Eight days before Christmas.
I should have been awestruck by the behemoth yacht that floated in front of me and overwhelmed with curiosity to finally find out who the mystery client was. Instead, my mind fixated on the following evening, when I’d be meeting my half sister, Vanessa—or Vannie as she preferred to be called—for the first time in my twenty-eight years. Was she just as nervous to meet me as I was to meet her?
“Ms. Emory?” A slight, wiry man dressed in white shorts and a white polo shirt walked down the gangplank toward me. His copper-colored hair, pulled back into a ponytail, complemented his golden mocha skin. “Are you ready to come aboard?”
“Yes, thank you.” I bent down to pick the large ice chest up. Although it wasn’t heavy, it was awkwardly bulky.
“Let me get that for you.” He easily hefted the ice chest and turned to lead the way onto the yacht, which had been bedecked in glittering fairy lights. Even though it was midafternoon, the lights still twinkled brightly enough to get my attention. “I’m Renaldo Rodriguez, the assistant chief steward. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to assist you.”
My twin sister, Carrie, had been hired to cater a dinner for thirty guests at the luxury home that featured a dock in Newport Harbor, where the owner kept his mammoth yacht. Except, up until a few hours before, we’d not been given an address of where the event would be taking place. In fact, we still didn’t even know who the mystery client was and wouldn’t find out until it was time to serve. Instead of working directly with the client, we’d dealt with a woman named Martha Chao, the yacht’s chief steward.
Carrie had hired me to provide cupcakes, along with an assortment of Christmas cookies, to serve aboard the yacht during the annual Christmas boat parade. My reputation as a cupcake caterer had grown, and the planner for this event had specifically asked for my confections.
“Thanks. I was supposed to meet with someone named Martha.” I grasped the railing to assist myself in walking up the gangplank. Although it wasn’t steep, it felt unsteady.
“Yes. That’s Martha Chao, the chief steward.” Renaldo stepped onto the deck, lowered the ice chest, and reached out his hand.
I grasped it and stepped down, then followed as he led me across the wide deck at the back of the boat. Carrie’s husband, Thomas, had tried to drill a few nautical terms into my head, but not much had stuck except that this was called the stern and the front of the boat was the bow. A portable bar had been installed at one side, and a small table sat next to it. A crisp white tablecloth covered the table, with an ice bucket squarely in the middle.
Walkways, leading from the deck, curved around both sides of the yacht to the bow. A circular staircase led to the upper deck. Instead of following a walkway, Renaldo took me through double glass doors that had been propped open. Up close, I could tell that they were accordion doors which could be pushed to the sides so that the entire ten-foot opening could be opened to the elements. As I stepped into the overly large room, I felt like I was in a luxury hotel. A large Christmas tree, decorated with crystal snowflakes and handblown red ornaments, had been arranged in a corner. Plush white sofas were festooned with red pillows, and several cocktail tables had been added around the room, presumably for the party. An elegant crystal chandelier dominated the ceiling while small recessed lights provided a pleasing ambience.
Renaldo led the way down a wide corridor and into the galley. Okay, I maybe picked up more of Thomas’s nautical terms than I thought. It was spacious and much larger than my pool-house kitchen. I might have had a bit of kitchen, err, galley envy. The white marble countertops were pristine and complemented the dove-gray cabinets. The stainless-steel appliances were all top-of-the-line.
“I’ll let Martha know you’ve arrived, and she can go over everything you need to know about the event this evening.” Renaldo dipped his head. “Is there anything else I can assist you with?”
“I still have several boxes I need to bring from my vehicle. Can you help me retrieve them, or should I wait until I speak with Martha?” Truth be told, it was quite a schlep from where I’d had to park, to walk around the side of the host’s huge mansion and down the long, long dock to get to the yacht. I hated thinking about making the trek four or five times on my own to bring everything I needed for the boat parade dessert party. For the millionth time, I reminded myself that it was time to lay off sampling the cupcakes I’d baked and buttercream I’d whipped. It had done me no favors.
“If you give me your keys and tell me where you parked, I’ll have someone bring the boxes to you.” He reached his hand out, palm up. “You should have called Martha when you first arrived since we have a large cart that’ll bring it all in one trip.”
“She didn’t tell me that’s what I needed to do.” I fished in my purse for the key fob to my new cherry-red Kia hybrid SUV while I told him where I’d parked. The SUV was a gift from my boss, David Skyler, after I saved some valuable artwork for him a few months ago. In actuality, it had been his octogenarian mother, Tillie, who had found the artwork, but she’d given me all the credit. I’d declined accepting the generous gift even though I was in desperate need of a set of wheels. But it was impossible to say no to people like David and Tillie, and the SUV would remain in my garage whether I chose to drive it or not. So, of course, I drove it. Lots.
He rolled his eyes before I handed him the key. I was pretty certain he hadn’t meant for me to see it, and I wondered if there was some bad will between himself and the chief steward. He handed me a business card. “I’ll have the boxes brought to you soon. Feel free to call me on that number if you need anything.”
“One more thing, if you don’t mind.” I tucked back a strand of my frizzy red hair that had escaped the elastic band behind my ear. “Please keep the boxes upright. I have frosted cupcakes in them, and I don’t want to have them smashed up. If they are delivered unscathed, I’ll share some cupcakes with you.”
“That won’t be necessary.” He looked me up and down, shook his head, then spun on his heels and took off at a speedy clip.
After shaking off his condescending judgement, I located the mammoth built-in refrigerator—it and the giant freezer were professional models—and placed the contents of the ice chest in it. Once I’d set up the dessert station and concocted a large batch of cranberry kick and peppermint bark signature cocktails, my instructions from Carrie had been to start on assembling a large casserole dish of white chocolate bread pudding.
It was one of the dishes we’d serve for the brunch cruise the following morning. While it could be baked right away, it was fine letting it sit overnight in the refrigerator so we’d have extra time in the morning to attend to dishes that required last-minute cooking. I could already feel my shoulders stiffen at the thought of the long hours looming ahead of me, not only tonight but tomorrow morning since I’d be assisting my sister with the brunch. And then Carrie and I would finally get to meet our sister.
“Hi, Emory. It’s nice to finally meet you in person.” A petite woman, her black hair cropped close to her head, strode toward me, her hand outstretched. “I’m Martha.”
I reciprocated and shook her smooth, cool hand. Up close I could see Martha had the beginnings of crow’s feet around her eyes. I guessed she was closer to forty than thirty as I’d originally thought. “I’m glad to meet you. This is a beautiful boat.”
“We’re proud of her.” She glanced around the kitchen, her gaze lingering on the empty ice chest. Her dark, swooping eyebrows pulled down, making her almond-shaped green eyes almost disappear. “Where’s the rest of your food?”
“I couldn’t carry it all in one trip, so Renaldo is arranging for it to be brought on board.”
A look of what I guessed to be annoyance flitted across her face. “You were supposed to call him when you arrived so everything could be brought aboard all at once.”
“I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t receive the message.” I rubbed my palms down the sides of my black catering slacks then concentrated on relaxing my shoulders.
“Renaldo didn’t call you yesterday to remind you?”
“No, and I’m sure if he spoke with my sister, she would have relayed the message to me.”
Martha shook her head and sighed. “It can’t be helped now. We’re on a tight schedule, and my employers don’t want people traipsing past their house while their guests are arriving.”
Unless the dinner party timeline had changed, there was plenty of time for Renaldo to collect my boxes. There was enough time for me to do it myself, even if I had to make the trip four or five times carrying a box or two each trip. I wondered if the clients were being persnickety and didn’t want foot traffic going back and forth alongside their house or if this was Martha’s way of expressing her displeasure at Renaldo’s neglect at not calling me. Either way, it was obvious that there was tension between the chief steward and assistant steward.
“I’m sure he’ll only have to make the one trip to get the remaining things I need.”
Martha barely paid attention to me as she focused on the bulky sports watch that sat on her wrist. “The dessert table is arranged in the salon, and I left serving platters on top. Use whatever you need. I’ve got some things to attend to, so if you need anything, call Renaldo.”
Without glancing in my direction, she spun on her black cross-trainers and strode away.
Without my cupcakes and cookies to arrange yet, I set to work prepping the bread pudding dish by cracking the eggs and placing them in a large bowl. The dish was decadent and worth the extra calories for special occasions. As I whisked the eggs, I grew warm, so I slid open the window over the galley sink to let in some ocean breezes.
The voices of a man and a woman arguing floated in with the breeze. I presumed it was Martha and Renaldo, but I wasn’t sure, and it was difficult to make out any words. Not wanting to eavesdrop, I started to close the window, but my hand froze in midair when I clearly heard the woman hiss, “It needs to be taken care of.”
