Chapter 81
Hope arrived at Coconuts first. She scanned the room, smiled at the regulars, and waved to Gus. Her phone buzzed with a text from Alex. She read the bold type:
MY BOSS IS SENDING ME TO A DAMN BRANDING CONFERENCE. ~A
Hope texted back: I can tell by the all caps that you’re not happy. How long will you be gone?
WHO KNOWS? DEPENDS. A FEW DAYS OR A WEEK. I WANTED HIM TO SEND HANNAH, NOT ME. UNFREAKINBELIEVABLE.
Suzy slid onto a chair and nodded as Hope held up her phone so Suzy could read the screen. She mouthed, “I know.”
Hope responded, Sorry. We’ll miss you.
DRINK SOME CHARDONNAY FOR ME. BYE. LOVE YOU GUYS. ~A
Suzy leaned back and sighed. “I already miss her.”
Hope frowned. “Me too. Coconuts won’t be the same without Alex.”
“I guess we should order drinks. Alex would be mad if we didn’t.” Suzy stared at the empty chair where Alex usually sat and turned to Hope. “I love you but it isn’t the same without Alex.”
Hope nodded. “I know what you mean. I already miss her spunk.”
Suzy perused the bar. “Come to think of it I haven’t seen Cheri in here lately. I wonder if she went back to New York. It’s just you and me, kid.”
“Cheri came to my—” Hope cupped her hand over her mouth, remembering Cheri’s insistence of anonymity.
“Came to your what?”
Hope talked fast in an obvious effort to change the subject. “Wasn’t her grandmother’s house gorgeous?”
Suzy sipped her white wine which totally confused Gus when she placed the order. “It was fabulous—the house, food, even Alex’s silly game.”
Hope nodded as she rubbed a smudge on her new brown loafers. “What have you been up to?”
Suzy laughed almost hysterically. “Nothing much. Just a Halloween wedding, a runaway stepdaughter, constant challenges with planning my son’s beach wedding, and a distant husband. You?”
Hope hooted. “Sorry to laugh about your problems but I needed that. We’ve had a rough spring, haven’t we?”
“You can say that again. Let’s eat like pigs. We deserve it.” She waved Gus over and requested menus.
“I’m always in when it comes to food.” Hope patted Alex’s empty chair. “She’d be proud of us.”
Suzy ordered artichoke poppers, salmon dip with pita triangles, and garlic-stuffed olives.
Gus took out a pad. “Guess I need to write this order down. Anything else?”
Hope grinned. “Chicken wings.”
The server took their zebra-print menus. “Looks like you two will be here a while. Where’s Alex?”
“At a conference,” they both said.
After Gus left, Suzy asked, “How’s everything at Hilltop?”
“We’re almost back to normal, thank goodness. Kids need routine and apparently so do I.” Hope brightened. “The most amazing thing happened.”
Suzy leaned forward. “Did you meet someone?”
Hope pretended to be exasperated. “Does it always have to be about a man?”
Suzy shrugged. “Then, what is it?”
“It’s better if I show you.” Hope scrolled through photos on her phone until she found pictures of the roast cooking on the manifold. “Can you guess what this is?”
Suzy squinted at the picture. “Food? Meat?”
“Yeah, it’s a roast, but the cool thing is it’s cooking on an engine manifold.”
Suzy reached for the phone. “How?” She studied the photo.
Hope enlarged the picture. “The heat from the engine cooks it. Isn’t that incredible?”
“Very. Where did you see this? Pinterest?”
Hope shook her head. “I saw it in real life. Larry and Willow came by my house. They’ve rebuilt a VW Microbus and Willow knew how to cook a roast on the darn thing.”
Suzy chuckled. “Alex would croak thinking about all the germs.”
Hope threw her head back and roared. “That’s exactly what I told Larry and Willow.” She paused. “It’s so weird to say their names as a couple instead of Larry and Montana or Mom and Dad. I still feel like I’m dreaming.”
“I can only imagine, hon. I can’t wrap my head around it, if it’s true, which I still doubt but—”
Hope frowned. “It’s true. I know it is.”
“Whatever you say.” Suzy retrieved her phone. “Send me the picture of the roast. I’ve got to show Ken and Izzy. Maybe if I include my stepdaughter in more things she’ll like me. In fact, I wish I had taken her to the Halloween wedding. I bet she would have loved it.”
“How can anyone not like you?” Hope concentrated on her phone as Gus placed heaping platters of food on their small table. “We might need a bigger table.” She pushed ‘send’ and said, “Done. Let’s eat.”
After they gorged and chatted for nearly two hours, Hope glanced at her brown Timex watch. “We have a faculty meeting early tomorrow before school. I’ve got to run.” She patted the empty chair. “Somehow, we managed to have fun without Alex but don’t tell her.”
Suzy laughed. “Not a chance. We’ll say how miserable we were.” She winked. “I need to head out too. Ken will be happy to see me come home early for once.”
As they neared the front door, Suzy gasped and yanked Hope back inside Coconuts.
Hope rubbed her arm. “What’s wrong?”
Suzy lowered her voice. “I think that’s Tony talking to another woman across the street. They look a little too cozy.”
Hope poked her head outside.
Suzy tugged on Hope’s shirt. “Don’t let him see you. From the description Alex gave me, I think that’s Tony’s ex. They were standing very close in the lot across the street. The woman stood on tippy toes as she whispered in his ear.”
“Alex will be furious.” Hope peeked out another, smaller window. “That’s definitely Tony.”
Suzy poised her camera, zoomed in, and clicked the possibly damning photo.
Hope stared at the picture. “Are you going to send it to Alex?”
Suzy nodded, pressed on the image, hit forward, and then hesitated. She clicked the delete button.
Hope’s mouth fell open. “Why didn’t you send it?”
“He might be Alex’s boyfriend but he’s still a cop, remember? Plus, he found Izzy.”
“Good points and she’d be even more miserable on the road after she saw the photo.” Hope peeked back outside but they were gone.