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When I heard the ferry's horn announcing it was rolling into the dock, I took a moment to glance down the street. I wanted to gauge the size of the morning rush. I was selfishly excited about sneaking out to see the hardware store and hoped the crowd wouldn't be huge. Fortunately or unfortunately, I didn't have too much to fear. Things had quieted down quite a bit on the island compared to the summer as families went back to school. Last month, my mom's old boyfriend, Hal, had shown up to film a documentary about the treasures we discovered in Holly's general store. We were hoping that once the show hit the airwaves, the ferries would be packed. It hadn't aired yet, though, so things were still pretty quiet.
I saw Richard walk down the gangplank. I don't know who spent more time getting their hair just right – my granny with her black bouffant or Richard with his brill creamed white hair. One way or another, they were a perfect couple. He leaned over for a kiss, and I could see Granny laugh and try to wipe her magenta lipstick from beneath his waxed mustache. Hand in hand, they strolled down Main Street together, her in her purple velour tracksuit and high-heeled tennis shoes, him in his tweed jacket and bowtie, making quite the fashion statement.
I took my place behind the counter as the small crowd of visitors made their way to this end of the Main Street. As I finished with the last person, my tummy fluttered as I saw the smiling face of one of my most favorite people walk through the door.
"Nate!" I called.
His hands were filled with a pile of papers, but that didn't stop him from strolling over to give me a kiss.
Leaning over the counter, I reached up and brushed back a lock of his floppy brown hair, then rested my hand on his cheek. Sweetly, I asked, "What's that you're carrying? And why do I think you're not just here for a friendly hello?'
"Maybe because I'm here to get a cup of your delicious coffee?" he offered, charmingly lying through his teeth.
I booped his crooked nose. "Ummmhmmm... Spill it."
"I can't get anything past you," he laughed. He pulled one of the sheets off the top of the stack and held it up for me to see. It was a flyer for the Seaside Halloween festival. "Any chance I could hang one of these in your window?"
Nate's family owned almost all of the land on the island for the good part of a century. His uncle wasn't a very nice man, however, so when he died and Nate inherited Seaside, he took it upon himself to take better care of this place. He had all sorts of ideas to help preserve the rich history of the island, while still making sure the shop owners were able to make ends meet.
I took one of the flyers. It seemed like so much fun, something I would have come to even if I wasn't one of the island's residents. "Vendors? A kiddie area to trick-or-treat? Pumpkin cannons? This is so cool!" I said with excitement.
"I'm afraid I can't take any credit this time," he replied. "I'm just helping out. I guess that the Halloween Festival is a long standing tradition." He leaned forward conspiringly. "But I gotta admit, I'm more than happy to not be the person people get angry with if things go wrong."
I laughed. Since he moved here, the poor guy was always left holding the stick when things went south, whether or not it was his fault. It's tough being the person in charge. It's like you have a target painted on your back for all the people who want to point out how you're doing it wrong.
Casually, he mentioned. "You know... vendor tables are available if Bitter Beans would like to have a physical presence. It's a great opportunity to connect with new audiences."
I swatted him with the flyer. "Always trying to lure me in, aren't you?"
"Merely supporting the interests of our local business owners!" he protested, but then leaned over and gave me another long soft kiss. "Can't help that you're my favorite business owner on the island," he murmured.
I pulled away reluctantly. "Well, how can I say no to that?" I grabbed the tape and handed it to him. "I'll check with Granny. Now, I'll put this flyer on the counter if you want to hang some in the window."
"Aye, aye!" he said with a little salute before turning around. "Captain! I'm about to invade your space!" he warned the cat.
Captain sleepily rolled onto his back, showing off his soft belly to the sunbeams.
I started up Nate's regular, an Americano of our darkest beans straight up, and appreciated the view as he walked away to hang the posters.
"You off to anywhere today?" he asked, reaching up to put one in the highest corner of the glass.
As the espresso machine hissed, I replied, "I was about to ditch this popsicle stand. Ralph at the hardware store is wanting to retire. Granny thinks it might be just the right fit for the new historical society."
"That sounds perfect!" Nate replied, eyeballing the poster to see if he got it level.
"I was going to head over as soon as the morning rush died down to check it out. Want to come?"
Over his shoulder, he flashed me his dazzling smile. "Well, as luck would have it, I need to head over to the Grand Hotel to take some flyers, which just happens to be across the road."
"My lucky day!" I exclaimed, finishing his drink. I took off my apron and dashed a quick text message to Granny that we were on our way. "Allow me to accompany you!"
I flipped the door sign to "Back in Twenty Minutes", locked up the shop, and grabbed Nate's hand, lacing my fingers through his. We strolled down Main Street. Even though it was just the first week of October, the boardwalk was already showing signs of the season. The flower baskets that hung from the lampposts had been filled with orange and yellow marigolds and mums. The shops' windows were decorated with Halloween merchandise and pumpkins were piled up beside doorways.
When we arrived at Trevor's saloon, we turned right and headed up the hill. On one side was the Grand Hotel and its beautiful gardens. I had participated in a bakeoff there and it was how Granny and Richard reconnected. But across the street was a two-story, tan brick building. It had a large row of industrial sized windows paned in painted black metal. I think once upon a time, it had been a garage, and then Ralph turned it into the town's hardware store. While it had once been taken care of, it was clear that Ralph was slowing down. The frosted windows were dirty and grass was growing in the cracks of the sidewalk.
Granny and Richard were waiting outside and waved to us as soon as we came into sight.
"Well, what do you think?" Granny asked, presenting the shop like she was a showgirl on a game show.
I was awash with the possibilities. There was already such a sense of history to the place. It had so much character, it hit some deep chord in me. It deserved to be taken care of. It deserved to be the home to Seaside's history. "I think it will be perfect."
"It is great that it will be across the street from the hotel," Nate commented, hooking his thumb toward the entrance of the ol' Grand. "Anyone visiting will suddenly have a place to go."
"Not to mention classing up the neighborhood a bit," Granny whispered under her breath. "I mean... you go for a stroll after your wedding reception and the first thing you see are a bunch of wheelbarrows and garden rakes?" She shook her head at how wrong that was.
Richard pushed back a little. "It has its own rustic charm," he protested good-naturedly. "And if you've forgotten to buy a gift for the bride and groom, well, there's plenty in there to help a young couple setting up their first place."
Granny corrected him. "No one wants a garden hose at their reception!"
Richard leaned towards me. "And this is why I will not be in charge of our gift registry." Granny laughed, and then Richard cleared his throat. "Shall we take a spin inside?"
Granny tucked her hand into Richard's elbow and gazed at him adoringly, "Yes."
The entrance was a set of double wooden doors tucked back in an alcove that Ralph had flanked with a display of faded nylon wind spinners and discounted garden decor. I was careful not to knock over the cheap resin gnomes and plastic frogs dressed as fly fishermen.
Inside the shop, it was a mess. I could see why Ralph had decided it was time to retire. It exhausted me to think of keeping this place up, and I was sixty-years younger. Shelves sat unstocked. Boxes sat unopened. Ralph sat snoozing behind the counter. He wore a quilted flannel jacket over a plaid flannel shirt, and his head bobbed up and down as he made little puppy snores.
"Ralph!" Granny called loudly. "You awake?"
His eyes popped open and he jerked back to reality, trying to pretend he hadn't been counting the sheep in dreamland. "I'm here! What are you hollering about? Whaddaya want?"
"We want to look around the place!" she shouted.
"What?" He turned up his hearing aids.
"We want to look around the place!"
"Oh! Sure! Sure!" He waved at us to make ourselves comfortable. "Take all the time you need!" And then he turned down his hearing aids, folded his arms across his belly, and nodded off again.
We all collectively took in the place, and I gotta admit, it was a little overwhelming. The hardware store was definitely more function over form. There were temporary walls put in place to hold the ratchets and rakes people might want to buy. Lots of metal shelves filled with hammers and screws. The floor was the original concrete, complete with faded oil stains, and the bricks were visible behind the peg-wall panels that went only halfway up.
Richard gave a slight sigh. "This will be a difficult renovation..." he cautioned.
Granny waved away his concerns. "Oh, where's your sense of adventure? We'll have this place shipshape in no time." She pointed to the front. "We'll put a little café there and a gift shop over there. And then put up a wall and some display cases..."
As she spun her vision, I glanced at Richard. I could see he was calculating the math on all those ideas.
"I was just hoping we could start smaller..." Richard gently interrupted. "And perhaps grow from there. This is going to cost so much. We'll need to see how big a loan we can qualify for..."
"Fortunately, I happen to know everyone who makes those decisions at the bank," said Granny with a wink.
"But that still means we have to pay it back each month." I could see Richard was becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the scope of this project with each passing minute. "Do you think we will make enough profit from ticket sales to cover the cost? Plus our wedding? Plus our home?"
But before he could continue on with his worries, Granny took his hand. "Now, Richard, one thing I've learned is that all the projects you think someday you'll get around to never happen. You have to strike while the iron is hot. Go big or go home." Seeing he still wasn't convinced, she pulled out the big guns. "Speaking of home..." She led him over to a set of wooden stairs and slowly walked all of us up to the second floor. "I wanted to show you this, too, which I think may provide some... additional cost savings." She gave him a mysterious smile as she opened the door to the large, storage room. It was bare brick and stretched the entire length of the building. A freight elevator took up the far back corner. "We could renovate this and make it our home. Together."
I saw Richard melt just a little at that thought.
My mind began running with all the possibilities. It had windows all along the walls, lots of natural light, and if done well, could be as fancy as a loft in some big city.
Granny slid her arms around his neck. "I know how important this is to you, Richard. I've been running a business through good times and bad for the past forty years. Trust that I'm good at this. Trust that, together, we are going to be great at this."
But before Richard could respond, there was a large crash in the back of the room behind one of the industrial shelves. We all rushed around the corner to see if something had broken. Fortunately, it was just a pile of paint trays that had fallen over.
"Must've been the wind," Nate said, pointing at an old window that had swung open. He picked his way over the piles to shut it. The latch was broken and had been replaced with a bent wire hanger.
Granny laughed. "Wind? Or our own resident ghost!" She squeezed Richard's hand and teased. "Quite a lot of people will come to see a haunted museum."
Richard completely gave in, his mustache twitching with his smile. "Well, I for one will gladly welcome guests from this world or beyond if it makes you happy." However, then he shouted to the room. "But don't think you're getting a discounted rate on admission! We have a new home to pay for!"