“Yes, as awful as that sounds, I’d rather have it happen before than after.”
“It was going to be quite the wedding, too. The reception was going to be at The Whitley. That’s the best hotel on Nantucket, and the most expensive too. At least Blake didn’t have to worry about that.”
“No?” Taylor tried to keep up.
“Caroline was from a very wealthy old Boston family and of course they were paying for the reception.” She paused for a moment before adding, “Blake will be quite the catch for someone. He’s smart and if you’ve noticed, he’s not hard on the eyes either.” Connie grinned.
Taylor had the feeling that Connie might be trying to play matchmaker.
“Blake is very handsome,” she agreed. “I might be tempted if he wasn’t my boss. I’m sure that wouldn’t be allowed.”
Connie frowned. “Well, I don’t know why not. That seems silly to me. We have to grab love wherever we find it.”
Taylor smiled as she looked down at her notes. “Is there anything else you can think of that we haven’t covered? Anything you’d like people to know?”
“Well, just tell them if they want to stop by and say hello, I’m here every day, except Sunday, from ten to six.”
Chapter 8
When Taylor arrived at the newsroom and settled at her desk to start working on Connie’s story, Victoria ended her call and stood. Taylor noticed she was a bit more dressed up than she had been the day before. Her hair was down and slightly curled into long, loose waves, and she had more makeup on too.
“Well, I’m off, see you later.”
“Who are you interviewing?” Taylor asked.
Victoria grinned. “Whoever will agree to talk to me. There’s a big e-commerce conference at The Whitley and I have a press pass. I’m going to spend the rest of the day there. There are a lot of famous tech people attending, so there might be a hot story or two.”
That didn’t sound interesting to Taylor at all. Especially to go by herself to a conference where she knew no one. But Victoria seemed excited about it.
“Good luck! Hope you have fun.”
“Thanks! I intend to.” She grabbed her purse and iPad and left.
Taylor turned her attention back to her notepad and opened up a Word doc on her computer and spent the rest of the morning turning her notes into a story. She was just about done and lost in her work when she heard footsteps and looked up. Blake walked by holding a paper cup of coffee and a stack of mail. He stopped when he reached her desk.
“How’d the meeting with Connie go?”
“Good. She’s a sweetheart and her shop is really cute. She said you were one of her favorites.”
He smiled. “I bet she says that about all her students.”
Taylor laughed. “She might actually. She really loved that job.”
“I hope she’s not too sad about retiring?”
“Not at all. She spoke fondly about her years of teaching, but she seems excited about the shop. She wants me to take one of her needlepoint classes.”
He chuckled. “Are you into arts and crafts?”
“Well, no. But it did sort of look like fun. I’m just about to email you my story. I hope it turned out okay.”
“You should take the class. And go ahead and send the story. I’ll take a look. Do you have any lunch plans?” It was almost noon and Taylor hadn’t even thought about lunch yet.
“No plans. I figured I’d run out and grab a sandwich at some point.”
“If you can wait until one, we can go to lunch. I’ll read this over and we can discuss it then.”
“Oh, ok. Sure.” Taylor didn’t expect to get feedback that quickly or to have lunch with her boss.
“How do you feel about barbecue? I thought we’d head over to B-Ack Yard BBQ? It’s close by and always good.”
“Love it. I haven’t been there yet.”
By one, Taylor was good and hungry. It was an easy walk from the offices on India Street to the barbecue place which was right on Straight Wharf by the ferries. The restaurant was busy when they arrived, but the host recognized Blake and quickly found a table for them.
The smell was intoxicating. Taylor had thought she’d order a salad, but once she stepped inside, the scent of the grill and smoked meats tempted her. She followed Blake’s lead and ordered a chopped smoked brisket sandwich with coleslaw and potato salad. While they waited for their meals, Blake handed her a printout of her story. It was marked up with lots of red and he explained where he’d like to see changes.
“Overall, you did a very good job. These are just style things to be aware of so we have consistency in how we deliver the news.”
Taylor listened and took it all in, but was a little concerned by what looked like a sea of red marks. She worried that it wasn’t good enough.
Blake seemed to read her mind. “Seriously, it’s fine. Don’t worry. This is a learning process. We all went through it.”
Taylor relaxed a little at that. “I’ll work on the changes when we get back.”
“If you can get it to me by mid-day tomorrow, we can run it this week. It’s a good story, Taylor. I thought that would be a nice first assignment for you.”
She smiled. “It really was fun. I enjoyed talking to Connie. She was a big fan of yours, too.”
“Yeah? What did she say?”
“Well, that you were a great student, like I mentioned before. But, she also said she had been looking forward to your wedding.” She paused and then gently added, “She said it was going to be over the Stroll weekend.”
He sighed. “Yeah. She was on the guest list. Did she say anything else about it?”
“Only that she didn’t know what happened but was glad that you wouldn’t get stuck paying for it because it was going to be an expensive one.”
Blake laughed. “She’s right about that. It was going to be one of those ridiculous over-the-top weddings. I’d suggested having this place cater for a barbecue on the beach this summer, but Caroline hated that idea. Really, what it came down to was we wanted different things, and not just when it came to the wedding. We dated for a long time, were engaged for over three years, which I guess should have been a sign.”
Blake didn’t seem all that upset about the breakup. That seemed like a good thing.
“The final clincher was that Caroline wanted us to move off-island and to live in Dover, a suburb of Boston. She actually thought I could do that and still run the paper. I never even told her I’d consider it, but I think she assumed because she stated it that it would happen. When she finally realized I was serious about not leaving the island, she ended things.”
“I don’t see how you could have done that, either. What made her think it was possible?”
“She expected me to commute, spending three or four days a week here. We own the building, and I live right above it, so I suppose that would be doable. But I didn’t want to do it. When I get married, I don’t want a part-time marriage, which is what that would be.”
Their waiter arrived with their sandwiches and they both dug in and were quiet for a few moments before Blake spoke again.