcome thing to see, although Janine had told him salt and pepper hair made him look sexy and distinguished. He wasn’t sure he believed her.
“You look deep in thought,” Janine said as she walked up behind him. He often worked in her office at the yoga studio since he didn’t have an office of his own anymore. She didn’t really need it anyway. He did most of her bookkeeping for her, and she much preferred being on the hardwood floor teaching her students to bend in the oddest directions.
He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. The stupid new glasses might have been necessary, but they were leaving a permanent red imprint. He’d have to take them back for the second time to get them adjusted.
“Oh, just trying to make sense of these numbers. I have a client who wants to spend way less to market her new skincare line, but wants to make twice what she did last year. Those numbers don’t add up.”
Janine smiled sadly. “You work so hard. Why don’t you do a meditation with me? I promise it’ll make you feel better.”
William pulled her arm until she was seated on his lap. “I know what will make me feel better,” he said, pressing his lips to hers. Janine giggled and stood up.