New Year’s Eve late afternoon
Victoria, who was anything but shy normally, looked incredibly nervous as she peeked in the function room and saw the crowd of close to a hundred people, all waiting for her.
Mandy, one of the three sisters that owned Mimi’s Place, sympathized. She would be nervous talking in front of a crowd half that size. But many of them were Victoria’s family and friends.
“It will be fine once you start talking,” Mandy assured her.
Victoria swallowed and took another sip of water. “I just didn’t think this many people would come. I’ve never been nervous to speak before, but usually I’ve only talked to smaller groups, like eight or ten people. And that was work related, not about my book.”
“What is your plan?” Mandy’s sister, Jill, asked. Jill and her husband lived in Manhattan but were on Nantucket for the holidays and were there until mid-January.
“I don’t really have a plan,” Victoria admitted. “I guess I didn’t think this through very well. I thought I would just read a little of the book and answer questions. But I’m not sure where to start.”
Jill thought for a moment. “I have an idea. I’m used to interviewing people all day. When I’m not here, I run a search firm with my husband. So, why don’t I interview you? That might make it easier for you. It will be more like a conversation and then you can answer questions and sign books afterward.”
“You could take pictures too, when she starts signing,” Mandy suggested.
Jill nodded. “That’s a great idea.”
Jill took charge and led Victoria into the room once it was time for the event to begin. Mandy was pleased with the turnout. And her other sister, Emma, had come up with the idea to add a special prix fixe menu for those who wished to have an early dinner experience after the signing, and it was more popular than any of them had expected. One of their regulars, Kay Johnson, explained why when she’d called to make the reservation for herself and her boyfriend, Walter.
“This is just perfect. We want to support Victoria of course, but this way Walter and I can have a festive New Year’s Eve dinner and still be home early to watch his granddaughter while his son and his girlfriend—who also happens to be Victoria, go out to dinner.”
Mandy stepped into the function room and watched as Jill introduced Victoria and started the interview. They had a fun back-and-forth conversation and Jill was very good at drawing out Victoria’s personality. Victoria was usually confident and outgoing when it came to her job as a newspaper reporter, but being an author of a romance novel was something new for her.
The conversation was funny, too, and Mandy found herself curious to read Victoria’s book, which was a romantic comedy. Especially when she admitted that her original storyline changed quite a bit after she met her current boyfriend, Travis.
“We’d dated briefly in high school but I hadn’t seen him in years until he built a house next to my parent’s house—where I was living at the time. We were just friends at first. We’d both just started online dating and neither of of us was all that excited about it.”
“What was that like?” Jill asked. “Did you meet anyone interesting?”
“I met a few people. They were nice, but there wasn’t a love connection. Travis actually messaged me on the dating app. I was pretty sure it was him and thought that would be just too weird, so I let the conversation fizzle out.”
Jill looked confused. “Didn’t you both have your pictures up?”
Victoria smiled. “No. Neither one of wanted to be recognized. We both grew up here, so we didn’t put pictures up.”
“That made me think of the Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks movie, You’ve got Mail. He knew it was her, but she didn’t know it was him.”
Victoria smiled. “Exactly. I’m glad things developed the way they did with us, though. I asked Travis about the messages and it was him. We had a good laugh about it.”
“I love that your life inspired your story, and it certainly seems to be resonating with people. What’s next? Are you working on a new book?”
“I am. I just got a new idea last week, while I was in the shower, of all things. It’s another romantic comedy, set here on Nantucket, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Jill called for questions and, after answering a dozen or so questions from the audience, Victoria signed books for the next forty minutes or so. Once everyone was gone except for Travis and Sophie and Kay and Walter, Victoria thanked everyone, then left with Travis and Sophie.
* * *
“Kay, we saved your favorite table for you.” Mandy led Kay and Walter to a table for two by the window. It was a pretty night, with light snow flurries that danced in the glow of the outside street lamps. She handed a menu to each of them. “Enjoy your dinners.”
Walter ordered his usual draft beer and Kay decided since it was New Year’s eve, to have a glass of something bubbly and ordered a Prosecco. They both chose a cup of clam chowder for their appetizer option and for the entrée, Kay went with broiled schrod with a dill butter sauce and Walter chose prime rib. As soon as their server took the order, Walter lifted his glass to make a toast.
“To a great 2023. I look forward to some fun adventures with you this year, Kay. Do you think you’ll be able to join us for the Italy trip?” Walter had invited Kay to join him, Travis and Sophie for a two week vacation in Italy. Kay loved the idea of it, but needed to wait and see when her son was taking vacation. She wanted to go to Japan to see him and his family and couldn’t commit to another trip until she knew the dates. But he’d called right before Kay left to go to the book signing. She’d held off on sharing the news with Walter until dinner, because it was something to celebrate.
She smiled. “Tony actually called right before I left and the good news is his vacation is in July, so I can go to Italy with you.”
Walter grinned and lifted his glass and tapped it against hers. “That is the best news I’ve heard in a long time.”
“And it gets even better. I’m not going to Japan. Tony and his family are coming here for three weeks! His wife booked a rental house right on the beach and he says there’s a bedroom for me, too.”
“Well, of course there is! That’s fantastic news.”
“I told Tony I didn’t have to stay with them as I have my own place, but he insisted. He said that’s the whole point, for us to be together. I couldn’t be more thrilled.”
It had only been a few weeks since Kay moved into her unit at Dover Falls, but she felt liked she’d lived on the island much longer. Nantucket truly felt like home now. She and Walter were together just about every day, if not at his place watching the ocean, then at hers so she could cook dinner. She enjoyed having someone to cook for again. But both of them liked having their own spaces. It was working out beautifully so far. Kay felt like she and Walter had known each other for so much longer.
She and Ginny were doing another needlepoint class together and Ginny had invited Kay to another girl’s night with the women she’d met before. Kay got along well with all of them and was looking forward to having everyone to her unit in a few weeks for a new book club she’d started. Everyone was going to bring an appetizer and since Kay was hosting, she’d picked the book.
She’d chosen Garlic and Sapphires, my life as a food critic, by Ruth Reichl. It was about Ruth’s days as a food critic for the New York Times and detailed how she would go undercover so she wouldn’t be recognized. Kay had loved the book and thought the others would enjoy it, too. Lisa Hodges and her friends Sue and Paige were coming too.
Their dinner was delicious, as it always was at Mimi’s Place. Kay and Walter both got different desserts, tiramisu for Kay and cannoli for Walter and they shared both of them. They were happily full when they finished, and it was still early. They would be home a little before six thirty.
Walter drove home, and Travis and Sophie were relaxing in the living room when they arrived.
“How was it?” Travis asked.
“Good as ever. Where are you and Victoria off to?” Walter asked.
“Victoria wanted to go back to Mimi’s Place, too. She’s really grateful they suggested doing her event there, and it seemed to go really well.”
“That makes sense. Well, have a good time and I’ll see you in the morning to collect Sophie.”
“Happy New Year to you and Victoria,” Kay said.
Travis said his goodbyes and left to pick up Victoria. As soon as he shut the door behind him, Sophie looked her way. “Kay, will you read to me?” she asked sweetly.
“Of course I will, honey.” Kay settled next to Sophie on the sofa, while Walter sat in his favorite chair, and they both listened as Kay read aloud. Walter got up once, to put another log on the fire that glowed merrily in the corner and kept the room toasty warm. Kay sighed happily. It was the best New Year’s eve she’d had in a long time.
Victoria spun around and checked her reflection in her bedroom mirror. She’d bought a new dress earlier that week at Izzy’s store, Nantucket Threads, and she’d fallen madly in love with it at first sight. It reminded her of a 1920s flapper dress as it was cocktail length and had thin spaghetti straps and shimmery curtains of threads in layers that ran the whole length of the dress. And the color was a midnight blue that was so dark it was almost black, but when the light hit it just right, the pretty blue shimmered. She paired it with a pair of black chunky heels and a long string of pearls.
When she opened her front door and Travis saw her, he whistled softly. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you. You’re looking pretty sharp yourself.” Travis was in a charcoal tweed blazer, shirt and tie, and dark dress pants. They walked the short distance from Victoria’s condo to the restaurant and Mandy welcomed them back and sat them right away even though it was crazy busy. But Victoria knew they were only doing reservations that night and Mandy had everything so well organized that it didn’t look like anyone to wait at all.
Travis suggested that they split a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, which was Victoria’s favorite champagne, and exactly what she was in the mood for. They decided to split two appetizers, oysters Rockefeller and tuna tartare. For dinner, Victoria went with the lobster casserole and Travis got a New York Strip steak.
As they sipped their champagne, Travis asked if her book event had gone the way she’d expected.
“It was bigger than I expected and I was surprised at how nervous I was. Jill totally saved me by offering to interview me. It made it much easier.”
“Are you still doing well with your TikTok videos?” Travis asked.
Victoria knew that Travis was mystified by TikTok. He’d told her more than once that he just didn’t understand how the short little videos that she posted led to so many book sales. It had surprised Victoria at first, too. She’d taken Marley’s advice and made a lot of different kinds of videos, but she found the most effective ones were the quick day-in-the-life ones she made on the spur of the moment that showed her walking around Nantucket, talking about her day and her plans and anything she found interesting or amusing. She’d made one just as an experiment when she was feeling lazy and couldn’t come up with something creative and was shocked when that video did better than any she’d done before.
“A lot more people are following me and sales are still growing.” Victoria laughed. “I actually had a makeup company send me free foundation and lipstick.”
Travis looked confused. “Why would they do that? You write books.”
“Yes, but I was bored one day and did a video of me talking about my plans for the day while I put on my makeup. And that was one of my most popular videos! I guess they are hoping I’ll try their products and then do a video with them.”
“Okay, that’s just weird. But if it helps you to sell books….”
Over dessert of cannolis and coffee, Travis told her that Kay was going to join their Italy trip. “My dad is thrilled. I worried that he might be a little lonely after we moved out, but he’s busy with Kay all the time. I’m happy for him.”
“Oh, that is good news. Kay will have so much fun.”
“It got me to thinking. Since he’s bringing Kay, would you ever want to join us? It’s going to be an epic trip. We are going to eat our way through Italy. Have you been there before?”
“No, I never have.” Victoria was surprised by the invitation.
“So, what do you think?”
“I think I would love to go to Italy with you. With all of you.”
“Excellent!” Travis lifted his glass of champagne and tapped it against hers. “Cheers to a great trip!”
“And a Happy New Year!” Victoria took a sip of champagne and glanced out the window at the twirling snowflakes. It really did feel like it was going to be an amazing year.
* * *
Mimi’s Place was completely booked for New Year’s Eve and Mandy and Emma didn’t have a moment to stop and catch their breath until after eight, when their last reservations were seated. Jill was just as busy helping Gina behind the bar. If all went well, they’d be out by ten thirty or eleven at the latest and would all be home to ring in the new year. Matt and Billy were at Mandy’s house, watching the kids. Emma and Paul had been planning on joining them, but at the end of the night, while Mandy, Jill and Emma were sitting at the bar, Mandy and Jill sipped a glass of champagne while Emma ordered a hot tea with lemon.
Both Mandy and Jill raised their eyebrows at Emma. It wasn’t like her not to join them in an after shift drink-especially on New Year’s eve and Emma had never been much of a tea drinker.
“Are you and Paul still planning to come over?” Mandy asked, as Emma stifled a yawn.
“Sorry. I’m just exhausted. I think we might just head home. I know it’s New Year’s eve but I can barely keep my eyes open.”
Mandy and Jill exchanged glances. “You’re not sick, are you?” Jill asked. Though Mandy suspected that Jill’s mind had gone to the same place Mandy’s had.
Emma shook her head and smiled. “Sort of. Though I don’t think morning sickness counts.”
“Congratulations!” Mandy and Jill both said at once.
“When did you find out?” Mandy asked her.
“I took a test right before we left to come here today. It was positive, but I wasn’t going to say anything until I took another test tomorrow. Just to be sure. But I don’t think that is necessary. I just needed to process it.”
“You’ve told Paul, though?” Jill asked.
“Yes, of course! He’s thrilled and has been grinning ridiculously since I told him.”
“Emma, that is just the best news ever. I’m so happy for you both,” Mandy said.
“Yes, best news ever,” Jill agreed. “I actually have some news, too. Billy and I just finalized things this morning. We’re going to be spending more time on Nantucket this year. We’ve decided to spend six months here, from May to September, and then back for the holidays.”
Mandy and Emma were both surprised.
“Can you be away from your office that long?” Emma asked. Jill and Billy had a gorgeous office in Manhattan’s financial district and a productive team of recruiters and support people there.
Jill nodded. “We have a great team and we’ve promoted several that have been with us the longest to management roles. So they will be able to run things without us in the office. We’ll still be available by zoom or phone, of course, and email.”
“Well, that’s great. It will be fun to have you around more,” Mandy said.
“And I don’t want to jinx anything because they haven’t accepted our offer yet, but Billy and I looked at a property this week. It’s an older house, and it needs some work but it’s on the ocean and we both fell I love with it. Before we made the offer, we had Chase Hodges come with us to a showing to give us an idea of what he thought needed to be done.”
Mandy wondered when Jill and Billy had looked at the house. She’d had no idea at all that her sister was doing this.
Jill laughed. “I think we may have fibbed and told you we were going to the gym. I just didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up if this didn’t happen. I thought it would be more of a fun surprise once we could announce it as a done thing. But I have a really good feeling about this—and the realtor said she felt good about it too.”
Her phone chimed that she had a new text message. “That’s probably Billy. I’ll let him know we’ll be heading out in a few minutes.” She glanced at her phone and broke into a huge smile. “The realtor just texted us—we got the house!”
Emma and Mandy both hugged Jill and congratulated her.
“So, in a few more months, we’ll be back on Nantucket,” Jill said. “I can’t wait.”
They all lifted their glasses and mug of tea and Mandy made a toast.
“To a fabulous 2023 and all of us being together again.”
* * *
I hope you enjoyed this bonus story. Thank you so much for reading my books. I am so grateful.
Next up for me is my first book with St. Martin’s Press. I’ve learned that my book, The Bookshop by The Bay, is the lead title for June and I’m super excited about that. This book is set on Cape Cod, where I grew up and it’s about two best friends, their thirty-year-old daughters and a special bookshop. It’s a summer of second changes and new beginnings and I hope you will enjoy this one, too. Click here to can preorder in ebook, paperback or audio.
If you haven’t yet read The Restaurant, where sisters Mandy, Jill and Emma inherit their grandmother’s restaurant on Nantucket—Mimi’s Place, you can get it everywhere in all formats. Click here for more info.