Chapter 7

Even though it was only February, the day was uncommonly warm, so Claire decided to walk to the storefront where she was due to meet Lori Sims. She knew this was the kind of weather she'd grown up calling "false spring." Tomorrow, it would be freezing again, and the cold would feel twice as brutal for the contrast, but she was determined to enjoy the increase in temperature while it lasted.

Maybe it will be cold tomorrow, but it does mean spring is coming soon, she reasoned. Or… soon-ish.

Still, she was practically skipping as she headed to her meeting. She was trying not to get ahead of herself, but she couldn't help but think she was on the precipice of something big and exciting.

"Hey there!"

Claire stopped and whirled at the sound of her father's voice, hands on her hips, although her mood was so buoyant that she couldn't make her face turn into a successful frown of disapproval.

"Dad! What are you doing here?"

Hudson's expression was sheepish as he climbed out of his car.

"I told you I wanted to come!" he exclaimed. "That Lori Sims won't get anything over any daughter of mine."

"I told you I could handle it," Claire reminded him affectionately, although she hadn't really ever thought he'd be able to stay away.

"I know you can…" He trailed off and she gave him a playful eye roll.

"Okay, fine, you goof," she said, not really minding. Her father had gotten so much better about his overprotectiveness in the past several years that she teased him about it more out of habit than anything else. "Come on in. But you have to play nice with Lori, okay?"

He raised his right hand in a ‘scout's honor' gesture that Claire did not find even remotely convincing.

The exterior of the storefront was as perfect as it had been all the times Claire had driven past it in the previous days, finding herself unable to resist as she waited for her meeting with Lori to arrive. The fa?ade was a cheerful red brick with deep-set windows, edged in white frames. There was a space above the door that would be perfect for a sign, and she could just make out the shadowy remains of an A and an RE from where the previous sign—for a hardware store—had hung for years.

Claire pulled open the front door, her hand practically tingling with the excitement of the moment. Lori stood inside the well-illuminated room, which got tons of natural light from the large front windows. The older woman turned with a bright smile on her face.

That smile fell as soon as she saw Hudson.

"Oh," she said flatly. "It's you."

"Lori," Hudson said, just as stiff. "You can't imagine I wouldn't come to make sure my daughter gets the best deal possible when she's thinking about buying real estate, can you?"

"You can't be implying that I would cheat your daughter, can you?" Lori shot back, her tone somewhat offended.

Even though he had sort of implied this, back when he'd first mentioned this property to Claire, Hudson fortunately had the grace not to say as much.

"No, of course not," he said gruffly, looking askance. "Just doing my diligence as her father and all."

"Hmph," Lori said.

"Anyway," Claire interjected brightly, trying to distract the two before they could get any further into the jabs that always seemed to arise as a result of their rivalry. Really, it was like kids pulling each other's pigtails on the playground! "Let's see this space, shall we?"

Lori's pleasant, professional mask slid back into place, although Claire could sense that Hudson never strayed far from the older woman's thoughts. "Absolutely! Let me show you around."

Lori showed her features of the space, including the places where she could fit industrial coolers, for flowers that needed temperature controls, and the sizable outdoor space to the back of the property, where Claire could cultivate some of her wares. The more they looked, the more Claire had to admit that the place seemed perfect for her dream shop.

Hudson, however, was a harder sell. "When was it last inspected?" he demanded.

Lori, seemingly intent on ignoring her client's somewhat overprotective father, kept her smile on Claire as she answered. "Just last week! No issues except for a cracked pipe over the industrial sink in the back, but the previous owner has agreed to fix that before selling."

"Did the pipe cause any water damage?" Hudson shot back.

Lori's smile grew a little tenser, although her tone remained cheerful. "Nope! It probably froze in the last few weeks while nobody has been in here. The old owners did recommend leaving the taps to drip when it gets really cold in the winter, but that's the same recommendation that I'd give to anyone owning any kind of building in this kind of climate."

Hudson grumbled about pipe insulation until Claire stepped, none too discreetly, on his foot.

"I like it so much," Claire told Lori, spinning in a circle to look at the space. She could practically already see how it would look, full of flowers. Then her nerves struck again. "I'm not quite ready to make a decision though," she confessed. "Can I have some time to think about it?"

"Of course, honey," Lori assured her in a motherly tone. "I'll be completely up front with you. I have one or two other interested parties, but they haven't been out to see the property yet. We don't even have visits scheduled. I can't promise they won't suddenly become more motivated, but for now, I think you have a little breathing room. I'll let you know if anything changes."

Claire couldn't resist throwing her arms around the other woman, although she could practically feel her father's disgruntlement. Well, pish posh on that, she thought. It was far past time for him to grow out of his rivalry, anyway.

"Thanks, Lori," she said with feeling. "I won't drag my heels, I promise. I just want to look over the numbers from my bank one more time and take another pass on my proposed business plan." Claire had spent hours over the past few days researching start-up costs for businesses in the area and going over her finances, including a potential mortgage for this building.

"I get it," Lori assured her. "And you should consider talking to Marty; she'll be back from her honeymoon today, actually, so if it's okay with you, I'll tell her to give you a call. I'm sure she'd be happy to share her experiences starting a small business after she gets settled back in at home."

"That would be amazing!" She gave Lori another quick squeeze. "But tell her not to rush, of course! I know she's settling in to married life."

Lori assured her she would share the message, then bid them farewell, her words for Claire distinctly warmer than those she had for Hudson. While Lori locked up, Claire and Hudson walked back in the direction of his car.

"That was awful nice of her to tell you there aren't any other buyers putting on the pressure," Hudson admitted, sounding like it hurt him to say so. "She didn't need to do that."

"Huh," Claire said. "It's almost as if… bear with me here, Dad… she's a nice person?"

Her father let out a grumbling sound, but he didn't disagree. Claire wanted to needle him a bit more but decided to let the matter drop. Better to end things on a high note.

"Are you headed back to the office?" she asked instead.

Hudson nodded. "Yeah, I've got a few clients to speak with this afternoon. Are you heading home to work? Do you want me to drop you off before you go?"

She shook her head. "No, I cleared my schedule for today, since I didn't know how long this meeting would take, and I didn't want to be stressing about time when I needed to be paying attention to the building. I think I'm going to walk down to Seastar Espresso and grab some coffee before I head home."

He glanced at his watch, giving a frown. "I'm afraid I can't join you, kiddo. But maybe we can grab dinner later in the week?"

They agreed to this plan, then headed their separate ways. Claire's head was in the clouds, dreaming about how the beautiful storefront she'd just seen would look as her own business.

She was so lost in her reverie that she barely heard the cheerful jangle of the bell as she entered Seastar Espresso, the downtown coffee shop owed by Charity Turner. Claire didn't know Charity that well, but she knew the woman was friends with Marty and Darla.

You really have to do more to maintain your friendships! she chided herself as she made polite small talk with Charity as the businesswoman took her order. Not only would getting to know someone like Charity offer her another avenue for advice when it came to running a small business in Whale Harbor, but the coffee shop owner seemed really nice. She would have to be, Claire imagined, if she was friends with wonderful people like the Sims sisters.

She resolved to do more to improve her social skills, something she'd need if she was going to start a career that put her more in touch with the people of Whale Harbor. Marty might still be on her honeymoon, but Darla was right here in town. She vowed to call Darla as soon as she was done with her coffee. She nodded to herself, satisfied with this decision as she waited for her oat milk latte, which she'd ordered because some evidence suggested that avoiding dairy could help avoid lupus flare-ups. It wasn't the same as getting proper medical treatment from her doctor, which Claire also did, of course. But she was more than willing to do something so simple if it could positively affect her health, although sometimes she did miss having ice cream made from real milk.

She pulled out of her thoughts. Ah, there was her coffee, waiting on the pickup counter! She reached out to grab it and smacked her hand right into someone else's.

She turned, an apology already on her lips, to find the handsome man from the parking lot.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed.

His look of faint surprise shifted into a smile of recognition. "Oh, hi there," he said. "We really are getting good at bumping into one another."

"Yeah," she said, her laugh a little nervous and awkward. "Liam, right?"

"Right," he said. He didn't seem awkward at all. "And you're Claire?"

"I am," she confirmed. She looked at the coffee they'd both been aiming to grab when they'd bumped each other. "Did you order an oat milk latte?"

He smiled. Drat, he had a nice smile. It made her feel even more nervous. This was what she got for letting her social skills get so rusty! A handsome, charming person to wow with her awkwardness!

"I didn't," he said, then turned the cup. Sure enough, the side said, BLK COFFEE, SKIM MILK. "My coffee order is a bit more boring than that."

Claire felt herself blushing.

Just then, Charity came to the counter. "Sorry, Claire," she said, plunking down a cup. "I dropped the first one!" She rolled her eyes at herself. "You'd think it was my first day, huh?" Then she gave Liam a smile of recognition. "Hey, Liam, good to see you." Charity bustled back to work before he could reply.

Claire arched an eyebrow at him. "You know Charity?"

He nodded, taking a sip of his drink. It should be illegal, Claire thought, for someone to look attractive while sipping from a to-go cup. "Her boyfriend, Dominic, and I were friends in Boston. They were nice enough to have me over for dinner the other night."

"Oh, is that why you're here in Whale Harbor? To visit Dominic?" They weren't totally off the map, of course, but it was rare to see a stranger around town in the offseason for tourists, especially one who had been here for about a week by this point.

"He's the one who put Whale Harbor on my map," Liam said, which Claire realized wasn't exactly an answer to her question. Still, it was none of her business. Whale Harbor might be a small town, but that didn't mean she had to pry about everyone's reasons for crossing the town borders.

"Well, it's a great place to be," she said cheerfully, inwardly wincing. She sounded like she was auditioning to be spokesperson for the Whale Harbor Tourism Board.

Liam nodded along readily enough. She hoped it wasn't because he felt bad for her and her inability to make normal conversation. Had she missed the day at school where they'd taught you how to be calm and cool when you were talking to someone you thought was cute? She had missed a lot of school due to her illness, so it was possible.

"Well, it was great to see you again, Claire," Liam said, drawing her out of her self-deprecating thoughts. "I'm afraid I have to run, though. See you around?"

He was gone before she could formulate an answer. That was probably, she thought with a shake of her head, for the best. That was one less chance for her to be tongue-tied.

She sat for a little while, sipping her drink. She tried to focus on her tour of the building and the decisions she would have to make to open her flower shop, but her mind kept slipping back to the conversation with Liam. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to wince.

When Claire had first been diagnosed with lupus, she'd vowed to find a way to create balance in her life. She knew her illness would affect the way she lived, and knew she'd have to make space for some of the limitations her chronic illness put on her. But maybe she'd been so focused on making that space that she'd forgotten to reserve space for the fun things in life too.

With a sigh, she admitted to herself that she wasn't going to be able to focus on big work decisions for a little while. She finished the last sips of her latte, tossed the cup in the trash, and left Seastar Espresso, offering Charity a quick wave as she went.

Once on the sidewalk, she turned to walk toward home, pulling out her phone as she went. She dialed Darla. No time like the present to begin exercising her tragic social skills.

"Claire?" Darla picked up after a few rings, sounding surprised. "Is everything okay?"

Claire wanted to smack herself in the forehead. She was such a ninny! She'd been so eager to make good on her promise to herself that she'd forgotten it was the middle of a weekday.

"Hi, Darla, yes, everything's fine," she said, rolling her eyes at herself. "I was just calling to chat, but it occurs to me that you're probably busy. I'm so sorry for interrupting you at work."

Darla gave her own self-deprecating chuckle. "Actually, I'm the one who should apologize. Back when I lived in New York City, my mom would answer every phone call with ‘are you okay? What's wrong?' Like she expected me to always be in peril. It drove me nuts! And now here I am, doing the same thing to you."

The two women laughed together.

"In your defense," Claire offered, enjoying the brisk air as she walked, "I haven't called you in too long. Seeing everyone at Marty's wedding made me realize that I haven't been the most attentive friend recently, so I'm trying to do a bit better."

"You know, when I saw you at the wedding, I thought the same thing. Only in my version, I was the one who had gone too long without calling you. And you're the one calling now, so I think you win."

"Let's call it even," Claire suggested.

"Deal."

"How has everything been? How's married life treating you?"

Darla let out a happy sigh. "Oh, only totally amazing." She gushed for a minute or two, and Claire smiled at her friend's obvious happiness. "Enough about me though," Darla said. "Have you heard about poor Marty?"

"Your mom said she was coming home from her honeymoon soon, but that's it." As soon as the words left Claire's mouth, she wished she could snatch them back. She didn't want to keep secrets, but she wanted to have her plans a tiny bit firmer before she told anyone about her flower shop… especially when that someone was Darla, who had opened a successful art museum all by herself.

But Darla didn't ask why Claire had been speaking with Lori.

"She got sick, the poor thing!" the other woman exclaimed, her sympathy obvious even over the phone. "On the first day too. It knocked her and Wyatt both right on their butts."

"Oh no!" Claire had plenty of experience knowing how disappointing it was when illness got in the way of you enjoying yourself. "That's terrible."

"I know," Darla agreed. "Once she's settled in back home, I'm thinking of doing a little girls' night to cheer her up. You should come!"

Claire felt an excited flutter. It had been way too long since she'd had a night out with friends. "I would love to."

"It's settled then," Darla said. Then, "Oops, I have to go. Some people just came into the museum. I'll text you when I have more info about our girls' night, okay?"

"That sounds amazing. Thanks for the chat!"

"Any time," Darla said. "Seriously. Talk to you soon."

Just before the line disconnected, Claire heard her friend call the start of a greeting to the museum patrons.

She was almost home now, her feet having guided her home without the need to pay much attention. As her phone call ended, Claire fought the urge to clutch it to her chest like a giddy teen. Forget cute guys in coffee shops, she was connecting with friends again! She was making strides to get the life she wanted, not one where her illness called all the shots.

For the first time in a while, she realized as she approached her house, she felt proud of herself. And that was a pretty great feeling to have.

As Wyatt opened the door to their house in Whale Harbor, Marty had to admit that if she'd ever been more tired in her life, she couldn't think of a time.

I need a vacation from my vacation, she thought ruefully.

The string of bad luck that had plagued her honeymoon hadn't let up for their travel home. Although she and Wyatt had both been in good enough health to travel, they'd both been weary from their weeklong illness. On top of that, they'd been struck with endless delays on their layover, due to a storm plaguing the southeastern United States. By the time they had landed at Logan Airport in Boston, they had been traveling for over fourteen hours!

"We made it," Wyatt breathed as they stepped through the front door.

"For a while there, I wasn't sure it would ever happen," she quipped exhaustedly.

"My babies!" Lori's voice came, exuberant, as she entered the front hallway, arms spread wide. "You're one of my kids now too, Wyatt," she clarified, hugging her new son-in-law before passing him to give Marty a tight squeeze. Marty leaned into her mother's embrace, feeling even more at home when she caught a whiff of the perfume Lori had worn for as long as her daughter could remember.

"Aw, thanks, Lori," Wyatt said as he hung his coat on the hook. "I'm lucky to have a mother-in-law like you."

Lori playfully fluffed her hair as if to say, Who, me? The newly arrived couple laughed, their weariness evident in the sound.

"Oh, you poor things," Lori said, snapping directly into ‘mom mode.' "Sick all week, then traveling all day? You must be beat. I'll get out of your hair quickly, but let me make you a little dinner first, okay?"

"You don't have to do that, Mom," Marty said, dropping her bags. She'd pick them up later, when her head didn't feel like it weighed a thousand pounds. "You already did us such a favor, watching the cats while we were gone."

"Oh, hush," Lori scolded gently, herding them toward the living room. "I'm your mom; that's my job. Besides, I'm just going to throw together some pasta and veggies. It'll hardly take a minute. No, don't offer to help me," she warned, seeing Wyatt open his mouth to do exactly that. "Just sit down, all right?"

"There's no arguing with her," Marty murmured to her husband. "Just let her ‘mom' you until she gets it out of her system."

"I heard that!" Lori was pretending to be stern, but her chuckle broke through.

"Okay, okay," Wyatt said, collapsing on the couch. "I'm a smart enough man."

Marty dropped into place next to him. It felt so comfortable that she thought she might never stand up again.

Lori set the water to boil, threw a few vegetables in the pan to sauté, and joined her daughter and son-in-law for a few minutes to chat. "I hate that you were sick for your whole trip," she commiserated. Marty knew that Darla had been in touch with their mother since she'd heard the couple's bad news.

"Us too." She sighed. "But we're trying not to dwell on it. Tell us what's been happening in Whale Harbor since we've been gone, instead."

Whale Harbor was a small town, but that was a reason there was always gossip, not a reason against it. The tiny events of your neighbors' day to day lives might slide by in the city, but in a town like this one, everybody knew everything about one another. Some people might find that stifling—Charity's boyfriend, Dominic, had when he'd first arrived in Whale Harbor, Marty knew—but Marty found it comforting. No matter what life threw at her, good or bad, she knew there was someone nearby who cared. Usually, many someones.

"Huh, let me think." Lori scrunched her nose, then brightened. "Well, you'll never guess who came to see one of my properties today!"

"Who?" Marty thought Wyatt might have actually dozed off a little, as his head lolled against her shoulder.

"Claire Boone!"

Marty brightened. "Oh, I love Claire!" Then she paused. "But doesn't she already own a house?"

Lori nodded. "Yes, and I don't want to speak out of turn, so I won't give you details, but this was a commercial property." She raised a meaningful eyebrow. "I told her she has a little time before she has to commit, but I have a good feeling about this one. I also told her she could pick your brain about opening a business in Whale Harbor."

"Of course," Marty said absently. Her mind was whirling. She hadn't seen Claire as much as she would have liked the past couple of years, but she'd gotten the impression that Claire's job was something she did just for the money, as opposed to something that really interested and inspired her. She could totally see Claire as a business owner though, as her friend had always been motivated and savvy, although Marty suspected that her chronic illness had undermined her confidence a little.

"But then," Lori went on with an irritated huff, "who else shows up at the viewing but that Hudson Boone."

Marty snapped back to the present at her mother's indignant tone. "Well, he is her father." She chuckled.

Lori scoffed. "Claire Boone is thirty years old and has always had a good head on her shoulders, which she must have gotten from her mother, who was just the loveliest woman. Claire doesn't need that crochety old man breathing down her neck while she's trying to make a business choice."

Marty pressed her lips together hard so she didn't smile too much. There was no talking to Lori when she got mad at Hudson Boone.

Fortunately, just then, Peaches poked her head into the living room, surveying the space and perking up when she saw Marty. The fluffy orange cat trotted over, rubbed herself against Marty's legs, and then jumped up onto the couch so she could settle herself so she was draped across both her parents' laps. Wyatt blinked awake as Peaches' eager purrs vibrated his leg.

"Oh, hey there," he mumbled while Marty scratched Peaches behind her ears.

From the doorway, Bertram, Macy, and Trouble looked in, as if waiting for permission, since Peaches had managed to establish herself as the leader of their little feline group. Seeing the orange cat happily settled, the other three scampered to climb all over Wyatt and Marty until their peaceful respite on the couch disappeared under tiny paws, waving tails, and tickling whiskers.

"Do you think they missed us?" Wyatt quipped as Trouble rubbed her head vigorously against the side of his face.

Marty laughed as Peaches covered her head with a fluffy paw, blocking out the smaller cats' antics. Going on vacation was nice, but boy oh boy, it was good to be home too.