Know Me Well (Wishful 3)

“So you’ll help?”

Autumn swatted his arm. “Of course, I’ll help. I’ll even offer a few suggestions for how you can take an already awesome concept and elevate it to stupendous.”

“I’m open to suggestions.” He pointed a finger at her. “But you tell no one. I don’t want one whiff of this getting back to Riley.”

She offered a smart salute and clicked her heels together. “You can count on me, sir!”

~*~

“Here’s to Peyton Consolidated. May they be the first of many lucrative contracts. Well done, Riley.” Molly tapped her glass to Riley’s and grinned.

“Couldn’t have done it without your help and Norah’s. I don’t know how she does it, getting up in front of people and talking all the time. Give me one-on-one any day.” Riley sipped the champagne. Now this is a celebration.

The white tablecloths and fine china of Tosca were a far cry from the emergency bar of Toblerone at the beginning of the summer. And, at last, she wasn’t alone. Liam and Molly sat on either side of her, and Sharilyn and Matthew McSweeney rounded out the party. Riley wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that, but she was feeling far too mellow and pleased about her success with Gerald Peyton to let it spoil the evening.

“I have a toast, too.” Riley lifted her glass to Liam. “Here’s to finished floors and my own personal Superman, who’s busting his chops getting things back to normal.”

“Hear, hear!”

Liam tapped his glass to hers and leaned in for a follow-up kiss.

“While we’re in a celebrating mood, I’ve got something else to toast.” Across the table, Matthew took Sharilyn’s hand.

Riley tensed. Oh God, not again.

Her mother glanced up at him, then across the table. Riley didn’t miss the quick flash of hurt.

Damn it. She liked Matthew. She really did. But she wasn?

?t ready for her mother to dive headlong into another too serious, too soon relationship.

Beneath the table, Liam curled his fingers around hers and squeezed.

“Back in the beginning of July, this sweet lady here came to me with the idea for the Good Food For Good Neighbors program, as a way the store could give back to the community and help those in need.”

Riley blinked. She’d heard about the program, of course. But being wrapped up in her own troubles, she’d given no thought to it past the round up donations she’d made doing her grocery shopping since then. It’d been her mom’s idea? She thought back to that family dinner and to Tara Honeycutt. Clearly she hadn’t been the only one to feel a need to take action.

“I’m pleased to report the program has been a raging success, and we’ve already been able to help fifty families.”

Fifty families. So much good. Pride swelled in Riley’s chest. “That’s amazing, Mom. Truly.”

“It was an inspired idea.” Molly lifted her glass.

Sharilyn’s cheeks pinked. “I just wanted to do something to give back. So many people helped me when I needed it. It’s my turn to help now.”

“Well, I’m glad you said that, Shari, because we’re getting more and more applicants every day, and somebody has to go through and determine eligibility. I want to promote you to full-time head of the program, along with a commensurate raise in pay to go along with the responsibility.”

Sharilyn gaped at him. “Are you serious?”

“I told you we had something else to celebrate. To your success.” Matthew clinked her glass with his.

Riley raised her glass. “Congratulations. You’ve earned it.”

As additional congratulations swept the table, she thought back to that quick flash of hurt and felt the sandpaper rasp of guilt along her conscience. Her mom didn’t deserve that knee-jerk response of dread. She’d well and truly lived up to her promise and turned over a new leaf.

Riley continued to mull it over as their meal was served and conversation flowed around her. And she watched Matthew and Sharilyn, noting the casual way they swapped half their entrees for a surf and turf, seeing the attentive way he leaned toward her when she spoke, and a half dozen other tiny intimacies that said more than words ever could. Sharilyn herself smiled often, but it was a different smile than Riley was used to seeing when she was with a beau—and Matthew was most definitely a beau. She seemed…relaxed and confident. No trace of that sense of trying too hard, as if by will alone she could make him into what she wanted, what she needed. Because maybe Matthew McSweeney was what she needed.

When Sharilyn excused herself to go to the ladies’ room, Riley rose too. “I’ll go with you.”