“They’re sickeningly sweet together.” Gretchen Roberts watched as the couple in a booth at the back of Off the Vine snuggled close against each other.

Her friend Maggie punched her lightly in the arm.

“Ouch.” She rubbed her arm and glared. “I think you’ve spent too much time in kickboxing classes.”

“Ha ha,” Maggie said. “You’re happy for her, remember?”

“Okay, okay. I’m happy that Dahlia and Garrett found each other, but I miss spending time with my friend. It’s been weeks since the three of us hung out together.”

“We’ve been busy too,” Maggie reminded her. “With the mild weather in January and February, this was the biggest winter tourist season we’ve ever had in Candle Beach.” She sipped her glass of Chardonnay and surreptitiously glanced at Dahlia, who was making gooey eyes at Garrett, then rolled her own eyes. “Okay, they’re annoying. But I am happy for her. It’s been ages since I went out on a date. And what about you? I’ve got a kid at home, but you’re young and single. Why are you sitting here with me on a Friday night?”

“I haven’t had time to meet anyone. And I have better things to do with my time than try to meet men.” Gretchen grabbed an onion ring from the basket in the middle of the table and crunched down on it.

“Like what?” Maggie gave her a pointed look as she took the last onion ring and dipped it into ranch dressing.

“Like—” Gretchen started to say, but was interrupted by a woman tapping her on the shoulder. A man stood a few feet behind the woman.

“Gretchen? Maggie? I’d heard you were back in town, but what luck running into both of you here.” The woman pushed back the artfully arranged curls that hung down her back and gave Gretchen’s shoulder a quick squeeze. The scent of floral perfume followed her every movement. Gretchen stared at the woman, unsuccessfully trying to place her.

Maggie recovered first. “Stella, how nice to see you.”

Stella beamed at her. “Girls, this is my husband Lance. I’m living on the East Coast now, but we were in Seattle visiting my family and I wanted to show Lance where I spent all my summers growing up. The Washington coast is so different than what we have back east.”

They shook Lance’s hand and murmured polite greetings. Gretchen leaned back in the booth to get a better look at Stella. Stella’s family had summered in Candle Beach and the three of them, occasionally with their friend Dahlia, would spend hours playing together when they were pre-teens. Now, Gretchen hardly recognized Stella as the carefree tomboy she’d grown up with.

“So, Maggie, what are you up to these days? I heard something through the grapevine about a restaurant?” Stella looked around. “Is this it?”

“You heard correctly. But not this restaurant.” Maggie smiled at them. “I bought the Bluebonnet Café a few years ago after my son and I came back to Candle Beach.”

“And your husband?” Stella asked. “Is he here too?”

Sadness shadowed Maggie’s face. “He was killed in Iraq. It’s just Alex and me now.”

“Oh honey, I’m so sorry.” Stella leaned in to embrace her.

“It was a long time ago,” Maggie said, with a forced smile. “We’re enjoying being back here in Candle Beach and spending time with family. With my husband’s Army career, I didn’t see much of them for the six years we were married.”

“Oh,” Stella murmured. “Well, I’m happy you have your family for support.” She turned to Gretchen.

“And what about you? What have you been up to?”

“A little of this, a little of that. After college, I moved back here and joined my parents at their company, Candle Beach Real Estate. With the increase in tourism over the last ten years, business has been booming.”

“Oh. Well, that’s nice for you. I’m sure your parents appreciate your help. I know my parents would love to see Lance and me more often, but with his career on Wall Street and my position at the law firm, we don’t get to take much vacation time. I’m up for partner this year.” She wore a self-satisfied smile.

“Wow, that’s great. Congratulations.” Gretchen’s stomach flip-flopped. Stella obviously led a successful life and didn’t hesitate to boast about it. Her old friend deserved to be proud of herself, so why did Stella’s comments bother her so much?

Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “Actually, I’m in the process of moving to Seattle. I’m branching out from my parents’ business and plan to start my own real estate firm there.”

Maggie raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

“How exciting,” Stella cooed. “Seattle has so much going on. You’ll love it.” Behind Stella, Lance shifted from foot to foot and looked longingly at an empty booth in the corner of the restaurant. He cleared his throat.

Stella looked at her husband and laughed. “We’d better get going. We’ve been driving all day and we’re starving.” She looked around Off the Vine. “This place is so cute. Who’d have thought there would be a wine bar in little old Candle Beach.” He tugged at her arm and started to lead her away. She called over her shoulder, “It was nice seeing you, girls.” She gave a little wave and allowed him to direct her to the empty booth.

When she was out of earshot, Maggie said, “Now that was a blast from the past. I haven’t heard from her in fifteen years.”

“Yeah, and we probably won’t for another fifteen.” Gretchen pushed her dark wavy mass of hair behind her ears and sipped the margarita. Over the top of the glass, she glanced at Stella and her husband, who were engrossed in the menu offerings.

“So what was that about moving to Seattle? Are you really thinking about it? Or were you just saying that because Stella was so full of herself?”

Gretchen shrugged. She’d come up with the idea on the spur-of-the-moment, but now the seed of a plan sprouted in her brain. “I need to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. I don’t want to be a property manager for Candle Beach Real Estate forever. I love my parents and all, but working for the family business was never something I wanted for my future.”

“So this is real? How long have you been considering this?”

“Yes, it’s real.” She looked toward the window. Outside, the light had faded and the street was empty. “I’m going to move to a bigger city and be a real estate agent. Maybe it won’t be Seattle, but somewhere around that area. I want to help people buy and sell their homes and have more of a relationship with clients. I can’t do that with the nightly cottage rentals to tourists.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt a strange sense of relief, as if a weight had been lifted off her chest and she could breathe again.

Maggie put down her wine glass. “So you’re really leaving Candle Beach?”

“Yes. I’ve got to get out of here. This town is suffocating me. The coast is a great place to visit, but it doesn’t provide many career opportunities.”

“What about being a real estate agent in Candle Beach?” Maggie fiddled with her napkin. “I’d miss having you around. You’re one of the few people over the age of five that I hang out with. My parents are always busy and even Alex is so obsessed with his Legos right now that he doesn’t have time for me.” She smiled, but her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

Gretchen smiled gently at her and patted her hand. “I’d still come visit, and I’d only be a phone call away. Don’t worry.” Her mood darkened. “But if I stay in Candle Beach, I’ll always be competing with my parents for clients. Or worse yet, working for them the rest of my life.”

“Starting over somewhere else will be risky. Do you have any money saved for the move?” Maggie asked. “When I bought the café, it took all the money I had left from Brian’s life insurance after setting up a college fund for Alex. Even after that, it seemed like every day brought more unexpected expenses. Do you really want to move somewhere without a safety net?”

As always, Maggie was right.

“I don’t have much in my savings account.” Her optimism deflated. “I guess I could rent out the house Grams left me and lease a smaller place to save money, but I don’t really want to do that. I’m not much of a waitress, so working at the Bluebonnet Café wouldn’t work, but maybe Dahlia would hire me for a few shifts at To Be Read during the summer tourist season.”

“Okay,” Maggie said slowly. “So what about clients? You’ll be starting over in Seattle. Here, you know everyone. This town isn’t all tourists, you know. Locals and new people need houses too.”

“I don’t know what I’ll do about clients.” She leaned back against her seat. This was getting more and more complicated, but she knew she couldn’t stay in Candle Beach much longer without going crazy. Her face brightened as she thought of something. “Dahlia’s mother is a real estate agent. I bet she’d help me make some connections. Maybe her company is hiring.”

“Maybe,” Maggie said. They looked over to the booth where Dahlia had sat, but she and Garrett were gone. A waitress was clearing away the dishes from the table.

Someone waved at Maggie from across the room. She waved back and nodded at two men. One appeared to be in his sixties, with graying hair and a jovial face. The other was closer to her own age. Both were dressed in the casual uniform of tourists—jeans and polo shirts.

“Who was that?” Gretchen asked. She’d never seen them before.

“Oh, visitors who came into the Bluebonnet Café today. I took over Belinda’s tables while she was on break and they were seated at one of them. Nice guys. I chatted with them for a while about some of the local tourist attractions.”

“Oh, you mean like the old well house and the pioneer cemetery?” She waggled her eyebrows mischievously.

“Ha ha,” Maggie said. “I mean things like fishing at Bluebonnet Lake, or the whale-watching excursions they can charter down at the marina. There’s a lot to do in Candle Beach.”

“If you say so.” She gulped the watery remains of her margarita and looked at her watch. “I think it’s time to head home. I told my parents I’d man the booth at the chocolate festival tomorrow.”

“It’ll be crazy with all the tourists in town for that. My pastry chef has been working like a madwoman to create new chocolate desserts to showcase.” Maggie finished her drink and waved the waitress over for their check.

After the check arrived, they split the bill, waved goodbye and went their separate ways. Gretchen put her hands in her coat pocket and walked up the hill towards the house she’d inherited from her grandmother. She’d felt adrift after college and had moved home while she decided what to do with her life, but the years had passed faster than she’d like to admit. It seemed like yesterday that she’d returned to Candle Beach after graduation, but it had already been ten years. It was time for a change, but how feasible would it be to start over in Seattle? There were so many unknowns, from money and how to earn it, to how easily she’d be able to get clients in a new location. She didn’t know many people outside of Candle Beach, so she’d be on her own.

She trudged up the incline and stopped in front of her house. The lovely Craftsman with the partial water view had been her home since her grandmother died seven years before. She didn’t want to rent out the house and move somewhere else, but if that was what it took, it needed to be the top item on her list of money-making ideas. As she contemplated renting out the house, her boxer dog, Reilly, must have heard her footsteps, because he pawed at the front window. She smiled. It was nice to have someone to come home to.

* * *

Cheers filled the offices of Gray and Associates as Parker Gray’s co-workers raised plastic glasses of champagne to toast his brother, Graham. He raised his own glass in a half-hearted manner and chugged the bubbly liquid. The sweet and sour tang burned on the way down.

A woman put her hand on his arm. “Isn’t it great how much business Graham’s brought in?” she gushed. “And to be the highest seller for six months straight. What I wouldn’t do to be in his place.”

Parker gently removed her arm and backed away. “Uh-huh. It’s great.” He threw his champagne glass in the trash and exited the room. The cube farm where his desk was located was dark and empty with everyone else at the party. He leaned back in his swivel chair and picked up a rubber ball stamped with the Gray and Associates logo from a basket of them by his desk. A yellow sticky note on his computer informed him that Graham wanted him to research a possible new commercial acquisition. Parker hated commercial real estate, but his brother had decided that a Gray needed to be at the helm of the commercial division.

Light streamed out of one of the few enclosed offices in the building, drawing his attention. He stared toward the light. Out of three offices, one belonged to each of his parents and one to his big brother Graham, the golden boy. He tossed the ball in the air and caught it, over and over again. If he stayed at the family’s real estate firm, he’d always be overshadowed by his brother. For the umpteenth time, he wished he’d been forward-thinking like his younger siblings and gone into another career field. But the truth was, he loved what he did. He just didn’t want to do it at Gray and Associates.

The problem was, Haven Shores wasn’t a big city. He wasn’t sure if there was room for another real estate company. But he had to try. He didn’t want to be stuck in his brother’s shadow forever. Things usually came easy for Parker—jobs, women, money—and he wasn’t sure why he was letting Graham’s success get him down.

“Hey, Parker.” A woman in her twenties approached him, her suit jacket barely concealing the not-so-professional low-cut blouse she wore under it.

“Hi, Angie.” He threw the ball in the basket.

“Are you busy later? My dinner date canceled and I’d hate to be alone on a Friday night.” She pouted her pretty pink lips.

He considered her offer for a moment. If he wanted to create a successful future, he needed to start taking himself seriously. No more women for a while. He had a shot at a big commission and he needed to put everything he had into making it a reality. It was the key to starting out on his own.

“Sorry, Angie.” He grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair. “I’ve got a hot date tonight with some market research.”

She pouted again and jutted out her hip. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Thanks for the offer.” He brushed past her and exited the office. His buddies would never believe he’d turned down a pretty girl, but then again, he’d never been more serious about any undertaking in his life than he was about this opportunity.