Page 33 of Remind Me
“Felix, you in?”
“Sure, why not.” As the guys continued to talk about a fishing trip and where they wanted to go, Belle got up from her seat and went over to join Ma and Vannah. I didn’t blame her. There was a definite lack of female presence at the table. Deciding that it was time for the girls to join us, I got up from the table and went over, wrapping my arms around Vannah, pressing my lips against her jaw.
Chapter Nineteen
Savannah
After Cash walked away to take a seat with the others, I turned to Christina. She was frowning. “Is everything okay, Ma?”
“She’s back!”
“Whose back?”
“Ally! I ran out of time to make a cake for today and found this new bakery in town. I walked in and saw Ally behind the counter and now I don’t know what to do! Do we tell Austin?”
“I’m not sure, he was devastated when she left. Did she say how long she has been back?”
“No, she didn’t. She didn’t say anything really, but it can’t be long. That shop hasn’t been open too long.”
“True but it would have taken some time to have it set up depending on which shop she took over. It wouldn’t have been a spur of the moment decision though knowing Ally, she would have planned it before she moved back.”
“Does that mean she is sticking around though?”
“It could be. She really didn’t say anything?”
“No, we just talked about the cake. She passed on her congratulations to you both and that was it.”
“What about her parents? Did her mom say anything?”
“No! Not a word! I see her every week in church. She would have known that she was coming back, wouldn’t she?”
“She should have. I don’t see why Ally wouldn’t have told her.”
“Yeah, they were really close. She would have been the first person she told. Maybe she didn’t want to bring up the past. I just don’t know what to do about Austin.”
“Maybe we just keep it between us for now. He is still dealing with Holly’s death, I’m not sure he is ready to deal with Ally being back too.”
“I think you might be right, best to leave it.”
“While I have you, I just want to say thank you for everything you and Thomas have done for us.”
“Oh, honey, there is no need to thank us! We were happy to help. I would do anything for you.” She stepped forward and hugged me. Wrapping my arms around her, I hugged her back. We were soon joined by Belle who was escaping the fishing talk to discuss their house renovations with us. Beau had told her she could do whatever she liked to the house to make it feel more like home after our conversation about it. She wanted to bring a bit of warmth into it but keep Beau’s presence there, so she was enlisting Christina’s help. Cash and I still hadn’t told them that we were moving. We would announce that after we told them about the baby.
Feeling arms around me, I leaned back into Cash. He pressed his lips against my jaw. “How are you doing?”
“Starting to feel a little hungry. Are we all ready to eat?” There was a collective yes coming from the group.
“Thomas and I will go and grab the hot food from inside. Why don’t you all go and take a seat.” Christina pushed Thomas toward the house and inside. Austin went to help. The rest of us made sure we were all good for drinks before heading over to the table and taking a seat.Christina came out carrying the salads and sides while Austin and Thomas carried the mains. They handed them around the table before taking their seats. We all passed around the salads before starting to eat.
“How’s the shop doing, Austin? You close to reopening yet?” Felix asked before taking a bite of steak.
“Yeah, we should be ready to open this week. I am gonna go on the final walk-through on Monday and if there is nothing that needs touching up or fixing, we are all good to go.”
“Are you gonna do a big reopening?”
“I’m not sure. I was gonna ask my wonderful sister-in-law and her super sidekick what they thought about it.”
“My super sidekick?”
