12 Chapter 11

At the Ritz Elizabeth made certain her breakfast was sent to her room, after her first trial at the rooftop lounge which had been dismal for her later at the thought of witnessing half naked bodies baking before her while she had her breakfast. However, the BnB was a family inn house, hence a plush breakfast was laid out for all the guests in the dining room, only there were no “guests” except for Elizabeth’s lonely self. She felt terribly awkward at having a thick Alabamian breakfast of biscuits and gravy, muffins, pancakes and the unmissable grits, which Elizabeth eyed in interest, all to herself at the vast dining table. When Vivian came into the dining room with a jug of orange juice Elizabeth stopped her.

“Vivian, this is all beautiful, but I can’t scrape it off by myself,” she said helplessly, “so um why don’t you and the girls join me?”

Vivian looked at Elizabeth disbelievingly and flushed.

“Oh, the girls had theirs and I’m good, it’s against the inn policy anyways, but thank you for the offer.” She said and poured the juice into a crystal glass.

“But this is your inn isn’t it?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes, but Nolan-

“Vivian I’m asking you to join me over for breakfast, not handover the keys to the BnB.”

Vivian hesitated for a while and threw up her hands defeated.

“Oh, what the hell,” she laughed and sat next to Elizabeth, grabbing a plate.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Elizabeth smiled and helped some pancakes onto Vivian’s plate.

“Also, was that really a policy of Nolan’s?”

“Of course not, he’d love to sit down for a big breakfast,” she rolled her eyes, “I made the policy of not interrupting the guests while they dined. I just didn’t want to look like a hypocrite supposing he walked in.”

Elizabeth laughed impressed.

“But you decided to join me,” Elizabeth stated, “what made you take the risk?”

“I don’t know, there’s something airy about you, and there aren’t any guests so it’s a perfect day to break my own rules I suppose?” She shrugged.

Elizabeth smiled in response, glad that she did not have to have another breakfast all by herself.

“Okay, but hey if you want to get closer to your guests and truly live up to your ‘pact’ of finding ones worth keeping, mixing up the girls and the rest of the family with the guests should be a start.”

“I’m just afraid I might drive away the guests,” Vivian said quietly, and Elizabeth erupted into laughter, but Vivian happened to look serious.

“Vivian, I’m usually the crazy overthinking paranoid one, but trust me when I say you need to take a breather and give this place a chance to open up,” Elizabeth said meaningfully, “and your girls and the family could never chase anyone away. I’ve seen the way they bubble up life, how could they?” Elizabeth said meaning every word and automatically riveted her eyes back to her pancakes while Vivian continued to be impressed by this strange guest of hers who also happened to be the first in forever to ask her for breakfast and praise her family. She did not seem the usual city snob to her.

“I mean have you seen how golden these pancakes are. Last time I flipped a pancake thing got dark…” Elizabeth continued in a mock horrified face, which made Vivian crack up.

“Oh, I’m never going to encounter a breakfast this loud again,” said Vivian laughing

“Alright what’s goin’ on here?” drawled a man who appeared by the dining room entrance with a soft grin, doe eyes and a neat military cut hair.

“Davis!” Vivian waved at him, “meet Elizabeth Hartley, the new guest I told you about.” Davis walked in rather timidly and sat next to Elizabeth, in front of Vivian.

“Elizabeth this is my husband Davis Miller,” Vivian said, a certain tone of affection lingering beneath her voice.

“Welcome to the house,” Davis shook Elizabeth’s hand and eyed the still uncleared breakfast.

“Y’all need another mouth for this?’ He asked seriously rubbing his clean-shaven chin thoughtfully.

“Oh, we need all the mouths we can find so grab a plate please,” Elizabeth said raising her fork.

“I think we’ll get along with Miss Hartley just fine,” he grinned at Vivian and turned to Elizabeth cracking into a bright smile as the once soulless table loudened with laughter and effervescence.

After the breakfast they swore to secrecy never to spill about the breakfast club trio to Nolan and Elizabeth had to admit she had never laughed so much during breakfast with a pair of strangers.

That afternoon she sat on a lounger at the back porch and searched for landmarks and sights of Chelseaville to visit. Vivian’s history checkup was too fascinating for her to ignore so she added the Chelseaville Museum Archives to her list of places. As she ran her eyes over an old ratted map of Chelseaville’s landmark, which she had found in her room’s bed side shelf, her phone pinged a notification. It was from Hailey.

H: Harrison is good to go. I can’t give the letter Jasper might find it. could you do it instead?

Elizabeth leapt off her lounger in excitement at the news and stared at the screen but her nerves immediately rose at the thought of encountering Harrison, there were multiple things that could go wrong, but she did not want Hailey and Jasper to fall apart for a letter either. She knew it was the right thing, and she had nothing to lose unlike them.

E: I got it !

H: you’re too good Elizabeth. I won’t forget this :) <3

The confirmation from Harrison was the one thing that hung heavy on Elizabeth’s chest for the past few days at Chelseaville and now that the green light was blinking she knew she was almost there.

Ping.

H: I repeat: Jasper. Cannot. Know. About. This.

Elizabeth sighed frustrated. She hated keeping secrets and no matter how badly she wanted to give the letter she knew of the stark reality where the Crawford family was not hers to mess with. Elizabeth wished Jasper could just see what his father wanted.

E: everything will be okay :)

Tucking back her phone into her pocket, she looked ahead at the pebble stone river that glittered under the afternoon sun. She sensed Hope’s thoughts pouring into her mind, which made her head towards the river.

“…the sparkling silver rope that ran through the heart of the town…”

She slipped off her sandals and pressed her feet onto the dampened pebble stones that formed the shore. The heat was present as ever, but the pebbles denting her soles were miraculously cold. Smooth surfaced pebbles of all sorts were sprinkled along the shore and stretched out into the shallow waters. Pebble stone river. Elizabeth smiled at how fitting the name was. Sandals in one hand, while the other pulled up a trail of her blue breezy Greek dress, she waded into the river.

The cold water which splashed against her ankles made her gasp lightly, she laughed to herself at the wave of heat and chill combined, which swam through her spine. She lifted her eyes and saw the clear waters secretively disappear into a yellow green shade at the centre of the river. Her glossy blue nail polish twinkled under the translucent waters as she whimsically trailed along the shore line away from the BnB, pondering on Hope’s thoughts on the river and she couldn’t help feeling how similar her thought about the river was to Hope’s when she had first seen it that afternoon when she discovered the Miller-Woods family.

Hope’s descriptions were new and exciting, like she was twirled into this haven without any forewarning. Elizabeth soon put the pieces together and realised that Hope was not a Chelseaville origin because native townsfolk would never compare the town’s river to a “…sparkling silver rope…” when they tend to forget its existence after a while. The vanity of immortal beauty, which was truly a blessing and a curse as the beauty begins to exhaust the eyes of mortals, before they even knew it.

The hidden intricate details in Hope’s letter only made Elizabeth even more curious about these star-crossed lovers, and she knew there was only one person who would have lived to witness at least a faint spark of it, that she could find answers from.

*****

“Well, well look at you already sassyin’ up to the climate,” Ruby nodded at Elizabeth’s strappy dress, appreciatively.

Elizabeth widened her arms triumphantly and instantly noticed that the diner was weirdly empty for a Wednesday afternoon.

“What’s the occasion?” Asked Elizabeth indicating the empty booths.

“Oh, it’s well, this um special delivery day,” Ruby said stuttering and hastily pointed to the calendar as if to prove the validation of her words. The Wednesday had a doily patterned white sticker with a rose in the middle.

“Special delivery huh?” Elizabeth asked narrowing her eyes, wondering if the town had begun to take up after her silly actions. “For what exactly?”

“Oh, it’s a tradition we follow with our fellow neighbouring town, where the other town delivers a surprise…package every Wednesday, uh I mean once a month and we do the next and the next and so goes the pattern.”

Elizabeth sat in an empty booth, and observed Ruby oddly wipe the tables clean. She had never seen Ruby clean anything; it was her diner and the cleaning was always the waitress’s job. Something was not right, and Elizabeth witnessed it before her.

“May I ask how this tradition began?” Elizabeth placed her elbows on the table with deep mock interest.

Ruby stared at the table and nodded her head with pursed lips.

“Ah it was good ol’ Lazarus Wroth who, on a very fine Wednesday sent a um surprise invitation to the nearest neighbouring town asking them to visit Celantaur, because the town’s people were a bit too concealed they worried that they’d be forgottn’ by the outside world. So, Lazarus rose to the occasion and…and invited this old town to explore Celantaur, which was what Chelseaville was calle—I’m sure this is all very confusing.”

“Oh, I received my history lesson, so I’m good.” Elizabeth narrowed her eyes further.

“Ah Vivian and her history sessions,” Ruby laughed nervously, “however back to my story – the name of the neighbouring town was never recorded, which I think old Mr. Wroth did on purpose. Ever since us folks reached the nearest town, Fairhope.”

“You’re telling me the whole town receives a surprise…box?”

“Well every house does, because every mom, dad and tod getting’ one would be just absurd!” Ruby laughed, turning back to her tables.

Elizabeth could not tell if it was the town, herself or Ruby anymore. But Ruby was avoiding her eyes, so she knew something was not right.

“That is uh one bizarre tradition,” Elizabeth said, “what exactly do these surprise packages hold?”

“Ah it’s just trinkets, candies-edibles mostly.”

“Why did you close the diner?’

“The trading entails a superstitious belief where no one must step out of their homes until the surprise is received, because if not the surprise can take a very wrong turn.”

“Wrong enough that Fairhope could attack Chelseaville?” Elizabeth raised her eyes with the intention of cracking whatever Ruby was hiding behind this badly conjured story.

“It sounds nutty, but Chelseaville does its part of honorin’ traditions more than any other town.” She nodded her head with raw pride.

Elizabeth watched Ruby unwavering and decided that her suspicions was just paranoia, hence keeping the tiny corner of her mind that reeked of arrogance, locked away, she joined Ruby on this undeniably quirky, yet well preserved tradition.

“Well I better put that closed sign outside before someone else walks in,” Elizabeth stood up and headed towards the entrance. Just as she turned the closed sign a yellow van pulled into the car park. Ruby’s eyes perked up at the sound of the wheels rolling in and she tossed her cleaning cloth behind the counter and puffed up her silver bangs unconsciously.

“Are you expecting someone?” Elizabeth asked as the yellow van neatly slid into a parking spot.

“No! Get back, now!” She hissed, “it’s the delivery guy from Fairhope!” Ruby pulled back Elizabeth from the door. Elizabeth stood still petrified at Ruby’s fear and nerves, trying her best not to picture a bunch of rabid cowboys with pitchforks raiding the diner. Elizabeth knew it was real when she spotted through the blinds as a man jumped off the van and pulled open the back door to retrieve a small brown paper package. Simultaneously, Elizabeth could not prevent herself from giggling at the tensed nerves of an entire town for a box of goodies, to which Ruby initially shushed her, while her eyes remained at the door.

A few steps passed and the doorbell tinkled. Ruby smoothened out her white boho top and made it towards the door.

The door opened and in walked a tall man with white tufts of hair sticking under his cowboy hat and a grizzly white stubble, in dark old denims wearing a checkered shirt tucked in. He lifted the tip of his grey cowboy hat and smiled at Ruby politely.

“Ruby,” he said with kind eyes and turned to Elizabeth, where she raised her arm halfway at the seemingly nice old man.

“Good day to you Miss,” he tipped his hat at Elizabeth and turned back to Ruby, where his eyes softened, “the first delivery of the day Rubes, and you’ll love this.” He said and handed her the package.

“Oh, thank you Jack,” Ruby mumbled, and it was then Elizabeth deciphered the tampered notions in Ruby’s behaviour. Ruby turned to Elizabeth as if she had heard her and flushed uncontrollably. “Jack meet Elizabeth Hartley, she’s on vacation and Elizabeth meet the only delivery man from East Alabama who delivers the best—Jack Derby.”

Jack laughed in a low gravelly tone and squinted his eyes at Ruby, “you never make friends Rubes, she special?” He asked eyeing Elizabeth. She stood there pretending not to exist in the air of solitude converse. Ruby looked at Elizabeth and smiled with a trusting nod, which took her by surprise. Ruby had learned of Elizabeth’s true reason to visit Chelseaville and ever since Elizabeth had become the closest she could get to a girl that reminded her of her daughters.

“The girl’s somethin’ Jack,” Ruby shrugged in reply.

“Hm figured,” he said trusting Ruby’s words a bit too soon, Elizabeth almost smiled. “If I’m hearing these words from this stubborn old woman I bet you are somethin’,” he took off his hat and bowed gracefully, “welcome to Chelseaville, Lady Beth.”

Elizabeth nodded primly.

“Why thank you fine noble gentle-cowboy.” Elizabeth said and dropped a curtsy in return.

“You’ll get along just fine in here,” he crinkled a smile and tipped his cowboy hat once more and glanced at Ruby. Ruby quickly looked away hiding a shy smile.

“Alright Jack I’ll see you next week,” she blurted in a hurry.

“You be good now Rubes and it was a pleasure meetin’ you Lady Beth,” he said and bid the women goodbye. After Ruby closed the door behind him, she caught Elizabeth standing by the booth pursing her lips in obvious.

“What?” Ruby stated.

Elizabeth dragged herself smoothly towards Ruby.

“You’ve caught feelings for him haven’t you…Rubes?” Elizabeth gimmicked lightly.

“Stop mushin’ up stories now,” Ruby waved her hand dismissively.

“I don’t think I am,” she said victoriously, “ you wiped the tables for him and conjured up a tradition to cover up why you would close your own diner for a delivery guy, when I’m sure the whole town thinks you’ve taken a sick day.” Elizabeth arched an eyebrow waiting for the confirmation about her breakthrough.

Ruby stared at her mortified with a big ‘O’, but she knew it was too late to deny further.

“Oh…well I’ll be,” she huffed in defeat. Elizabeth clapped her hands in success.

“I must admit the tradition bluff was almost believable,” she frowned.

“I’m impressed, Lady Beth,” Ruby said absently.

“The charmer he may be, but he’s got eyes for you Rubes…”

“It’s Ruby to you, city gal,” Ruby said in a mock stern, ignoring the former of Elizabeth’s statement.

“Ruby. What are you waiting for? The man’s clearly waiting for you to make a move,” Elizabeth said leaning over the counter.

“Wh-I don’t believe that’s right,” Ruby said concentrating on arranging the glasses under the counter that apparently did not require disarrangement.

“Of course you wouldn’t believe it unless you see for yourself and I mean really see for yourself,” Elizabeth saw Ruby still trying to avoid her and she took hold of Ruby’s hands for attention, to which she gave in, “trust me on this, you won’t be disappointed.”

“How would you know?” Ruby asked her eyes suddenly guilt stricken, “it’s been-it’s been years since I’ve lost my husband. It doesn’t feel right to catch childish feelings.”

Elizabeth tilted her head in affection at this guilt-stricken woman, who was battling her emotions over the past.

“And was he a good man?”

Her eyes wavered with faint adoration and grief.

“He was a darlin’, bless his poor heart.” Ruby sighed sitting on her side over the counter.

“Then I know he would want you to be happy, he would rather see his widowed wife cherishing love again than moping in limbo wondering if it’s even possible to feel that again.”

A hopeful smile sparked the corners of Ruby’s grief-stricken face.

“You think it’s possible?”

Elizabeth nodded her head with sharp affirmation.

“It’s possible he’s swooning over you right now” she whispered.

Ruby gasped, “shush Elizabeth, you’ll jinx it!”

“So, you agree. Now go make your catch before he leaves town,” Elizabeth stated as a matter of fact.

“N-now?” She stuttered in mid shock.

“Well yeah romance has a very unforgiving time frame, so shoo get outta here!” Said Elizabeth forcing Ruby out of her seat and leading her towards her old Camaro.

“Oh, but the diner!” Ruby turned to Elizabeth halfway into her car.

“The town thinks you’re taking a sick day, remember?” Elizabeth smiled closing the door as Ruby sat on her seat, fervent and jittery at the same time.

“Right,” she said abashed remembering the bluff she had to make that morning about a splitting headache to young Todd who came in with the mail. The whole town collectively believed her, even after she continually closed the diner every third Wednesday of each month, except Elizabeth, a girl out of town who should be easy prey. She shook her head at the strange girl who was hovering over her window, waiting eagerly for her to chase love.

“This is crazy,” Ruby smiled vainly, “he’s been passin’ town every third Wednesday of each month for the past few years and I’ve never done anything, unti-

“You’ve done nothing yet, Ruby,” Elizabeth raised her eyes, “he’s still waiting. Things easily lost tend to slip away faster, don’t let yours get away.” Elizabeth smiled, and Ruby saw the brightness in it, and she sensed that similar feeling of déjà vu when Elizabeth glowed up at the sound of home. She shook the odd thought away and nodded in a daze. “Now move it!”

Ruby laughed in fervour and started her Camaro, “you’re a real cupid, love.” Ruby said lastly and rattled her car onto the street.

Elizabeth watched her drive away and raised her hands up in the air in success and even though she could not get answers for her unresolved questions about Hope and Harrison, the sight of this vibrant lady driving after her definite lover made everything matter less, at least for the moment.