“It’s rolling right along,” Vanessa told them. She slid a chair across the floor from one table to the other. “So far, so good.”

“I was just saying how nice it was that Beck found such a lovely girl.” Grace Sinclair held her mug between her hands as if to warm them. Grace actually had two mugs on Carlo’s shelf, one for the Inn at Sinclair’s Point, which technically belonged to her son, Daniel, now that she’d signed it over to him, and one for the St. Dennis Gazette, the newspaper she inherited from her father. Today, in honor of the upcoming wedding, Grace was using the Sinclair’s Point mug.

“God knows he took his time looking.” Barbara grinned. “There’s going to be a lot of broken hearts in St. Dennis come Saturday.”

“There aren’t too many young, eligible men left,” Nita added. “I don’t know where these young girls are going to go to get a date.”

“I heard Wade MacGregor will be back for the wedding,” Grace said.

“That’s one, and he doesn’t count since he won’t be staying. Besides, that one always was a handful.”

“I always rather liked Wade.” Grace smiled.

“You didn’t live next door to him.” Barbara frowned with disapproval. “Him and that batty old aunt of his…”

“Great-aunt.” Grace corrected her. “Berry is his great aunt.”

“Beryl Townsend was nutty as a fruitcake when she was a girl, and she’s even nuttier now that she’s an old woman,” Barbara huffed. “My mother told me some stories about her that would singe your eyebrows.”

“Watch who you’re calling an old woman.” Grace’s eyes narrowed. “Berry isn’t so very much older than I am.”

“Yeah, well, you grew up.” Barbara raised her mug to her lips. “She never has.”

“Berry’s just a wee bit of a free spirit. Always has been. She was a stage actress in her youth, you know,” Grace told them.

“I guess that’s where Dallas got the acting bug,” Nita chimed in.

“Dallas was always a lovely girl,” Grace recalled. “And Wade was a good boy. He was just a little unsettled. After all, his only sibling grew up to be a huge Hollywood star. I think after she became famous, people more or less forgot there was another Mac-Gregor. That couldn’t have been easy for the boy.”

“I still say he was a pain in the butt, regardless of the reason.” Barbara turned to Vanessa. “Now, where do you go to look for a nice young man these days?”

“Who, me?” Vanessa shook her head. “I’m not looking.”

“Pretty young girl like you ought to have lots of dates,” Barbara persisted. “You don’t want to end up an old spinster like me or Nita.”

“Speak for yourself,” Nita said. “Besides, I was married. Once.”

“Well, I think Vanessa has plenty of time to look for someone. When she decides she wants one.” Grace patted Vanessa’s arm. “Seemed to me that handsome brother of Mia’s had his eye on you at the wedding rehearsal.”

Vanessa felt a tinge of pink creep upward from her collar to her hairline.

“Oh, were you at the Inn last night?” she said to divert attention from her blush.

“I was on the veranda,” Grace explained. “I think everything is going to be beautiful once Olivia decorates the trellis leading into the rose garden and the chairs are all lined up on the lawn. I heard that the weather is going to be spectacular tomorrow.”

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”

The door opened and a small crowd of tourists came into the coffee shop.

Barbara glanced at the newcomers, then at her watch. “It’s only eight-fifteen. Unusual for this time of year.”

“Well, as I said, the weather’s been glorious all week and it’s going to last right through the weekend,” Grace said. “All that sunshine always brings the visitors out.”

“I’ll bet if Beck had known that there’d be so much traffic coming into town today, he’d have gotten married last weekend. You know how he likes to keep an eye on things,” Nita noted.

“Well, he deserves to have a lovely wedding day.” Grace set her mug down. “I can’t remember when that boy took off more than a few days at a time. He deserves to have a week off.”

“Two weeks, actually,” Vanessa said. “He’s taking two full weeks.”

“Good for him.” Grace smiled. “Like I said, he deserves it.”

The door opened again and another group came in. The coffee shop was beginning to get crowded, the noise level rising.

“It looks as if you all have a busy day ahead of you,” Grace noted.

“From your lips to God’s ears, Gracie.” Nita toasted the older woman with her coffee. “The antiques business has been slow so far this year. Slower than I can remember.”

“Books are holding their own,” Barbara told them. “A little mystery, a little romance, a little crime fiction. Add a cup of good coffee, and for a lot of people, you have the perfect day.”

Vanessa had just raised her mug to her lips when she got that feeling of unseen eyes boring into her again. She turned in her chair and glanced around. The room was packed now, and she saw no one overtly staring in her direction.

“I should get going.” Vanessa stood and drank the rest of her coffee. “I need to get over to the shop and see what’s what before I open.”

“Ness, what do you have in dangly earrings?” Barbara asked.

“I have lots. What are you looking for?”

“Something fun to wear to your brother’s wedding,” Barbara explained. “Just because you’re not interested in Mia’s good-looking brother doesn’t mean no one else is.”

“He’s young enough to be your son,” Grace reminded her. “That makes you a dirty old woman.”

“The term these days is cougar.” Barbara pretended to be in a huff.

“Ugh. What a gross term. I don’t want to hear about it.” Vanessa covered her ears and grimaced as she made her way to the counter. She smiled at Carlo and handed him her mug. Once outside, she had to move to avoid a group of five or six women who were headed in.

“Be careful,” someone whispered in her ear, “or you’ll get knocked to the ground. I heard that the coffee stampede around here can get ugly.”

She looked over her shoulder and into Grady’s eyes.

“Hey, I know how it feels to need that first cup of the day.” She laughed.

“You’re on your way out?” he asked.

Vanessa nodded. “I have to get my shop opened.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have gone back for that extra forty winks. We could have had coffee together.”

“That would have been nice.” She moved out of the way of a couple who were intently studying the visitors’ guide. “So who won the dart game last night?”

“The game turned into a tournament. In the end, Hal was the last man standing. He beat Andy in the last round. That man can throw a dart.”

“I should have warned you. He and Beck play all the time. They’re both pretty good.”

“I noticed. Beck was the one who knocked me out in the second round.”

“So where are you off to so early?” she asked.

“Hal is taking me out on his boat to do a little crabbing. He said no one should visit the Bay without having eaten crabs he’s caught himself.”

She nodded. “That’s Hal’s idea of going out to pick up lunch. He knows all the best spots. You should have a good day.”

“You know, I never did get that tour of St. Dennis that you promised,” he reminded her.

“If you can wait until Sunday, I’d be happy to show you around.”

“It’s going to have to be early. I’m leaving on Sunday.”

“Oh. Well, you’ll be staying for brunch, right? Maybe we can fit something in then, before or after. Whatever works best.” She looked across the street to her shop, where several women were gathered in front of the window.

“I have to go. My customers are arriving before me.”

“I’ll see you tonight, then.”

“Right. Dinner at Lola’s,” she recalled. “Seven o’clock.”

“Seven. Right.”

She turned and crossed the street. She looked back while she unlocked her door, but he’d already disappeared into the coffee shop.