was still staring in that unnerving way she had. No self-consciousness, no apologies. “We’d all have to wear sunglasses or suffer some sort of beauty-blindness.”
“Is that like snow-blindness?” Johanna joked.
“No.” Julietta snorted. “Photokeratitis is real. I made up beauty-blindness.”
“Well, they’re not going to have kids, so the world is safe.”
“It’s not too late. She’s only forty-one.”
Johanna let it go. Nina had vowed to never have children, to never pass along the genes they all inherited lest any child of hers suffer their parents’ fate. Emma seemed determined to prove her sister’s fears wrong with three sons in quick succession. And if Julietta’s suspicions proved right, perhaps another.
Left alone with her youngest, unflappable sister, Johanna hedged, “So, Emma and Mike were having problems, you know, in bed?”
“It was a few years ago.” Julietta bit into her toast. “When Gio was a toddler. She wanted another baby. He said they couldn’t afford any more, and didn’t trust her not to accidentally-on-purpose sabotage their birth control. So,” she shrugged, “no sex was the only way to make sure it didn’t happen.”
“He didn’t trust her?”
“I wouldn’t have either. She really wanted another baby.”
In the next room, Gunner and Nina were laughing. Julietta’s attention diverted quickly, always too easily. She pushed out of her chair and joined them.
Johanna sipped at her coffee, basked in the sunshine coming through the big kitchen window and the sisterly gossip she didn’t realize she missed. If I she were in Cape May, she’d have already put in half a day of work. Sleeping in, having her breakfast made for her, indulging in chatting with these sisters she loved, it let her, if only for a moment, forget all the reasons she had for staying far away from Bitterly.
A soft knock on the back door opened her eyes. Charlie waved from the other side of the glass. She leapt too quickly to her feet and nearly spilled her coffee.
“All done?” she asked as he stomped his boots clean.
“Boys are just finishing up.”
Johanna stepped aside to let him in. He put up his hands.
“I’ll get snow all over the floor.”
“Who cares? Get in here. And call your boys. I’m making them hot chocolate.”
“No need to—”
“It’ll take two minutes. Sit. Warm up. It’s the least I can do. Okay?”
Charlie chuckled softly. “Sure.”
Johanna called out to the boys who shouted in return. Head stuck in the pantry, she was relieved to find the ingredients necessary for a real cup of hot chocolate, and not the powdered stuff in an envelope.
“Help yourself to the coffee,” she said over her shoulder, “unless you want hot chocolate.”
“I’d love some. Thanks, Johanna.”
He spoke her name softly, like a whisper before falling into sleep. Johanna stirred the melting butter and chocolate, added the sugar spoonful by spoonful. By the time she started incorporating the milk, she could speak without her voice cracking.
“Thanks again for last night.”
“No worries. That reminds me—I have your backpack. You left it in the truck.”
“Oh, I did, didn’t I. Totally forgot about it.”
“I’ll have one of the boys get it.” He passed behind her to call out to his sons.
Johanna shivered. Lowering the heat, she stirred as if her life depended upon it not sticking to the bottom.
Charlie peered over her shoulder. “Smells good. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything but the packaged stuff.”
“I doubt there’s even any real cocoa in that.”
“Probably not. You never struck me as the cooking type.”
“I never was.”
“But you own a bakery.”
“An impulse decision, not a lifelong dream,” she admitted. “I was vacationing in Wildwood, and decided to check out Cape May. I fell in love with the town, the Victorian houses and quaint shops. It’s real old-world, you know? Even in the height of summer. When I saw CC’s for sale, I…” She bit the truth off there.
Charlie answered for her. “You bought it.”
She shoved him playfully. “I hocked everything I owned and mortgaged six of my nine lives, but I did.”
“CC’s, huh?”
“Cape Confectionary. It came with the name. CC’s for short.”
“Ah, I see.”
“After all my failed attempts at earning a living, this one has turned out to be something good. Who’d have thought I would have a knack for baking? In the summer, I do breakfast and lunch too. It gets kind of crazy, tourists from all around the world there to see the famous Jersey Shore. It’s like no place else on earth. You should bring the kids down.”
Her cheeks were burning before the words were out of her mouth. Johanna took the pan off the burner, kept her back to him as she poured three mugs. Stomping on the small porch off the back of the house signaled the boys’ arrival. Another moment and they were in the kitchen, stripping off snow gear in the boisterous way of young men.
“Caleb, Will, this is Johanna Coco. Johanna, two of my boys.”
“Hi, again,” Caleb waved, his smile wide. “We met through the window already. Here’s your backpack.” He retrieved it from the pile of coats and scarves. “Got a little snowy.”
“Thanks.” She held out a steaming mug. “I’ll trade you.”
He took it with an enthusiastic, “Thanks,” and flopped onto a kitchen chair. His brother, dark-haired as Gina, did not share his enthusiasm, but he took her offering and sat beside his father at the table. Johanna placed the last cup in front of Charlie.
“What do we owe you gentlemen for your services?”
“This’ll do.” Charlie sipped. “Come on, Jo. It’s a favor to friends.”
“Last night was a favor,” she said. “This is not. You have to let me pay you something.”
“No I don’t.”
“Charlie.”
“Johanna.” He laughed. “Seriously. Don’t make this awkward.”
“Hey, I want some.” Julietta blew through the room, took the pan from the stove. She poured herself the little bit left. “Dang.”
“I’ll make more, Jules.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” Caleb raised his empty cup. “Ow! Quit it, Will.”
“You’re being rude.”
“No, I’m not. It’s a compliment. How’s a compliment rude?”
Will rolled his eyes and shook his head. He reminded Johanna of Nina at his age, when anything and everything her sisters did was somehow embarrassing to her.
“If your dad won’t let me pay you, then I think more hot chocolate is an absolute must. Will? You want some too?”
He looked into his cup. “Well, if you’re making it anyway…”
Johanna started mixing ingredients again, silently happy to keep them around a little while longer. Her slip was already fading. As if Charlie would ever bring his kids to Cape