At the River’s Edge The Chesapeake Diaries by Unknown Page A

was unexpected, but definitely not unpleasant.
    “Grab a chair, Sophie.” Brooke motioned to the chairs that stood around the table behind her.
    “Take mine,” Steffie told her. “I was just leaving.Stop in at the shop while you’re in town. I’m playing with new ice-cream flavors this week.”
    “Count on it.” A number of articles had been written about Steffie’s ice cream, which had been selected as Best of the Bay by several publications. Sophie never visited St. Dennis without making at least one trip to Scoop, as the locals referred to the ice-cream shop.
    “Well, this is a nice surprise,” Grace Sinclair greeted her.
    “It’s a nice surprise for me, too.” Sophie took the chair Steffie had vacated.
    Grace nodded in the direction of the woman with the dark hair. “You’ve met Nita Perry? She owns Past Times, the antiques shop a few doors down from Bling.”
    “We haven’t met, but I’ve passed by your shop several times and have admired your window displays.” Sophie smiled across the table at the antiques dealer.
    “Come in next time. I’ve all sorts of wonderful things besides what you see in the windows,” Nita told her.
    Drawn into conversation about how long she’d be in St. Dennis, and what she should not miss while she was there, Sophie was still aware of Jason’s presence at the table, though he and Clay stood off to the side and were involved in a quiet discussion. She’d been hoping to ask him about his plans for her grandfather’s property, but one minute he was there, just at the periphery of her vision, and the next he was leaving.
    “Thanks again for the coffee,” Sophie told him.
    “Anytime, Sophie. Good seeing everyone this morning.Miss Grace.” He patted the older woman on the shoulder as he turned from the table. “Sophie. I guess I’ll see you at Logan’s school on Wednesday.”
    “You will,” Brooke nodded. “Sophie just doesn’t know it yet.”
    “What about Logan’s school?” Sophie tried hard not to watch as Jason left the shop and crossed the street directly in front of the window, where she had full view as he walked to his pickup.
    “Science fair at Logan’s school on Wednesday. There’s a sort of meet-and-greet the teachers and cookies and punch, that sort of thing,” Brooke explained. “Logan asked me to ask you if you’d come.”
    “Of course I’ll come. I imagine Jesse is going, too.” Sophie took a sip of her coffee. It was every bit as good as she remembered from her last visit. “This leaves Jesse’s stuff in the dust.”
    Brooke laughed. “Tell me about it. Sometimes I wonder if he actually has taste buds. We’re hoping he’ll be able to make it on Wednesday. He said he’d try his best to be there.”
    “Why wouldn’t he be?” Sophie asked. “I’d think he’d be happy to go. The annual science fair was a big thing when we were growing up. Jesse always took one of the top prizes. He loved science.”
    “That’s what he told Logan. He’s just been so jammed with work lately. Most nights he’s at the office until seven or eight, and he brings work home.”
    “Okay, I get it.” Sophie put her mug down. “Really. I do. You can stop.”
    Brooke looked at her blankly. “Stop what?”
    “Stop trying to convince me that I should go intopractice with Jesse because he’s so overworked. Jesse put you up to it, right?”
    “Jesse is overworked, but I didn’t know there was a possibility that you’d be coming to work with him.”
    “I’m not.”
    “Then why are we talking about it?”
    “Because Jesse only brings it up every chance he gets.”
    “It’s no secret that since your uncle retired, Jesse’s plate is overflowing. And now with the paralegal having left …”
    “Liz is gone?” Sophie frowned. “Jess didn’t mention that.”
    “She left last week. Went back to Jacksonville so her kids could be closer to her family. Friday a week ago was her last day.”
    “So Jesse really is the only person in the office