The Posse (6 page)

She stared at him for a
solid moment, stopped in the middle of handing him his coffee.

“A date? Matt and me? Why on
earth would you think that?”

Logan tried to look cool.
“You said he took you out to dinner. You’re single, he’s
single...why would it be so crazy for me to think it might be a
date?”

She plunked down his coffee
mug hard enough that some of it sloshed out onto the bar top.

“Um, because it’s
Matt
. And
me
. We’ve known each other since we were in
grade school.”

“You knew Daniel that long,
too.”

Jude shook her head. “That’s
not the same thing.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know! But it’s not.
Because we grew up together, maybe. Or...I don’t know.” She stalked
over to the grill and flipped it on.

“Calm down. I was just
asking. I’m not suggesting you and Matt are going to run off
together or something. Geez.”

She rolled her eyes at him
as she took pancake batter and a huge carton of eggs out of the
large fridge. “He’s my friend. Just like you all are. I’m not
stupid, Logan. I know you all—the whole posse—probably cooked up
some ‘let’s take care of Jude’ plan.” She buttered the grill and
whipped at the batter.

Logan swallowed hard. She
was coming dangerously close to the truth of what the posse was
doing, and he didn’t want her to be hurt or offended. And he
definitely didn’t want her to blow his own plans out of the water,
not this early in the game.

He saw her glance his way,
and her gaze softened. “Logan, it’s okay. I’m not mad about it. I
know you all promised Daniel that you’d take care of the kids and
me, and I think it’s sweet.” She dispensed a row of perfectly
matched pancakes on the sizzling grill before walking over to cover
his hand with her own.

“I appreciate it. I’m
grateful for Matt taking me out last night. It did keep my mind off
the kids being gone, even though I didn’t know I was going to need
that. I’m grateful that you’re here every morning, making sure I’m
okay.” She patted his hand and moved back to flip the pancakes.
“But I don’t want you guys to treat me like I’m made of glass. I’m
still Jude, the same pain in the ass you’ve known for years. Don’t
forget that.”

Logan laughed and stood up,
draining his mug of coffee. “No chance of us forgetting that. Okay,
I’m out of here. Thanks for the water and the coffee.”

Jude grinned. “Don’t forget
the scintillating conversation and fascinating company. That’s on
the house.”

Logan chucked his empty
water bottle into a nearby recycling container and quirked an
eyebrow. “You know what, Jude? You were right. You are a pain in
the ass.” He started toward the door, and then swung back to shoot
her a smile.

“But I kind of like it.”

He left her staring after
him and walked whistling back onto the beach where the first pink
rays of the sun were just visible over the horizon.

Yeah, it was going to be a
good day after all.

***

Jude had a plan, and she wasn’t going to
wait to put it into action.

As soon as the lunch rush
ended, she stepped outside with her cell phone and scrolled down a
list of contacts. And within minutes, she’d invited Sandra to an
impromptu dinner the next day.

“We close at five on
Sundays. We used to have a family dinner that day every week, but
now...” Jude let her voice trail off, with just a hint of nostalgia
that didn’t delve into self-pity. “So I thought, what the hell!
I’ll just invite people over to hang out at the Tide on Sunday
night. It won’t be fancy, but I hope it’ll be fun.”

“That sounds terrific!”
Sandra and her late husband had lived in South Carolina for a long
time, and a hint of it remained in her voice. “What can I
bring?”

Jude was smart enough to
know that asking a guest to bring something ensured her attendance.
So even though she didn’t really need it, she said, “Would you
bring some kind of dessert? We’ll have dinner covered here.”

“Definitely! Is it all right
for me bring Lily with me? I could leave her with my folks, but I
try not to abuse their generosity.”

“Of course, I expected that
you would. My nieces will be here, too, I hope, and my friends Eric
and Janet have two boys. A little older than Lily, but you know
kids. They’ll all hang out together.”

“Oh, thanks, Jude. I really
appreciate you thinking of me. It’s like a godsend. I’ve been a
little lonely lately. I’ll see you at five tomorrow.”

“Looking forward to it!”
Jude clicked off with a broad smile. Matchmaking had never been her
thing, but maybe it was going to be part of her old age.

Inviting the posse was a
simple matter of one call to her sister-in-law, Samantha. The
informal phone tree that was in place for all events or emergencies
sprang into action, and by the time Emmy showed up at five to
relieve Jude, Sam had called back to report that everyone was
coming to her Sunday night shin-dig.

“Emmy, why don’t you come,
too?” Jude leaned against the counter. She’d just detailed her plan
to the night manager. “Bring the kids. It’ll be fun.”

“Come back here on my off
hours? Are you nuts?” Emmy shook her head and laughed. “Okay, sure.
But only because my children would kill me if I said no to an
evening of fried foods and playing with other kids. Want me to
bring a pie?”

“Nah, it’s your day off.
Plus I asked Sandra to bring dessert. Just bring yourself and the
kids.”

“Done.” Emmy grinned. “So
who’s going to cook?”

“Everyone. I’ll try to make
extras of everything throughout the day, and then I’ll draft some
of the guys into manning the grill. It’ll be casual, but we’ll be
having fun.”

“Awesome. Now tell me why
you’re really doing this.”

Jude widened her eyes. “What
do you mean? I have to have an ulterior motive for dinner with my
friends?”

“Of course not, but you have
a gleam in your eye. You’re up to something.”

Shrugging, Jude winked.
“Watch and learn, my young apprentice. Watch and learn.”

The Riptide was hopping for
a Sunday. Jude felt like she needed roller skates to keep up with
the rush, even with Sadie and Mack working alongside her. The clear
blue skies and bright sun had people flocking to the beach, and it
seemed everyone had decided to enjoy a late lunch before heading
home to start another week.

“Three burgers, fried
chicken and a salad for number eighteen.” Sadie stomped back into
their open kitchen. “Plus those kids at the bar want two more
orders of fries and refills on drinks.” She clipped the ticket to
the rack, as Mack squinted up at it.

“Good God, woman, your
chicken scratch gets worse every day.”

Sadie scowled and slammed
the basket into the fryer. “I just told you what the order was. And
it’s not my writing,
old man
. It’s your eyes and those
glasses you won’t go get updated.”

Jude rolled her eyes. She’d
been the buffer here for so long that it came naturally. The busier
the restaurant was, the worse they were. She grabbed three beef
patties from her stock in the fridge and set them down next to Mack
at the grill.

“I’ll handle the salad and
the chicken.” She read the ticket and bit the side of her lip,
determined to be as diplomatic as possible. “Sadie, is
this...chicken Caesar salad?”

“No.” Sadie tore the paper
from Jude’s hand. “Right here, see? Chicken ranch.” She clipped it
back on the rack and went back to her fries, a frown still on her
face. At the grill, Mack made the mistake of snickering.

Sadie wheeled around,
snatched up a large metal spoon from the nearby jar and shook it at
Mack. “You keep it up! Don’t think I won’t take this to you. Right
upside the head. And no one would blame me a bit. No court in the
land would convict me, not for what I put up with from you!”

Jude clamped down on the
insides of her cheeks to keep from laughing, knowing the old woman
wouldn’t hesitate to turn that spoon on her next.

“Sadie, here.” She handed
her a bowl with breaded chicken tenders. “Put these in the fryer,
please. And give me the spoon. We don’t have time today to clean up
the mess if you decide to beat Mack senseless.”

Sadie humphed, but she
pulled out tongs and dropped the chicken pieces into the bubbling
oil. Over her head, Jude exchanged a glance with Mack before they
all got back to work.

She wasn’t usually strict
about closing time on Sundays, and often they had stragglers for an
hour beyond five. But today, she turned over the ‘closed’ sign at
4:30. By the time Janet walked in at five, the last customer was
just cashing out.

Jude chased Mack and Sadie
out of the kitchen, forcing icy beers on both of them. When her
sister-in-law came back behind the bar for a hug, she wrinkled her
nose.

“Was it a long day? You like
you were ridden hard and put away wet.”

“Thanks, love you, too.”
Jude rolled her shoulders. “Busy, and Mack and Sadie at each other
like they do when we get slammed. It’ll be okay. But can you keep
your eye on things for five minutes? I brought a change of clothes,
and I want to run upstairs and put them on before we get
started.”

“Sure. I’m going to pour
myself a drink, that okay?”

Jude untied her apron and
tossed in the barrel by the back door as she headed toward the
staircase. “Absolutely. Pour me one, too, and make it a double,
please.”

The apartment over the
restaurant was tiny. When she and Daniel had moved in after their
wedding, it had been romantic and fun, finding used furniture,
using mismatched dishes and pots and pans handed down from their
families. Close quarters hadn’t been a problem. And even after
Meggie was born, she had taken up so little space, and it had been
handy to leave her sleeping upstairs while Jude worked in the
restaurant, baby monitor hooked to her belt.

Since they’d moved, the
apartment was more of a flophouse, Jude thought as she stripped off
her shorts and t-shirt in the miniscule bathroom. It was a handy
place to crash when the posse hung at the Tide and maybe had a
little too much to drink. The kids used it sporadically during
their summers at home.

She’d considered selling the
house and moving back here, right after Daniel died. The kids and
her brother had talked her out of it, arguing that if she did that,
she’d never get a break from work. They probably had a point.

Jude gave into the
temptation of a quick shower, knowing her sister-in-law and friends
were more than capable of running the show on their own for a few
extra minutes. And it felt heavenly to let the water sluice over
her, feel the grease and stress of the day slide down the
drain.

Dressed again in a fresh
shorts and a thin cotton tank top, she sprinted down the steps and
ran smack into Logan.

She’d seen him that morning,
of course, as she had opened up, but tonight he too was freshly
showered, dressed in jeans and a white polo shirt that brought out
a deep tan. His light brown hair was damp as it fell across his
forehead.

He grabbed her arm to steady
her. “Whoa, there. Where’s the fire?”

Jude felt that same
disturbing skitter in her heartbeat that had been showing up
whenever she saw him lately.

Logan
, she reminded
herself.
This is just Logan, one of my best friends.

“The fire better be in my
kitchen, under some burgers.” To prove to herself that she could,
Jude tiptoed and kissed Logan’s cheek. “Glad you’re here. Ready to
see my plan spring into action?”

Logan released her arm,
frowning. Jude wondered if she’d upset him with the kiss.

“Seeing as neither of the
necessary parties are here yet, I think I have a little while
before show time.”