another confrontation? No. She relaxed when she recognized an older woman, tall and graceful with steel-gray hair cut in a classic pageboy.
She was followed closely by a small dog with curly hair and spaniel features.
This must be her new employer. The woman, anyway. Not the dog. The dog must be Charlie, Eleanor’s Cavapoo.
“Oh, Jess. You’re here at last!” Eleanor exclaimed. The other woman reached out and folded her into a huge embrace.
Jess stiffened, momentarily uncomfortable with the hug before the sheer genuineness of the gesture disarmed her.
Here was the welcome no one else but her nieces had given her in Cape Sanctuary, warm and enthusiastic and kind.
The constriction around her heart after the visit with her sister seemed to ease slightly. “Yes. Here I am.”
“I can’t tell you how happy I am to have you here at long last. I feel like the luckiest of women that you were able to find time for me in your schedule. I’ve heard you can be booked out a year in advance.”
Jess and her partner, Yvette, both had bookings that far out and had started turning down clients. “Business is booming right now.”
“That’s what happens when all those in my generation get sick and tired of living with all the clutter we always thought was so important.”
“I guess so.”
She smiled, charmed when Eleanor plopped onto one of the two bistro chairs. The small, cute dog collapsed at her feet as if too tired to take another step.
“How was your drive? You came up today from Los Angeles, right?”
“Yes. Mission Hills, actually. Traffic was fine. I got an early start before it could get too bad.” She had actually left at 4 a.m. so she could avoid the heaviest traffic in LA County but had hit more around the Sacramento area.
Towing the Airstream through rush hour crowds could sometimes be a pain.
“I understand you had a run-in with my son. I’m so sorry about that.”
“Apparently he didn’t know I was coming.”
Eleanor winced. “I should have told him. I meant to, it’s just that... Well, he loved his father very much, though their relationship was complicated. I suppose I was afraid he would think I was trying to box away all of our memories of Jack.”
That did nothing to change her impression of Nate Whitaker as a tough, albeit gorgeous, man. He had to be oblivious not to see his mother was clearly conflicted at taking this necessary but painful step.
“I’m sure everything will be fine. I’ve explained to him what’s going on. He shouldn’t give you a hard time now.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear that.”
“That’s why I’m here, actually. Other than to meet you in person, which I’m so happy to do. I’m making lemon shrimp pasta and I’m here to ask if you might be interested in joining us for dinner. I thought it might be a good chance for you to meet my son under better circumstances, as well as his daughter, Sophie.”
For a moment, she was tempted. She liked Eleanor already from their weeks of correspondence and wanted their working relationship to be a smooth, comfortable one. The social lubrication of food and likely wine would ease the conversation and might help her feel less awkward around Nate Whitaker when she saw him next.
“What about your book group?” she asked. “I stopped to see my sister, Rachel, and she told me you are supposed to be meeting tonight.”
“We are, but to be honest, I haven’t read the book. One of our, er, snootier members picked it and I couldn’t finish the stupid thing. I found it pedantic, moralistic and boring as beige wallpaper. Much like the person who picked it, if I can be catty for a moment.”
Jess had to smile. “I don’t know anybody in town except you and Rachel, so you can be as catty as you want.”
Eleanor’s laugh was low and infectious. “Rather than discuss a book I couldn’t finish that I can only recommend for drying flowers from your garden, I would rather have the chance to get to know you better. Your life sounds so fascinating, traveling the country and helping, ahem, seasoned citizens like me clear out their clutter.”
She was only here for two weeks, Jess reminded herself. While Eleanor seemed like exactly the kind of woman Jess wanted to be when she grew up, she probably shouldn’t socialize with her more than absolutely necessary.
What was the point in establishing a connection when Jess would only be a temporary presence here at Whitaker House?
“Thank you