Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Willis pushed open the door to Marsha’s little cottage by the ocean, taking a deep breath of the familiar smell of her home. The scent of her house varied a little depending on what scented candles she’d been burning, but it always smelled fragrant with floral aromas. That afternoon it smelled like lavender and cedar.

He smiled, hearing the sound of Marsha laughing with someone else in the craft room at the back of her home. He knew that someone must be Johanna, since he’d recognized her car in the driveway. He strode down the hallway, eager to see his girlfriend and give her a kiss.

The door to the craft room was open, and he stepped through it, grinning at the two women who were seated across from each other at the craft table, sipping mugs of tea and laughing.

“Willis!” Marsha cried with enthusiasm when she saw him, and she stood up and hurried into his arms.

“I hope I’m not intruding,” he said, planting a quick kiss on Marsha’s mouth. “You ladies look busy.”

“We’re having another knitting lesson,” Marsha informed him, giving his hand a squeeze before he drew back.

“But don’t worry, we’re almost done,” Johanna said, looking up from the sweater she was knitting and grinning at him. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone in a minute here.”

“How are the lessons coming?” Willis asked, stepping over to the craft table, where Marsha’s sweater was resting. It looked as though it was going to turn into an impressive work of art. Johanna’s sweater, which she was holding in her hands, was made of a far simpler pattern but looked neat and professional.

“Amazing,” Marsha said warmly. “Johanna is an excellent student.”

“You know, a few months ago, I would never have agreed with that statement,” Johanna said, taking a sip of her tea. “And I still think ‘excellent’ is much too hyperbolic, but I am proud of what I’m making here. I really have made improvements.”

“Country living is growing on you, it seems,” Marsha teased, her eyes gleaming with amusement. “Look at these country girl skills you’re mastering.”

Johanna chuckled. “Dating a fisherman will do that to you. I’m starting to feel like I grew up out here.” Her eyes glowed when she talked about her boyfriend, Everett Howell.

“Wow, you’ve got it that bad, huh?” Willis teased. “Marsha, we need to do something for poor Johanna. Love is brainwashing her.”

Johanna laughed. “Let it brainwash me. I can’t believe that a few years ago, I thought I’d never want to move away from New York City.”

The three friends continued to banter and chat for a while longer, and then Johanna swallowed the rest of her tea and stood up briskly.

“I should get going,” she said, smiling. “I’m making dinner for that fisherman of mine tonight, and I want to make sure I get started on it now so that it’s ready when he gets done with fishing.”

Johanna said goodbye to Willis, and then Marsha walked her to the front door. Willis stood in the craft room for a moment, admiring the sweater that Marsha was knitting and wondering if she was planning on giving it to him—it was dark green, his favorite color, and it looked as though it was going to be his size. He smiled, feeling a rush of fondness for her sweep through him.

When he heard the front door close, he turned and started walking down the hallway toward his girlfriend.

“Want some iced tea?” Marsha asked him, giving him another hug when they reached each other. “We can drink it out on the back porch and catch up about our days.”

“Sounds great,” he said. He loved their time sitting on the back porch together. They would sit and drink beverages and talk about everything that was on their minds. It was a time for them to be quiet together and become even closer as a couple.

A few minutes later, they were sitting next to each other on a couple of comfortable wicker chairs, holding hands and sipping the delicious iced tea that Marsha had made.

“How was your day, sweetheart?” she asked him warmly. “How’s everything at The Crab?”

“Today went well,” he said, smiling at her. “The Crab had a lot of customers, and no complaints. And!” He grinned when he remembered his news. “I talked to Hannah today. She and Luke are coming to visit for Caitlin’s wedding. I can’t wait to see them.” His daughter, Hannah, and her boyfriend, Luke, were both away at college together, and he always looked forward to their visits.

“I can’t wait to see them either,” she said, clearly thrilled by the news. “I know she’s been visiting as often as she can, but it never feels like quite enough. Do you think she’ll visit a little more often after she graduates?”

“I do,” he said, smiling and feeling a rush of nostalgia. He’d hoped that Hannah would move back to Blueberry Bay for good after graduating, but he knew she needed to do what was best for her and her music career. “I think she’ll want to keep spreading her wings to pursue her music passion, but I hope she’ll always come home whenever she can. I know she loves her roots here, and she’s going to keep her hometown close to her heart.”

“And you close to her heart,” she said, squeezing his hand.

He cleared his throat, nodding.

“I used to think I would worry about her a great deal if she didn’t come home after college,” he said, looking out across the ocean, watching the way the golden sunlight was dancing on the water. “But I don’t feel that way anymore. I love that she has someone who will be there for her. Luke is a great guy, and I trust him to look after her.”

She nodded and smiled, and then she got quiet for a moment, looking out across the ocean. A light breeze, which smelled fragrantly of Marsha’s budding flower garden, brushed against their faces.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he teased, lifting his brows at her when she turned in his direction.

“I was thinking about Isaiah,” she said, smiling fondly as she spoke about her nephew. “I want him to find something like that—a relationship with someone who will really be there for him. I think he could use it. He’s so charming and friendly, but I think he’s a bit lonely deep down. And he’s the kind of free spirit that would do well with someone to anchor him.”

“Hmm.” Willis nodded, grunting in agreement. He was fond of the young man, and he agreed with what Marsha was saying.

She sighed, smiling, and he squeezed her hand again.

“I’m sure everything will work out fine for Isaiah,” she said, and he thought he saw her eyes dancing more than usual.

“I’m sure it will,” he said, bumping her shoulder with his.

They sat there side by side, sipping their tea and watching the ocean waves until it was time to go inside to begin preparing dinner.

Gwen glanced up nervously at the big red brick building of Little Clams Elementary School. Her stomach was flopping as if she was a little kid on her first day of school—except it was clearly the wrong time of day for school, since the first traces of a vibrantly pink sunset could be seen along the horizon.

She was there to help out with the renovations, as she’d promised, and she wondered nervously if Isaiah was going to be there as well. She kept telling herself it was unlikely—and she couldn’t decide if she wanted him to be there or not. She felt disappointed about the prospect of him not being there, and anxious about the idea of him working with her.

Just before she’d reached the front doors, one of them opened, and Olivia stepped out onto the sidewalk, grinning at her.

“Dr. Gwen! I’m so excited you’re here. Thank you so much for agreeing to help out.”

“Oh, of course,” Gwen said, a little breathlessly.

She followed Olivia into the school and couldn’t help but admire how clean and charming it was. It was an older building, but it was clear that it had been lovingly maintained for many years.

“Let me show you the rooms where we plan to do ‘glow-ups,’” Olivia said, gesturing down the hallway. “Hopefully you will have a lot of fun working on this. I always find these kinds of projects very exciting.”

Gwen smiled feebly. “I don’t know that I’m going to be of much use.”

“I’m sure you’ll be a great help,” Olivia reassured her. “Besides, any help you can give us is welcome. You’re helping us get ahead.”

Unless I break something and set them behind schedule , Gwen thought pessimistically, but she just smiled instead of responding to Olivia out loud.

Olivia proudly showed her the classrooms where they wanted to do some minor renovations, and Gwen felt touched by the way Olivia’s eyes shone when she talked about the school. It was clear she loved it very much.

“Let me take you down to the teachers’ lounge,” Olivia said, grinning, after they’d looked at the classrooms. “We have a lot of the supplies for the rooms stored in there.”

Olivia led her down a couple of hallways until they reached a charming little teachers’ lounge, decorated mainly in lime green and pink.

“What’s that?” Gwen asked, laughing a little as she saw a giant smiley face made out of M&M’s lying on one of the tables.

“What on earth?” Olivia laughed, clearly surprised by it as well. “Oh, I know.”

“What?” Gwen prompted, curious.

“That was definitely put there by Isaiah.” Olivia gestured to the M&M smiley face. “He’s the kind of guy who does things just for fun. He likes to spread joy. I think he left these here as a surprise for us, since he knew we’d be here.” She picked up a couple of the brightly-colored candies and popped them into her mouth.

Gwen didn’t quite know what to make of that, but she took a few of the M&M’s anyway, being careful to take them from the end of the smile so she left the shape of it intact. She couldn’t help smiling herself over the whole thing. It was sweet, pun unintended.

“Let’s sit down in these armchairs and discuss the plan,” Olivia said, walking toward a collection of armchairs placed by a window. “Do you want some coffee? There’s a Keurig over there on the counter.” She gestured to where a couple of coffee makers were nestled amidst racks of colorful mugs.

“Sure.” Gwen made herself a coffee at the Keurig as she and Olivia began to discuss the plans for the classrooms.

“Let’s create a spreadsheet with the schedule for each project,” Gwen said. “That way, if we start to fall behind, we’ll know how many more volunteers we need to ask for based on the number of hours we’ve fallen behind.”

Olivia’s eyebrows lifted a little, but she smiled. “Okay! Sure. Sounds like a good idea to me. Very efficient.”

Gwen smiled, but she felt a little twist in her stomach. Olivia’s surprised reaction had made her feel as though she wouldn’t ever fit into Blueberry Bay—to her, a spreadsheet was a simple matter of course, but Olivia seemed to think it was a little bit of overkill.

At that moment, Isaiah stepped through the doorway of the teachers’ lounge, grinning like Tom Sawyer.

“Hey, ladies!” he said cheerfully. “Mind if I join the party?”

“Not at all,” Olivia said, grinning back at him. “You already provided the snacks, didn’t you?”

He bowed and went to make himself a cup of coffee. “I might possibly be guilty of that. What have you been talking about so far?”

Gwen felt her flutters of nervousness whirl like butterflies in her chest when she looked at him. It was ironic, she thought, that he gave off such a relaxed energy but he made her feel so jittery.

“Gwen here just suggested a spreadsheet for every project,” Olivia said. “That way we can track how many hours we might get behind so we know how many more people to bring in if necessary.”

Isaiah turned to Gwen with a smile. “A spreadsheet, huh? Sounds smart, but I don’t expect we’ll need to be so careful in this case. Right now, we’re still ahead of schedule. I’m sure everything will work out just fine.” He leaned against the counter, grinning cheerfully.

“We can’t just rely on luck,” Gwen protested, feeling a little frustrated that he was shooting her idea down so quickly. After all, they’d asked her to help out—this was how she knew how to be helpful. “I think we should have a detailed plan to make sure we stay on track.”

“I agree with Gwen,” Olivia said, although Gwen suspected she might be trying to keep the peace more than she was actually in agreement with her. “Let’s use spreadsheets. I’m grateful for any help you can give us, Gwen.”

“Great.” Gwen smiled briskly. “What else could I do to be of help?”

“Would you be willing to write up a little ad, asking for paint donations for the activity rooms? We thought that could be a fun way to keep costs low. We don’t need any particular color—bright colors are best, but anything will do. And if someone doesn’t have enough of one color to paint a whole room, that’s okay—then we’ll just paint all the walls different colors, which will be fun for the kids.”

“Absolutely,” Gwen said, finding the idea resourceful and charming. “I’d be happy to write up an ad for that.”

“Perfect.” Olivia smiled. “You and Isaiah are the perfect team for this project. With Isaiah’s optimistic enthusiasm and your practicality, you’ll have every base covered.”

Gwen felt herself flushing a little at the suggestion that she and Isaiah would be a good team together. Her mind flashed back to the thoughts she’d had in her kitchen late at night, about whether or not she could be in a partnership with someone as laid-back as Isaiah. Not that working together and being in a partnership were even remotely the same thing, she thought hurriedly—but she couldn’t help making the connection that if they worked well together in one dynamic, they might work well together in other dynamics as well.

She glanced at him and saw that he was flashing that radiant grin at her. She felt her stomach flutter, although she kept herself from looking away too quickly.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I agreed to help out at the school, she thought.

She had a feeling that she and Isaiah were both about to challenge each other’s ways of doing things a great deal.