Captiva Ever After (Captiva Island Series #7)

“Thanks for dropping the list off. How did the hurricane treat you? Your family okay?”

“Yes, everyone is fine, thanks for asking. I’m headed out to work on the Thanksgiving Outreach. Are you coming?”

“I’ll stop by on my way home to see how everything is going. I shouldn’t be too long.”

Ciara looked over the bookkeeping for the Outreach Center and then grabbed the folders for the Key Lime Garden Inn. Before adding more papers into her briefcase, she once again looked over the list of names that Kendra left with her.

Most of the names were familiar to her as many were weekly visitors to the food pantry, and domestic abuse support groups.

One name stood out…Millie Brenner.

“Millie Brenner. Where did I hear that name before?” Ciara repeated the name out loud several times before it came to her.

Millie is Maggie’s new bookkeeper.

Ciara quickly gathered her things and turned off the office lights. She ran to the hall where Kendra and several others were meeting to go over plans to distribute Thanksgiving meals for the community.

“Kendra!” Ciara yelled.

“Hey, Ciara. What’s up?”

Ciara pointed to Millie’s name. “Millie Brenner, did you meet her?”

Kendra nodded. “Yeah. I’m the one who checked her in. Why?”

“What was her deal? Was she alone? What did she say?”

“Not much. As a matter of fact she seemed to keep to herself. Kira was in the bed next to her. You know Kira, she’s a talker. I guess she did her best to befriend Millie but the woman wasn’t having any of it. I’m not sure what her deal is. She came alone. Had one suitcase and a backpack. She did eat though, I remember because I saw her put a few of the muffins in her pocket.”

“In her pocket?” Ciara asked for clarification.

“Yeah, you know that we see that a lot. People who are afraid they’ll never get another meal. It’s sad, but I got the sense that Millie maybe can’t afford much. I encouraged her to take some stuff with her when she left.”

“Did she give you her address?”

Kendra shook her head. “Nope, all she said was that she was new in town and wasn’t sure if her apartment on the island would be in jeopardy. She didn’t want to take a chance so she came here. I forgot to ask her how she knew about the Outreach Center but I never got around to it.”

“Thanks, Kendra.”

Ciara was baffled by this information and wondered how much Maggie knew of Millie’s situation. Ciara would find out soon enough, since sometime in the next week she’d come face to face with the woman who would take her place as the new bookkeeper of the Key Lime Garden Inn.

CHAPTER 14

Morgan Kaler held up her wine glass in front of the computer monitor and almost cried when Becca explained her wedding dress problem.

“This is not happening! I won’t allow it. Here’s to nothing else going wrong before the big day.”

Becca held up her glass and then took a sip of her wine.”

A notification came through that her other bridesmaids were joining the video. Adrianne Pittman and Eva Barnett, two of Becca’s friends since childhood, appeared on the screen.

“Hey, Becca. We’re here and have our wine,” Adrianne said.

“I drove over to Adrianne’s house so we could hang together,” Eva said. “So, what’s the verdict? Have you heard from the bridal shop yet?”

Becca shook her head. “No, her plane landed last night and she promised to get in touch with me first thing this morning. It’s already two o’clock and I haven’t heard anything. My stomach is in knots.”

“I picked up my dress yesterday,” Morgan announced.