Jane’s bedroom faced east, and she was used to the rising sun peeking in at an early hour. What she wasn’t used to was the warm body in bed beside her. She startled awake when a wet nose against her hand reminded her about Cooper. He’d started off on the floor but must have made his way into the bed during the night. Jane didn’t mind.
“Come on, boy. You probably have to go out, right?” Jane wasn’t used to having another being to consider, but she was happy to make the adjustment. She took Cooper outside to do his business and then fed him before even getting a cup of coffee for herself.
Settled at the kitchen table with an English muffin on her plate and Brenda cooking in the background, Jane checked her email and practically fell off her chair.
Brenda turned around, concerned. “Is something wrong, Jane?”
“Someone wants to book a wedding.”
“Really? That’s good isn’t it?” Brenda asked.
“Of course. It’s just a surprise. I wasn’t expecting something this quick, and they want it in less than five weeks.” Jane started to panic. How was she going to pull together a wedding in a month? She didn’t know anything about weddings. Why had she signed up for this?
Brenda, unflappable as usual, forked the bacon out of the pan, laying it on paper towels. “Nothing wrong with getting more money sooner.”
Brenda had a point. She’d just taken money allotted for the food service to pay the electric bill. If she could pull this wedding off, she’d get a deposit and should be able to replace that money without having to be overdue on the bill to the food supplier.
She read the comments on the form application carefully. “It’s a rush job because the place they had booked closed down without notice. It’s for fifty people, and they’re excited about a beach wedding and lobster bake. Do you think we can handle that?”
“Of course we can. And just think, maybe they’ll book all the rooms.” Brenda seemed happy at the prospect of being able to cook breakfast for a full house.
The applicant wanted pictures of the actual outdoor area where the wedding would be and a description of Jane’s plan. Plan? Was she supposed to have a plan? She’d be filling the role of wedding planner, but how hard could a small beach wedding be to plan?
The comments on the form specified that they wanted something classy, not a venue with picnic tables and porta potties. If they liked what Jane sent and her quote was reasonable, they would send a twenty-five percent deposit right away.
Jane’s mind whirled as she thought about what she should send them for a plan. She wanted more pictures. Maybe some close-ups of the work Andie was doing on the garden and one of the ocean framed by the arbor. She already had basics of the rooms and interior of Tides up on the website, but she didn’t have any of how it would look at an actual wedding. Maybe Maxi could help with that.
Mike was due any minute to go over the website, and Jane wanted to visit her Mom at Tall Pines, so she asked Maxi to come later that afternoon.
There! She’d put the plans in motion. This could really work.
Cooper let out a sudden woof and rushed to the screen door. Jane looked up to see Mike, his laptop bag slung over his shoulder.
Cooper’s exuberant greeting lightened Mike’s heart. The night in the cottage without the dog had been lonely. Cooper wagged his tail and wiggled as Mike crouched down and hugged him.
“I missed you, big guy.” He was getting attached. Not only to Cooper but to the ocean, to the town, to the people.
“I think he might’ve missed you, too, at least for a little bit, until Brenda made him chicken and rice,” Jane teased.
“Ha ha. Seriously, how did he do? I hope he was no trouble.” Mike wrestled the laptop out of his bag and put it on the table.
“Not at all. He adjusted quite well, and I love having him,” Jane said.
“He’s a good boy.” Brenda tossed Cooper a small piece of bacon and slid a plate in front of Mike. It was overflowing with scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toasted English muffins.
Mike dug in, looking up at Jane every few seconds. She had a spark in her eye today, and her face was flushed. He suspected something exciting had happened but felt awkward asking. “I feel rude eating in front of you.”
“I already ate. But I am eager to see the website. I got a booking for a wedding, so things are starting to come together.”
So that was why she looked so excited. His assumption about Tides doing poorly financially must have been true. A wedding would bring in a lot of money. “That’s great! Tell me more.”
“It’s in a month, so I’m going to have to hustle. Apparently, the venue they had booked closed down suddenly.” Jane blew out a breath. “I’m a little nervous about taking it on, but I think it will be good for Tides.”
“What can I do to help?” Mike asked.
Jane looked surprised, like she hadn’t been expecting him to offer to help. “I guess just putting the website up would be a big help.”
Mike set his plate aside. “Then I guess we should get started, and I’ll show you what I’ve got.”
He proceeded to show her several pages of the website that were similar to the examples she’d shown him but with pictures and text specific to Tides. The navigation still wasn’t set up, since he wasn’t sure if she’d want changes. Of course, he had the contact page, and he’d installed a form where one could book online and generate an email to Jane.
“You might want to consider integrating a calendar that will block off dates. Right now you’d have to go back and forth with email to confirm the booking,” Mike said. “There might be a plug-in or program you can buy. I can look into that for you.”
“That would be great. I love what you have so far,” Jane said.
“Then I should go ahead and finish it up?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. It won’t take me long to get everything hooked up and working properly.” Mike slung the laptop bag over his shoulder then hesitated. “I want to take Cooper to visit Gramps at Tall Pines today. Can I swing by later and get him?”
“Of course. Come by any time. No need to ask permission. We have people coming and going from here all the time. I was actually going to Tall Pines myself to visit my mom right after this.” Jane looked at her watch, and Mike got the impression she might be in a hurry. He almost collided with Andie on his way to the door. She was holding the hummingbird feeder.
“Those birds sure drink a lot of nectar,” Mike said.
Andie laughed. “They do, but this is actually a second feeder. Hummingbirds are territorial and will fight, so we put feeders at either end of the garden.”
“Who knew?” Mike said goodbye to Cooper while Andie filled the feeder in record time.
When she was done, she sidestepped the dog on her way to the pantry.
“Why are you going out that way?” Jane asked, looking confused. “Wouldn’t it be shorter to go through the lobby?”
Andie stopped and looked at her sister. “Probably, but I don’t want to spill nectar in there.”
Jane glanced at Mike, her expression indicating she thought Andie wasn’t making much sense. “Okay, whatever suits you.”
But Andie had already headed off through the pantry, which, from what Mike knew of the layout, seemed to be a roundabout route.
Mike gave Cooper another pat on the head and set off down the beach. Maybe he would extend his stay in Lobster Bay. Gramps had perked up a lot since Mike had come to visit, and the scenery didn’t hurt. Plus, he was making new friends… like Jane. Besides, he liked it here. Things were more laid-back, and he was getting attached to Cooper.
His phone dinged, and he pulled it out to see a text from Tiffany.
Wondering when you’re coming back?
Mike rolled his eyes. Apparently, he’d need to have another talk with her. She certainly wasn’t getting the hint. How could he possibly make it clearer that he didn’t want to date her anymore? He’d told her so in no uncertain terms. She just wasn’t getting the message. Maybe it was time he blocked her number.
Andie rushed through the pantry, away from Jane and her darn questions. The truth was that she was avoiding the lobby because she’d seen Shane in there earlier fixing the spindle on the staircase. It was silly because it had been decades since she’d broken up with him, but she just didn’t want to talk to him. Why add more stress to her life? There was no point in reconnecting since she would be leaving Lobster Bay soon enough.
She turned left, intending to cut through the dining room and then go out the side door, except—
“Watch out! That paint is wet!”
Over thirty years had passed, but Andie recognized Shane Flannery in an instant. They stood staring at each other, and the years peeled away. It was as if they were both awkward high school seniors again. Except Shane looked way better than he had back then. How unfair was that?
“Andie. Hi.” Shane smiled, revealing the dimple on his right cheek.
“Hi.” Andie’s tongue appeared to be stuck to the roof of her mouth.
“How are you?”
“Good. You?” Andie tried to add something clever, but nothing came out.
“Pretty good. Got out of the navy, and now I do carpentry work.” He gestured toward the room, where there was clearly a big project going on. “You’re standing on Sally’s brush.”
“What?” Andie’s gaze jerked down, and she lifted her right foot to reveal a squashed brush. The bottom of her flip-flop was smeared with red paint. “Crap!”
“Yeah, Sally’s not going to be happy you ruined her brush.”
Shane looked amused as Andie tried to balance removing the flip-flop with one hand while trying not to spill the nectar she was holding in her other. He could have offered to help!
“Well, nice seeing you.” Shane turned back to his work, and Andie hobbled off.
Seriously, was that it? She didn’t know what she had expected, but the interaction with Shane felt like a slight. She was probably being overly sensitive. It had been decades since they’d seen each other, so there was no reason to act like they were buddies. Even though they’d dated, that was so long ago. He’d been married since then, and of course he was over her. Probably barely even remembered they’d dated. And what did it matter? She’d gotten over him long ago. Hadn’t she?