* * *
Boone left the Castle women working inside the restaurant, while he got started cleaning up the parking lot. After his exchange with Emily earlier, he needed to work off some steam without her in his face. The physical labor of picking up boards and cutting up tree limbs, loading them into the bed of his truck, was exactly what he needed. And when Jerry’s teenage neighbor showed up, he put Andrew to work at the task, too.
They’d been at it for a couple of hours and had made two trips to the dump when Cora Jane came into the parking lot with bottled water and a thick tuna salad sandwich on toasted rye, just the way he liked it.
“The others are taking a break out on the deck,” she told him. “I’ve coaxed Andrew up there, too, but something told me you might not be interested in joining us.”
“No, this is good,” he said, grateful for her perceptiveness.
“You and Emily settle anything this morning?”
“We talked,” he said, taking a long sip of the cold water.
“And?”
“Cora Jane, it might be best if you stayed out of the middle of this,” he suggested gently.
“Your opinion,” she retorted. “It’s not in my genes to sit on the sidelines and watch two people I love being miserable.”
He laughed at that. “Emily doesn’t look all that miserable to me. She’s a confident, successful businesswoman.”
“With no personal life to speak of,” Cora Jane assured him. “I could say exactly the same about you.”
“Have we not had this conversation more times than I can count?” he asked with good-natured exasperation. “I have exactly the amount of social life I’m interested in having.”
“Your focus is on B.J., yada-yada-yada,” she confirmed sarcastically.
“Well, it’s true. B.J. is my top priority. And I don’t think getting involved with your granddaughter, only to have her take off again, is in my son’s best interests, or mine, for that matter. I can only imagine what Jenny’s parents would have to say. They’d find a way to drag me into court and sue for custody of B.J. faster than you can say disaster. I won’t put any of us through that, especially not my son.”
She gave him a disgusted look. “Stubborn fool.”
“I’ve been called worse,” he said, not the least bit offended.
“Well, we’re not done yet,” she told him before heading back inside.
Boone watched her go and heaved a sigh. Heaven help him! Once Cora Jane got an idea in her head, there was no reasoning with her. He wondered if there was any way on God’s green earth to get her to focus her attention on somebody else’s love life. Sadly, he doubted it.
* * *
“Grandmother, I swear if you don’t sit down in one of these booths and put your feet up, I’m going to have Boone carry you out to his truck and take you home,” Emily declared, standing before Cora Jane who looked as if she was about to collapse.
Her grandmother’s eyes flashed. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me,” Emily said, staring her down.
“I think she might, Grandmother,” Gabi said more gently. “If you really want to get this place open tomorrow, you can’t wear yourself out today.”
Cora Jane looked around the restaurant in frustration. “I think we’re fighting a losing battle, girls. There’s no way I can open tomorrow, no matter how badly I might want to. I suppose I might as well admit that and sit down, at least for a minute.”
“Thank you,” Emily said. “If you sit for ten minutes, so can the rest of us. Anybody besides me want something to drink?”
“Sweet tea,” Cora Jane said at once.
“I’ll have the same,” Gabi said. Emily echoed her response.
“I’ll get it,” Samantha offered.
She came back from the kitchen with four tall glasses of sweet tea, along with a pitcher filled to the brim, as well.
She sighed as she slid into the booth next to Gabi.
“I’m not afraid to admit it,” Samantha said with a groan. “I’m beat.”
“And I’ve discovered muscles I had no idea I had,” Gabi said. “I’m sore everywhere.”
“We’ve been at this since late morning,” Emily reminded them. “And it’s now going on seven. I vote we call it a day.” She said that last part as if it were actually a democracy, though they all knew Cora Jane had the last word.
As expected, her grandmother started to protest, but Gabi cut her off. “You wouldn’t even let me stop at the house this morning. We have no idea what we’ll find there. We need to go home while it’s still daylight. My vote’s with Emily.”
“I’ll third that motion,” Samantha said. She reached over and squeezed Cora Jane’s hand. “We’ll get a lot more done when we’re back here fresh in the morning. Another day isn’t going to make that much difference. No one expects you to perform miracles, Grandmother.”
“I just hate the thought of letting folks down,” Cora Jane said.
“How about this?” Emily said. “Tommy Cahill replaced the few boards on the deck he thought were damaged and says it’s solid. The kitchen’s mostly functional. How about you serve a bare-bones menu out there tomorrow? Just eggs, bacon and toast in the morning and maybe burgers at lunchtime. Call in one or two of the waitresses to help and we’ll keep cleaning in here.”
Her grandmother’s eyes brightened at the suggestion. “That could work. And the bakery is going to deliver pastries tomorrow morning, so we’ll have those.”
“You scheduled a bakery delivery?” Emily said. Fearing the answer, she made herself ask, “What time?”
“Five-thirty, same as always,” Cora Jane said cheerfully.
“Oh, sweet heaven,” Samantha muttered. “Then we definitely need to go home. I’m going to crawl from a bath straight into bed.”
Cora Jane chuckled. “What has happened to the three of you? I certainly didn’t raise you all to be such wimps.”
“No, you didn’t,” Gabi agreed. “But I’m starting to recall the downside of spending summers with you.”
“Me, too,” Emily said.
Just then Boone, B.J. and Andrew came in from
