“I like that.” He clinked his glass against hers. “So, you actually turned down that other job?”

“I did. No regrets, either. I woke up this morning and the decision was made. When I thought about going to New York and taking that GM role, I felt tense and stressed. When I thought about staying here working the concierge desk and being with you—well I only felt happy and at peace.”

He leaned over and kissed her, and she felt like she was overflowing with happiness.

“I’m so glad you made that choice. I wasn’t looking forward to going to New York to visit you.”

“You would have come to see me in New York?”

“Of course. I’m not that easy to get rid of,” he teased.

“I don’t want to get rid of you.”

“Good, because I’m not going anywhere. We’re going to have so much fun together.”

She smiled. “I know we are.”

Chapter 35

They got lucky with the weather for the Taste of the Town event. The forecast initially called for it to be overcast, with possible showers, but the winds shifted, and Monday brought nothing but sunshine and warm breezes. There were a few glitches when the electric outlets didn’t work correctly in all the sections, but Paula called in an electrician that got it all sorted and working by noon.

The restaurants were all set up in their booths and ready to go by three. The event officially got underway at four and the turnout was even better than expected. Grandfather was thrilled as he strolled around with Paula and David, checking out the different restaurants and their offerings.

“Isn’t this marvelous?” he said as they made the rounds to make sure everyone had everything they needed.

“It was a great idea, Grandfather,” Paula agreed.

“I just had a feeling it would go over well. There’s nothing like it here and what else are people going to do on a Monday night? It’s the slowest night for the restaurants and this is a great opportunity for them to show off what they can do.”

Peter Bradford was there overseeing all the wine vendors and they ran into him and his girlfriend Paige and her two best friends, Lisa, who owned the Beach Plum Cove Inn, and her friend Sue, who owned an insurance company downtown. They were all sipping wine and snacking on tiny crab cakes from one of the restaurants.

“What do the vendors think?” Paula asked him.

“They’re loving it, and a few have already asked if this is going to be an annual thing. You could probably lock most of them in as well as the restaurants for next year if you wanted,” Peter said.

Paula looked at her grandfather and at David. Her grandfather smiled. “What do you think about that, Paula?”

Paula looked around at the huge crowd and the busy booths.