5
Liv was runninga little late today as she locked the door to her room to head out to grab something to eat. She’d slept past the free breakfast, and it had taken over an hour for her to shower and get dressed. She was definitely feeling the aftereffects of her alcohol consumption, her head was pounding and her stomach was queasy.
She guessed that’s the price she was paying for finishing off an entire bottle of merlot by herself.
“Good morning!” Karen Carpenter (not the singer) greeted Liv as she walked past the reception desk.
Liv flinched at the volume of her voice but forced herself to smile. “Morning.”
“Heard you had quite the eventful night.”
“You did?”
“I saw Marlene Thompkins at the farmer’s market and she said that she heard from Gladys Morgan that you had a visit from the newest edition of Whisper Lake’s finest last night.” Karen wagged her brows.
“Oh, yeah. It was just a... misunderstanding.”
Karen looked expectantly at her as if she was waiting for Liv to fill her in. That wasn’t going to happen. To do that, Liv would have to explain the situation with her grandad, and that was something she never talked about.
Well, she’d talked about it last night with Hot Cop but that was only because she’d had to explain the situation to stay out of jail.
“See you later!” Liv waved as she headed out of the B&B.
As soon as she stepped into the bright morning sun, she wished she’d grabbed her sunglasses. She thought about going back inside but that would mean walking past Karen Carpenter again, and she didn’t want to answer any more questions.
So instead, she shielded her face and started down the road to the Drawbridge Diner. The same feeling of nostalgia she’d experienced when she’d driven into town the day before washed over her now.
She’d spent so many happy summers in her youth in Whisper Lake. Every summer, in fact, until her gran died and her grandad sold the cabin. She’d never asked him why he’d sold it. She assumed it was because he just never wanted to come back here without Gran. Whisper Lake was Gran’s happy place. She always said that she wanted to move there full time.
Liv understood why he wouldn’t want to come back up there. People dealt with grief differently. But Liv felt closer to Gran here in Whisper Lake. It was one of the reasons she’d wanted to have her wedding there. Growing up, her own mother had been more like a rebellious older sister. She was always travelling with one band or another. Gran had been the only true mother she’d had.
It was nearly twenty years since she’d passed. She often wondered what she would feel about Liv’s life. She knew she’d be proud that she was a writer, but as far as her personal life was concerned, she was pretty sure she’d be disappointed.
One of the biggest red flags in her relationship with Jordan was that she’d known, from the first night she met him, that her gran wouldn’t have liked him. Jordan was in finance and he was very successful. He worked with clients investing their money. He told people what they wanted to hear and people listened to him. He was what Gran would have called a schmoozer.
When Liv first met him, she thought he was charming, funny, and good looking. But the biggest thing that attracted her to him was that he knew what he wanted, was ambitious and not afraid of commitment. At the time, the guys her age all seemed to be terrified of making things official. Jordan hadn’t been like that. He’d asked Liv to be his girlfriend on the third date. It had been refreshing, at the time, now she saw it for what it really was, controlling.
Over the years, her go with the flow, don’t rock the boat, people pleasing personality had resulted in Jordan always calling the shots. That is until she put her foot down about living with her grandad, then it was over.
As she walked along the lake, sunlight danced on the surface of the water like shining diamonds. Stone Castle sat on the opposite side of the lake, standing proud and regal. It would have been a beautiful place for a wedding. It still would be, just not her wedding.
Liv did her best to shake off the cloud of melancholy that was following her as she crossed the drawbridge that sat above the mote surrounding the diner. When she walked inside a bell dinged above her head.
A server with long auburn hair pulled up in a ponytail and a cherub round face carrying a coffee pot greeted her. “How many?”
“Just me.” Liv had always enjoyed eating alone. She knew that some people weren’t comfortable with it, but she loved people-watching. It was her favorite pastime.
She often got ideas for books from a conversation, or even a look.
The auburn-haired beauty smiled. “Sit anywhere ya like and I’ll bring you a menu.”
The decor was whimsical and, of course, fairytale-themed. The back wall was covered in a detailed mural of a dragon being slain, but instead of a knight doing the slaying it was a princess who wielded the sword besting the fire-breathing beast. Liv appreciated them going with an untraditional gender for a dragon slayer.
She walked through to the rear of the dining area and chose a round booth. It had a tall, tufted back that she hoped she could just disappear against. She didn’t want to run into anyone who was here for the wedding. Not yet, anyway.
Tonight, she was attending the rehearsal dinner at Lanterns. It was going to be held on the back patio deck. She knew that because she’d reserved it a year and a half ago.
A menu landed on the wood tabletop as a server asked. “Hi, welcome to Drawbridge Diner. What can I start you off with?”