I loved being with the kids, but dealing with the parents and the school system itself was frustrating. I kind of fell into the wedding planning. A friend that worked as an assistant for one of the biggest companies in Manhattan got married and moved to Colorado and recommended me for her job. She thought I’d be good at it, that I might like it, and I did.”
“Okay, so that must have been busy and exciting in the city. How did you end up here?”
“I followed Izzy. She’d gotten a job right out of school in the management training program at Macy’s. It was a great opportunity, and she learned a lot. But Izzy was always more of a free spirit, not the corporate type. We took another vacation together that summer, only for a week because neither of us could get much time off. We stayed right downtown at the White Elephant and had a blast playing tourist all week.
We did a lot of shopping and one day we walked into the store where Izzy is now and they were hiring. An older woman owned it and she and Izzy hit it off. She hired Izzy on the spot. Izzy gave her notice and found a room to rent and off she went. We were both living at home then. And once she left, I didn’t want to be there without her. But I realized I didn’t want to rent a place in the city, either.
My mother thought I was nuts, but I gave my notice, too, and told my boss that I was moving to Nantucket and would appreciate any referrals she wanted to send my way. I was half-joking, as I figured I’d get a job waitressing somewhere to pay my bills while I tried to get a wedding planning business off the ground. But two weeks after I moved here, I got a phone call with a referral. A small exclusive wedding and they wanted me to handle it.”
“So you never had to get that waitress job? Nice.”
Mia laughed. “Oh, no. I did. I worked at the Straight Wharf for a year until I had enough steady bookings that I could go full time with wedding planning. It’s hard to explain, but both Izzy and I fell in love with Nantucket. Have you ever gone somewhere and instantly felt like you could live there?”
“Yeah. That’s how I felt when I visited San Francisco for the first time. There’s just something in the air there. It’s hard to explain. It’s always comfortably cool and often misty and breezy and yeah, I could imagine living there. If I wasn’t in Manhattan.”
“So, you know what I mean then.”
“Yeah, I guess I do.” Ben lifted his beer and held it out towards hers. “Well, cheers to both of us finally being home.”
Chapter 21
Sam came by to pick Mia up for trivia Monday night at a quarter to six. She gave him a quick tour of her renovated condo and he marveled that there had ever been a fire.
“It looks brand new. You must love it here.”
“Thank you. I do.”
They arrived at the Nantucket Culinary Center a few minutes before six. Mia had heard of it but hadn’t been before. There was a cafe, and they also did community open mic nights and art talks in addition to the weekly trivia. They gave their name at the hostess stand and were led to a table. The trivia nights didn’t have a full menu, just whatever dish was on for the night and the cost was only five dollars plus whatever else you drank. Tonight, the dinner was vegetarian chili with cornbread. Mia ordered a glass of Bread and Butter chardonnay and Sam had a draft beer.
Mia noticed that Sam looked a little nicer than usual. Something was different.
“Did you cut your hair?”
He grinned. “Yes. It was long overdue. Does it look all right? I went to my dad’s barber.”
“It looks good.” She’d thought he looked good before. She couldn’t place his cologne, but she liked the smell of that, too, and she didn’t remember him wearing any before. He wore a navy button-down shirt and what looked like new jeans. She’d made a little extra effort, too. She’d tried on several outfits before deciding on her oldest, softest jeans and a thin cotton sweater in a pretty shade of turquoise.
“You look really nice, too. I like that color on you.”
“Thank you.” The waitress brought their drinks right over and then just