Christmas at Saltwater Cove: a Westcott Bay novella Read online

  Jade giggled.

  “That’s the spirit!” Margie replied, serving her a slice of quiche. “You’ll get to meet Hank too!”

  “Yeah, about him,” Sandy said. “Last night you went looking for Hank before you completely disappeared. Did you get…lost? Or does he not exist?”

  “He does exist, and you’re going to love him.”

  Sandy laughed and Margie shooed them into the dining room.

  Maybe Margie had meddled a bit – but it certainly didn’t seem like Sandy minded all that much.

  It was a start. And maybe this beautiful island could help Sandy find hope – just as it had for Margie.

  Chapter 5

  It was hard for Sandy to resist eating too much at breakfast – the quiche that Margie made was a lovely mix of mushrooms, spinach and some kind of delicate cheese. She wanted to save some room for whatever creations were at the Christmas market, though, so she did the best she could to not overstuff herself.

  She took a quick shower before joining Margie and Jade for the trip to Friday Harbor for the market. Margie chattered on, talking about the history of different sites and pointing out some of her neighbors’ homes as they drove by.

  Jade was quiet, which wasn’t unusual, but Sandy wondered if she was still upset about the events of the morning. She made a mental note to find a time to talk to Jade and reassure her that she wasn’t angry about the whole Jack situation.

  Sandy rarely even got angry – she worked well under stress and could control her emotions. Which, come to think of it, only made it more embarrassing that she had snapped at her patient’s mother.

  She closed her eyes – what had gotten into her? Hopefully this get away would give her enough time to reflect on her actions.

  But now she couldn’t stop thinking about it – was this going to be her new thing? Was she losing her edge? Letting things get to her – like her anxiety on the flight in?

  Or maybe she was tired and it was just a transient thing. A momentary lapse in judgment. But Sandy didn’t like that excuse – just because she was human didn’t mean she had to show it.

  Thankfully, Sandy didn’t have long to ruminate on it because they soon got into town. The first thing she noticed was the loud and cheerful Christmas music that enveloped the entire block. There was a band, dressed as elves, outside of the building playing a wonderful rendition of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”

  The area was crowded and Sandy saw delightful things everywhere she looked. There was music, food, and smiles all around. Even Santa had a new job today – he rode atop a tractor, dressed in his customary red suit, shouting in jolly tones to the children that he was pulling along in a hayride.

  Outside of the building, there was a row of tents and a heavenly smell drifting toward them.

  “What is that?” asked Sandy.

  Jade squinted. “Looks like someone is selling roasted chestnuts. Would you like some?”

  “I would love some. I have a feeling I’m not going to get very far before I’m stuffed.”

  Margie laughed. “Don’t worry – they’ll be here tomorrow too.”

  “Perfect.”

  They slowly moved past the various stalls, with Margie stopping to talk every few feet, seemingly knowing everyone.

  “If I didn’t know any better,” Sandy said to Jade in a low voice, “I’d say that my sister was the mayor of San Juan Island.”

  Jade laughed. “Sometimes it feels like that. She’s made a lot of friends.”

  Margie was always good at making friends, and Sandy was glad that her ex-husband Jeff was no longer holding her back. She was a bit nervous that Margie’s new boyfriend – no, her fiancé – might not be a worthy choice. But from everything Margie said about him, he seemed almost too good to be true.

  She didn’t have to wait much longer to meet him – about twenty minutes into their browsing of some stunning island-made jewelry, the much-anticipated Hank showed up.

  Sandy spotted him first – it was easy to do, as the tall, burly police chief tried to sneak up on Margie. Amazingly, she didn’t see him because she was completely engrossed in a conversation with the jewelry designer.

  He crept up slowly, shot a wink at Jade, and was just behind Margie when he yelled a very loud, “Boo!”

  Margie reacted immediately with a stupendous jump and scream. When she turned around and saw that it was him, she burst into laughter and planted a kiss on his cheek.

  “I should’ve known you’d do something like that.”

  “I couldn’t resist,” he said, beaming.

  “Hank, I’d like you to meet my sister, Dr. Sandra Randall.”

  He stuck out his hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, doctor.”

  Sandy had to resist laughing – Margie never missed an opportunity to gush about her being a doctor. Even when she sent a birthday card, she always addressed it to Dr. Sandra Randall. Sometimes she’d even add something on top like, “the distinguished Dr. Sandra Randall,” or, “the honorable Dr. Sandra Randall.”

  Sandy shook his hand. “It’s very nice to meet you too, Hank. I’ve heard so much about you. And please, call me Sandy.”

  They meandered into the building, chatting and stopping every few feet to browse. Hank introduced Sandy to a local farmer, and they got to hear a bit of history about the farm.

  Sandy was impressed by the offerings – they had a huge variety of island-made biscotti, jams, and mustards. During the warmer months, they also had a constant supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. For Christmas, they’d put together some very pretty gift boxes that Sandy decided would be perfect to share with her coworkers back home.

  Hank continued pointing out different stalls and introduced her to at least half a dozen people. It became obvious that Margie must have gotten a nice introduction to the community through Hank.

  Sandy enjoyed his tour – and she enjoyed watching her sister with him. They were quite lovey-dovey. And she found herself quite at ease with him – he had a gruff sort of charm that struck her immediately.

  It really seemed like Margie had found – no, created – the perfect home.

  After meeting a local lavender farmer, Sandy excused herself to stand in line for some hot cider. She was in a bit of a daydream when a familiar voice snapped her out of it.

  “Fancy seeing you here.”

  She turned around and saw that Jack was planted directly behind her.

  “Right back at you.”

  “I’m glad that the eggnog from yesterday didn’t put you off from all holiday drinks.”

  Sandy shook her head. “Not at all. Did you see how many flavors of hot cocoa they were selling out front?”

  Jack raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t. But I don’t think that I can resist. Keep me away from the table – I think I had enough hot cocoa yesterday to last for the season.”

  It was Sandy’s turn to order, so she stepped forward and asked for two medium hot ciders – one for her, and one for Jack.

  “That was very smooth,” he said. “And very inconvenient. I was planning to buy you some cider so I could ask you for a favor.”

  She turned away from him to pay the cashier. “What kind of favor?”

  “Nothing big – I just wanted to see if you were interested in being involved with some of the menu preparation for your sister’s party.”

  Sandy accepted the two cups of cider and handed one to Jack. “I feel like this is a good time to tell you that I’m a terrible cook.”

  “That’s perfect – you wouldn’t have to cook anything. Just offer some opinions – and some taste testing.”

  She took a sip of cider. “I’ll think about it.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Sandy motioned to the bag he was holding. “Looks like you’ve already gotten a few things?”

  He nodded, opening the bag. “Yeah, there’s all kinds of great stuff here. Check this out – a pizza cutter with a wooden whale tail handle.”

  Sandy laughed. “It’s
very pretty. I didn’t know you liked whales.”

  He nodded. “I didn’t either. But I stopped into the whale museum this morning and learned about the killer whale pods that live around the islands.”

  “Oh neat! Are they around this time of year?”

  “Unfortunately, most of them are not. There are some transient whale pods that show up sometimes, but they aren’t as predictable as the resident pods. Those come by mainly in the summer, chasing the salmon. I talked to the lady at the museum and she said that there hasn’t been a sighting of any of them recently.”

  “Too bad. I’ve gone on some really nice whale watching tours out in Boston. What else you do have in there?”

  “I’ve got some sea salt…salted caramels…and some locally roasted coffee. That’s all for Helen – I think she’d really like visiting here so this will be my first step in trying to convince her.”

  “Convince, or bribe?” Sandy said with a smile.

  “Is there really a difference?”

  When they were younger, Sandy thought that Jack wasn’t cut out for family life – that he was too rebellious, too wild. But it turned out she was very wrong and last night, when she saw the hundreds of pictures of his daughter he had on his phone, she was quite touched.

  “That’ll be nice,” she said. “So yesterday you said that you’re going to move out to the east coast to be closer to her. Do you already have a new restaurant in the works?”

  He let out a sigh. “No. I honestly have no idea what I’m doing. When the offer came in to buy the restaurant in Seattle, initially I thought I would say no. But it was too good to pass up – and perfect timing. But now…I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t know the market out there, I don’t have any contacts. It might be really foolish to start a new venture.”

  “I trust that you’ll figure it out. You just need to decide what you want and go for it. Make a plan. Like you did with the first place.”

  He paused. “Make a plan…”

  “Yeah – you know, make a list. Make a bunch of lists. And make a one year plan, a five year plan, and a ten year plan. Actually write them out. Then figure out what your goals need to be, and start working toward them. It seems like you’re pretty good at that.”

  He smiled. “Don’t make me blush. But that’s a great idea – I don’t know why I’ve never thought of that before.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said.

  Without missing a beat, he said, “My one week plan is to get you to be my taste-tester.”

  Sandy laughed and rolled her eyes. “Uh huh.”

  “What could I do to get you – no, us – closer to that goal?”

  She looked around, annoyed that she couldn’t spot Margie anywhere. Where could they have gone?

  Oh – their disappearance was probably by design. Again.

  “Did you ever learn to make your mom’s baklava?” Sandy asked.

  A smile spread across his face. “You bet! I’ll get started on a tray today. As you can see, I’m not above trying to bribe you.”

  Sandy smiled at him. She was never one to pass up baklava, and she’d never found one to match the one that Jack’s mom made when they were growing up.

  Also, this party seemed like it might be important for Margie’s business. It couldn’t hurt for Sandy to get a little involved to do some quality control.

  “Then you’ve got yourself a deal, chef.”

  Chapter 6

  Somehow Jack convinced Sandy to spend a few hours with him each day leading up to the Christmas cookie party. He wasn’t sure how he did it – was Margie busy and Sandy grew bored of waiting around? Did she want an excuse to get out of the house? Or was she simply hungry?

  Jack didn’t really care what the reason was – he found himself pulling out all of the stops to keep her interested. His first move was to make an absurd amount of baklava, as promised. Then he sent her a recipe for a Christmas tree shaped cheese ball.

  “What do you think?” He asked in the text message. “I’m hoping to find enough appetizers so that everything can be Christmas themed.”

  “You know I love a challenge,” she responded.

  And with that, Sandy was hooked. The next day when they met at a coffee shop to go over ideas, she showed up with almost twenty recipes. There was everything from strawberry Santa bites, to a corn dog wreath, to even an enormous Christmas tree-shaped puff pastry.

  “Now I think that some of these might be pretty challenging,” she said. “I’m not sure that you’re up for it.”

  “Oh I’m up for it,” he said, trying not to smile. “The question is if any of these things are any good. It would be a disservice to your sister if we didn’t try making these recipes at least a few times before we decide on the menu.”

  Sandy tapped her chin. “You’re right. That would be very irresponsible of you, and could possibly ruin my sister’s business before it even has a chance to take off.”

  He nodded. “That would be very unfortunate indeed.”

  “Agreed. The thing is – I promised the girls that I would go on a wildlife tour with them today.”

  “That’s not a problem. Just give me the recipes and I’ll get all of the ingredients. And how about tomorrow you come over and we can make them?”

  “All of them?”

  He shrugged. “I have nothing else to do. Plus, cooking happens to be my favorite activity.”

  She studied him for a moment. “I don’t know what my plans are tomorrow – I’m sure Margie has something in mind.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll be working all day. So whenever you have some free time – stop by.”

  Sandy appeared to be satisfied with this arrangement, and the next day around one o’clock, she showed up at his rental house. He’d gotten all of the ingredients and prepared a lot of the cold foods, but delayed making some of the hot items until she came. He wanted to make sure that she got the full experience, and that included him getting a chance to show off a little bit.

  They spent the rest of the afternoon together, laughing and sampling the various recipes. His first attempt at the Santa shaped strawberries was a mess – he wanted to use his own recipe for the whipped cream, but it ended up being too soft.

  The Santas melted, slowly and pitifully, in a scene that Sandy called “The Great Santa Massacre.” They laughed so hard that they were both in tears, collecting the strawberry shaped bodies “off of the battlefield” to eat and start again.

  And try as he might, his puff pastry Christmas tree never quite worked. After two failed attempts, Sandy postulated that perhaps pastries weren’t his strong suit. He admitted that he didn’t spend as much time baking as he liked, and that it might be a good idea to try some more recipes the next day.

  Sandy was in agreement there. Jack enjoyed her company enormously, and the task of making these new foods was an engrossing challenge that he loved.

  Still, he hoped to find some way to use one of his perfected recipes on the menu. That night while he was looking online, he found a recipe for a melted snowman potato soup.

  The melted part was easy enough – he needed to cut olives for the eyes and mouths, and cut carrot wedges for the noses. For the soup itself, he planned to use his own recipe.

  Sandy came over the next day and he proudly handed her a shallow mug filled with soup, the snowman’s features slowly drifting apart.

  Sandy laughed. “Oh my gosh! Look at his cute, sad little face. How could you do this to a poor snowman?”

  As she laughed, the mug shook slightly, exacerbating the snowman’s melted look. Her laughter was contagious and Jack found himself getting caught up as well.

  “He wasn’t like that a minute ago,” he argued.

  “He’s melting so fast!” she said, wiping tears from her face.

  “Then put him out of his misery,” said Jack. “Please – I can’t take it anymore, his nose is almost completely sideways.”

  Once she caught her breath, Sandy took a bite of the soup.
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  “Wow!” She had another spoonful. “That is really excellent. Where did you find this recipe?”

  “The soup is mine, actually. It was a seasonal item in my restaurant – took me years to find the right blend of flavors. I got the idea for the melted snowman face online.”

  “You have to do this for the party! Even if it’s just in little mugs – people can walk around with mugs, right?”

  He nodded. “I’m sure they could. Do you think Margie would like it?”

  “Margie would love it. I’m sure she’s not expecting to get all of these very Christmasy foods, but she’ll be delighted. When you hand her a mug of melted snowman, she’ll just die of laughter. It’ll be the talk of the island, I’m sure of it. And she can put it on her website.”

  “Well, whatever you say goes. Margie didn’t give me much direction on what she wanted – so it’s totally up to us.”

  “Perfect. We’re going to knock this out of the park.”

  The day before the party, Sandy was busy helping Margie prepare everything in the barn, and Jack didn’t get a chance to see her. It was just as well – he had a lot to prepare and cook.

  Margie had a caterer’s kitchen at the barn, but he preferred to use the kitchen in his rental for most things. The majority of the foods they settled on were easy finger foods that they could put out in batches and not have to worry about passing around, so the catering kitchen was useful for storage.

  The one exception to their easy going appetizers was the soup – but that was worth it. Sandy loved it so much that Jack didn’t mind doling out soup all night. He would make anything that she wanted him to make as long as he could keep talking to her and keep making her laugh.

  He’d always regretted how their relationship ended, and now it felt like he was getting a second chance – and he was captivated getting to know the woman that Sandy became.

  Somehow when he was with her, he wasn’t worried about what he would be doing the next year, the next month, or even the next week. He only cared about the moment that he was in – he wanted to make his time with her count.