Chapter 9

Marsha hummed quietly to herself as she threaded beads together for a pair of earrings. She was working with a large magnifying glass which caught the light beautifully. It was late in the afternoon, and she was winding down her work for the day. It had been a quiet, peaceful day for her. She'd listened to some audiobooks while she crafted and taken a leisurely hour for her lunch break.

I'll never get tired of owning my own business, she thought happily, threading a small pink bead through the wire she was working with. It sparkled in the light, magnified by the glass. I love being able to set my own hours, and never feel like someone is watching over my shoulder. I get to choose my own tasks every day.

She also enjoyed making beautiful things and spending her hours creating. Her head was always filling with new ideas of things that she could make. She loved experimenting with colors and patterns and designs.

"Aunt Marsha?"

She looked up, recognizing Olivia's voice.

Oh, she must be here with Logan, she thoughtexcitedly.

Since it was the middle of the week during regular working hours, her niece would be nannying the five-year-old boy while his parents were at work. Sometimes Olivia brought him to the house to spend time with Marsha in the craft room. He loved to look at the jars of beads, and Marsha usually spoiled him with treats of cookies and lemonade.

"I'm in here!" she called, setting down the earring she was beading and turning her chair toward the door.

Olivia appeared in the doorway a moment later, holding the hand of a little boy with messy golden hair and twinkling green eyes.

"Hi, Logan!" Marsha called, thrilled to see the child, as she always was.

"Hey, Aunt Marsha," he said, hurrying across the room to her for a hug.

She always thought it was adorable that he called her that. Olivia had never corrected him, and she didn't want to either. He seemed to think that "Aunt" was just part of her name.

"Would you like some lemonade and cookies?" she asked him. "I just baked a batch of snickerdoodles earlier today."

The young boy giggled, clearly very amused by the word "snickerdoodle."

"That sounds like a kind of dog!" he said.

"Hmm, sounds like we'd better eat some to investigate, huh, Logan?" Olivia said, crouching down to his level and grinning at him. Marsha hid a smile as she watched them. Her niece truly had a gift for working with children.

"Yeah!" he agreed.

Marsha laughed and stood up. "Let's go to the kitchen, then!"

The three of them trooped off to the cozy little kitchen, where Marsha poured them all glasses of lemonade and handed Logan a cookie out of the cookie jar.

"Yeah, that's definitely not a dog," he said as he chewed his first bite.

"Remember not to chew with your mouth full, buddy," Olivia said, repressing a laugh over how solemn he was being.

Marsha and Olivia ate cookies as well. The soft, buttery taste was light and sweetly accented by the flavor of cinnamon.

"These are fantastic," Olivia said. "You're going to have to stop me from eating this whole jar."

Marsha laughed, pleased by the compliment. "I've been making that recipe since I was a kid."

"Hey, speaking of when you were a kid!" Her niece's eyes shone with enthusiasm. "Did you hear the news that Blueberry Bay is bringing back the Summer Smash event?"

"Yes!" Marsha's heart lifted up at the reminder of the news. She had so many wonderful memories of past Summer Smash celebrations. Memories with her friends, with Willis—she'd won the costume contest with Willis one year. It had been one of the highlights of her youth. "I saw that in The Outlet. I like to keep up with the happenings in Blueberry Bay, so I subscribe to their newspaper."

"I thought you'd be excited about that," Olivia said, probably referring to the way Marsha was smiling warmly. "You had some pretty good times at that in the past, right? You won the costume contest once, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did." She pretended to bow. She'd told Olivia about that once. She had a picture of it somewhere, tucked into an old album. A clipping from the newspaper, showing herself and Willis in their Beatles costumes.

"With your boyfriend Willis?"

Marsha felt as though she might be blushing. She had told Olivia about all of that when her niece was much younger. She'd thought at the time that the little girl would forget all about the story—but now the little girl was a young woman, asking her about her old beau.

"Yes, Willis Jenkins. We entered the contest together. We thought it would be fun, and it certainly was."

"You have a boyfriend?" Logan asked, looking up from his glass of lemonade, which he had seemed to be very focused on until that moment.

"No, no, that was a long time ago." Marsha smiled, although her heart was twisting a little. It had been a very long time since anyone had asked her if she had a boyfriend.

"It's not exactly ancient history though," Olivia said. "I bet he's thinking about all that again too now that they're bringing back the Summer Smash."

"Oh, I don't even know if Willis still lives in Blueberry Bay," Marsha said, finding that her voice was suddenly a little breathless.

"Have you ever considered finding out if Willis still lives in Blueberry Bay?" Olivia's

tone was gentle.

"No—no, I haven't." All of a sudden, she felt flustered. "I did think about it once, just for a moment, but it's best to leave the past in the past. I have my memories. I'm just going to cherish them, and not try to dig up the past."

"Aunt Marsha," Olivia said. Her tone was still gentle, but her eyes sparked with protest. "You still have a lot of life to live. You should make the most of it."

"I do, you're right, but that doesn't mean I want to make the most of it in that way," Marsha said, feeling that her argument was weak but not knowing what else to say.

"I'm not telling you to show up on his doorstep with a bouquet of roses—although, that's not a bad idea, you only live once—"

"Olivia!"

"—and I'm sure you want to see him again and learn how he's doing." Her niece was grinning.

Marsha's heart was fluttering with nervousness just hearing the words that Olivia was saying. Her niece wasn't wrong—she would love to hear about Willis and learn that he was doing well. But the situation was more complicated than that.

I hope he's happy,she thought. I hope he's got a wonderful, full life. But I think it would feel too strange to see him again after all this time. I've changed so much. He probably doesn't remember our romance with the same fondness that I do.

"If I get a dog," Logan announced loudly, "I'm going to name it Snickerdoodle."

Olivia laughed, and Marsha smiled, glad that the little boy had changed the subject for her.

"Is he going to look just like these cookies?" she teased him.

"Yeah," he said. "He's going to be white with little brown speckles."

"Perfect." Olivia ruffled Logan's hair, and he grinned.

"We could all go down to the animal shelter to look at the dogs there!" Marsha suggested. "Logan, you won't be able to take any of the dogs home, but we can go look at them!" She didn't even want to hint at the possibility of adoption without his parents' permission, although she hoped that their visit might result in one of the dogs there getting taken home by Logan's family eventually.

"Yes please!" Logan cried. "I love dogs!"

"That's a great idea. Thanks, Aunt Marsha." Olivia grinned, although she was giving her aunt an odd look, as if she suspected that she was trying to change the subject.

"Great, I'll go get my purse." Marsha beamed at both of them and slipped out of the kitchen, glad that the subject of Willis had been dropped.