Saturday morning, I'm up and dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a long sleeve thermal. It's nothing fancy, but it's comfortable and that's exactly what you need in this weather with the breeze off the water. The sun is shining as I head into the city to meet up with friends. Trips into the city are a breeze now, as I no longer need my GPS. Luckily the city isn't too large and I know the major landmarks so meeting by the wharf is easy to find.
As I walk along the boardwalk from my car, I hear Alice's laughter before I see her. Jasper and Edward are standing on the wharf with her. We're also supposed to be meeting Kate and Garrett before heading to the restaurant area. Garrett works with Edward on the farm. I had not met him before, but Kate attended the book club so I'd spent some time with her and had heard plenty of stories about the couple.
The tourist season is over so although there are bands playing on the street, it's not as crowded as it was the first few weeks I arrived. For being the biggest city on the island, it remains quaint with lots of historic character.
I catch Jasper's attention first as Alice is finishing up her latest story. He throws a lazy smile my way as I approach the group. Greeting Jasper and Alice with a hug, I turn to Edward for the same.
"Good to see you Bella," Edward greets.
"You too. Must be glad that you'll have some free time now," I respond.
"Can't wait to sleep in and spend some time away from the farm."
"Go spend the weekend at your parents place. Esme will be in her glory tending to you after not seeing you for so long," Jasper laughs.
It's true. Esme is a mother hen to everyone. She continues to check in on me frequently, making sure that there's nothing I need. There's always the occasional drop off of baked goods and other surprises at the door too. I'm sure she'd be in her glory having someone nearby to spoil.
"That might distract her from asking about the future grandchildren for a while too," I tease, as I'd been witness to her not subtle hints to Alice and Jasper during visits.
"Or she'll just start in on me about providing those grandchildren," Edward responds.
We all laugh as we see Kate and two other men approaching. I know one must be Garrett, but the other I don't recognize either. Everyone else greets each other so it's someone that must be familiar to them all.
"Bella, this is my husband Garrett," Kate introduces me to the taller man with long shaggy hair.
"Nice to meet you Garrett, I've heard a lot about you."
"You too Bella, it's nice to put a face to the name," he replies.
"Well since no one else is introducing us, I'm Jacob Black," the other man introduces himself. He's shorter than Garrett, with darker skin and short black hair.
"Bella," I respond, shaking his hand.
"Jacob's family is the one that Edward bought the farm from," Alice informs me. "He's a chef at a restaurant here in the city."
We walk along the wharf for a little while deciding upon where to head first. There's ease to the conversation filled with lots of laughs. It's easy to see that this group has spent a lot of time together through the years, sharing old stories back and forth. If I wasn't so interested in learning more about the past for each of these new friends, I may feel left out from the group.
We arrive first at a restaurant, on one of the main streets, that reminds me of an old pub. The lights are dim within the restaurant but there's plenty of open seating. There's a small brewery down the stairs that I can see as we're lead to a large table not far from the bar. I grab a seat at the table, happy to see when Edward takes the seat next to me. Jacob runs off to the back, apparently friends with a few of the servers and the chef working today.
Garrett fills me in from across the table about the beers that are offered, as it's one of the few local breweries on the island. I scan the drink list unable to decide what to try first. The server suggests that I try the sampler of beers to test out what I like best. I agree that's the way to go and Kate does as well since there are a few seasonal options she wants to try.
After a few minutes, the server brings over the sampler with 8 different small beers to try. If this is just our first stop of the day, I better space myself out before I have my own embarrassing moments for the group to share in the future.