Chapter 17

Hannah parked her car in front of Dane and Alissa's new house and peered out of her window eagerly.

Oh wow, it's cute,she thought. Those two are so lucky to have found this place, even if it does sound like it's got some problems right now.

She hopped out of her car, pulling her phone out of her pocket and checking the time. Alissa had texted her that morning that she was free to come over after five-thirty, since she and Dane would be home from The Outlet's offices by then.

She saw that it was five thirty-six, and she smiled to herself, pleased at her timing. She headed up the walkway toward the front door, which was painted a beautiful cherry red. She rang the doorbell beside it, and then rocked back and forth on her heels while she waited.

A few moments later, the door opened, and she was greeted by Alissa's smiling face.

"Hey!" The brown-haired woman pulled Hannah into a hug. "Glad you're here."

"Thanks for letting me stop by." Hannah grinned. "Your house is gorgeous."

"Ugh, thanks. It's our problem child."

Hannah laughed. "Don't say that! It looks like it's absolutely going to be worth the repairs."

"Well, thanks for saying that." Alissa smiled.

"Hey, Hannah." Dane appeared in the doorway behind his wife. "Good to see you. How's it going?"

"Good." She smiled back at him. "I was just telling Alissa how much I like your house."

"You want it?" he joked, and everyone laughed. "Actually, we were just in the middle of discussing what to do about the tiles in our upstairs bathroom. Since we have to lay a bunch of them down anyway, we're thinking about taking advantage of that and choosing a different set of tiles that we like a little better."

"Sounds like a good idea," Hannah said. "Sorry to hear about all the troubles. Alissa told me about some of them a while ago when we were at The Outlet. How are the repairs going?"

"They're going okay." Alissa glanced at her husband, and they smiled at each other. "We have to pay a lot for them, and we're not thrilled about that, but Dane did have a wonderful idea. He thought of starting a new column in our magazine focusing on home ownership. We can give advice, tell anecdotes, include instructions for how to do things like reattach a bathroom sink handle, that kind of thing."

"That sounds pretty specific." Hannah laughed. "I'm guessing that happened?"

"Right before I had this idea," Dane said. "But that's where the lightbulb moment came from. I realized that there are a lot of things we can do ourselves. And a column will help other people with home ownership struggles."

"And it will help us feel less frustrated when something else goes wrong," Alissa said, winking at her husband and grinning.

"I love that idea." Hannah nodded enthusiastically. "Sounds like a smart way to make the most of your troubles."

"Thanks," Dane said. "We appreciate that."

"Could I have a tour of the house?" Hannah asked eagerly. "I'm just dying to see it."

"Sure." Alissa grinned, pushing her glasses up. "It looks pretty good for the most part. Right, Dane?"

He nodded, chuckling. "Most of the rooms have been behaving themselves pretty well."

"Well, hopefully the rest of them catch on and start doing the same," Hannah said, winking.

They stepped inside the house, and Alissa and Dane began a tour of it. Hannah was delighted by everything they showed her, and her friends seemed encouraged by her enthusiasm.

"This place is really darling," she assured them. "And you've done such good work with it! I love the way you've decorated."

They all chatted for a while as they wandered the house, and Hannah expressed hopes that she could have such a nice home someday. As they talked, however, she started to get restless, thinking about what she wanted to talk to Alissa about. Dane somehow seemed to read her mind as they returned to the front entryway.

"I know you came here to talk to Alissa, Hannah, so I can go ahead and get out of your hair." He smiled. "I was actually thinking about going for a walk today. It's such a beautiful afternoon. I think I'll do that now."

"Okay, sweetheart." His wife kissed his cheek. "Although, actually, Hannah, I'd also love to go for a walk. How would you feel about you and I going for a stroll as well? Maybe walk down into town and make a stop at Tidal Wave Coffee?"

"Sounds perfect." Hannah grinned. "I could absolutely go for a mocha right now."

"Bring me back a latte, would you?" Dane asked his wife.

"You got it," Alissa assured him.

They all left the house together, and Alissa and Hannah waved goodbye to Dane as he set out in the direction of the woods. The women took a path that would lead them to one of Blueberry Bay's sidewalks in a few minutes.

"Thanks for stopping by today," Alissa said. "I'm really glad you did. I've been wanting to ask you how showing the newspaper article to your dad went."

"Oh, right! Goodness, the events of the past few days have gone way beyond the newspaper article."

"Really?" Alissa's eyes glinted with interest. "Tell me everything."

They walked along the path under a cluster of green trees that rustled in the light summer wind. Sunlight was dappling the path in front of them, and birds chirped cheerfully in the tree branches overhead. Alissa listened carefully as Hannah outlined everything that had happened with her father and Marsha in the past few days.

"So after Olivia found me, we decided to arrange a meeting between the two of them, even though they were reluctant to meet. We asked Caitlin to help us out and we had them meet on the Beyond the Sea Dinner Cruise on Friday night."

"I can't believe Caitlin didn't tell me!" Alissa gasped. "I guess she figured it wasn't her story to talk about. But that's so exciting. How did it go?"

"Ugh, disappointingly." Hannah sighed. "I was so hoping that they'd hit it off and just… I don't know, ride off into the sunset together or something, you know? I know Olivia was hoping the same thing. But that's not what happened at all."

"Oh." Alissa glanced at her friend as they walked. The path ended, leading them out onto one of Blueberry Bay's sunny sidewalks. "What happened? Did it go badly?"

"I guess it could have been much worse. They had dinner together—it's not like they refused to talk to each other or something. But Dad told me that at the end of their conversation, they decided to part ways for good."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I would have hoped they at least wanted to strike up a rekindled friendship or something."

"Yes. I agree. But doesn't that seem suspicious to you, that they didn't want to?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" A gust of wind blew at their faces, tossing Hannah's dark hair over her shoulder as she gestured, trying to put her thoughts into words. "If they didn't want to stay friends, doesn't that imply that there's still something there? Like, just being friends might be painful for them because there's still a spark?"

"Maybe," her friend admitted, her eyebrows lifted with interest. "I think that's a really valid theory. But—I mean, they've made that decision. I feel disappointed about it too, but there's not much we can do about it."

Hannah was quiet for a few seconds. She stared straight ahead as they walked, a pleased smile on her face.

"What?" Alissa asked her suspiciously.

"I don't know that I agree with you." She turned to her friend, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "I think they're hesitant to disrupt their lives after so many years, but they're going to regret what they decided on Friday night in just a little while. Heck, they're probably regretting it already."

"Love does come with a lot of other complicated emotions," Alissa admitted.

Hannah nodded. "And they're probably feeling all kinds of things right now, but—well, you should have seen how she looked at my dad. And I haven't seen him that tongue-tied in a long time. I think they both want to try again, but they're too hurt or scared or whatever."

"Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. How did she look at your dad?"

"Totally starry-eyed. I mean, she never got married. I think she never really got over him."

"But your dad did, and it went badly for him. So he's probably scared of getting hurt again, especially because he got hurt by Marsha before."

"Exactly. I think they want to stay in their safe places and not have their lives disrupted. But sometimes a little disruption is good. I think a little disruption in this case could lead to both of them having a second chance at happiness. They both deserve that, especially after everything they've been through."

"It would be wonderful if it all worked out." Alissa smiled as they crossed the street. Tidal Wave Coffee was at the end of the sidewalk they were headed toward, and Hannah felt excited about the prospect of coffee. "What do you think you're going to do?"

"I've got to think about it," Hannah said. "But I'm definitely not going to give up yet."

Once they'd crossed the street, there were too many other people around for them to feel comfortable talking about such a private subject. After a few moments of companionable silence, Hannah asked, "How are the preparations for the Summer Smash going?"

"Really well! I'm really excited about it, and I think everyone else is too. We've been hearing a lot of good feedback at The Outlet about the stories of Blueberry Bay history that we've been publishing in the paper. People love reading about all the things that have happened here in town, even if they're not planning on entering the costume contest."

"A lot of people are though, right?" Hannah asked as they stepped inside Tidal Wave Coffee and were greeted by the rich, dark aroma that always filled the air there. "I've heard a lot of people say that they want to enter the contest."

"Yes! It should really be a lot of fun. I can't wait to see how creative people get."

As they stepped up to the counter to order their drinks, Hannah stopped dead in her tracks, staring straight ahead at the wall in front of them.

"What?" her friend asked curiously, laughing a little at Hannah's odd behavior.

"Let's get our drinks first," she said, "and then I'll tell you. I'm still putting the idea together in my mind anyway."

"Okay!" Alissa's eyebrows were lifted curiously, but she didn't press her friend. They ordered their drinks—Hannah got a mocha and Alissa got a rose latte.

"I'll get Dane his as we're leaving," she said as they took their drinks, "since it'll keep better that way. You want to go to that table over there?" She gestured to a cozy table in a corner by a window, which looked like it would be out of earshot from everyone who was already sitting in the coffee shop.

"Sure!"

The two women settled down across from each other at the table, and Alissa leaned forward eagerly.

"Okay. Please tell me. What is this idea of yours?"

Hannah grinned. "What if a new angle was added to the Summer Smash's costume contest this year? What if everyone who had won in previous years was formally asked by Blueberry Bay to participate again this year? In the same teams that they won with?"

Alissa's eyes widened as she realized what Hannah was saying. "So… Willis and Marsha would be asked to participate together?"

"Yes!" Hannah said. She took a sip of her mocha and closed her eyes for a second. "Oh wow, that's good."

"I love that idea!" Alissa's face lit with excitement as she thought about it. "I love the idea of it potentially bringing Willis and Marsha back together again, and I just love it in general. We could phrase it as, ‘In the spirit of bringing the tradition of the Summer Smash back to Blueberry Bay.'"

"Look at you, composing an article already!"

Alissa grinned. "I'll have to run it by the town council, but I bet they'll love the idea too. It'll be a great way for us to add even more hype to the event. The Outlet can write articles about all of the participants who've won in the past, if they're willing to be interviewed."

"Sounds great!"

"And once it's all approved, I'll put an announcement into The Outlet about it. Hey, good thing I've already got a folder of the articles about all the past winners set aside! I'll call all of them up and invite them to participate if they aren't doing so already."

"Amazing! Thank you so much, Alissa."

"Of course. Besides, it'll help The Outlet too. Sounds like a winning situation for everyone." She grinned over her pun, and her friend groaned.

They continued to chat excitedly about their plans as they finished their coffee, grabbed a latte for Dane, and then started back toward Alissa's house. Hannah's heart felt light.

I think this just might work out,she thought happily. Come on, Dad and Marsha, re-enter the contest together.