Andie’s grip tightened on the phone as she listened to Susie fill her in on everything that had been happening at work.
“And Elise has been spending a lot of time in Doug’s office,” Susie whispered into the phone after verifying that Elise had gotten the lead-appraiser position on the Richhaven job.
Andie used to spend a lot of time in Doug’s office, too, but surprisingly the fact that she’d been cast aside for Elise didn’t bother her at all. Her feelings for Doug had evaporated with his shoddy treatment. “Is there anything else going on? Any rumors of new jobs coming in?”
“Nope. Dull as a doornail here… whoops, I gotta go. Marcy is looking for me.”
They hung up, and Andie glanced at the airline app on her phone, where she’d made a reservation for a flight for the next day.
It was time she headed back to New York City. If she didn’t do anything to protect her job, she might end up as the low person on the totem pole. But unlike her previous visits to Lobster Bay, this time she was in no rush to get back. Maybe after all these years, the excitement of antiques appraisal had worn off. If she hadn’t made that exciting find yet, what were the odds it would come along now? It wasn’t like her career had been unsatisfying. There had been plenty of exciting small finds over the years.
Outside her window, the sunlight sparkled on the tops of the waves. Her visit to Lobster Bay had been a great change of pace from the city. It was slower here, less hectic. There were no interoffice politics, no married bosses. If only there was more to do in this town—something she could sink her teeth into. Something that gave her a purpose.
She’d enjoyed working in the garden more than she’d thought possible. Speaking of which, she didn’t want to leave it half finished. She’d have to get a move on if she wanted to complete the garden and visit her mother at Tall Pines before her flight tomorrow.
Standing, she stretched and made her way downstairs, creeping down the stairs slowly and peeking over the railing to make sure she didn’t run into Shane Flannery. One good thing about leaving tomorrow was that it would ensure that she wouldn’t have to see him again.
Jane was in the living room, staring at the wall of paintings that Chandler Vanbeck had said were so valuable. “Hey, sis, I…”
Jane turned, and Andie could sense that something was wrong. “Is something the matter?”
Jane shrugged. “I think we might have to sell one of these paintings after all. If you’ll agree.”
Andie’s eyes flicked to the painting, a seascape with turbulent waves crashing on jagged rocks.
“What? Why?” She had a sinking feeling that the finances were a lot worse than her sister had let on. She’d felt something was off all along and should’ve insisted that Jane give her specifics, but she’d felt like it was none of her business. Jane had been taking care of this all along, and Andie was ashamed that she’d never once offered to help or asked how things were going. Who was she to butt in now?
Jane sighed. “I’m afraid the wedding might not happen. We have to put in a new bathroom to accommodate all the guests.”
“Oh. Well, that seems problematic, but why do we need to sell a painting because the wedding is off? Are finances that bad?”
Jane looked as if she might cry, and Andie resisted the urge to hug her, not sure if the gesture would be welcome.
“I’m sorry. I guess I should’ve fessed up sooner. I just didn’t want you to think that I’d ruined the family business, but the truth is finances are not okay. This wedding was going to bail us out,” Jane said.
“Ruin the family business? I never would’ve thought that.” Andie felt like a selfish jerk. How could things have gotten so messed up between them that Jane felt like Andie would blame her for ruining the business instead of knowing she would jump in to help her?
Plagued with guilt over leaving everything on Jane’s shoulders, Andie was moved to solve the problem. “Okay, so the client doesn’t want porta potties. Who could blame them? But could we add another bathroom?” Andie mentally added up the money in her 401(k). She could take some out—the heck with the penalty. Her sister needed her help, and that was more important.
“Where would we put it? The space is tight down here. Even if we could add another one, would we get it done in time for the wedding? And how would we pay for it? Not to mention that we need to wait for some special approval that we can only get during a meeting that doesn’t happen until next month.” Jane flapped her arms. “It’s hopeless.”
“Can you request an emergency meeting? What about the upstairs bathrooms? We have plenty of those.” Andie couldn’t believe how backward things were in these small towns.
“Those bathrooms go with the guest rooms, so they don’t count. According to the man from the town hall, if we put in more bathrooms than the house originally had or were added when plumbing came along, then we need some special variance.”
Standing there with her sister, surrounded by their family belongings and the ocean in the background, she could feel the memories bubbling up. How many times had she stood here with her sister? Her mother? Her grandmother?
This house was full of those memories. She should have read between the lines and realized things were this bad, but she had been too involved in her own problems. Suddenly, Andie realized that more than anything, she wanted Tides to prosper. More than her job back at Christie’s, more than being part of a significant antiques find. She felt a sudden closeness with Jane that she hadn’t felt since they were kids. Jane needed her. And not only that, but something about what Jane had just said sparked an idea in her brain.
“Wait a minute! Did you say something about the original bathrooms?” Andie asked.
“Yeah, I guess there’s something grandfathered in. But this place didn’t have bathrooms originally, remember? Gramps added them with his father when indoor plumbing took off.”
“I remember. They had to reconfigure some bedrooms to turn it into an inn with private baths for every room,” Andie said. “I’m not sure, though. All might not be lost yet.”
“I doubt that. The guy was pretty sure that we couldn’t get a special meeting.” Jane cocked her head and squinted at Andie. “Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?”
“It was nothing.” Andie spun on her heel and started walking away. “Don’t cancel the wedding or do anything drastic until you talk to me.”
“Why? What are you going to do?”
“I’ll tell you later tonight! Until then, keep the faith.”
As Andie hurried out to her car, she opened the air-travel app on her phone and canceled the plane ticket. She didn’t want to say anything to Jane because she didn’t want to get her hopes up, but if Andie’s plan worked, Jane was going to need her help for this wedding—and maybe even beyond.
The drama with the bathrooms had made Jane and Cooper late for the weekly meeting with Maxi and Claire at Sandcastles. She’d walked from Tides because she needed the time to think, not only about the bathroom situation but also about Andie’s parting words. What in the world was she up to?
Maxi and Claire were already seated at a table on the sidewalk with a tray of pastries and mugs of coffee in front of them when she got there. They were midconversation, talking animatedly and gesturing. Jane slipped into a chair, and Cooper flopped down at her feet.
“And we can make the sandcastle cake with the colored frosting to match the wedding colors.” Claire slid the tray of pastries over toward Jane. “Don’t you think that would be great, Jane? Add a personal touch?”
“And I was thinking I could make a few special pillows to match the wedding party. It would bring all the decor together and make the weddings at Tides really special,” Maxi added. “We could place them on the rockers on the back porch.”
Her friends were so excited about the wedding that Jane almost didn’t have the heart tell them about the bathroom problem. “Those sound like great ideas, but I’m afraid there might not be a wedding. At least not this summer.”
Their faces fell. “What? Why?”
Jane told them about her visit with Bob and the issue with the bathrooms. “The client specified no porta potties, so I’m not sure what to do. I can email them and see if they’ll make an exception given the tight schedule, but she seemed pretty adamant.”
“There must be something we can do,” Claire said.
Jane picked a pistachio muffin off the tray and broke it in half. “Andie said she had some kind of idea, but she wouldn’t say what it was, so I don’t know if it’s anything good.”
Claire pursed her lips. “Well, at least she’s trying to help now.”
Maxi patted Jane’s hand. “Don’t give up. Something else will come along.”
Jane sighed. “I know. It’s just disappointing.” She bit into the muffin and chewed for a few seconds. “At least I have a good website now.”
“Oh? So Mike made the website? I’ll have to check that out. He did a good job?”
“Yep. He put in everything I wanted and did it really quick too.” Jane bent down and patted Cooper’s head. “Thing is, he won’t take any payment. Just breakfast every morning at the inn.”
Claire and Maxi exchanged a look.
“He’s been coming over every morning?” Maxi leaned forward. “Tell us more.”
“There’s nothing really to tell.” Clearly Maxi thought there was more going on between her and Mike, and Jane wasn’t sure how to address that. Jane suddenly felt flustered, tongue-tied.
Luckily, Hailey saved Jane from having to answer more questions. As she carefully stepped over Cooper to top off their coffees, Maxi’s attention switched to the young single mother.
“Hailey, I was cleaning out some of the closets at home, and I found these old toys from when my daughters were kids.” Maxi rummaged in her giant tote bag, pulling out pencils, sketches, notebooks, erasers. Finally, she pulled out a little pink gift bag and presented it to Hailey. “Do you think Jennifer would like them?”
Hailey peered into the bag. “Yes, she loves dolls. That’s so nice of you to think of her.”
Maxi shrugged. “Well, it’s not like my girls are going to use them, and I hate to see them go to waste.”
Maxi’s expression was somber. Why was she cleaning out her house? Jane knew that her friend cherished the childhood memories of her kids and was surprised to see her giving things away. Though she supposed one couldn’t hold on to that stuff forever, and it wasn’t unusual for her to bring gifts for Jennifer. Maybe it helped Maxi not feel so much like her nest was empty to know that the dolls went to good use.
Maxi started putting things back in her bag, and Jane saw that as the perfect opportunity to take the focus off herself. She turned to Claire. “Did Maxi tell you what my new guest, Chandler Vanbeck, said about her sketches?”
Claire looked at Maxi. “No? Who is Chandler Vanbeck, and when did he see your sketches?”
Maxi waved her hand dismissively. “It’s nothing. They fell out of my bag when I was at Tides trying to come up with ideas for the wedding.”
“It’s not nothing,” Jane said. “Andie said that Chandler is a renowned art critic. He saw Maxi’s sketch and said it was quite good.”
Claire sipped her coffee. “Well, that’s no surprise. We all know Maxi is a fantastic artist.”
“Oh, come on! It was just a rough sketch. He was probably just trying to be nice.” Maxi tried to brush it off as if it was nothing, but Jane got this feeling that she was actually pleased and proud.
“I think you should do something with your artwork. Maybe have an art show or something. Don’t you think, Claire?” Jane turned to look at Claire, but her friend’s attention was riveted on something behind Jane. Jane turned to see Rob Bradford coming over from his bread store across the street.
“Hi, ladies,” Rob said, his kind smile lighting his face. He nodded to Jane and Maxi, and then his eyes locked on Claire as if she were the Hope Diamond. He skirted around the plants, came over to the table, and kissed her on the cheek, causing her face to turn scarlet.
“Hi, Rob. How’s the bread business?” Maxi asked.
“Pretty good. I was just going out to run some errands. Do you need anything, Claire?”
“No, thanks.”
Rob raised his brows at Jane and Maxi. “Anyone else?”
“Nope, I’m good,” Maxi said.
“Me too,” Jane added.
“Okay, I’ll leave you ladies to your coffee.” Rob walked off, hands in his pockets, whistling.
“He comes over and asks if you need errands run?” Maxi said. “Looks like things are really cooking up with him.”
Claire squirmed primly in her chair. “He was just being neighborly.”
“Yeah, sure,” Maxi said. “No matter how you slice it, I think there’s some heat in the kitchen.”
Jane sipped her coffee, enjoying Claire’s discomfort. It was hilarious that she was pretending her relationship with Rob was no big deal but couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. “I can’t blame you, Claire. Rob’s a nice guy, and the fact that he knows how to cook is just the icing on top.”
“Okay, guys. Stop!” Claire waved her hands, and they all burst out laughing.
Jane’s heart lifted. Her friends were happy and doing well. She’d been a bit worried about Maxi, but looking at her now, there was nothing to worry about. Surely that person she’d seen at the cottage with Sandee really hadn’t been James. It was all just her imagination.
Everyone was doing good… except her. Jane’s gaze dropped to her muffin, and she shoved another piece in her mouth, remembering how she’d used the deposit for the wedding to pay for the food delivery. If she canceled the wedding, she’d have to give the deposit back. Where would she get the money for that?
Hopefully, whatever Andie was up to would pan out. It was her only hope.